Disease Proof

As concern and skepticism mounts. It seems more and more parents are opting NOT to get their children vaccinated. More from Jennifer Steinhauer of The New York Times:

The parents who objected to their children being inoculated are among a small but growing number of vaccine skeptics in California and other states who take advantage of exemptions to laws requiring vaccinations for school-age children.

The exemptions have been growing since the early 1990s at a rate that many epidemiologists, public health officials and physicians find disturbing.

Children who are not vaccinated are unnecessarily susceptible to serious illnesses, they say, but also present a danger to children who have had their shots — the measles vaccine, for instance, is only 95 percent effective — and to those children too young to receive certain vaccines…

…The parents who objected to their children being inoculated are among a small but growing number of vaccine skeptics in California and other states who take advantage of exemptions to laws requiring vaccinations for school-age children.

The exemptions have been growing since the early 1990s at a rate that many epidemiologists, public health officials and physicians find disturbing.

Children who are not vaccinated are unnecessarily susceptible to serious illnesses, they say, but also present a danger to children who have had their shots — the measles vaccine, for instance, is only 95 percent effective — and to those children too young to receive certain vaccines.

Here’s a noble idea. Regardless of what these vaccinations do or don’t do. Shouldn’t parents ALWAYS have the right to choose?

Shouldn't parents ALWAYS have the right to choose? Well, actually -- no, they shouldn't. And framing the issue in those absolutist terms is silly, as anyone who reads the New York Times article with an open mind is likely to appreciate. Civil liberties are never absolute. Free speech doesn't permit one to yell "Fire!" in a crowded theater, and while I am free to choose the music I listen to in my own home, my right to turn the volume up is limited by the rights of my neighbors to be free of unwarranted disturbance. It doesn't necessarily follow that parents should be required to have their children vaccinated, but your implication that civil liberties should be absolute is uninformed and unhelpful to any thoughtful analysis of this issue. I've noticed that the coverage on this blog of the vaccination controversy, including today's article, is painfully simplistic and I think terribly misguided. What does this issue have to do with Dr. Fuhrman's program of nutritional excellence?

Hey Josh-

This issue is incredibly important to the blog and many of DiseaseProof's readers. Mandatory vaccinations is basically an invasion of privacy.

You honestly believe that a responsible parent shouldn't ALWAYS be able to govern the well-being of their child as they see fit?

Comparing this issue to free speech is silly.

Peace.
-Gerry

As a parent, I dont like being forced to "give" my children anything. Civil liberties are absolute and a right, as guaranteed in whats left of the Bill of Rights.

Free speech does allow you to yell fire in a crowded movie house. But it is also the "community" that establishes the penalty for that behavior.

The point on this blog is that flu vaccines year after year containing mercury and who knows what else might not be a "good choice" for the long term health of your children. When "choosing" superior nutrition a person is able to provide their body with the means to prevent disease and mitigate susceptibility to seasonal sickness.

Comparing whether or not to get a vaccine to the serious issue of the First Amendment is silly and pointless.

Jayson

There has been a lot written about the down-side of vaccination. Books by Coulter, McBean, Cournoyer and others show vaccination to be pure poisoning, based on the pseudoscience of Pasteur. Barry Mesh has shown that the greatest outbreaks of smallpox have followed universal vaccination campaigns. The damage is mainly neurological and immunotoxic. The first cases of AIDS followed tests of Hepatitis-B vaccine. Also, the use of forced vaccination may suggest biological warfare, in which vaccine acts as a slower-acting form of lethal injection.