INITIAL ENTRY
There is legislation in California (2019) to force parents to vaccinate their kids. As a proponent of the right to choose, I think this legislation is stupid.
I wish we could go back in time and shut down the stupid misinformation regarding vaccinations. Because more and more parents have stopped vaccinating their kids, we have lost the herd-protection that afforded protection for the few people who did not vaccinate their kids.
While I defend the rights of people to make their own choices for themselves and their families, I do not defend those rights when it impacts people outside of themselves and their family. The rise of measles, starting in 2018, shows what the loss of herd-protection has done.
The right to choose whether to vaccinate, or not, is similar to the right to choose to drink and drive. The right to drink is a personal choice that the government should not make for you; however, the right to drive after drinking is absolutely the right of the government to make laws against that activity. The right to choose to vaccinate, or not, is the right of the person; however, the government should make laws that protect people from the choices of others.
20200526 UPDATE - GLOBAL PANDEMIC
Now that the world is processing through a global pandemic (zoonotic SARS-CoV-2) with no innate herd immunity, and no vaccine available for 12 months or more, I am hoping that people will not be so quick to dismiss vaccines. It was easy for the anti-vaxxers to dismiss Dr. Jonas Salk and the polio vaccine; that moment in time was before they were born. Now, they have a direct infection-with-no-vaccine impinging on their lives that carries a potential steep consequence, death.
There is legislation in California (2019) to force parents to vaccinate their kids. As a proponent of the right to choose, I think this legislation is stupid.
I wish we could go back in time and shut down the stupid misinformation regarding vaccinations. Because more and more parents have stopped vaccinating their kids, we have lost the herd-protection that afforded protection for the few people who did not vaccinate their kids.
While I defend the rights of people to make their own choices for themselves and their families, I do not defend those rights when it impacts people outside of themselves and their family. The rise of measles, starting in 2018, shows what the loss of herd-protection has done.
The right to choose whether to vaccinate, or not, is similar to the right to choose to drink and drive. The right to drink is a personal choice that the government should not make for you; however, the right to drive after drinking is absolutely the right of the government to make laws against that activity. The right to choose to vaccinate, or not, is the right of the person; however, the government should make laws that protect people from the choices of others.
20200526 UPDATE - GLOBAL PANDEMIC
Now that the world is processing through a global pandemic (zoonotic SARS-CoV-2) with no innate herd immunity, and no vaccine available for 12 months or more, I am hoping that people will not be so quick to dismiss vaccines. It was easy for the anti-vaxxers to dismiss Dr. Jonas Salk and the polio vaccine; that moment in time was before they were born. Now, they have a direct infection-with-no-vaccine impinging on their lives that carries a potential steep consequence, death.
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