Commentary: Not vaccinating is an act of selfishness
What began as a curious story of a small measles outbreak in, of all places, the so-called Happiest Place on Earth, Disneyland, has stretched to more than 100 cases across several states and into Mexico.
With all the health problems that can befall people, the last thing we need is the added harm to each other of not getting vaccinated against scourges that modern medicine had virtually eradicated.
Parents who choose not to give their children vaccinations because of irrational mistrust of medical science not only put their own children in harm’s way, but allow diseases that should remain in history books to be revived.
As an educator who works in a public school, I have no choice but to be tested for tuberculosis every four years. Why? So if I am infected, I don’t pass it along to children. I can’t opt out.
However, parents do have that option by filling out the California Department of Public Health’s Personal Beliefs Exemption form, known as PBE. Last year, the PBE was revised to require the signature of an “authorized healthcare practitioner.”
While this requirement was intended to make it harder for the form to be completed, all a parent has to do is check off the “religious beliefs” box, which means no medical employee is required to sign it.
A few short months ago, the Ebola hysteria consumed the nation. Yet there is much more likelihood of a child in this country catching measles, a disease with a 90% chance of transference to unimmunized people who are close to an infected individual.
Parents can see how their schools measure up by visiting the California Department of Education’s website and navigating to the “Shots for School” link. Type in a ZIP Code and click on a specific preschool, elementary school or middle school to receive immediate information.
Last week, nearly 70 non-immunized Palm Desert High School students were required to stay home for at least two weeks because of an infected teen.
It is a cruel irony that since diseases such as polio and measles have, for the most part, been stamped out for so long, few people remember how devestaing they can be. Maybe the government needs to blast billboards and websites with photos of children afflicted with measles to get people’s attention.
Ultimately, parents who don’t immunize their children exhibit the highest form of selfish behavior. They are taking for granted that the herd immunity of the community will protect their own children.
These militant parents aren’t simply anti-vaccine, they are anti-society. Yes, a parent’s No. 1 job is protecting his or her child. But once a parent’s actions go beyond the boundaries of one’s home and have the capacity to cause harm to other people’s children, the concept of one’s right to do whatever one wants no longer applies.
It’s a small world after all.
BRIAN CROSBY is a teacher in Los Angeles County and the author of “Smart Kids, Bad Schools” and “The $100,000 Teacher.” He can be reached at briancrosby.org.