Vaccination Bullies

Michelle Malkin's post on "vaccination bullies" struck a chord with me...as much as I appreciate most vaccinations and the good health they've made possible for so many of us, I'm also disturbed by "vaccination bullies," particularly those who are pushing "politically correct" vaccinations for diseases which aren't easily communicable, Gardasil being the latest example.

I've run into vaccination bullies myself, such as the hospital staff members who were aghast I refused to vaccinate my under-one-day-old baby for Hepatitis B. I calmly explained my baby was not going to go home and have unprotected sex or be stuck with drug needles, and that I didn't think a vaccination 18 hours after birth was a wise decision. Happily, our wonderful pediatrician -- unlike Michelle's -- thought the decision to delay the vaccination was quite reasonable.

I also ran into the vaccination bullies in a school setting, when our oldest was in elementary school. Prior to Open House, the school nurse put up posters in each 6th grade classroom with the names and vaccination records of all the children -- the big push was on to "snare" those children who hadn't yet had the Hep B vaccine -- in order to show which children had had all their vaccinations and were "ready for junior high." Those children with complete vaccination records were rewarded with candy.

I pointed out to the principal that it was wrong to reward or punish children based on decisions which were solely an adult responsibility, and also that she had allowed children's confidential medical records to be published to the entire school via the posters. Before that incident was all over, the school district's attorney was having nurses at four different elementary schools pull vaccination charts off classroom walls, as they were indeed in violation of the law.

Somehow I don't think that elementary principal was too broken up when my younger children were pulled out of her school for good a year or so later. :)