How Rhode Island Parents Are Winning Back Their Rights to Vaccine Choice
Families in Rhode Island are winning the war against mandatory vaccination. They have joined together with two powerful advocacy organizations whose efforts have successfully aided the of introduction five legislative bills to their state government related to vaccine choice. Their diligence offers a strong example to other parents who also question the implications of mandating so many vaccines. [1]
Currently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends 69 doses of 16 vaccines by age 18. Different kinds of exemptions, including religious exemptions, medical exemptions, or philosophical exemptions, are available in all fifty states, but some state governments have recently increased their efforts to limit vaccine exemptions and make additional vaccines “mandatory” for school attendance. [2, 3]
Why Parents Are Objecting
In 2015, many Rhode Island parents were outraged when their state Department of Health mandated at least one dose of the HPV vaccine for seventh graders in order for those children to attend school. The HPV vaccine is supposed to protect against a sexually transmitted infection caused by the human papillomavirus, and later, the development of cervical cancer. [4]
The HPV vaccine is currently recommended for young women and young men beginning at age nine, when they may not have even entered puberty and are not yet sexually active. [5, 6]
Gregory Zimet, a psychologist who has studied people’s attitudes toward the HPV vaccine, a vaccine which has generated greater controversy than other vaccines, noted that this vaccination is directed at “11-and 12-year-olds to prevent something that might not become an issue for 10, 20, 30 years.” He added, “It’s hard for people to see the connection and feel it as strongly.” [7]
Furthermore, this vaccine has a history of being unsafe and ineffective.
Elected Officials Are Listening
Rhode Island Families have objected to the mandatory vaccination policy against sexually transmitted infections. Parents have voiced their concerns about the ability of the CDC and state governments recommending and even mandating such a large number of vaccines, with seemingly little oversight, publicity, or public discussion.
One parent, concerned about why a vaccine for a sexually transmitted infection would be mandated, commented in a local news story, “HPV can only be spread sexually, and that shouldn’t be happening during the school day, so why wouldn’t they just recommend this vaccine” (instead of making it mandatory)? [8]
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1470694951173-5'); });
//tags-cdn.deployads.com/a/activistpost.com.js
(deployads = window.deployads || ).push({});