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No Vaccination, No Camp!

Posted on 10th January 2016

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Finally the world seems to be waking up to the fact that people who do not vaccinate their kids, or themselves, are a health risk to the rest of us, and that there are things that we can do about it.

This story on Forbes is mainly a tirade against a US doctor who is a proponent of holistic medicine, but it refers to a decision by one of our largest summer camps in the USA that all staff and campers must be fully immunised to attend camp next summer. About time too.

In related news, the Australian government has decided to stop welfare payments to parents who refuse to vaccinate their children (from April 2015); and California now requires most schoolchildren to be vaccinated against diseases including measles and whooping cough (from June 2015). I think there is more such legislation and business policy to come.

I know that there are tens of thousands (maybe more) of people around the world (but mainly in the civilised and healthy West) who complain that this is impinging on parents' rights to make decisions about the health of their children. There are two kinds of replies:

  1. One answer supports the right of parents not to vaccinate their children, but not to threaten the health of others (me and my children, and you and your children). Even though my children are thoroughly vaccinated, many vaccines are given after children start school, and some vaccines are given in the teens (e.g. TB). Most vaccines do not give 100% protection, and some (like Tetanus) have to be periodically refreshed. All this means that my kids' risk of infection by a disease for which there is a vaccination is vastly increased by them mixing with people who are not vaccinated. So, I support such unvaccinated people being barred from camps and schools, and also financially penalised to encourage them to vaccinate. Whatever rights you have over your own children's health and upbringing do not extend to putting me and mine at risk!
  2. The other answer explores the limits to parents' rights over their children. Modern life is full of constraints and obligations on how we bring up our children - limits on the age at which they can be left unattended, constraints on physical punishment, obligations to properly feed, dress and house our kids, etc. Why should we treat vaccination any differently from these?

If you are a parent who has chosen not to vaccinate your children, then know this: if me or mine are made ill (or even die) because of your choice, you will be sued, criminally charged, and run the risk of losing custody of your children. I am not the only person who will hold you responsible. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!