Parents wondering about whether or not to vaccinate their children have been given an ultimatum: Get your children immunised or they won’t be allowed at day care.
That’s, at least, the case in Queensland, where health minister, Cameron Dick, is hoping to have a law passed by the end of the year. The law allows child-care centres to turn kids away who haven’t been vaccinated, with Dick saying vaccination is a “critically important public health strategy for adults and children”.
Child health and the continual control of contagious viruses is, of course, a global health issue. But will banning kids who haven’t been immunised from day care actually prevent disease from spreading? Just this past week, a measles alert and a health warning were issued after a man visited several public venues, including an NRL match and several cafes and eateries, over a 10-day period. Are parents going to stop their children from going out in public now, too?
“Measles is one of the most infectious of all communicable diseases and is spread by tiny droplets through coughing and sneezing,” physician, Dr. Kari Jarvinen, told ABC News, urging anyone with symptoms to head along to their doctor.
“It can be a severe illness even in otherwise healthy adolescents and young adults.”
The issue of anti-vaccination is a global one, and instead of the health ministry banning children who haven’t been vaccinated from day care, perhaps we should be instead asking why parents don’t feel comfortable immunising their children in the first place and looking at ways to alleviate parents’ worries about vaccination outcomes. Parents really just want what’s best for their child, no doubt.
“Contrary to what the medical establishment will have us believe, there is a frightening lack of controlled scientific studies on vaccination in general, but particularly to back up the claim that side effects are as rare as they say,” one Brisbane mum told SheKnows. “The side effects have almost never been studied.”
Just because a child isn’t vaccinated, doesn’t mean they are a carrier of the disease, either. So, maybe banning infected kids from daycare is a better idea instead. With parents worried about what immunisation means for their children, perhaps we can look at making vaccination studies more decipherable for the general public, so parents can make informed decisions, rather than decisions based on fear. Because banning children who haven’t been vaccinated just seems to pander to fear, rather than educating to eradicate it.
What do you think? Should children who haven’t been immunised be banned from day care? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
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