Here\u2019s a thoroughly unsourced comment (sorry, I have only a couple minutes to write):<\/p>\n
The media is hopping onto the bandwagon the the Republicans are anti-vaccine and the Democrats are the Party of Science.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve most likely seen articles complaining that the true anti-vacciners are liberal Democrats: \u00a0Jenny McCarthy, Marin County, and so on. \u00a0Their anti-vaccinism is part and parcel of a belief in \u201cnatural treatments\u201d and organic food, and a distrust of the \u201cvaccination industry\u201d as a sort of insidious Big Business. \u00a0But because a few Republicans (Rand Paul, Chris Christie, not sure who else) have expressed hesitation about compelling people, in all instances, to get vaccinated, the media has created a new narrative, that the GOP is anti-vaccine. \u00a0Articles about Rand Paul publicly getting vaccinated have labelled the action as contradictory and inexplicable.<\/p>\n
Is this just about the media taking any opportunity it can to bash Republicans?<\/p>\n
Probably not. \u00a0It seems that it\u2019s much more a matter of a view of State power that says, \u201canything good, the State should mandate; anything bad, the State should prohibit,\u201d and doesn\u2019t recognize the individual right of conscience as (depending on the circumstances) trumping State power \u2014 or, really, even, the validity of the idea of the right of conscience.<\/p>\n
Now, in this case, the pubic health consequences of one individual refusing vaccination are small; the public health consequences of large numbers refusing, quite worrisome. \u00a0While the refusers were a small minority, it was much easier to accept their refusal, especially to the extent that it came out of genuine religious beliefs (e.g., Christian Scientists). \u00a0But the larger group of refusers now is composed only to a small extent by these true conscientious objectors, and to a much greater extent by the ignorant (what do you call someone whose belief that vaccines cause autism appears to be nonfalsifiable) and the free-riders (who bank on herd immunity to protect them while avoiding the real side effects\/risks of the vaccine for their own children).<\/p>\n
And while I believe that the grounds for conscientious objection should be very narrow (and I\u2019m talking, \u201cprove you\u2019ve a dues-paying member of a church with these established beliefs and have endured unpleasant consequences as a result\u201d narrow), I understand that others wrestle more with how wide the objection should be, and how much power the State should have \u2014 without trying to cast them as \u201canti-vaccine\u201d or \u201canti-science,\u201d or being mystified that they are indeed pro-vaccine.<\/p>\n
And with measles it\u2019s fairly clear that the disease spreads so rapidly that a decision not to vaccinate impacts those you come in contact with. \u00a0But remember chicken pox? \u00a0I remember the vaccine coming out, and the discussion about whether it should be mandatory, or even routine, considering that (this is my memory, perhaps not actual fact) chicken pox prevention would mostly be a convenience for parents who would no longer have to miss work. \u00a0 Should the chicken pox vaccine be mandatory? \u00a0In some states, here in the US, it is, in others, it\u2019s not \u2014 and in the UK (according to an old-ish BBC article<\/a>\u00a0from 2010) isn\u2019t not even a standard part of the vaccination schedule.<\/p>\n And from another article on the Deutsche Welle news site, more recently, from 2013: \u00a0\u201cMeasles rise sparks vaccine debate in Germany<\/a>\u201c:<\/p>\n Measles have has been stamped out in some countries \u2013 but not in Germany. A new wave of infection has rolled through Germany, prompting renewed discussion about compulsory vaccinations. The article explains that Germany does not have compulsory vaccines, nor do the Scandinavian countries, and that (as elsewhere, but to a greater degree) parents began rejecting the vaccine in the 1990s. \u00a0It also quotes their version of Jenny McCarthy:<\/p>\n Michael Friedl, chairman of the Association of Doctors for Individualized Vaccination Decisions, disagrees with compulsory vaccines. Since illness is always an individual process, decisions around it must be left up to the individual, he thinks.\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The alternative practitioner is not generally against measles vaccines, rather is critical of administering them during childhood years. In his opinion, measles \u2013 like other illnesses that prompt high fevers \u2013 serve an important function. For one thing, experiencing such an illness allows children to better understand their bodies. For another, it helps to strengthen the immune system.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u00a0Now, the idea that children should get measles to \u201cunderstand their bodies\u201d is pretty flaky, but, at any rate, the fact that various European countries don\u2019t require these vaccines at any rate indicates that there is a diversity of opinion even among \u201ccivilized people\u201d on what the State should demand, and is food for thought.<\/p>\n Other articles on Deutsche Welle about vaccines: But add these fears [about autism] to the general public distrust of doctors, medicines and pharmaceutical companies \u2013 which is more pronounced in the southern German states of Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg and Bavaria \u2013 together with those who simply forget to bring their child for a follow-up jab and you have a significant number of children who aren\u2019t immunized.\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In Germany, the measles immunization rate is 92 percent \u2013 in Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg it\u2019s even lower at 89 percent. This might sound like a lot, but it is well below the 95 percent goal set by Germany and other European nations to eradicate the disease by 2015.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Oh, and:<\/p>\n \u00a0Whatever the approach, it is possible to eradicate measles.\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The Americas \u2013 both north and south \u2013 succeeded in 2002. But Germany \u2013 one of Europe\u2019s most advanced countries \u2013 still has a long way to go.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Which says that accusations that illegal immigrants brought measles with them are almost certainly misplaced, and it\u2019s more likely it was a tourist.<\/p>\n Aaaand \u2014 that was more than the planned 15 minutes! \u00a0Oh, well \u2014 I learned something new, anyway.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Here\u2019s a thoroughly unsourced comment (sorry, I have only a couple minutes to write): The media is hopping onto the bandwagon the the Republicans are anti-vaccine and the Democrats are the Party of Science. You\u2019ve most likely seen articles complaining that the true anti-vacciners are liberal Democrats: \u00a0Jenny McCarthy, Marin County, and so on. \u00a0Their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[43],"class_list":["post-64","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-vaccinations"],"yoast_head":"\n
. . .
While measles infections are virtually non-existent in the United States, for example, there have been of late from 122 to 2,308 each year in Germany \u2013 some resulting in fatalities. Currently, the virus is spreading primarily in Berlin and Bavaria, with Germany\u2019s Ministry of Health reporting more than 900 cases in the first half of 2013.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
from 2015, \u201cBerlin outbreak blasts hopes of eradicating measles in Germany by 2015<\/a>\u201c
and \u201cEurope is learning to fear Ebola, while refusing to vaccinate against measles<\/a>\u201d which says,<\/p>\n