The needs of the many

The anti-vaccination crowd is a tiny minority. Even in the areas with the most vaccine resistance, 95% of people are still vaccinating their kids. But the anti-vax group is loud. They have celebrities backing them up and their misguided views give news outlets a “controversy” to report on.

The 95%, the sensible people who know that vaccination is the right thing to do, well, we just go about our lives and get our kids their shots. But then these misinformed people drag down vaccination rates. Babies too young to be vaccinated and people with compromised immune systems are at huge risk. But so is everyone else. The shots we’ve given our kids aren’t magical – the virus can still make them sick. And because of the unimmunized, because of the reality of how vaccines work even when done right, now we have measles spreading again.

Public schools require children to be fully vaccinated to attend, but it’s easy enough for a parent to fill out a “religious” exemption form and completely sidestep a very important public health safeguard. And that’s unacceptable. I’m writing to local school boards and my elected officials at the county, state, and federal level, and I’m going to ask them for mandatory vaccines for public school attendance. No exemptions unless it’s a legitimate MEDICAL exemption like an allergy or immune disorder. I don’t want to see kids dying of measles. Want to skip vaccination? No public school for you. Period.

We 95% need to get loud. Very loud. Because it’s bullshit that a tiny percentage of people who have been swayed by dubious internet “research” and unethical physicians can bring back a horrible disease and put everyone else’s health in danger. There’s no controversy. Vaccines are safe and vaccines work. They have saved literally millions of lives worldwide. Start talking. Start yelling. We are many and we are right and we need to be louder than them.

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