We have a good idea about how anti-vaccine folks are educating legislators about vaccines.
They mostly bombard them with the same misinformation about vaccines that they use to scare parents.
Educating Legislators About Vaccines – Anti-Vax Edition
Tragically, some of these legislators fall for it and go so far as to propose bills that would weaken existing vaccine laws.
Fortunately, most know what they are seeing when they are presented with the same anti-vaccine talking points that have been refuted a thousand times already.
Are unvaccinated kids be discriminated against?
While some parents are making the choice to intentionally not vaccinate their kids, even though they have no medical contraindications to being vaccinated, it is important to remember that this is their choice. A choice that not only puts their own children at risk to get a vaccine preventable disease, but can put us all at risk.
“For its part, Catholic social teaching entails a duty to vaccinate in order to protect the vulnerable.”
Paul J. Carson on Catholic Social Teaching and the Duty to Vaccinate
And as no major religions are against vaccines and these are not kids with medical contraindications, it should be clear that this issue is not about discrimination, segregation, or medically fragile kids. It is about parents who don’t want to vaccinate and protect their kids, often because they have been scared into thinking that the risks of vaccines are greater than the risks of the diseases they prevent.
As there are actually few true medical contraindications to getting vaccinated and again, no major religions are against vaccines, a rate of 3 to 4% for medical and religious exemptions is very high!
Unfortunately, more and more often, we are seeing evidence that medical and religious exemptions are being abused. And that’s what has lead to the need for stronger vaccine laws.
Health care providers are well educated about vaccines, vaccine preventable diseases, vaccine reactions, and vaccine injuries.
What they are often missing is education about all of the so-called vaccine induced diseases and other things that get blamed on vaccines, from autism and eczema to diabetes and strabismus.
The only lack of education is on countering vaccine hesitancy, which is why many get frustrated and stop seeing the most vocal anti-vaccine parents.
VAERS is a common go-to argument for folks who are against vaccines.
While they quick to misuse the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care report and point out the limitations of VAERS, like that it is a passive reporting system, they leave out the simple fact that VAERS works! Through VAERS, we quickly detected the extra intussusception cases associated with the first rotavirus vaccine!
Most importantly, everyone should know that VAERS isn’t the only vaccine safety system we use. Several other post-licensure vaccine safety systems at the CDC and FDA monitor for safety issues, including the Vaccine Safety Datalink, and the Clinical Immunization Safety Assessment (CISA) Project, in addition to other global vaccine safety systems.
These post-licensure vaccine safety systems are in addition to all of the work that is done before any vaccine is approved by the FDA and then added to the immunization schedule by the ACIP.
Unbelievably, none of the issues put forth by the Health Freedom Nevada organization are true, which really makes you wonder how they can get away with talking about informed consent.
Vaccines are safe, with few risks, and are obviously necessary.
Don’t let your legislators be mislead by any of the misinformation about vaccines from this Health Freedom organization.
More on Educating Legislators About Vaccines
- New Vaccine Bills and Laws in 2020
- Answers To Frequently Asked Questions About Immunizations
- What Are the Pro and Con Arguments for Vaccines?
- Ask 8 Questions Before You Skip a Vaccine
- More Questions to Help You Become a Vaccine Skeptic
- Anti-Vax Debate Techniques
- Show Me the Vaccine Insert!
- 100 Myths About Vaccines
- Ask 8 Questions Before You Skip a Vaccine
- King Meets with Kennedy; while Kennedy Meets with Holley
- Immunize Nevada Vaccine Advocates
Last Updated on March 1, 2020