I'm anti-choice on vaccines. It should be absolutely necessary to ensure herd immunity for those that have comprised immune systems and cannot be vaccinated for various reasons.
You could make the argument along the lines of well, "survival of the fittest" but when I see news articles warning people who went to major events like the recent Formula 1 race in Melbourne of the risk of measles, a disease that shouldn't proliferate in any country on Earth in 2019, then it really frustrates me.
It's also an enormous burden on the health system when people contract preventable diseases and illnesses.
I can see it very quickly going down a rabbit hole of dystopian loss of liberties, on the other hand as well.There's a certain level of "don't let your choices do harm to others" which is something that can happen if enough people choose to not be vaccinated.
Thanks for the thought provoking post!
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It's interesting that the "survival of the fittest" rhetoric is used on both sides by the extremists. I've heard people say that if you can't survive vaccines then this is taking the weak out.
Currently Australia hasn't mandated vaccines and 95% of children are vaccinated. 3% of those that aren't up to date are because parents have missed appointments for various reasons, including lack of transport to get them to appointments. They are trying to remedy that. This leaves just 2% who have chosen not to vaccinate. The majority of that 2% fall into two categories; those who started vaccinating and stopped due to serious adverse reactions and those who already have health issues and are worried about the risks of vaccinating a child who has, or may have, health issues. Few parents who are healthy actually choose not to vaccinate. This is actually a very good coverage rate and easily falls under herd immunity.
Mandating vaccines could actually have the opposite affect to what they want. There are those who will push back because they don't like not having a choice and there are those who will become fearful because it's being forced. What if they vaccinate and their child reacts, but because there are now no exceptions they have to continue with more and risk their child's life? Those who would have still considered it may now not, because that choice of care had been taken away from them.
My concern with mandating vaccines is that they are calling for no exceptions. I have a friend who has three children and stopped vaccinating due to reactions. One was hospitalised after the second, one after the third. The last child she wasn't even going to risk, but her new husband wanted to. So they did and the doctor they had to call out said they shouldn't continue with the vaccines. For her, and for me as well if I'm honest, "anti-choice" makes her quite fearful.
I also have a family member with a compromised immune system, so I get that too.
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Anti-choice with reasonable exceptions works for me :)
I think the movement against vaccines is a bark more fierce than its bite. We've always been ahead of most curves (be they technical, medical, or other) in Australia.
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Funnily enough I spent a few hours writing a piece on this last night. Feels like it needs a little more polish but I'll post it soon.
You say, "It's also an enormous burden on the health system when people contract preventable diseases and illnesses." When you research the Government site VAERS you will see that there are almost ONE MILLION people who are now affected by a long term chronic illness or have died because of vaccines. If that is not "an enormous burden on the health system" I don't know what is. But, actually that is the plan, because the sicker people become because of vaccines the more money the pharmaceutical makes in the long run. I learned this from working 20+ years in the healthcare field and witnessing first hand the manipulative tactics the pharmaceutical industry uses.
According to VAERS:
Nuance is important