The Surgeon General of Florida announced the end of laws that require children to receive mandatory vaccinations. The Nigerian doctor, Joseph Ladapo, was selected by Governor DeSantis because of his vaccine skepticism. The end of compulsory vaccinations in Florida is also consistent with RFK Jr’s “Make America Healthy Again” movement.
Florida’s Surgeon General compared mandatory vaccinations against polio, measles, mumps, and chicken pox to “slavery.” I beg to differ. Being a slave to an iron lung due to polio is more like slavery than the popular anti-woke decision to refuse a vaccination.
True science is not based on populist sentimentality or gut instinct. True science is not smoke and mirrors. There were healthy scientific debates about issues like COVID-19-related mandates. Honest people did argue about the length of quarantines. Should it be five days, seven days, or two weeks? We need to remind ourselves that COVID-19 was a NEW disease that took over 1,000,000 American lives. It was not taken lightly by most people. However, the “it’s better to be safe than sorry” philosophy was publicly discredited by many. Again, honest people can debate the details.
Routine childhood vaccination mandates are different, and they have been around for decades. As a consequence, the USA has eradicated or severely limited childhood diseases. So, what is the logic or illogic of removing routine vaccination mandates? Can anyone think of a good excuse?
Have too many people fallen so deeply into their culture war trench that they would rather condemn their children to sickness and death than accept science?
As sure as the sun rises in the east every morning, modern medicine has shown that when the percentage of children receiving vaccinations falls below specific points, disease outbreaks happen. When more than five percent of children are unvaccinated for measles, outbreaks occur. The 800 or so cases of measles within the Mennonite community in West Texas represent a recent example. Polio outbreaks are likely when twenty percent are unvaccinated.
America has a tradition of freedom to worship as we choose. Unless a religion involves behaviors like human sacrifice or child molestation, we respect the right to practice or not practice the religion of one’s choice. What a person does behind the walls of one’s church does not usually affect people outside the walls.
Communicable diseases are a different matter. If a large group of children is not vaccinated, they will eventually spread the disease to others. Everyone, but especially children, should strive to avoid diseases that can be avoided. If a certain high percentage of the population is immunized against a particular disease, then the population has achieved herd immunity. One hundred percent herd immunity is never possible, but a sufficient percentage must be vaccinated to prevent outbreaks. Those parents who refuse to have their healthy children vaccinated are acting against the health of their whole community. They undoubtedly wave their American flags, thinking they are true patriots. America’s primary Founding Fathers were the ultimate patriots, and they WERE NOT ANTI-SCIENCE. Therefore, anti-science, flag-wavers who have little regard for their fellow citizens cannot be true patriots. They should remove their flags and hang their heads in shame. The American flag is a symbol of American unity, not American disunity.
Vaccinations have virtually eliminated many diseases that once took millions of lives. These diseases will return if enough false American patriots support anti-science leaders like Governor DeSantis and his Surgeon General.
There are less people that have a college degree than those who don’t. There are less people with science degrees than those with other degrees. However, this is not a good reason to not believe in science and it has never been—-until possibly recently. Republicans (primarily) have pushed unscientific theories and practices to their advantage especially after Trump praised “the uneducated” and led them to believe that their personal beliefs, especially if inspired by right wing media, are the correct ones. By catering to lots of one issue voters, no matter how nonfactual their beliefs may be, they have formed a coalition of misfits that have been added together to gain power. They may not believe many of their cohorts wacky single issues, but they overlook the shortcomings of such, and support them so that their pet belief is given some legitimacy and support. Of course, there is that pride and satisfaction for the uneducated to give the obscene sign to those who are educated because they have been told by some how simple everything really is in regard to highly technical issues with incredible complexity and how they are just as smart or smarter than experts in medicine or other technical disciplines. Doctors don’t claim to know more about a building’s plumbing and air conditioning than a master plumber, electrician or AC technician, but some “good ole boys” inspired by Faux News and others are now experts in vaccination guidelines and disease prevention. Unbelievable!