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| Also listed in: Campus Progress Blog |
Or they won't be allowed back to public school.
Via the New York Times:
"Judge Nichols had sent letters this week to the homes of more than 800 households with children in public schools, strongly recommending that the children be immunized Saturday at the courthouse, where health department workers had set up tables to process paperwork and give shots, or that parents prove that the children had already been immunized in accordance with state law."
Really? Civil liberties anyone?
When did it become ok to force people to give their children vaccines under threat of jail time?
It says that families are allowed to forgo the shots on medical or religious grounds, but what about personal grounds? Ok, so kids pass along sickness easily and it's probably best for everyone if chicken pox season passes them by this year. But I still think its ridiculous to mandate parents in this way. It's not the armageddon, and last I recall, chicken pox are not the worst thing in the world. Stop being so dramatic, Maryland.
Mandating immunization isn't ideal, but it helps prevent the spread of disease. Most middle schools in America require students to be vaccinated before enrolling--this isn't really a new trend, and it's one that's in the interest of preserving public health.
And while my thin libertarian streak makes me bristle a bit at the mandate, I envision myself making the same decision if I were a parent.
And on a totally picky note, chicken pox can be a very serious disease if you contract it after childhood--and that's really the only time people are immunized for it.