The American Academy of Pediatrics just put out a position paper recommending, among other things, a complete elimination of all non-medical (read:religious) exemptions from immunizations. I’ve read the paper and just can’t believe this is an actual thing that any American would write. I know people on the left generally see no value in religion but come on, this is still the Land of the Free.
As the paper develops its case for the end of religious vaccine exemptions for school children, it lays out one fact I wasn’t aware of. There are 5 states that already don’t allow non-medical exemptions; California, Connecticut, Maine, New York and West Virginia. Have to say, I’m a little surprised to see West Virginia on that list. Also interesting that California and Connecticut are both in the top ten for rates of adult autism. Maybe irrelevant but maybe not.
I also didn’t know that “More than half of the states can exclude unimmunized students during outbreaks, epidemics, or emergencies” which seems like a totally reasonable law that should be on the books everywhere. If you have a measles outbreak in your area, it seems wise to tell the unimmunized kids to stay home for a few days until things calm down.
Probably the most shocking sentence in the paper (at least until you get to the actual recommendation at the bottom) is “Among the major world religious traditions, none include scriptural or doctrinal guidelines that preclude adherents from being vaccinated.” Then they link to another helpful paper that sure enough, says exactly that. Did you guys even Google that? Did you talk to a religious person that is hesitant about vaccines and ask why? Have any of you ever even met a religious person?
Then the paper begins to list the several court cases it thinks gives it the right to force vaccinations in to children. I’m not a lawyer so I will leave that to better minds to unpack but it is troubling to see the AAP thinks it has a legal right to violate the conscience and religious beliefs of whomever they choose.
Finally. the paper gives its 7 recommendations moving forward and #4 is to eliminate all nonmedical exemptions for vaccinations. Unbelievable and a look into the dark minds of the authoritarian left that thinks nothing of your religion or your right to control your own body.
Anywhere There is Risk, There Should Be Choice
Let’s remember the core problem to this debate is the fact that the vaccine manufacturers are totally shielded from any legal or financial consequences of their products. If cars had the same immunity as vaccines, we would all be driving Ford Pintos that occasionally exploded and Ford wouldn’t care to improve their product in the least. Until that immunity is removed, many people will have no choice but to assume that the vaccines are dangerous and the people making them know they are dangerous. (Hey, remember when it was reported that there were more cases of polio from the vaccine than from the wild virus? Probably not relevant.)
The second issue is the idea of religious freedom. If someone’s personal religious beliefs prevent vaccination or even if the belief isn’t religious, just someone looking at the data available and determining they can’t in good conscience accept the risks of the vaccine, that belief should be honored. This isn’t a totally authoritarian state (yet) and people still have the right to live their lives according to their conscience and those beliefs should be honored by the state.
Finally, if you are a parent worried about where this is going, I cannot recommend you looking onto homeschooling enough. My wife and I homeschooled all our kids and am very happy with the results. It’s not the easiest thing in the world but the results are amazing.
