Over the start of this month the state of Florida decided to take a step back on regulations regarding vaccine mandates against chickenpox, hepatitis B, measles, and several other illnesses in schools.
The new law will be going into effect 90 days after the proposal to remove the mandate. The American Medical Association, also known as the AMA, commented on the issue, “The American Medical Association strongly opposes Florida’s plan to end all vaccine mandates, including those required for school attendance.
This unprecedented rollback would undermine decades of public health progress and place children and communities at increased risk for diseases such as measles, mumps, polio, and chickenpox resulting in serious illness, disability, and even death…”
Many medical personnel have opposed the mandate, often referring to the dangers of the health and wellbeing of Floridians. With approximately 4.4 billion children who reside in Florida under the age of 18. What does this mean for those who are vaccinated? Would they still be susceptible to the diseases even though they have been vaccinated?
Although the Florida Department of Health has stated, “parents should be able to choose what vaccines their children to receive or not receive,” this can become a major health risk for the rest of the population.
Some vaccinations including “poliomyelitis, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, measles, mumps and rubella will remain in place unless updated through legislation,” according to the state Department of Health.
Flu season is fastly approaching for the United States, and a mandate like this would be drastic for the next generation.
The climate of our recent Federal Department of Health and Human services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr is incompetent in his role of realizing the significance of health. This could turn into a domino effect in the Republican dominated states.
This could also turn into a biological ‘deal of arms’ regarding the children within the nation. What should we do on a federal level? Each state and parent should have the authority to make decisions based on what they believe is right, but at what cost?
According to CNN, Florida’s Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo did not weigh up the cost of impact of the new vaccination mandate, “Do I need to analyze whether it’s appropriate for parents to be able decide what they put inside their children’s bodies? I don’t need an analysis on that.”
A study conducted by Stanford, “If childhood vaccinations in the US drop by half, the study predicted 51.2 million cases of measles over 25 years, 9.9 million cases of rubella, 4.3 million cases of polio and 200 cases of diphtheria.
That would result in an estimated 51,200 cases of brain damage from measles, 5,400 cases of post-polio paralysis, 10.3 million hospitalizations and an average of 159,200 deaths.” Based on the fact that Ladapo has based the mandates solely on bodily autonomy and choice for parents, the impact of the new mandate can also expose tourists to diseases.
The mandate could greatly impact Florida’s economic status given that some visitors are traveling internationally.
Every parent deserves to have a choice when it comes to their children and what they put into their bodies. However it can negatively impact the rest of the population and herd immunity.
It could also greatly affect the pharmaceutical companies that further research on diseases and viruses. I would say that if it benefits the majority of the population in a state regardless of their opinion, it should be mandated that children should be vaccinated for their own protection.
