Ultimatum: Parents told to choose between shots and jail
Tag(s): health • Medical decisions • school • Vaccinations
Last Saturday, hundreds of Maryland schoolchildren lined up with their parents in front of the Prince Georges County courthouse to receive mandatory vaccinations. About 2,300 children in the school district had not received vaccines for chickenpox or hepatitis B, prompting state officials to threaten parents with fines or even jail time if they did not comply.
According to Barbara Loe Fisher, President of the National Vaccine Information Center, terrorizing and threatening parents with jail time is not the way to handle the situation. “Chickenpox is not smallpox and hepatitis B is not polio,” Fisher explains.
The school’s response has also been decried by the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons as a power play that “obliterates informed consent and parental rights.” The AAPS is also concerned that “vaccine round-ups,” like this one, could expose children to a dangerous cocktail of vaccines without first adequately checking their medical history for potentially-harmful side-effects.
The fundamental question isn’t whether vaccination is beneficial or harmful for children, but who should decide: the parents or the state? It is vitally important that parents are provided with access to the information they need to make important decisions, such as whether to vaccinate their children. But giving parents an ultimatum by compelling them to accept shots or face jail time crosses the line.
This really makes me irritated. Who is the government to say what is best for my child? I am glad I don’t live in Maryland.
Nov 20 at 3:43 pm
If only it would stop in Maryland, but IT WILL NOT. The dark clouds are gathering with ever-increasing force. We cannot claim ignorance. A question we should each be asking of ourselves is: What am I doing to alert as many people as possible about the situation (this article, UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, etc.), and about the petition available at parentalrights.org for a constitu-tional amendment?!
Nov 21 at 7:05 am
I think it would be good to place a black male alone with his child on the right side and an oriental woman and white man with a Korean child in the middle as a married couple you seem too pure, and the mixed or extended families will feel they will benefit more from being poor on the governments list than through a pure looking web. It appears untouchable and untainted unlike the real people today and that is fine to symbolize children but maybe even the back of a white male holding a cradled infant on the other side of the web page so people can guess about the race.
Nov 21 at 4:48 pm
It is sick what this school district did, but it *is* illegal. Parents ahve the legal right to decide about vaccinations and the school districts simpy do not. These parents should have taken a copy of the law to the district and informed them that they were treading upon dangerous waters. I fully support the mission of this site, but parents also have to be informed and prepared to stand up and take action themselves!
Nov 21 at 9:45 pm
Forcing parents to give children vaccinations, without medical history present, is a dangerous thing as noted above. A friend was told by the local school district her son needed the chickenpox vaccination to go to Kindergarten. She stated he had the chickenpox, albeit a mild case, when he was just under one year old and his siblings had it. The school told her that her statement was not proof enough and he could not attend without her bringing documented proof from a medical office her son had been vaccinated. She did what they told her. A short time later her son broke out with a rash that was not only itchy but very painful. The doctor told her it was a reaction to the vaccine. Because her son had already had the chickenpox, he broke out with shingles after having the vaccine. SO much for the schools looking out for the wellbeing of our children. That is why we homeschool our children.
Nov 23 at 1:56 am