I live in Rockland County, New York State, USA. Rockland County has the distinction of being the first county in the nation to restrict young individuals’ movements if they do not have the “proper” vaccinations. Children have been barred from schools, sports events, hospitals, malls, restaurants and other public spaces if they have not had the MMR vaccine. Good old Rockland County is also in the prestigious state of New York, which has the honor of being the first state in the nation to remove religious exemptions from vaccines statewide. The bill removing religious exemptions was introduced in a state congressional committee, passed in both state houses, and signed by the state’s governor all in one day, so you know they all put a whole lot of thought into it.
All parents of school aged children here have received letters detailing the vaccinations that are now mandatory to attend public school unless the children have a medical exemption (guess how many doctors are still writing those). A few of the vaccines have not been required before now, so a great many kids will need to get several shots this summer in short succession before September first, and even earlier if they hope to attend summer camp. A whole lot of parents are spending this summer in a medical scramble.
Most of those who are unvaccinated are part of the Orthodox Jewish community. I now hear all sorts of violent things being said about Jews: “Those dirty dogs should go live somewhere else” or “Hold your breath when you pass a Jew in the mall” and the like. Rockland County has also been publishing the public movements of all known measles infected individuals, ruining several businesses and quite a few more lives.
Few people seem to see any problem with this rampant bigotry and blatant violation of civil liberties, especially those of our constitutionally guaranteed freedom of movement and right to practice our chosen religion. The new law also interferes with parental rights, specifically the right to choose what gets put into your child’s body, and in the case of vaccines in the USA this is not only once or twice, but seventy odd times.
Separation of church and state apparently does not apply to the government’s legislating mandated medical treatments. “Put your faith in our science!” they say. “It’s great science, the best science, you don’t need any other science but ours!”
We are mandated by law to put our unquestioning faith in science done by massive corporations that stand to make many millions of dollars every single year in perpetuity if such laws are allowed to stand.
“Believe in our deities, not yours!”
Most discussions about this topic devolve into two opposing arguments: “The vaccines are necessary for good health! If you can't see that, you are lacking!” or “The vaccines are harming our health! If you can't see that, you are lacking!” For me these are not the issue at all. If you are afraid of the infections (let’s please stop calling them diseases, they are not diseases) get the vaccines. If you are not afraid of the infections, or the vaccines violate your faith, don’t.
When it comes to vaccines I am pro-choice.
As New York State has shown, these laws can be passed in one day, before anyone even knows they’ve been introduced in a legislative committee. If you are among the great many who believe that vaccines are either harmful in some way or against your religion’s laws, or if you simply believe that we all have a right to medical freedom, the time to start pushing back is now.
This started out as a freewrite, hence the word "prestigious" and the source of the veiled (I hope) sarcasm, but this wanted to come out instead. I hope it's not too much of a downer!
The image is by my hand of a gift from one of my daughters to my son, a felted Lorax and a truffula tree. I once knew that whole book by heart.