Should The Government Mandate Childhood Immunizations?

Over the past year I have heard a lot of talk about the GOP being against a woman's "reproductive rights". They do not want anyone telling them what they can or cannot do with their own bodies. Yet I believe many of those same people are ok with mandating immunizations and I personally fail to see much of a difference here. Is it ok or not to have others dictate what you must do with your own body? Or does it vary on if its your body vs someone elses? or the situation. Im so confused...

DiAnna said:

I posted this somewhere else, but measles is nothing to fool with. I nearly died with it when I was a kid.

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"Never count your children before the measles."

Baralis said:

Over the past year I have heard a lot of talk about the GOP being against a woman's "reproductive rights". They do not want anyone telling them what they can or cannot do with their own bodies. Yet I believe many of those same people are ok with mandating immunizations and I personally fail to see much of a difference here. Is it ok or not to have others dictate what you must do with your own body? Or does it vary on if its your body vs someone elses? or the situation. Im so confused...

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If the disease is a threat to public health, do you think immunization should be required?

nota bene said:

If the disease is a threat to public health, do you think immunization should be required?

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Simply answered, no. I feel that should be left to the individual to decide. Those that want to be protected can get the immunization.

X Factor said:

Michele Bachman's gotten some press lately (for whatever reason) and it reminded me of how she went after Rick Perry for trying to require that HPV shot in Texas. I think this raises an interesting question. I don't have kids so I don't know if it already a law that you get your kids their shots or not, but should this be something the government should require, you as a parent, to have done? I see cogent arguments both ways. What do you think?

Preparing the poll now. "Yes", "no" and "maybe/don't know" will be the choices.

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I want to vote yes. There is no rational reason not to get your children immunized. However, I also do not think the government should be involved in a families medical decisions any more than absolutely necessary(ie deciding coverage for medicaid and things like that or regulating drugs). I think the government cannot stop people from being stupid, nor should it try. It is one of those things which is a painful thing to do, to watch parents reject things to make their children safer, but I think freedom to choose for your children is paramount. I have said this before, and probably will again: freedom is at its greatest risk when it seems most sensible to take it away.

Baralis said:

Simply answered, no. I feel that should be left to the individual to decide. Those that want to be protected can get the immunization.

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Not until they have reached a certain age. Until then, they are vulnerable to infection by unimmunized children. As I've already stated, the once-nearly dead disease, whopping cough, was responsible for the death of 24 babies and children in California alone during 2012. Are you really okay with watching your own, under age child die because other parents left their children unimmunized, and free to spread lethal diseases? I am not.

X Factor said:

Michele Bachman's gotten some press lately (for whatever reason) and it reminded me of how she went after Rick Perry for trying to require that HPV shot in Texas. I think this raises an interesting question. I don't have kids so I don't know if it already a law that you get your kids their shots or not, but should this be something the government should require, you as a parent, to have done? I see cogent arguments both ways. What do you think?

Preparing the poll now. "Yes", "no" and "maybe/don't know" will be the choices.

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I don't know. I don't like the government forcing people to do things, yet I know how important vaccinations are in disease prevention. I'm not sure just how many people don't have their children vaccinated either, which might be relevant. Tough question.

Sherman123 said:

But the argument isn't just that they need these immunizations if they want to engage in certain public services like education, it's that their decision not to immunize in and of itself puts others at risk by increasing the risk of infection and allowing the disease to reemerge in a community that had previously eradicated it as a result of mass vaccination. This can and has happened especially with a variety of childhood ailements that have made a minor come back as a result of vaccination hysteria among parents that was cultivated in the 80's and 90's.

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Take the initiative and get yourself vaccinated. Wash your hands and don't be around people who could pose threats. Why subject everybody to government mandates because there are germophobic people in the United States. An individual can take care of themselves, protect themselves, and avoid situations that could get them sick and the government doesn't need to regulate our lives more than they already do.