Public health is in the news lately, as Republicans — who shamefully exploited ebola fear last year — suddenly find themselves playing defense on measles. Most of them are saying encouraging things about vaccines but won’t say the “m” word, mandate. Although Rand Paul recently said on television that many children develop “profound mental disorders” after vaccination. And it wasn’t long before several spokespersons for wingnuttery were blaming the measles outbreaks on illegal aliens. And it also has to be said that if you go back a few years you can find some anti-vax pandering coming from Democrats who knew better.
And then there’s the guy who says regulations requiring restaurant employees to wash their hands after using the restroom is an example of government overreach. Which leads us into why things are mandated.
I remember reading an article awhile back about how businesses that rely heavily on tourism welcome government regulation, because if tourists have bad experiences at a particular destination, and go home and tell their friends about it, it potentially hurts all the businesses at that destination, not just the offending ones.
Not that anyone is following restaurant staff into restrooms to monitor their hand washing, but it’s somewhat reassuring to know employees are being reminded.
Never mind Ebola and measles.
We have an epidemic of “TEH F*CKING STOOOOOOOOOOOPID!!!” in this country.
I kind of like the idea that the vast majority of people around me are immunized, and that restaurant workers wash their hands after they do their “business” in the bathroom.
Sheesh…
Ted Cruz got questioned on this and according to Ed Kilgore, he suggested there needs to be an exemption…” vaccination mandates should have exceptions for those with “good faith, religious convictions.â€
My response to that is yes and no. If we were talking about the Amish who have voluntarily removed themselves from mainstream society, I’m inclined to say yes. However, if you can reasonably be expected to mix your kids (unvaccinated) with mainstream kids (vaccinated or unable to be vaccinated) then I say no.
Cruz wants to establish a religious ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ exemption to ANYTHING. The idea is to always and in anything be able to trump the law with a claim your defiance of the law is based on religious convictions.
There’s a great scientific timeline on the measles here –
http://pediatrics.about.com/od/measles/a/measles-timeline.htm
Everyone (including me) is long on opinion but short on fact. I found this online.
“So far, of the cases with a known vaccination status, we know that:
only 5 were fully vaccinated
1 was partially vaccinated
at least 32 were unvaccinated
What we don’t know is why these people were unvaccinated. Some were too young to be vaccinated, but most were likely intentionally unvaccinated.”
Five patients were fully vaccinated but in an epidemic, they contracted measles. Statistically, it’s likely bordering on certain they contracted from an unvaccinated carrier. Of the people who weren’t intentionally unvaccinated, those at risk are the very young and those with a weak immune system, which may include the elderly.
Think about that. Infants too young to be vaccinated and old people whose immune system isn’t strong enough to withstand a virulent disease will be put at risk of death for ‘freedom’ – so parents with their heads up their asses can elect to turn their offspring into mobile biological incubators for disease.
Kids who have come down with measles because their parents made the choice were put at risk based on superstition or willful ignorance and there should be consequences for the parents. This is the point which should be debated in the next round of elections BASED ON THE ESTABLISHED SCIENCE AND CURRENT FACTS.