Vaccines-How To Apply Common Sense and Science Together

Much has been written about and debated over whether we should give our children vaccinations. One needs to dispel some of the myths and misconceptions about vaccinations.


First, all 50 states do require vaccinations for children entering public school. But it should be stated that THERE IS NO MANDATORY FEDERAL VACCINATION LAW.


Second, all 50 states do issue medical exceptions. That is, if your child has certain types of immunodeficiency illnesses, they can be exempt from receiving vaccinations. Also there are 48 states that allow religious exemptions. So if you have a strong religious basis to not receiving vaccinations such as those who are Jehovah witnesses, you can be exempt from receiving the vaccination and then be allowed to attend public school. It should be noted that even Jehovah witness leaders now are recommending vaccinations. The states that do not allow religious exemptions are Mississippi and West Virginia. Lastly, there are 19 states that allow exemptions for having vaccinations for philosophical reasons. This is done simply for political correctness and lacks any scientific basis.


Third, there is a misconception that since there were zero deaths due to measles over the last 10 years and 108 deaths due to the measles vaccine over the last 10 years (CDC data) that we should no longer be vaccinating our children.  Please be reminded that before we had vaccines for measles and other contagious diseases, that measles accounted for between 450 and 500 deaths a year in the United States. This is data from over 50 years ago when we were not vaccinating our children and the US population was much smaller than it is now. Therefore, if we use both SCIENCE and COMMON SENSE, to give our children the best odds for survival, we would always pick for only 10 children dying a year and not 500 children dying a year. Even, when you take into consideration complications and side effects, the benefits for vaccinating your child is still fifteen times greater than the risks.


So, unless the evidence proves otherwise, like a bad batch of vaccines; VACCINATING YOUR CHILDREN IS THE CORRECT CHOICE not only because of public health concerns, but also because you are giving your child the best odds of a healthy life.