I have heard both sides of the debate. Parents not wanting to vaccinate because of the fears of the vaccines or they are health naturalists and don't agree with vaccines, then I hear the reasons why it is so important. I am not too familiar with it. However, I don't see how any vaccine has done me any harm, and if it is for the protection of citizens as a whole...why not vaccinate? But....and here is the big but...if we do not vaccinate for polio...how long has it been since a case of polio has existed? My opinion on prison, this is what worries me about national health care. I like the idea of national healthcare but as a parent, if you don't want something done to your child...can you go to prison? I'd like to see more about this subject. This seems interesting. However, it does tie into a lot of subjects. Lets expand on this.

I totally understand the need for vaccination. I'm having trouble with HPV vaccine. I have heard many awful things about it. I was going to do more research on it, so I could see it for myself ( instead of just going with the rumor mill). One show they were saying this vaccine is only good for approx 4 types of HPV and that there is over 600 types (again, I need to research this and if anyone has any info that would be great) This show also said that if you are vaccinated for HPV and have already been infected you have a greater chance of cancer and some females are dying after they have received the injection while being infected. This study showed that the woment were having like e-boli symptoms (just made me wonder...would this be like DIC??) Sounded scarey, it would make me want to know more before I had my daughter receive this. It didn't talk about the side effects it had on boys, and today I heard they are pushing for that and it should be instated in the next year. Sometimes medicine makes my head POP!

You are right, it is more than just vaccinations, it is more like a saying, if you don't do what I say, I will take your kids, are better yet, I'll put you behind bars. I think if it is a emergency situation, that requires immediate medical attention, that these laws should be implemented, but if a parent, or patient refuse treatment, it is their rights to refuse treatment.

While I'm not sure if fines will be that effective - there definitely should be mandatory vaccinations. After all, if some people in any society refuse vaccination, it affects the public health of all.

cuttie said:

You are right, it is more than just vaccinations, it is more like a saying, if you don't do what I say, I will take your kids, are better yet, I'll put you behind bars. I think if it is a emergency situation, that requires immediate medical attention, that these laws should be implemented, but if a parent, or patient refuse treatment, it is their rights to refuse treatment.

while I understand there are side effect to most any vaccination or medication, usually these side effects are less than the actual disease being fought. anyone questioning the polio vaccination should go back and read the history of the March of Dimes and the development of the vaccine. Children in underdeveloped countries without vaccinations suffer from polio. I saw a news article a few weeks ago about a family in Iraq whose children were victims of polio. They had 3 children, two needed wheelchairs and 1 had not yet been diagnosed but the parents had little hope that he would also wind up crippled by Polio.

I believe in free will, I believe in raising your own children. But refusal of proven vaccinations is pretty much neglect in my book.

The real issue to remember when deciding on whether or not to accept certain vaccinations is to look at the risks vs the benefits. While vaccinations do have documented risks, the benefits far outweigh them. Smallpox has been eradicated from the world because of vaccination.

I don't beleive all vaccinations should be mandatory: HPV and Hep B among them. But we are seeing a resurgence of measles, rubella, and whooping cough because parents are not vaccinating their kids. The government does have a right to overrule individual rights in the interest of public health. The Supreme Court has ruled that parents rights to refuse treatment end when treatment is life saving. I count vaccination life saving: child mortality in this country is far less because of vaccines.

http://au.todaytonight.yahoo.com/article/43654/health/gardasil-effects-controversy

We are having problems in this country, it is not polio, or anything that you can cure with a vaccination. STD's are at it highest in our youth. Do we implement a law that will allow parents to know when there teenager has a STD, are when they visit a doctor. If teenager has rights to confidentuality, when the spread of STD's are at highest, should the goverment step in on this issue, apparently, the right to confidentuality on receiving medical treatment is not working for our youth.

I agree almost completely with theala, however Hep B, which I think is just as if not more dangerous than HIV should remain as mandatory, I'm also leaning towards HPV as mandatory. After doing a few liver transplants because of Hepatitis, you might think differently too. As far as HPV, we don't know what the long term affects can be yet, but I'm not sure I'm anxious to find out and then take steps to fix it.

I'm typically of the notion that the government should STAY OUT of parenting... we already live in an overly litigious society and our jails/prisons are already overcrowded with non-violent offenders of all sorts. Of course, children should be vaccinated, but I think that if parents are not vaccinating their own kids, it is a symptom of larger problems; stemming from poverty or negligence (or a combination of the two).

Vaccinations can be mandatory (I'm especially inclined to support HPV vaccinations for teenage girls), but PRISON?! That seems a little harsh.

margaritka: I agree with you 100% on both of your posts

now add this to the list

CDC: Measles cases in US top 70, highest in 6 years
By MIKE STOBBE, AP

Thu May 1, 4:36 PM EDT

Measles outbreaks in several states have led to more than 70 cases so far this year, the worst in six years, health officials said Thursday.

Most of the cases have been traced to outbreaks overseas and are mainly in children who were not vaccinated for religious or other reasons or were too young, according to the Centers for Disease control and Prevention. Since measles vaccinations began in the early 1960s, cases have dramatically declined in the U.S.

So far this year, the CDC has confirmed reports of 64 cases in nine states. There were no deaths, but 14 people were hospitalized, said CDC spokesman Curtis Allen.

That count doesn't include Washington state, where eight cases were reported this week. Those cases stemmed from an international church conference in suburban Seattle in March, according to the state health department.

Measles is caused by a virus that normally grows in cells that line the back of the throat and line the lungs. It spreads through contact with a sneezing, coughing, infected person.

Symptoms include rash, high fever, cough, runny nose, and red, watery eyes. But about 1 in 5 measles sufferers experience more severe illness that can include diarrhea, ear infections, pneumonia, encephalitis and even seizures and death.

Of the 64 cases reported to the CDC as of last week, 63 were unvaccinated or it wasn't known if they were vaccinated. At least 54 of the cases stemmed from outbreaks in Switzerland, Israel or other countries, Allen said.

Thirteen of the U.S. cases were children younger than 1; children usually don't get their first measles shot until they're at least 1 because their immune systems are considered too immature to produce the needed response.

Such children can easily pick up infections from those around them, said Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of Vanderbilt University's department of preventive medicine.

"We have a responsibility not only to ourselves but to everyone around us" to get recommended vaccinations, he said.

The largest concentration has been in New York City, with 22 cases. Arizona has had 15, California, 12, and Michigan and Wisconsin have each had four. Hawaii, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Virginia and upstate New York also reported cases.

It's the largest number of cases since 2001 when 116 cases were reported, according to CDC records. Officials expect this year's tally to keep climbing past that mark, said Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.

The worst year for measles was 1958, according to modern public health records. More than 763,000 cases were reported that year, including 552 deaths. Outbreaks in the early 1990s led to a revision of vaccination guidelines to include children younger than school age.

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