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.
