Much has been in the news and commentariate in the last two weeks after outbreaks of measles were reported in a few areas of the country. This post will make some comments and set forth some information you may not be aware of and links to do your own due diligence. Anyone who thinks veritaspac by commenting on this subject is giving medical advice is delusional. Comments are my personal opinion only. Readers should do their own research and consult with their doctors. My focus is the politics of the matter of forced immunizations.
Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey and Senator Rand Paul, both said to be presidential aspirants, have made comments that while supporting vaccination in general, suggested they have some sympathy for “allowing ” parents to opt out of vaccination regimes for their children. The politics of the matter in Iowa is that those supporting the rights of parents to exempt their children from immunizations probably have more ardor behind them, or more focused anyway, than those who would not issue exemptions based on the parents concerns. Both sides claim facts and figures to back up their views with the medical establishment heavily in favor of pushing mandatory universal vaccination.
Ardor is especially important when it comes to Iowa’s presidential precinct caucus system. The politics of mandatory vaccinations might be compared, even if smaller in numbers, to the political impact generated by parents who are intent on guarding the right to home school and not be subjected to discrimination. Home schoolers have had a significant impact on behalf of their candidates in the Iowa caucus system, Mike Huckabee’s success in the state is in part attributed to it.
Never minding that home schooled kids generally perform better in educational testing, the hostility of the education establishment and elitist sentiments in the party is more diffuse. Similarly, I would venture to say that parents who decline vaccinations for their children, at least selectively, are at least as healthy as other kids. There is a sociology to that we needn’t get into. But they have been more assertive of protecting their judgement as parents.
Of note is that sentiment against mandatory vaccines crosses party lines with some liberals opposing them as well. It might be argued that element is more responsible for the political success of the exemptions movement as the expression of their concerns resonates with memes of the dominant liberal establishment.
While the establishment Republicans have tried to make it ineffectual, there is a core sentiment in the Republican Party of distrust and resentment toward big government and its willingness to sacrifice individuals to the herd (more on that concept in the readings below). Accordingly, the Republican Party of Iowa (RPI) platform has, prior to being reduced to its current level of insipidness as regards just about everything, strongly supported parents’ rights and the presumption of best interests as regards the matter. In 2012 the RPI platform plank at 18.17 read:
“We believe parents should have the right to decide which immunizations and vaccines their child receives and when they receive them. We call for the Iowa Department of Health to recognize a philosophical exemption to vaccines for the purpose of public school attendance.
The 2010 platform had a similar provision.
Attached to our commentary, articles related to the concerns driving opposition to mandatory vaccination can be found at these links and organizations’ Web sites:
Clinton Family Doctor is a Vaccination Skeptic
Some articles challenge or deny that lax border controls and illegal immigration has anything to do with the recent outbreaks of measles in daycare centers. Reading this pediatrician’s comments, Ron Smith MD, writing at The Federalist and while supporting vaccinations, he points out that foreign entrants, illegal or not, put non-vaccinated American children at additional risk. He points out that the claim that illegals could not be the problem because they come from nations with higher vaccination rates, is not current or dependable information because of the lower efficacy of vaccination compounds used in those countries and other reasons. With the borders being such a sieve and the limited verifications necessary for visa entry into the United States, who would know if proper vaccinations were done anyway?
A Pediatrician’s Guide To The Vaccination Debate “What foreign visitors bring in carries greater risks to everyone than the few citizens who misguidedly refuse vaccinations for themselves or their kids.”
That parents who do not vaccinate or are selective about them are “misguided” would be challenged by the research and medical information available at these sites: The National Vaccine Information Center , NVIC.org , which is not hard and fast opposed to all vaccines but does advocate legal protection for parental discretion and ThinkTwice the online information portal of Global Vaccine Institute.
One would also appreciate the concerns of parents demanding the right to opt out after reading these articles by Cliff Kincaid writing at Accuracy in Media (AIM). In his February 4th column Can You Handle the Truth About Vaccines? Kincaid informs us of the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program “which exists to compensate victims of vaccines. The latest Statistics Report shows nearly 4,000 claims were awarded financial damages.” Reading the list of eligible vaccines, complications to which are eligible for compensation, one sees that concerns about complications are not mere anecdotes.
Kincaid’s second article, Say Her Name: Vaccine Victim Hannah Poling focuses on the research and reporting of Sharyl Attkisson, an Emmy Award winning journalist who encountered brick walls in trying to report on the possibility of complications from the vaccine cocktails (several immunizations in one dose) and the preservatives necessary to keep them efficacious.
The concept of herd immunity is used to convince parents (and governments) that they owe it to the vulnerable to vaccinate their children so that they will not spread disease to the most vulnerable who cannot be or have not been vaccinated. Whether the sequelae of the vaccines is figured into the equation is not clear to me. A vigorous response to the concept is provided in this article at Health Impact News blog site The Herd Immunity Myth – Treating Our Children Like Cattle . Ron Smith, MD, commenting in the The Federalist article mentioned above, also addresses the herd immunity concept as applied.
Another very problematic aspect to some vaccines is revealed in this posting at JillStanek.com Measles outbreak draws attention to aborted fetal cells in vaccines Stanek is an RN and provides an overview of some of the ethical controversies regarding vaccines.
Both sides should be able to appreciate the recommendations of pediatrician Smith which includes measures to keep kids out of doctor’s offices when possible, disinfectants after each visit, border control to limit introductions of contagions. Dr. Smith also believes that parents’ due diligence on behalf of their children, while he says that it is misguided, should be accommodated. The Republican Party of Iowa Platform has tried to do so and should unmistakably do so again. There are some vaccines and or methodologies I will avoid.
R Mall
http://www.historyofvaccines.org/content/us-polio-cases-1952-1962