The discussion about vaccine exemptions is heating up, with Oregon Senate Bill 442 igniting debate over the fine line between individual liberty and collective safety. (See some of the proposed amendments here).
It’s even attracted attention from environmental activist, author, and attorney Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who will be in Salem today holding a private screening of the documentary Trace Amounts (watch the trailer below) and talking to senators. No big deal.
We’re delving deeper into this issue, and how it affects Central Oregonians. To that end, we want to hear from you. Take our poll and then feel free to expand on your thoughts in the comments, or by sending your thoughts directly to Associate Editor Erin Rook (yup, that’s me) for possible inclusion in future coverage. We may regret this later, but until then: open the flood gates.
(Note: We shouldn’t have to remind you, but keep it civil folks. Don’t make us monitor your comments for nastiness or personal attacks. Also, we’re primarily interested in thoughts about the bill, not whether vaccines are linked to autism.)
This article appears in Mar 4-11, 2015.
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This issue is very scary to me. I have been fighting Lyme Disease for 10 years. I have not found many Oregon Doctors who understand Lyme. I have had to travel to Connecticut to be treated. Oregon Doctors do not think Lyme is big deal. I was told when I was pregnant with my 6 year old that there was no chance of transmission to my baby. I knew that was wrong but my Doctor would not believe me. She did apologize when the CDC changed there website 2 weeks before my Daughters birth admitting that I could give it to her. Thank God I knew that and I went above my Doctor and treated myself properly. She tested negative at birth. There will always be a chance she could have dormant Lyme in her. I have been told by 2 different Doctors who understand Lyme Disease to not vaccinate my daughter. These are not Oregon Doctors. I can not find an Oregon Doctor who agrees with the other Doctors that I trust. My out of state recommendation is not going to work for this mandate. That is not right. Have you seen the video where Senator Elizabeth Steiner Hayward defends her right to make an educated decision even though her Doctor did not agree. I have exerts who agree with me too. I would like the same rights that Senator Elizabeth Steiner Hayward got.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMHk5aryn30&feature=youtu.be
Informed consent is the cornerstone of our medical system. Without it we do not remain a free country. This bill wants to take our human and constitutional rights away. There are so many cons here–so many negative downsides–i believe as citizens we have rights and making parental informed decisions is crucial.
I strongly oppose this legislation. First on “general grounds”, it violates basic human medical freedoms for the right to informed consent and the right to refuse treatment which are internationally protected by many laws and which courts in the US have found are also protected by our constitution. Secondly on it’s willingness to punish innocent children when it doesn’t even have common sense as a bill. Kids do not exist in a bubble and are not going to stop being exposed to the unvaccinated everywhere else BUT school. Parents who don’t vaccinate are absolutely not going to start lining up for vaccines because the state of Oregon puts an economic gun to their head. Parents who are on a delayed schedule that is more like what the rest of the world recommends (US recommends twice as many doses of vaccines as the rest of the first world) are not going to force more doses of risk than are necessary. Meanwhile many children will lose critical special needs services they cannot get at home (IEP students w/disabilities) and others will be thrust into poverty by this legislation (children of single parents and children whose households require both parents income). The right to a Free and Appropriate Public Education (a FAPE) is supposedly federally guaranteed and should be considered as sacrosanct as the right to refuse treatment. There is no proof that this kind of law improves public health, in fact in MI where they only have medical exemptions and the vaccine uptake rate is sky high, is pretty much the bottom in the United States for infant and child deaths and illnesses. And in WV where there are also medical only exemptions people opt out and home school and the vaccine rates are LOWER than they were before the bill, significantly lower than the national average! Freedom cannot be obtained from tyranny, neither can health.
There is an issue here with a perceived “emergency” when there is no such thing. The one ADULT who contracted measles in Oregon from the Disney “outbreak” has fully recovered. The Disney measles spread started with an Adult. I don’t get where we have to even TALK of mandates for children when it was adults who spread the disease. There are more issues than that: the money from the pharmaceutical companies given to politicians who would vote for the bill, the questionable safety (oral polio), efficacy (mumps), and need (chicken pox/flu) of the vaccines that would be mandated, the issue of informed consent being removed for a medical procedure that carries risk (encephalitis, seizure, fever). If the people of this great country would actually READ the information out there from trusted sources (VAERS, CDC, vaccine inserts), they would see what I see: a real chance to harm a perfectly healthy kid with an injection of a synthetic substance. I am a biologist. I am also a veterinary technician, an herbalist, and a mother. I know vaccines. Yes, vaccines work great for the population of animals however, there ARE risks in the individuals. I injected a perfectly healthy black lab with Merck’s Rabies vaccine and it was dead within 12 hours. When cats were dying of cancer, they didn’t change the vaccine, they changed the location of the shot so they could remove a leg if it got cancerous. We removed cats’ legs (the lucky ones) because of VACCINE-RELATED Fibrosarcoma. I can’t tell you how many animals I saw seizure from the Leptospirosis vaccine, so they decided to vaccinate only if the lifestyle required it (hunting dogs). But these are dogs, animals. I feel EVERY child is an individual and are individually important to society. I do not feel a child with a terminal illness should be placed above a child with a healthy immune system. There should be no martyrs in our society of children – no child should HAVE to be vaccinated for the safety of another while risking their own safety. Instead of removing options (Tetanus only vaccine was discontinued in 2014), there should be MORE options to vaccinate. We are not a cookie-cutter people and our vaccine choices should reflect that. There is a great experiment happening right now with the newly approved meningitis vaccine to the students of the U of O. If MY kid were in that college, I’d get them out of the dorm or encourage a semester off instead of encouraging them to be a test subject for the CDC. There ARE things other than vaccination that will keep us healthy: food choices, lifestyle choices,habits to break. I feel that NATURE knows more than we do. There is new research in using VIRUSES to cure cancer – how amazing!! Science is EVER-CHANGING… it is not stagnant and it is not finished in the case of vaccines. Its only just begun.
It’s unfortunate that there appears to be a lot of misunderstanding about this bill. Even the poll response “Parents should be able to decide what vaccines they give their children.” frames the issue inaccurately. This bill is about eliminating personal exemptions for childhood vaccines *as a condition of enrollment in school or daycare facilities*. Should it pass, parents could still opt out, but by virtue of refusing to comply with the vaccine schedule required for admission, they will not be able to take advantage of public schools or childcare. That is still a choice.
There is no constitutional argument here. Access to public spaces often requires compliance with public health directives. If you disagree, take it up with every convenience store that ever posted a ‘no shirt, no shoes, no service’ sign. Freedom of choice does not mean freedom of consequence from that choice.
Finally, if you are making an argument form ‘informed consent’ (also invalid, as the bill does not propose to administer medical treatment without consent), make sure your information is from reliable sources.
I completely support this bill. As a parent in Oregon who fully vaccinates my children, I find it truly unfair that parents who are choosing not to vaccinate are using my vaccinated children as a shield to protect their children. If everyone chose to make the choice these parents are making, we’d be back to pre-measles vaccine rates of more than 2 million children dying annually from measles. If it’s not ok for everyone to make that decision, why is it ok for you? The only reason we don’t have an epidemic on our hands is because the rest of us are vaccinating.
This bill does not force parents to vaccinate, but it does make it very inconvenient for them – they will need to find another way to educate their children. I think that inconvenience is necessary to prevent Oregon’s immunization rates from sliding into an even more dangerous place. If reason and logic isn’t convincing enough people to do the right thing, we need the government to step in and help protect those in the community who are most vulnerable. Oregon is a very friendly state for homeschoolers, and that is always an option for those who choose to take advantage of herd immunity without contributing to it. These parents might not like that option, but that’s ok with me. I don’t like the choices they’re making that put vulnerable people at risk.
Our country was founded on the idea of religious and civil freedom. In my opinion, SB 442 infringes on the rights of the people of Oregon to make informed choices about their medical treatment. We need to balance the rights of citizens of this state with the right of the Legislature to protect the health of its citizens.
This is not a debate about the merits of vaccines, the harm vaccines may cause in a subset of vulnerable children, or whether or not the current CDC schedule is really in the best interests of our children’s health. It is a debate about freedom and parental choice.
The only two versions of the MMR vaccine available today contain human diploid lung fibroblasts, which are cells that were grown from aborted fetal tissue. Religious parents who do not want to inject their children with aborted fetal tissue cells should have the right to forgo these vaccines. Three of the polio vaccines currently on the market contain cells grown from African green monkeys. Parents opposed to animal cruelty, those who are vegan, and those who do not want the cells of other animals injected into their children should have the right to forgo these vaccines.
Children today receive 69 doses of vaccines for 16 different viral and bacterial illnesses which more than doubles the government childhood schedule of 34 doses of 11 different vaccines in the year 2000. A vaccine exemption is filed regardless of whether the exemption is filed for one dose or all doses. 35 doses and 5 more unique vaccines have been added to the schedule in the last 15 years. Those supporting forced vaccination are being dishonest by not acknowledging the exploding vaccine schedule while sounding alarms over small increases in overall non-medical exemptions.
There are hundreds of new vaccines in development including some of the following in clinical trials: HIV, herpes, E. coli, dengue fever, avian influenza, smallpox, tuberculosis, typhoid, norovirus, cholera, smoking cessation, syphilis, and gonorrhea. If vaccine manufactures and others who profit from forced vaccination convince legislators take away our right to delay or decline a vaccine now, what will our future look like?
I understand that SB 442 was introduced because legislators “assume” that families are not watching the mandated video that describes all of the risks of opting out of vaccinations for their children. I also understand that legislators want to protect children’s health, and eliminate their exposure to potentially life-threatening diseases. What our legislators have not considered is just HOW INFORMED WE REALLY ARE about this issue! Oregon has a moderate political climate and issues and problems can be worked out without having to strip parents of their civil liberties! Our citizens are very informed. Shame on our legislature to think otherwise!
My child is fully vaccinated and I believe in vaccines as essential to public health and herd immunities. However, this bill will also effect small private schools. I am fortunate enough to have chosen to enroll in a small, local private school. In that regard, I chose my “herd” and it’s immunity or lack thereof. Our doors could quite conceivably close if this bill does what it proposes – remove ALL philosophical exemptions and limit medical exemptions to an undefined list of approved medical indicators. It also disallows enrollment in any school if you have chosen to delay or reduce the mandated vaccine schedule. It’s too far reaching. There are better ways to educate and even require vaccinations for public health. The issue is not that non-vaccinating families are using other children as a shield; in fact, most anti-vaccination parents don’t want you to vaccinate your child, either. This is a punitive measure for parents and children who want to make adjusted decisions on vaccination, based on private information and discussion with their physician. Too far, too fast, with too little public input.
MOMSENSE spewing non-sense. Let’s look at the facts MOMSENSE and I will reference them for you since you have probably never bothered to look for yourself. Let’s start with measles since this has been the catalyst of media fear mongering and misinformed people such as yourself. The measles vaccine was licensed and introduced in the US in 1963. Prior to the vaccine introduction measles had plummeted. The official number of deaths recorded in 1960 was 380 with a population of 180,671,000. This is .24 deaths per 100,000. By 1963 the mortality rate for measles had bottomed out to extremely low levels having nothing to do with vaccinations. “Vital Statistics of the United States 1963 Vol.II-Mortality, Part A, pp.1-18,1-19,1-21.” The scary numbers you are throwing around with no reference point has everything to do with third world populations with severe malnutrition and sanitation deficiencies. “Even in the absence of a vaccine, by 1960, childhood measles in England was only 2.4% and mortality fell to .03% which is 1/200th of the 1908 mortality rates in Glascow” “Clive E West, PhD, DSc, “Vitanin A and Measles,” Nutrition Reviews, vol.58, no.2, Feb 2000, p.S46
Now that you have a historical perspective lets look at Oregon today. Oregon actually meets or exceeds all federal standards for vaccination rates.
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Now lets get down to the real face of the opposition. My family would be an example. My 7 year old son had completely normal developmental markers through his first year of life. After a visit to the pediatrician office in West Linn, OR (where he was pumped full of vaccines) he became restless, cried all the time and started cramping with gastrointestinal issues. He lost eye contact that had been normal and regressed with with verbal and motor skills that had all been tracking as normal. About about 18 months he had a full blown autism diagnosis. Good luck trying to pin neurological damage on big pharma although 3 billion dollars has been awarded in vaccine injury cases. My son continues to struggle today and we have since learned that genetic differences may make some children more susceptible to vaccine injury compared to most that seem to weather it. My son happens to have genetic mutations with the MTHFR genes which degrades his ability to excrete and transport environmental toxins. His MD, PhD neurologist has recommended that we not inject him with anymore vaccines beyond what he has already had. Guess what MOMSENSE, he will not qualify for the very narrow if not borderline impossible parameters that would warrant a medical exemption. He would be banned from public school and a tremendous financial burden would be placed on our family. We are a hard working family that pays our taxes and contributes a great deal to our community. We don’t deserve this and the thousands of families with similar stories don’t deserve this. You and the government have no right to impose these draconian measures on families with no real science or data to support your hateful fear mongering.
A child who has had all but one dose and a child who has had none at all are both counted as “exempt” the way they count them. The numbers we’re being quoted are vastly overblown. There is no measles emergency. Not everyone has the option to homeschool and it is truly cruel to force a medical procedure on someone. If we do not have medical autonomy we have nothing. https://medium.com/@sb442no/the-truth-about-oregon-s-vaccination-rates-428a5b5f537
We are so fortunate to live in a time and place (aka the western world) that the specter of disease is so remote that this is even a discussion. We are privileged. Almost everything in our modern lives is a by product of science, progress and even medicine. I don’t think anything in this bill means the vaccine squads (surely a corollary unit to the death squads from obamacare that was concerning a portion of the populace) are going to be rounding up little johnny and forcing you to watch helplessly as “big pharma” has their way with a syringe.
The government sets public policy, part of that is related to the health of it’s citizens. I’m not saying the government is 100% correct in all instances (as it surely is not) but if the MAJORITY of real doctors are in agreement about something I (not a doctor) have no problem extending my beliefs to include or at least consider their opinion and have no problem with the governing bodies listening to an expert consensus. It’s why I also (wait for it) believe in the overwhelming evidence for things such as global warming. Public school is provided by Big Government and is allowed to set rules and regulations / policy for folks who want to receive an education from this institution (like basic academic standards). The fact that the health of it’s students is also a consideration should surprise no one.
With the 10’s of millions of vaccines given every year we have a fairly broad data set from which to evaluate vaccine safety and the data just does not support the collective freakout by some some today in america. If the data overwhelmingly supported cause for concern, i’d be one of the first (with two young kids of my own who I love more than life itself) to raise my voice.
There OF COURSE is a chance a vaccine might have an adverse reaction, as with anything we put in our bodies. (peanuts, penicillin, inappropriate drug combos). But as intelligent adults we owe it to ourselves and our children to evaluate all claims based on reason and evidence and. I see the VAERS site from the CDC being brought up, often cited as evidence for vaccine injury. As I understand it, almost anyone can submit a claim post vaccination of any injury whether it’s proven to be linked to a vaccine or not, ie correlation does not imply causation.
I certainly hope this vaccine debates wanes over the years and we put all this energy back into fighting cancer and other diseases that we do not yet have vaccinations for. And god forbid some of the really nasty things that were eradicated BY VACCINES like smallpox and polio do not make a return.
Just my 2 cents, looks like i’ll probably be in the minority on this issue =) know we all love (hopefully) our kids the same, and I realize this even if I disagree with your stance on this issue.
Anyone that supports this bill better hope the day never comes when a vaccine is added to the schedule to which they have concerns or objections. An Ebola vaccine that has been fast tracked is nearing completion and there is talk of global vaccination. There is also an HIV/AIDS vaccine near completion. Are you going to happily line up your children to receive these vaccines despite not knowing the long term effect or complications of either of them? You would be willing to volunteer your children to be the guinea pig for these vaccines? Keep that in mind. Once you hand over this power to your government, any vaccine that is added to the CDC schedule you will be required to have administered to your child if you wish to continue with their daycare or public/private education. Many parents don’t currently do annual flu shots as they are recommended but not required for Oregon school children. They will be required if this passes since the CDC schedule will be followed.
Those of us that vaccinate our children on schedule can not think that this doesn’t impact us. We will also be at the mercy of the CDC and whatever they add to the schedule. I certainly do not want to give up my rights to make informed health care decisions for my children without the government threatening to deny my children access to childcare or public/private education. Being comfortable with the schedule today does not mean I will be comfortable with the schedule forever. Please think about this.
“He who would sacrifice liberty for safety, shall deserve neither, and lose both” ~ Benjamin Franklin
Let’s take a look at history for a moment, and consider some things we may have ignored otherwise.
During the late 18th century, smallpox, measles, typhoid, diphtheria, consumption, TB, and more, were quite common, and quite lethal. Smallpox had a survival rate of approximately 1:4 for naturally acquired, vs 1:72 (still pretty high) for those who elected to inoculate with the recently pioneered method of vaccination.
Vaccination of the time period would be considered brutal and garish by today’s standards, but, held promise. Let’s look to smallpox as an example. First, cowpox scabs were harvested. Next, the local (or traveling) physician would cut into the flesh of the patient, and apply the cowpox scabs into the wounds, followed by bandaging them in. In most cases, a milder version of the illness, followed by immunity would follow (IF they recovered, as mentioned above, 1:72 did NOT).
This was often expensive, and the impoverished were often least likely to be able to afford it. Founding father Ben lobbied for them to have the OPTION as a human right, but didn’t think it should be forced, simply available if they would want it.
How do we know this? He chose to forgo vaccination of one of his children, described as bright,joyous, intelligent and also fragile of health. He feared that the infection caused by the procedure would cause his child’s death.
Sadly, this child still fell ill, and died of subsequent illness.
Does that mean he shouldn’t have had the RIGHT to choose? HELL NO! It further substantiates that our founders would have supported FREEDOM to choose, with the knowledge of potential risks. As a physician, he would have been aware of both the risks of vaccination and without.
Science is fallible and ever changing. I’ve NEVER gotten a flu vaccine. I know I could potentially get the flu, but CHOOSE to take that risk, as I see that as my RIGHT to CHOOSE.
Most exemptions are partially vaccinated, and many adults are not up to date. If this is passed for children, you open a very slippery slope to be interpreted regarding adult medical choices as well. Should the public be mandated to undergo chemo instead of abstaining from treatment? What about the choice of a midwife instead of an ob? We already allow the TSA to molest us in order to travel, should they demand “PAPERS PLEASE” similar to the Nazis during WWII?
For a state that is supportive of death with dignity, CLEARLY. A CHOICE, I’m very disappointed to see this even be attempted by our elected officials.
Katrina, Ben Franklin’s son Franky died of smallpox as you know, in fact he became quite the advocate for the vaccine. He even founded the “Society for Inoculating the Poor Gratis”
“In 1736 I lost one of my sons, a fine boy of four years old, by the smallpox taken in the common way. I long regretted bitterly and still regret that I had not given it to him by inoculation. This I mention for the sake of the parents who omit that operation, on the supposition that they should never forgive themselves if a child died under it; my example showing that the regret may be the same either way, and that, therefore, the safer should be chosen.”
And another founding father, Thomas Jefferson: “In 1801 President Thomas Jefferson declared vaccination one of the nation’s first public health priorities.” Obviously both shills for the vaccine manufacturers of the time. Since people like to invoke the names of the founding fathers for different purposes, i thought I’d add these two anecdotes back into the discussion.
Benjamin’s son Franky would be a perfect case for medical exemption and would benefit from the heard immunity we’ve enjoyed for decades and I hope continues to be the case for sick children.
What I put in my body is my decision. Doctors sell a product and no one should be forced to buy their products. Listening to all the drug commercials every day where side effects include “death” certainly provides little faith in their products. The fact that pharmaceutical companies are protected from lawsuits if their vaccines do harm should raise alarms with everyone. The Supreme Court classifies vaccines as “unavoidably unsafe.” The mainstream narrative on vaccines is all constructed by the pharmaceutical companies that buy 70% of advertisements in mainstream news during non-election periods. THEY HAVE A PROFIT MOTIVE. They want captive consumers to insure their profits stay high. NO on SB 442: bad for the people, good for the drug companies.
Scott, as you seem familiar with the history, I appreciate your response. Advocacy and mandates are not one and the same, and your point that “the regret may be the same either way” just goes to the point that it should be a CHOICE. Whether they regret not vaccinating for the loss or disability due to infection, or due to loss or disability due to vaccination, it should remain their FREEDOM to choose.
I certainly agree that an educated decision is best, and I know many who selectively vaccinate or delay, but only a handful that don’t at all. Most agree that certain vaccines are more important (and more worth the risk involved) than others.
Also, consider the difference of the living conditions prior to the introduction of the MMR vaccine in 1963. Community sanitation, personal hygiene, acute symptom management, indoor plumbing, and more, ALL contributed to the decline of infectious diseases. Most notably so in the decades preceding the introduction of the MMR.
There are plenty of adults who never received the varicella vaccine, the gardasil vaccine, are not up to date on current recommended MMR, DTP, Hep B, pneumococcal, or the (CDCs acknowledged as nearly worthless) annual flu vaccine. They seem to be stable, and aren’t dropping like flies over some imaginary public health (non) emergency.
Aside from that, the CDC has admitted that they INTENTIONALLY introduced cancer causing cells as part of a test, between the 1940’s and the 1970’s. The collated data was never followed up on, leaving I’m sure many beyond myself to wonder how many cancers were caused by those “tests”.
Also, why no available data for those who were vaccinated and later developed autoimmune disorder vs non vaccinated populations? Alzheimer’s has been linked to aluminum, a common adjuvant. No available data there either. I suspect it exists, but is unpublished due to its conclusions.
Contrary to your comment that Franky would have qualified as medically exempt, that’s likely not the case. Current CDC dogma on those is VERY restrictive. Just being fragile/sickly, likely wouldn’t be enough, considering many vaccine injured children are not eligible for medical exemption, but remain (for now at least) eligible for religious or philosophical exemption.
This is about informed consent for an invasive medical procedure that has documented risks that are not insignificant–check the CDC statistics. Nobody has the right to either keep another from choosing a medical procedure they want if it is medically indicated, and nobody has the right to compel another to accept an invasive medical procedure.
The overwhelming response for :
” I oppose the bill. Parents should be able to decide what vaccines they give their children. “
Tells me that most people don’t understand the bill. It’s not mandatory vaccinations bill. It’s a “you don’t get to bring your unvaccinated child to public school” bill.
I oppose SB 442. We have never vaccinated our child and we should not be forced to because of hysteria over a measles outbreak in California. From what I understand no one died from this measles outbreak. Was it started by someone who was vaccinated?
This bill takes away a parent’s right of informed consent. This is forced consent.
The bill has further consequences than just preventing unvaccinated children in “public” schools. Our son goes to a private school and it would apply there as well. Many charter and private schools with larger unvaccinated populations that feel strongly enough to pull their children out over vaccinating them (that would be us) would see an unsustainable decline in enrollment forcing them to shut their doors.
Childhood illnesses were one of God’s creations. We do our best to provide a good environment so our children will be healthy. If they get sick, it is wonderful to have medical treatments, and if a child dies, he died a natural death. If, on the other hand, we vaccinate a healthy child knowing that there is a risk however small and that child dies, we are guilty of murder. God did not make a mistake when he created us or disease. We make a mistake when we try to play God.