I’ve been lurking. Great thread. Thought I’d let any Texans here know that they can search vaccination rates in ISDs and private schools here.
http://www.texastribune.org/2015/02/05/school-vaccine-exemptions-high-pockets-texas/
I won’t be visiting my neighborhood Waldorf School anytime soon.
I think if you allow a religious exemption you must also allow a personal belief exemption. The state cannot be in the business of judging which beliefs are legitimate for which religion, and who is legitimately a member of that religion. I would favor no exemption.
I fail to see the difference between these two exemptions. It’s a law that changes nothing.
^^ That would be another way to pressure the anti-vaxers, indirectly. If I refuse to send my child to @surfcity 's theater camp, then @surfcity might well decide to require vaccinations, which would in turn push anti-vax parents to vaccinate.
For those who like a little comedy:
“In a new move to combat measles in North America, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) have started opening up vaccination clinics in the types of places where children without vaccines are most likely to be found”
At an impromptu press conference outside a Whole Foods, MSF worked Dr. Miles Rubenfeld looked relaxed when questioned on the latest outbreak: “This new strategy is a wonderful change of pace,” said Dr Rubenfeld, sipping a wheatgrass smoothie, “When combating Ebola in West Africa, we targeted the poorest neighbourhoods, as people lacking economic resources were most at risk. Fortunately, in this case, the people most at risk of measles are the children of white folk musicians who went to liberal arts colleges like Oberlin. It feels good to be back on the old campus again.”"
I agree, but the state is already doing this. Self-employed Amish have a religious exemption from Social Security withholding.
Link please?
First of all, the CDC claimed that measles had been “eliminated” within the US, and defined this as “interruption of year-round endemic measles transmission.” This means that they were able to determine that any measles cases which occurred were IMPORTED from outside of the US. They can determine this by examining the genotypes of measles cases.
More satire…
http://www.clickhole.com/blogpost/my-doctor-told-me-i-should-vaccinate-my-children-t-653
“I can know with complete certainty that Science is right when states exposure to UV rays leads to an increase in skin cancer…and STILL go to the tanning booth, I just happened to accept the consequences.”
I wish there were higher health premiums for you and your (hypothetical) tanning booth habit, too, while we’re at it.
But for the zillionth time, your tanning booth habit doesn’t make ME get skin cancer, but your anti-vax status may very well hurt me insofar as it promotes the spread of diseases I can’t get vaxed for.
Which is why anti-vaxxers are so stupid - if they had any brains whatsoever, they’d shut up and free-ride on the strength of everyone else vaxing and the resultant herd immunity. They aren’t even bright enough to figure out how to free-ride properly.
A tweet by Nigerian satirist Elnathan John:
“Our thoughts are also with the measles-ravaged country America. I hope we are screening them before they come to Africa.”
Do you really honestly not understand the difference between doing something harmful to yourself which harms only YOU, versus doing something harmful to yourself which also harms OTHERS?
First off, yes it is hypothetical. Frankly, I’m a bit vampirish when it comes to keeping out of the tanning arena ;). And, yes, I think the insurance premiums should be higher.
However, the point I was addressing is the fact someone can be of a religious nature AND ‘believe’ in science. (addressing Cardinal Fangs comment about believing in fairies) However, while one can believe in Science on can still choose for religious reasons not to participate in certain things Science has proven to be true…(hence the IVF, blood transfusion examples).
…Please refer to my response to Pizzagirl directly above.
Geez people, is it that much fun to intentionally NOT get the point … or is it just that much fun to immediately argue the contrary when one sees a particular posters name? For the record…I’d be happy to chase the un-vaxed down the isles of WF and the Prius dealership with a with spring loaded hypodermic plastic (BPA free of course!!!) pistol and vax them myself. Good grief.
The vast majority of religious people get vaccinated. However, the people who obtain a religious exemption to vaccination are not vaccinating because they believe their religion says they shouldn’t get vaccinated; they believe their god says they shouldn’t get vaccinated. And I don’t think we ought to pay attention to what they imagine their god is telling them, any more than we should pay attention to the believers in anti-vax pseudo-science.
Many vaccines require animal testing. Many vaccines contain animal components. So I wonder how many personal exemptions are based on a vegan/vegetarian religious belief?
Are there any studies which have looked into the autism rates in non-vaxed children or communities? That should help put the matter to rest.
I have not seen anywhere a list of religions that prohibit vaccination. I have read about the Amish. Other than Christian Scientists are there any other mainstream religions that specifically address this?
@HarvestMoon1 :
[6 Dangerous Anti-Vaccination Arguments Analyzed, Explained, And Shut Down](6 Dangerous Anti-Vaccination Arguments Analyzed, Explained, And Shut Down | HuffPost Impact)
The link to the APA list is in the piece.
The problem is that you can show people 100 scientific studies that show that, but some of them won’t believe it anyway. I know 2 people who are convinced that vaccines triggered autism in their children… and there is nothing I can do to change their minds. 
I don’t agree with them, but they are 100% certain and just say that they don’t trust doctors to know the truth.
An interesting article from the Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine in 2008 foreshadowing our current debate:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2553651/
Of note,
But why would they not study the rate of autism in non-vaxed children? If should be similar or the same. On the other hand if they could not find one non-vaxed child with autism then they would have to look deeper.