A comment by Badhatharry yesterday got me thinking about vaccinations, and particularly about what’s happening out there in the world of small children.
I’m confessing my bias right off: I believe that not having your children vaccinated is arrogant and irresponsible. You think you, with your skimpy reading of a few highly suspect sources, know better than world-wide battalions of doctors and scientists? Feh.
Non-vaccination exposes other children, including unborn fetuses, to unnecessary diseases. It also exposes the elderly, and anyone with a compromised immune system.
How do vaccinating parents feel about their children going to school with unvaccinated children?
Children must be allowed to go to school no matter what. (Ok, short of an active case of, like, chicken pox.) Educating people is the great saviour of civilisation and cannot be denied lightly, so I’m not for a second suggesting it be done in the case of unvaccinated children.
Which leaves us with a problem.
Normally, proof of vaccination is required when registering a child for school, but exemptions, in most jurisdictions, are easy to get. Sometimes no more than the signing of a paper that the school provides. These ‘philosophical exemptions’ are used individually, and in some areas there can be a cluster of non-vaccinators – Christian Scientists, the Amish, other religious groups. Or communities with a heavy percentage of alternate medicine types.
Availability and affordability of the vaccinations can of course affect an area’s coverage. In Canada, Aboriginal children have a higher incidence of not having been vaccinated.
All 50 U.S. states allow for medical exemptions for children with genuine allergies to the vaccine, or with compromised immune systems.
Another aspect of the vaccination discussion: do you, as an adult, get vaccinated? I garden a lot, so I make sure my tetanus shot is up to date. I get a flu shot, since I’m not getting any younger myself, and I do volunteer work with the elderly. I got a legally required shot for, if I remember correctly, yellow fever, as part of the process to get my resident alien visa for the U.S. (coming in from Canada). Before travelling in SE Asia, I got voluntary inoculation for hepatitis, just in case. My cats get regular vaccinations, the usual ones the vets suggest.
Parents: how do you feel about your kids being in a schoolroom with unvaccinated kids? Does it make you anxious? How would you feel about letting your children play with unvaccinated children, and develop regular friendships with them?
Would there be less resistance to vaccination if it were administered, say, orally, instead of via injection?
Are you vaccinated yourself? Why, or why not?
Do you get regular vaccinations for your pets?
Photo: Flickr
