Judge orders parents to vaccinate their children or go to jail
While I don’t believe parents should be forced to vaccinate their children, there has to be some sort of incentive for parents who are vaccinating their children. It is entirely unfair that parents RELY on other parents to do the right thing and create a barrier of protection for their own children. I support giving parents who vaccinate their children tax incentives.
Non-vaccinated children would probably pose a greater risk in public places like areas of transportation, where newborns could be exposed, rather than schools, however, if everybody stops vaccinating, we could have widespread disease and fatal illnesses emerge.
UPPER MARLBORO, Maryland (CNN) — A crowd of frustrated parents gathered on a chilly Saturday morning outside Prince George’s County Circuit Court to comply with an order from the school system to have their children vaccinated — or else.
Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Glenn Ivey, whose office began the effort, was at the courthouse to answer questions.
Judge C. Philip Nichols, who signed the letters threatening parents with jail or fines, said he felt the tactic worked.
“We got a thousand kids back in school just by sending one letter,” he said.
Nichols ordered parents to come to court Saturday to either immunize the children on the spot, or to provide proof that they already had their shots, according to The Associated Press.
Information from: http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/11/17/marylan...
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1. Kevin
November 18, 2007 @ 11:21 am
I have to say - GOOD for the school district on this one. It’s about time schools and the government play hardball and stop putting OTHER children at risk because uneducated parents read some tidbit in a chain email about how vaccines can potentially, maybe, but has never been proven, harm their kids. The fact is that these vaccines have been used on a global scale to prevent disease in hundreds of millions of people. For the one bad reaction per million that happens (and even then, the reaction usually is less harmful to the child than the disease is prevents), parents need to roll that die and play the game. My view: If your kid doesn’t have proof of vaccination on the first day of school, they are not allowed to attend a single day of public school until they are vaccinated. You’re welcome to home-school your child or send them to a private school that shares your beliefs - but stop putting my kids at risk because you’re IGNORANT, you stupid homeopathic remedy pushing neo-hippie parents.
2. mary
November 18, 2007 @ 1:33 pm
Actually, you are the stupid parent. If my child is not vaccinated, he is the one at risk, not yours, providing yours is vaccinated
3. shot in the dark
November 18, 2007 @ 2:06 pm
Yes, Mary, fortunately for you a little thing called “herd immunity” gives you the luxury of practicing pseudo-science and the ability to skip vaccines with little risk. But as your “anti-vax” movement grows, one day — oops! — society will dip below the immunity threshold percentage and you will be directly culpable for re-introducing horrible diseases back into our country.
Thanks for that.
4. MT
November 18, 2007 @ 3:30 pm
Herd immunity won’t necessarily protect their children. If they are around immigrants who are not vaccinated or they travel out of country, they could easily contract diseases and spread them to other non-vaccinated people. The problem is, if their child becomes a carrier, they could potentially risk the life of an infant who hasn’t yet had the opporunity to get vaccinated yet.
Non vaccinated persons also pose a risk to premature infants, who have to get vaccinations before their little bodies are ready, in order to save themselves from non-vaccinated children and people. It’s the truth. Preemies should be the ones that should be afforded the opportunity to wait until they are of normal gestational age, but the truth is, it’s too risky. There are too many carriers out there and if a child isn’t vaccinated, and they come in contact with an immigrant coming from a country where these diseases have not been eradicated — they are going to experience the consequences of misinformation and conclusions based on junk science.
5. DG Baird
November 18, 2007 @ 11:51 pm
Mary, this happened in Nigeria over polio vaccinations where unfounded rumours were spread, religion/politics got involved, and parents wanted choice. One polio outbreak and few hundred paralysed kids later changed their attitudes. Even in the US kids die from preventable communicable diseases. It is the height of selfishness to deny your kids vaccinations because of your petulant attitude. I don’t want to and you cant make me so there. This is the 21st century, grow up, get your kids vaccinated and stfu.
6. Ayden
February 2, 2008 @ 12:55 pm
First of all, how could your non-vaccinated child be a danger to the vaccinated child? If the vaccines are effective, then the baby should be protected. Actually, it’s the vaccinated children who spread disease. Many of the disease outbreaks that we are warned about today, are caused by, and occur in, recently vaccinated children.
A non-vaccinated child cannot put vaccinated children at risk if the vaccines are effective. In fact, it is the vaccinated children who expose other children to increased risk. This has been confirmed again and again in outbreaks where a majority of the affected children were recently vaccinated.
Recently vaccinated children do carry the disease germ and are able to spread it to other children. Many so-called epidemics are initiated and spread in this manner, even though the unvaccinated are blamed. On the other hand, a passive immunity to the disease may also be gained in this manner. In fact, some “authorities” argue that parents who do not vaccinate their children reap the benefits without taking the risks — a curious argument since they also argue that such parents are irresponsible by unnecessarily exposing their children to greater risk by choosing not to vaccinate.
Parents must educate themselves prior to making a decision regarding vaccines so that they may sleep comfortably at night.
7. Sarah
April 12, 2008 @ 4:55 pm
This is to KEVIN, the JACKASS at the top.
how the hell is MY kid putting YOUR damn kids at risk by not being vaccinated?!?!
What, you think he’s walking around with measles, mumps, polio and chickenpox all in his system, just waiting to jump out and “get” YOUR kids just because he’s not vaccinated?!
What a jackass. I can’t believe there’s people that stupid and uninformed actually walking around among us. Scary.
8. jj
August 10, 2008 @ 1:57 am
You know what the great thing about this country is.. Freedom of speech, you can say what you feel! There is another great thing about this country though, the First Amendment. It protects you and me! Thats is truely the greatest thing about America. So I suggest you shout it from your roof tops. Its not going to change a thing, we have the right to immunize or not. If you don’t like it move! Its our freedoms, as well as yours.
9. nr
December 5, 2008 @ 11:46 am
By not vaccinating your children you are going to allow these diseases back into our society, killing infants and young children, who are most at risk. To not vaccinate your child is a selfish uneducated immoral decision, and I think these parents should go to jail for putting our society at risk based on their “I know more than doctors” logic. Forgive me, But uneducated housewives should not be able to make these decisions, and the government needs to make the decision for them.
10. Killkinny Raymond
February 14, 2009 @ 1:12 am
If the risk to the unfortunate child of a parent who refuses to vaccinate their child was not enough to compel us to act as a society (and it is more than enough), it is critical to understand that vaccines do not provide 100% protection for the recipient. A significant portion of the health benefit to a population is derived from the prevalence of vaccination. This is known as the “herd immunity” effect. Basically, if a significant number of people are not immunized through vaccination, the pathogen (germ) is allowed a number of hosts to propagate and multiply in. This not only increases the frequency of exposure to the pathogen, but also the pathogen concentration at the point of exposure (after exposure to a pathogen, an unvaccinated person may expel millions of times the number of germs as a vaccinated person). This substantially increases the risk of disease even to those who have been vaccinated http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26291109/ . In short, the growing legions of un-immunized children are providing an easily accessible breeding ground for life threatening diseases to incubate and spread to other children. This point cannot be overstated; no one’s religious or personal preference extends to endangering the lives of other people’s children. This is no more acceptable than allowing Typhoid Mary to work in a school cafeteria.