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My state requires about a half dozen vaccines (polio, HepB, MMR, ...) to attend any public school from K to college. For some reason there's some sort of collec

by Boxxed 5y ago

My state requires about a half dozen vaccines (polio, HepB, MMR, ...) to attend any public school from K to college. For some reason there's some sort of collective amnesia about this and people are acting like this is the first time there's been a vaccine requirement.

Ancapistani 5y ago
That's different in several ways. First, it isn't truly a "mandate". It applies to the vast majority of people and the vast majority of those people comply without complaint, true - but it's possible to avoid it if that's your intent. My wife and I homeschool our children. While vaccination requirements have absolutely nothing to do with our decision to do so, it has given us the opportunity to consider which vaccinations we feel make sense for our children, and which we feel don't. I'd have to go back through their records to be sure which ones we decided against, but there are some things we vaccinate against as a society where the both the incidence rate and potential severity are extremely low, and the risk of serious side effects - while also extremely low - outweighs the potential reward in our eyes. Through this process, we also decided that it made sense to use a different vaccination schedule than is typical, and to do separate injections for things that are usually "bundled" (e.g., MMR). Second, those measures effect children, not adults. While I don't agree with this position, it's generally accepted that the state has greater latitude in protecting the health and safety of minors than with adults. Finally, there are people who vocally oppose at least some of the childhood vaccination requirements. Merck lobbied for the inclusion of an HPV vaccine (Gardasil) in the requirements for school, which got a lot of flack from the right. IMO, their rationale was silly ("It promotes sexual activity!"), but that's still an example of people strongly opposing a vaccine requirement.

by Boxxed 5y ago

Ancapistani 5y ago

That's different in several ways. First, it isn't truly a "mandate". It applies to the vast majority of people and the vast majority of those people comply without complaint, true - but it's possible to avoid it if that's your intent. My wife and I homeschool our children. While vaccination requirements have absolutely nothing to do with our decision to do so, it has given us the opportunity to consider which vaccinations we feel make sense for our children, and which we feel don't. I'd have to go back through their records to be sure which ones we decided against, but there are some things we vaccinate against as a society where the both the incidence rate and potential severity are extremely low, and the risk of serious side effects - while also extremely low - outweighs the potential reward in our eyes. Through this process, we also decided that it made sense to use a different vaccination schedule than is typical, and to do separate injections for things that are usually "bundled" (e.g., MMR). Second, those measures effect children, not adults. While I don't agree with this position, it's generally accepted that the state has greater latitude in protecting the health and safety of minors than with adults. Finally, there are people who vocally oppose at least some of the childhood vaccination requirements. Merck lobbied for the inclusion of an HPV vaccine (Gardasil) in the requirements for school, which got a lot of flack from the right. IMO, their rationale was silly ("It promotes sexual activity!"), but that's still an example of people strongly opposing a vaccine requirement.