It’s no secret that I thought the conscientious objectors exemption for the Family Tax Benefit A vaccination requirement was total bullshit and it infuriated me to no end that what sounded like a great policy ended up being trivialized. The fact of the matter is that whilst you might think that vaccination is a personal decision it is anything but as choosing not to vaccinate puts other people at risk, usually those who are least able to fight off the dangers that you or your children will now present to them. Still the moronic ideal that vaccines somehow cause more harm than they prevent prevailed with a choice group of people, seeing the number of unvaccinated children double in the past decade.
The government was obviously aware of the fact that their legislation was being routinely circumvented by a disturbingly large number of people and just yesterday introduced new legislation dubbed “No Jab, No Pay“. Whilst the crux of the legislation remains the same, people who refuse to vaccinate their children will lose several tax benefits and rebates until they get current, however this new bill removes the get out of jail free card that the conscientious objector exemption provided. Now the only way to get around losing your tax benefits is if you can’t get vaccinated for medical reasons (something that’s extremely rare and would be covered off by herd immunity normally) or if you have a religious reason for doing so.
Thankfully the latter provision has said to be extremely narrow which will most likely derail any attempts the anti-vaxxers have of trying to circumvent it with something as ludicrous as the Church of Conscious Living, a religious group set up specifically for that purpose. Whilst that might not stop anti-vaxxers from joining up some of the more esoteric, but established, religions that have such exemptions I’m sure many of them will be thinking long and hard before they associate themselves with the Jehovah’s Witnesses. In any case it will likely force the hands of many to get their children vaccinated so they can receive those benefits from the government, a win-win for all involved if you ask me.
The fact that the government has had to step in like this shows just how serious of an issue the anti-vaxxer movement is becoming. The fact that the number of unvaccinated children has risen so sharply in recent times is cause for alarm on its own however the flow on effects of that are far, far worse. We’re seeing a resurgence in diseases that were essentially considered eradicated in Australia, some of which can have dire consequences for those who don’t have the immunity granted to them through the use of vaccinations. The anti-vax movement will argue that the vaccines do more harm than good or don’t prevent diseases that they say they do however the science simply does not line up with any of the claims they make and yet they continue to perpetuate the myths.
There’s really no argument to be had here, vaccinations work, are incredibly safe and for those precious few who are unable to get vaccinated the benefits of herd immunity will ensure that they will not suffer from the diseases they cannot protect themselves against. The more people that refuse to vaccinate the worse off we will be as a nation as we’ll be once again battling diseases that we would otherwise not have to. The cold hard fact is that vaccines are several orders of magnitude better than the diseases they prevent and to argue otherwise is disregard decades of science, numerous public health studies and your own morality that goes against harming other humans.
If you’re willing to look past all that then you can see why I’m not sympathetic to you losing a few dollars from the government.
Yes it will certainly derail people’s conscience. The nerve of some people to be vegans and object to animal torture – just because some primates are kept imprisoned and given diseases and suffer for their whole lives, then are killed when the experimenters are finished with them – as if that matters.
It will also derail those who are protecting other family members from vaccine injuries – by avoiding the occasional vaccine that gets bad press due to the highly unreasonable wish to avoid having one’s child end up in hospital as other children have done (e.g. the 2010 flu tax).
Highly unreasonable of them of course. Just because other children are seizing and running high fevers doesn’t mean that the vaccines are not safe of course. And just because some people, like those whose children got given the banned flu vax (it doesn’t matter that a child was crippled for life and another two died – sheesh) and that many drugs get withdrawn because they have done harm – no excuses. They all need to just wear it. No rights to conscience and no rights to protect one’s children either. Don’t know who they think they are.
http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/kids-get-banned-fluvax-vaccine/story-fnhocxo3-1226625149176
These people really are irresponsible indeed. Just because the government has dictated to doctors who can have medical exemptions and narrowed it down to only include those with particularly rare genetic immunity disorders and those on chemotherapy, leaving all others expected to vaccinate, they are irresponsible for objecting.
It doesn’t matter either if other family members have been injured for life or even died post vaccination – it is NEVER the vaccine – just read the CDC websites and the governments websites. Vaccines are very, very, very, very, very, safe. Because that version of safety only means that the person won’t get the disease they are vaccinated for and doesn’t refer to vaccines not causing other issues, it is still no excuse for taking care of the majority. If a family member is damaged, then that is just tough. You all have to do the right thing.
Some of the parents of vaccine injured kids are now are permanent carers – but they MUST present their other children for vaccination and risk it. It doesn’t matter that they are similar genetically and might be prone to the same reaction.
It is only fair to the most important group -, well, the ONLY group that matters – the majority. The minorities don’t count.
There’s certainly an argument to be made about the use of animals in medical research and I’m most certainly a supporter of animal welfare in this regard. However the numerous medical advances we have made with animal based research cannot be denied. Researchers are now subject to much more stringent regulations when it comes to animal experimentation, something we can all be proud of. A quick search of Google Scholar shows hundreds of thousands of research papers dedicated specifically to improving animal welfare. Researchers the world over recognise the contributions animals have made to science and you should to.
The occasional vaccine? Are you arguing specifically against Fluvax? Because the annual flu shot isn’t on the list of vaccines children need to meet the Family Tax benefit requirement, as detailed here: http://www.immunise.health.gov.au/internet/immunise/publishing.nsf/Content/national-immunisation-program-schedule The Fluvax incident was handled in the way it should have been with the vaccine swiftly taken out of the program schedule for children under 5. To write off an entire area of science over one incident is incredibly short sighted and you can not use it to justify your wilful ignorance on the efficacy and safety of all other vaccines that are currently in use.
Anti-vaxer parents are incredibly irresponsible as they put both their own children and the lives of other children at risk. Your sarcastic, breathless and factless ranting against them does nothing to change the fact that they are effective and safe.
Please provide me with evidence that vaccines cause more harm than they prevent. Deaths by vaccines are so incredibly rare as to be indistinguishable from normal mortality rates. If vaccines caused more damage to the population than they prevented we would have seen that with the decades of use they have seen. You know what we’ve seen though? A dramatic reduction in terrible, debilitating diseases where vaccines are used. Indeed every single study that’s attempted to link vaccines to some other kind of harm has failed miserably, not that that fact will convince you.
Vaccines are both safe and provide safety from the diseases they vaccinate against. You’re not one of those people who thinks we should just develop immunity naturally are you? Have a look at polio survivors and tell me how much stronger their immune system is because of it. I’m sure they’d love to chat about it over a cup of tea in their iron lung.
Show me these people who are now carers for their kids “damaged” by vaccines. I am without a doubt that their condition was not born out of receiving a vaccine, especially if you’re going to make some claim about autism or some other rubbish. The fact of the matter is that vaccines prevent so much harm and are so safe that the minority you’re talking about, which we’re able to test for and identify, are protected by the majority who vaccinate. To think you have sufficient information to make this judgement call is pure hubris.
The Internet is a place where you can convince yourself of anything and many have used it to convince themselves that vaccines are somehow harmful. The trouble is that the research and science simply doesn’t support that idea at all but still the myths persist. People like you unfortunately aren’t convinced by science, instead relying on feeling and emotional stories to make judgement calls. Thankfully our government, in a fit of uncommon clarity, decided to not side with the people arguing from a place of emotion and have sided with the strong and robust case that decades of scientific study made. You are free to do as you wish with your children but the government is also free to prevent you from doing harm to others, using any mechanism they have at their disposal. In this case it’s losing a bit of a tax break, probably the most mild of punishments a government can dish out. So please, don’t vaccinate your kids and keep loudly banging that drum so we all know where to avoid bringing our children in order to keep them safe.