There is a simple and effective way to decrease the number of parents who choose not to vaccinate their children against preventable diseases, and it doesn’t require suing those parents or criminally charging them. Instead, state legislatures need to end both religious and personal exemptions to the requirement that children be vaccinated in order to attend public schools. A strict vaccine requirement — without loopholes — is all it would take to reduce the numbers of unvaccinated children to levels that would allow us to maximize protection for everyone. The science on vaccines is clear: They’re safe and effective. Yes, there are small caveats to both of those words, but community immunity is best achieved if everyone who can be vaccinated against a disease is, even if, in some cases, that vaccine won’t take. The immunized majority protects the more vulnerable, but the process works only if the unimmunized are kept to a minimum.
I get that people don’t like being told by government what they must do. Sometimes, though, the role of government is to protect people from themselves. Sometimes it’s about requiring an action because it’s what’s necessary to protect society. In the case of vaccines, it’s really about protecting all of us from the ignorance and self-absorption of a few who believe they know more about science than scientists and who believe their child’s welfare is more important than anything- even their responsibility to society.
When I was a schoolboy, the rule was simple: If you weren’t vaccinated, you weren’t allowed in school. Period. No religious liberty, no personal belief exemptions, no questions about the “safety” of vaccines. It’s the single biggest reason measles was declared virtually eradicated in 2000. Somewhere along the line, someone decided that their religious faith trumped all other considerations, including public health. They decided that their demand that their beliefs be respected took precedence over their responsibility to society. “I” become more important than “we.” Responsibility became a member of my own family saying, “I don’t care about society.”
Many schools no longer allow children to bring peanut butter to school because of children who may have severe nut allergies, even as they allow unvaccinated children to attend. The hypocrisy inherent in demanding the right to exempt a child from vaccination is stunning, if for no other reason than the epic ignorance and science denial behind such demands.
We ban tree nuts in our school because of serious allergic reactions in vulnerable children. We ban smoking in public places as it affects the public health. Unvaccinated children affect the health of the general populace. If parents refuse to vaccinate their children, then they should homeschool them. Other children should not suffer the consequences of their socially irresponsible decisions.
When a parents refuses to allow their child to be vaccinated, that decision doesn’t impact only that child. It can, and very often does have ripple effects a parent can’t foresee- and that’s exactly the problem. Measles was declared essentially eradicated in 2000; 15 years later there are outbreaks all over the country. What changed was that parents were allowed the option to decline vaccinations, running the risk that an unvaccinated child could infect others (measles is contagious four days prior to symptoms manifesting). Parents were allowed to place their ignorance and self-interest over the greater good. THAT is why eminently preventable childhood diseases are making a comeback.
Vaccines aren’t just a good idea; they’re a social responsibility.
The problem is that the anti-vaccine movement will not be moved. I’ve encountered this in my own family, people so unshakably convinced that vaccines are evil and dangerous that they’re perfectly OK with potentially being responsible for their child infecting others. One person believes that childhood diseases can be “managed” with proper nutrition, another believe the she and ONLY she knows what’s best for her child. It’s a case of parents with high school educations who genuinely love their children deciding they know more than scientists, some of whom have spent years studying communicable diseases. I’m gobsmacked at the strength with which a person can cling to an idea that’s demonstrably and dangerously wrong.
Sometimes, the role of government really is to save society from itself. This really should be one of those cases.
