![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
"The problem with PBEs [Personal Belief Exemptions], of course, is that they can be abused, and, when antivaccine misinformation spreads, provide a mechanism by which vaccination rates plummet, leading to local populations with low vaccination rates. That’s exactly what happened in California and is happening in Texas now, so much so that I not-infrequently say that when the next big US measles outbreaks happen, they’ll probably happen in Texas. In California before SB 277, for instance, although statewide the percentage of children with parents claiming the personal belief exemption remained low, there were schools where exemption rates climbed as high as 58% (one kindergarten reported a 76% exemption rate) serving as incubators for outbreaks of measles and other contagious diseases. After all, unvaccinated children have a 23-fold higher risk of contracting pertussis and a 35-fold higher risk of contracting measles than vaccinated children. Unfortunately, non-vaccinating populations tend to cluster, and their refusal of vaccines leads to there being areas with large pockets of unvaccinated children, ripe for outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases." -- David Gorski, "The long, strange road to passing SB 276 appears to be near its end…finally," Science-Based Medicine [thanks to ![[info]](https://stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
realinterrobangfor quoting this earlier]
[ see also: what's been happening in Samoa, population 195,000 -- 4,800 infected (~2.5%) -- 70 dead so far (mostly children)]
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
Hmmm. Is that so?
This bothers me because it seems like a dodge of the hard question here: if a whole lot of parents develop the sincere personal conviction that vaccination is wrong/bad - whether that's because they believe it's dangerous or whether because a new religious faith sweeps the land that teaches their god hates vaccines - is that okay then? Just because the belief is sincere? And does it not ick anyone else out that we're discussing something of government policy and law in terms of evaluating whether people are really sincere in their religious (or philosophical) beliefs? Like is there ever a time when the state is in the business of evaluating the sincerity of citizen's convictions that that's a good thing?
And I say this as someone well aware that studies of this phenomena have turned up that many parents have used the PBE for no more reason than it was faster and easier than getting their kids in for a shot, which is pretty much as insincere as a belief can be. Just: precedents, you know?
(no subject)
Once again, that's almost looking at the wrong scale: state and city health departments should be offering vaccine clinics at more times of day, and/or the vaccines should be offered through the schools. Not "go away until you can come back with proof of vaccination" but "oh, your child needs the MMR vaccine, please come into this office."
I also don't think sincere belief is a good enough reason to not have children vaccinated, especially since it's usually the parent's belief, not the child's. (I don't think most small children *have* an opinion on vaccines that goes beyond "that's no fun.") Adults can take their own chances, as well as making, or not making, our own dental appointments.