Surprise surprise another blog post about getting vaccinated. I’m not sorry. Today I have decided to take the more political approach to this topic and discuss the changing atmosphere of vaccinations in legislation. Many states are reevaluating the exemptions for vaccinations based on religious and philosophical beliefs. Though people are still creating a pandemic of vaccine hesitancy, enforcing laws against this may bring our world heath back to the standard it should be.
I recently decided to look more into the exemptions for children and vaccinations to attend public/private school. I was surprised to see how many states provide religious and even philosophical exemptions. Maybe I just don’t get the big idea, but how is letting your children die from preventable diseases a philosophy you can follow, or a belief you can preach? A website recently updated their data on the states who allow these exemptions, with only 5 states opting out of religious exemption! That’s 90% of the United States taking the risk of outbreaks in preventable diseases. THAT IS 90% OF THE UNITED STATES CONSENTING TO DEATH. California, however, was not one of the 90%. This is because as of very recently, California updated their vaccine exemption laws. In 2014 they had some of the toughest exemption laws against anti-vaccination, but that correlated with more doctors exemptions being issued. Now, California has decided to change the law to monitor medical professionals who provide more than 5 exemptions a year. California legislation also passed to monitor schools whose immunization rate drops below 95%. That seems like a small percentage, but it only takes one child. Anti-vaxxers, knowing those devious fools, will still find ways to evade these laws I am sure; but it will be much more difficult.
The World Health Organization has listed vaccine hesitancy as one of the top ten threats to global health in 2019. Let that sink in. We have turned vaccines, which were made to help save lives and prevent disease, into something horrible. Our herd immunity is failing, outbreaks are becoming more common, diseases are drifting and shifting all the time. We have to protect ourselves and the people we love. We cannot wait for them to die to realize our mistake. We have eradicated diseases. Deadly diseases. We can do that again and keep doing it if we commit to bettering the health and protection of our people. The last thing on that list should be something that is meant to protect people. Wake up people, it is time to start believing the proof: VACCINES WORK!
Ashley Broke's Blog 