GET YOUR CHILD VACCINATED

The fact that I have to waste my time to write this blog is downright idiotic. No, not because I'm against the blogging project, Mrs. Hake, but the fact that vaccination has become such an issue that I am now compelled to write an entire blog over why parents should get their children vaccinated. The science behind vaccinations is clear: they are safe. The study that linked them to autism in the 90s has been debunked several times over, yet parents still cling to the outdated notion that vaccinating their child will result in a terrible mental illness. The anti-vaccination movement, which is particularly strong in California, is small, well funded, and clustered. This gives the group a political platform that makes them seem like they are much more than 3-8% of the population. By using personal belief clauses in state legislature, parents are able to opt their children out of vaccinations, even without holding a genuine religious belief against vaccines. Parents of vaccinated children have realized that unvaccinated are dangerous to their own kids, and they have petitioned to California State Legislature to end the personal belief exemption.

Vaccinations have become a victim of their own success. We rarely see disease like measles, whooping cough, or polio, because of the miracle of modern medicine that is vaccines. However, because parents do not see the disease around them, they do not think it poses an actual threat to the health of their children. In fact, in some states, such as California and Colorado, the vaccination rate is lower than many third world countries. Why? It is because only one generation ago in many of these third world countries disease such us measles and polio were very common and parents still remember the devastation of these terrible maladies. Furthermore, we as the people of the United States must realize that this is not an issue caused solely by conservative Christians who refuse to vaccinate their child due to religious beliefs, nor is it solely an issue of liberal conspiracy theorists. Too often I have seen this issue classified into one of the above categories, when it is really an equal combination. (See chart). I leave you with this statement on behalf of exasperated pediatricians: "Vaccinate your child!"

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2015/04/california_anti_vaccine_movement_politics_wealth_bob_sears_and_robert_f.html