In Massachusetts, kids of anti-vaxxers can get vaccines without a parent’s permission

According to a report by CBS, children of anti-vaxxers living in Massachusetts are now able to get vaccinated without a parent needing to give their consent.

This is great news, especially considering that of all the children involved in the current Measles outbreak in Clark County Washington, only one single child received one single dose of the MMR vaccine (children should receive their first dose around 12 months old and the second dose around 4-6 years old). What’s more, one in four kindergartners in Clark County weren’t fully vaccinated.

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We declared Measles eliminated almost 20 years ago, but anti-vaxxers are working hard to #MakePreventableDiseasesGreatAgain, apparently.

via Vox

Kids of anti-vaxxers have also taken to Reddit to get advice on how they can get themselves vaccinated as well. I think it’s great that they’re reaching out to find ways to protect both themselves and others from preventable diseases, but it’s a sad indictment on the level of “parenting” occurring with these children. A 13-year old Redditor who goes by the username u/GoCommitYeet (I love that name) said “I haven’t got vaccines since elementary school, Dad fell down the conspiracy theory rabbit hole, and my Mom agrees with him. Any and all advice is appreciated.” They sought this advice on r/legaladvice.

When kids are turning to random strangers on the internet for advice, you know there’s a problem.

As I’ve said before, vaccine injuries do happen – nobody intelligent denies that fact. But they’re incredibly uncommon, despite what many anti-vaxxers would argue. The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program is a real thing. But according to their data, out of 3,454,269,356 vaccines that have been administered, only 4,172 people received financial compensation. That’s a rate of  0.00012%. To put that number in perspective, you have a much better chance of your house burning down this year – twice.

The fact is vaccines are generally safe, and those who aren’t vaccinated are four times more likely to be involved in the outbreak of a preventable disease than someone who is vaccinated.