The deal with vaccines... a decision made based on religion?

Question

If anyone had just watched the Today show on NBC, there was a segment about an increasing amount of parents who choose not to give their children vaccines for high-risk diseases and infections because of "religious reasons". One mother, who was interviewed, claimed that her sons became autistic and another had behavioural disorders (due to genetics) and that there's more risk in the vaccines rather than the diseases, even when she noted herself that 1 in 100,000 vaccinated kids get side effects.

So... is it right for parents to control their children's vaccinations?

Answer 1

The problem is that the majority of states in the US will not allow you to admit your children to public school unless they have either been vaccinated or are exempt from vaccines due to religious reasons. That leaves parents who are opposed to vaccines for other reasons no option but to check the religious reasons box. In the state where I live you can opt out for personal reasons IF a doctor signs off and says your child has either had the disease and is over it, or your child is in perfectly good health and shows no symptoms.



I disagree 100% with allowing anyone but the parents to make the decision to vaccinate. What's next? Could pediatric surgeries be mandated by the government? What about other medications? Would parents be allowed to seek a second opinion or would the government just decide for them? That is far too slippery a slope.





For the record, all of my kids are vaccinated. There was a point when my son was not up to date but that was at his pediatricians recommendation because he was having other health issues that needed to be worked through first. I believe parents SHOULD vaccinate their kids but it's one of many many things that are up to the parents to decide. We cannot start taking away the right of decision making. That's one of the few last freedoms we still have.

Answer 2

They do what they want.



I find it ironic that parents who say they aren't "deeply religious" claim the religious exemption for personal reasons. And their personal reasons are based on superstitions and illogical conclusions. Which it turn makes then "deeply religious" in my book.



I read an article about this where a doctor was quoted basically saying, these parents' reasons were based on ignorance.



Edit: For example, that link on the other answer looks VERY (sarcasm) medical and scientific. I think this has some better information:

http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/

http://www.cdc.gov/od/science/iso/mmr_autism.htm

Answer 3

Do you have any idea what the vaccines are made of??



http://www.vaccinetruth.org/flyers.htm



Do you know how many girls are dying of the HPV vaccine?

http://groups.google.com/group/misc.health.alternative/browse_thread/thread/0bd1ad62887ad3bf/6a2b8a91dec1eb19?hl=tk



They linked autism and ADD to vaccines. You're kid may end up retarded but it's better than them having polio right? To me it's equally as bad.



If you want everybody to be vaccinated, you personally go tell the mothers of all the children who died from being vaccinated that they HAVE to vaccinate their other children.



Why do they even have a vaccine for the chicken pox? It's not that bad. It's like having a bad case of poison ivy.

Answer 4

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Answer 5

There are no guarantees in life. *Could* a vaccine make a small minority of children ill? Perhaps, but the alternative - epidemics - is considerably more terrifying.