OK, the government has been sticking there noses into the business of parents way to much over the past several years in my opinion. As my friend, Elizabeth so eloquently put it; “I wish the government would get out of the parenting business. It is one of the many failings of the “it takes a village to raise a child” mentality. I want to raise my children!”
This is a real doozy ladies…LOL…
In a couple (maybe more) US cities they are FORCING parents to have their children to be vaccinated or GO TO JAIL!
I think it is ridiculous! I mean I DO vaccinate…HOWEVER, not all parents are comfortable with it. There are many scary side affects that could happen…including links to autism… There are parents who do not vaccinate for religious reasons…personal reasons…
Whatever the reason, do you think it is right for the government to FORCE parents to do this??
At what point it government involvement in parenting and personal matters and beliefs TOO far?
Here are a few links on the topic:
http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=24281
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/1820928.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/1798290.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/panorama/1775369.stm
OK, let me know your thoughts on the topic… 
© 2007 – 2010, Lara. All rights reserved.
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Honestly, I sort of agree with the courts. Public school is funded by tax payers. Those taxpayers have the right to assume that the children that enroll in said school is immunized and less likely to bring a dangerous disease/infection into the school. To me, its the same as making a child stay home, if they’ve got lice, until there’s absolutely no sign of them, including the eggs.
There are other options besides public school. There are also ways of not having the vaccinations for religious or personal beliefs, but it seems, by the way the reports are reading, that they never exercised those rights.
great links girl. glad others feel the same way.
Well, the government already says you must send your kids to school. And that you can’t leave them unattended at home or in the car until a certain age. Or, if you act like Britney Spears, they’ll take your kids away. So it certainly isn’t unprecedented to require by law that parents do things that are in the best interest of kids. But, I guess whether vaccines are in the best interest is up for debate. I happen to think vaccines are a good idea too.
I used to be all for immunizations and thought people who didn’t immunize thier children were irrational and disrespectful until I had a child diagnosed in the Austism Spectrum. Now I am VERY wary of immunizing my other children and they are WAY behind schedule.
My doctor talked about mercury until she was blue in the face, but that was not my worry. The MMR vaccine can cause brain swelling which in turn can cause brain damage. My child is high functioning and appears to only have developmental delays which could be caused by brain swelling. The paper the Dr. gives you when you immunize says not to repeat MMR if brain swelling has occured because it may again. Also families who have one autistic child are 15% more likely to have another child who is autistic. If brain swelling from vaccinations is the cause of autism (and it may be – they say they do not know what causes it). In my thinking my children could be 15% more likely than others to suffer brain damage just so that they do not get measles or mumps or ruebella. I am not willing to take that chance.
This is a very interesting topic. I live in Canada, and I know that our public school system insist that they have a copy of our children’s immunization records before allowing them to attend public school. In some respect i do agree with them, that they want healthy children in the school system and do not want disease to spread. i know that immunization has become quite a personal issue, and if parents feel that they do not want to immunize their children, they may have to consider private schooling for their child. Personally I believe in immunization, and am grateful that we have it.
I’m in Canada as well, and I thought it was law to be immunized, that is certainly the mainstream thought. However, there is no such law. Schools must have A document on hand: either an up-to-date immunization record OR an “immunization excemption form” signed by a notary or other designated person, like your MP. The only consequence from the school is that, hey, if the mumps show up, your kid is sent home! Well la-dee-da, I’d want them home anyways if mumps showed up!
I did not know that I had a choice to immunize. I wish I had not been ignorant. I wish I did my homework. I wish I knew then what I know now. My son is 6. His name is Aidan. He’s a cutie with big brown eyes. He can copy the Walt Disney logo perfectly. He was immunized. He has autism. He now attends a special school, with, you guessed it ~ the immunization exemption form in his records.
At what point does government go too far? When they deny education to children who are not immunized… when their parents go to jail for the same “offense”. A suggestion to immunize ALONG with the latest research and an armful of edumacation would serve our parents well… I’m all for making an informed decision and living with the consequences.