We can all remember getting our vaccinations before school started. The schools maintained a shot record, and we all cringed facing the needle. Every few years would come another round of shots. Though the vaccinations have become controversial in recent years, they go on. In fact, Maryland recently passed a law where parents could be fined or imprisoned if kids don’t have their shots.
Is that going a little too far? Maybe. On certain levels, it seems too Big Brotherish, but the fact is the shots work and they keep children from getting sick or passing illness off to classmates.
A letter on Nov. 1 from the Maryland attorney general informed parents that, without a current shot record, students would be sent home, and if children were not in school, parents could be sentenced to 10 days in jail and fined $50 for each day of absence. On Nov. 17, in Prince George’s County, Md., parents who had been summoned by Circuit Court arrived at the courthouse to get their children vaccinated.
Judge C. Phillips Nichols Jr., who is in charge of juvenile issues, told the New York Times, “I appreciate that we’re out on a limb a little bit, but it’s working really well.”
Maryland’s vaccination law allows exceptions for medical and religious reasons. The former is understandable because mixing medications can cause health problems. The religious exemption is more problematic: Is it right to compromise public health in the name of tolerance?
Anti-vaccination groups inform parents that the only way to keep children from getting shots is to claim a religious exception. These groups claim that vaccinations lead to disabilities such as autism and diabetes because of the use of mercury-based thimerosal.
Charles Frohman, a representative from the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, was at the courthouse and told the Times that people weren’t hearing about the exceptions.
Three days before the courthouse event, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta released a report that was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association saying that death rates for 13 diseases that can be prevented by vaccinations are at an all-time low.
While Maryland’s law may seem draconian, the results of vaccinations to prevent the spread of disease cannot be disputed. There is not enough evidence linking vaccines to a rise in autism and other disabilities. So far, it’s only conjecture.
It’s important for children to receive vaccinations and prevent the spread of disease. At the very least, the measure keeps children in school, keeps them well and keeps classmates and teachers well.
Say what you will about Maryland’s technique; if it gets children immunized against diseases that can sideline them and their classmates, it’s worth it.
Opinion
EDITORIAL: Maryland puts bite into vaccination law
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