I’ve long since passed the point of being sick to death of the silliness and ignorance of the anti-vaccine movement. There was a time when I might have been willing to consider their views and their right to them, but that ship has sailed. If you’re a parent, you need to get you child vaccinated- PERIOD. End of story. Full stop. NO exceptions allowed…unless of course, your child is too medically fragile. Other than that, there’s no defensible reason- none, nada, zip, zero- to refuse to vaccinate a child.
We’ve been vaccinating children against a number of preventable childhood diseases for a century now. Because of this, most of these diseases were considered all but eradicated. Now along come the anti-vaxxers, who, due to their ignorance and intransigence, have presided over the resurgence of some of these diseases. It’s immoral, unconscionable, and irresponsible- in terms of the potential health risks to your child, but ALSO because of the generalized risk to the public health.
You don’t get a free pass when it comes to endangering public health in the name of willful ignorance and the willingness to believe a former Playboy centerfold over doctors.
There are many issues which I’ll willingly and eagerly debate with someone who holds a different viewpoint. Vaccination is no longer one of them. Winston Churchill once refused to “have a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent,” and that’s what debating with anti-vaxxers has devolved into. They believe the results of a discredited survey whose results were manipulated to reach a desired conclusion, and they take the unproven assertions of Jenny McCarthy over the caution of doctors, some of whom spent 8-10 years in school to be able to practice. Andrew Wakefield manipulated the results of a scientific study and Jenny McCarthy was most renowned for taking her clothes off…yet those are the people anti-vaxxers have chosen to lionize as Heroes of the Cause.
It’s time to stop thinking that we can have a reasoned, rational debate with unreasonable, irrational people. There’s no way to reason with those who’ve sacrificed reason and chosen to believe the provably untrue. It’s time that we call out anti-vaxxers for the know-nothings most of them are. They believe they know more than doctors because Jenny McCarthy told them that vaccines cause autism, and so they make a stupid decision that places not only the health of their child at risk, but also that of other children. It’s inexcusable, immoral, and just plain wrong.
If parents can’t see their way clear to doing the responsible thing and vaccinating their children, serious thought needs to be given to their parental qualifications. Yes, I realize that sounds harsh, but if you going to A) make a stupid, ill-informed decisions based on bad information and/or B) misguidedly place the health of your child over that of other children, I’d say your parental (and moral) fitness should absolutely be questioned.
There are people in my own family who will no doubt be upset with me for framing this issue for harshly, but this isn’t directed at any one person. If you happen to see yourself in this argument, that says far more about you than it ever could me. Sometimes you have the absolute right to expect people to do the right thing…if for no other reason than we’ve been doing it for the past century. AND IT WORKS.
You could be angry with me for not “respecting” your views…or you could do the right thing and be done with it. Protect your child and the children he or she comes into contact with. It’s not just a good idea, it’s a moral and social responsibility…and no matter how hard I might try, I can’t see that as a matter of polite debate.
