Several years ago, I joined the chorus of people who began to warn that as vaccination rates fell, we were setting ourselves up for a coming epidemic. In particular, measles, mumps, and whooping cough were pointed out as being the likely ones to first begin to spread. Meantime, we got carried away with diseases that were harder to spread than the false rumors being spread, such as the Ebola virus.
But, people continued to prefer their rumors and false information to scientific fact. And thus, a great unnecessary money-wasting crisis was whipped up over Ebola while the falling vaccination rate continued to be ignored. The warnings went out that the protection of herd immunity would cease once the number of unvaccinated people fell over 10%. In certain parts of California, the unvaccinated rate fell to 15%, and the scientific predictions finally came to pass. An infected subject went to a part in which the percentage of people unvaccinated was low enough for measles to take hold.
Measles is now in about 18 states. The disease that was wiped out, for all intents and purposes, has been brought back by mistaken and unscientific liberals and conservatives. All political philosophies in this country have some within them who argue, with great vigor, that their mistaken beliefs on vaccination should be given equal time. The only problem is that what is true is true. One can quote all the “ignored” scientists one wants. But, our children have become the laboratory that disproves the mistaken facts and studies upon which uncaring parents have relied.
Yes, I said uncaring parents. Being a caring parent is not believing any and all strange theories flying around. Being a caring parent is not believing that you are more capable of evaluating scientific fact than the many scientists who have published papers on the subject. Being a caring parent is not claiming that you are simply protecting your child against “unproven theories” when you are opening your child to an infection you could have prevented.
I have finally come to the opinion that we do need to return to an earlier time in our country, to the 1950’s when your child was not allowed in school if they were not vaccinated, when you were investigated as a parent if your child was not protected. I no longer am even close to believing that your rights as a parent trump the health of your child. Just like judges rule and force treatment on children of parents who believe in Christian Science or in “natural” treatments, so do judges need to begin to rule against parents who expose their children to diseases by refusing to vaccinate and who endanger society by removing the herd immunity on which we rely. Your rights as a liberal or as a conservative Christian parent do not trump your children’s rights to health. What may be allowed for your religious beliefs cannot be allowed when society and children are put in danger because of you. It is one thing to tolerate the crazy Uncle Tom or Aunt Joan. It is another thing to let the inmates rule the asylum.
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p align=”justify”>You may argue that if we force this issue, it will somehow open the doors to other types of government intrusion. But, in the 1950’s, vaccination was more mandatory and it did not. This is the straw issue that is raised every time that the good of society needs to be considered against individual freedom. Not every limitation of individual freedom is a bad thing. You cannot yell “fire” in a crowded theater, as the quote goes. You cannot endanger society or your children while crying freedom. Enough is enough.
Praise, thanks, and Amen. Son of a paleontologist and biology and nursing student professor who still believed in God. One of his assistants was a Sister Marmion, who, when my nephew got a non-Hodgkins lymphoma age 17, had her Sisters and church say masses for healing. I was an atheist then: no doubt one of the “coincidences” along the way back to God. That nephew is now alive and well, nearing 40.
Thank you and AMEN! Average parents have no idea how horrible these “childhood” diseases are and how very dangerous they are to those who are ill or immune-suppressed. There is a balance of personal freedom and societal mores that need to be maintained and making sure your children are protected from acquiring and then passing on a possible deadly disease is one of those things should not even be up for discussion.
Last Wednesday, the Los Angeles Times had a vaccination-percentage survey of various day-cares and pre-schools around the Greater LA area. With one major exception (a mixed response in South Central, the city’s main slum), all the survey results confirmed that the higher-priced and richer the area, the less likely to be vaccinated. The most visible cluster of low-vaxx was Santa Monica & Venice on the coast, with a tail of low-vaxx through Beverley Hills and along the south side of the Hollywood Hills — LA’s really high-rent district, full of Celebs (like Malibu, who’s few daycares were ALL low-vaxx). The highest rates were in the blue-collar areas, especially the barrios of East LA and Santa Ana. The flatlands of North Orange County (Little Saigon, Little Korea, Little Arabia, all blue-collar immigrant-heavy) were also pure-high-vaxx, shading into lots of low-vaxx in the Beach Cities (all EXPENSIVE).
(Note about SoCal real-estate prices: In general, the closer you are to the ocean or foothills, the more upscale and expensive and exclusive the area.)
P.S. Note that the high-immigrant, blue-collar areas of East LA (extending east to the 605 Freeway), most of the San Gabriel Valley, and Santa Ana/Garden Grove were the highest-vaxx. High recent immigrants — who probably knew someone whose kid(s) were killed or crippled by these diseases. In the upscale Beach Cities & Foothills? “Why should I vaccinate my kid? Nobody gets Measles/Polio/Diptheria/Whooping Cough any more!”
P.P.S. A few months before the Mickey Measles outbreak, we had a big outbreak of Whooping Cough in upscale schools and pre-schools in the Santa Barbara area.
Since the measles vaccine comes bundled with mumps and rubella (MMR), does this mean that all three diseases will be on the rise if parents don’t inoculate their kids? The other two diseases aren’t pretty either.
Father Ernesto, you said that a return to the 1950s might be in order, when students weren’t allowed in school without vaccines—but here in Maine the law is very firm about this, in fact I’ve had to do some scrambling in the past to produce the paperwork to get my kids back in school. However, the laws don’t apply to home schooling, and I think anti-vaccine parents are a large part of home schooling. Does the law also not apply to private schools? That would explain the low vaccination rates in southern California, as HUG mentioned above.
Speaking of the 1950s though, I’ve seen a few Facebook entries from home schooling friends, suggesting that the “good old days” when kids got measles wasn’t so bad (Well, it wasn’t, for those who survived. They got to stay home and eat ice cream).
I just saw McLaughlin Group last night. All were in favor of getting kids vaccinated, but a few, notably Pat Buchanan, said requiring parents to vaccinate could be a problem legally—but I think he had no problem whatsoever with quarantine.
hmmm… I just found this “Refutations to anti-vaccine memes” page on Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/RtAVM?filter=2
Measles vaccine did not come into use until I was an adult; when I was growing up, the main thrust of vaccinations was the real killers — diphtheria , polio, smallpox, whooping cough, tetanus. Especially diphtheria & polio
I remember going through chicken pox & mumps when I was just starting school (which would make it at about age six, c.1961) and having measles some indeterminate time later. Going through chicken pox/mumps/measles was considered a part of growing up back then. It was almost a rite of passage and a relief because “once you’ve had it, you can’t get it again” and the feeling was to get it over with as young as possible because the younger you were, the milder the disease would be.
Though I don’t remember anything like “chicken pox parties” where kids were deliberately put together to infect those who hadn’t had it yet; maybe they figured it was going to happen soon enough by itself.
The current vaccines did not exist when I was a child. You either got measles, chicken pox, and mumps, or you did not. But, some parents were known to deliberately expose their children to the sick brother or sister in order to get it over with.