Vaccine Politics
Many politicians are endorsing vaccinations today. Great! However, after some Republican hedging their Congressional majority will again be coming up short of actual legislating; Congressman Boener (R-OH) said "I don't know that we need another law." (Seems a funny thing to say from someone whose job it is to pass laws.) Reason is again the captive of the ideologue; is this the new Republican way? The objection on the Right to mandatory vaccination stems from favoring the 'right' of a parent over that of a child. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) comments that "The state doesn't own your children. Parents own the children."
The child citizen should not be regarded as the property of anyone. Everyone is the sole owner of themselves. No one can be the property of another. Parents have a special role, one not of ownership but stewardship. The responsibilities belong to the parent, for the rights afforded to the child. That is the social contract of parenthood. But the state, too, has a responsibility to protect its citizens, even and especially those under the age of maturity. If you don’t vaccinate your child, you are being a poor steward. If you are negligent in the stewardship of your child, the state will intervene. In extreme cases of negligence, the state regularly removes children from parents. Surely Senator Paul accepts that legal principle, right?
At what point does the reckless inaction of anti-vaccination proponents reach the threshold of negligence? Who can fault the state for guaranteeing its child citizens protection of their health? The state is negligent in the defense of its citizen’s most basic right to life while very simple, affordable provisions to preserve them are so readily available.
Again the GOP majority in Congress is held hostage by its lunatic fringe. Pass a law. Eliminate the philosophical exemption from vaccination.
Religious objections will probably have to be accommodated, since this Supreme Court of Hobby Lobby fame – excluding statutory health requirements for employers based religious protestations – may have trouble upholding a law offering religious objectors no constitutional exemption from mandatory vaccination.
Soon to follow will be the slippery slope argument regarding HPV vaccine. Both the immoderate Left and Right will ask "If the state can require the Measels vaccine why not the HPV vaccine?" Get Nikki Haley and Michelle Bachman on the line.