Compulsory Vaccination
Christian Medical and Dental Associations (USA)
Reproduced with permission
Introduction:Dr. Dave Stevens of the Christian Medical and
Dental Associations offers the following comment
on an
Associated Press story. The article asserts
that an increasing number of parents are
refusing to vaccinate their children, and that
many are falsely claiming religious exemptions
because they are concerned about side effects
but do not, in fact, have religious or
conscientious objections to vaccination. The
report emphasizes the dangers caused to others
by even small numbers of people who refuse
vaccinations. Dr. Paul Offit, head of infectious
diseases at Children's Hospital in Philadelphia,
is quoted as describing resistance to
vaccination as "an irrational, fear-based
decision."
CMDA CEO Dave Stevens, MD: "I
spent a lot of time learning about immunization
practices while a missionary in Africa. I had an
isolation ward full of children with measles
complications and a quarter of them died in the
hospital. I've treated tetanus in neonatal patients
and adults, whooping cough, diphtheria, rabies and a
host of other childhood diseases that the the author
of this article has never seen and which most
physicians will not encounter in their whole career.
I've designed and supervised a comprehensive
immunization program that in seven years took our
immunization rate among our half a million people
from less than 20% to over 90%. Along that path I
had to overcome many superstitions and
misconceptions.
It is clear to me that Steve LeBlanc's, the
author of this article, comments are less about
immunizations and more about right of conscience. A
few thousand parents refusing immunizations for
their children out of 3.7 million has no effect on
herd immunity. He complains about parents claiming
religious exemptions who are in fact not religious
but then focuses his examples on small unimmunized
religious groups who experienced mini-epidemics. He
fails to point out that even these are unusual and
that the contagion didn't disseminate into the wider
community.
The answer is not forcing people to immunize
their children over their deeply held religious
beliefs except in the most dire situations. The
answer is better education for the growing number of
parents that don't immunize their children out of
fear of bad outcomes. I know some Christian parents
who have fallen prey to that vaccination phobia.
Such parents regularly call CMDA seeking advice.
With clear facts, good counsel and an understanding
of their Biblical responsibilities, most change
their views and immunize their children.
If the government can force parents to betray
their deeply held religious beliefs on immunizations
today, they can force them to betray them for any
other reason they come up with tomorrow. I believe
every child should be immunized, but not at the
expense of one of our most important rights."