My state, California, is mandating that all children be vaccinated before they can attend school. This means that the 80,000+ kids who have claimed personal exemptions no longer can do so. At first blush, it seems an infringement on rights. However, most of the families sought exemptions based on a bogus report written by a now-disgraced “scientist,” saying that vaccines cause autism and other maladies (scientifically proven wrong).
It’s been a clash of rights: for some families it’s freedom of choice vs., for other families, freedom from spreading disease (especially by unvaccinated children).
The 80,000+ still have ways to pursue their beliefs, however. They can home-school their kids or put them into off-campus independent studies.
I’m afraid there will be an additional avenue for people so inclined. Children with medical problems that make vaccinating harmful or impossible to them are still exempt. Therefore, if parents look hard enough, they’ll find an unscrupulous doctor who, for a price, will give his medical opinion that their child should not be vaccinated.
Can’t happen? How about all those doctors making a healthy living off of issuing medical marijuana cards to anyone who merely claims a debilitating condition?