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from the but-your-homework-is-still-due-on-time dept.
The Orange County Register reports
Two dozen unvaccinated students [including the one who had measles] have been sent home from Huntington Beach High School for three weeks in the latest effort to slow the measles outbreak spreading throughout Orange County.
An unspecified student with measles was on campus from Jan. 6 to Jan. 8, possibly spreading the extremely contagious disease, according to a letter to parents from Matt Zahn, medical director for epidemiology at the Orange County Health Care Agency.
[...]State law requires schoolchildren to get the MMR shots to protect against measles, mumps, and rubella, but parents who believe there are links between the vaccines and medical conditions such as autism can get an exemption by signing a personal belief waiver.
On Jan. 14, Zahn issued a letter to Huntington Beach High School parents warning that "measles spreads very easily by air and by direct contact. Simply being in the same room with someone who has measles is sufficient to become infected." [...] "One in every 20 people with measles develops pneumonia; more rarely, serious, even life-threatening complications can occur."
Any ideas on how this could be made into a disincentive rather than a 3-week vacation?
(Score: 2) by FakeBeldin on Sunday January 25 2015, @11:28AM
Any ideas on how this could be made into a disincentive rather than a 3-week vacation?
Yes: none.
Basically: you cannot punish people into accepting autism for their children.
Seriously, think about it. Suppose you have children, and you are convinced that if you do A, they will become autistic. You're horribly wrong about it, but hey, you are convinced anyway. So you don't do A, unless the alternative is clearly worse than making your child autistic. Alternatives probably include "child dies" and "child suffers amputation", but not much more I can think of.
What's needed is not a negative reason to not do A (i.e. not have a vaccination), but to address the perceived negative reasons to do A (that is, risking autism).
Getting the parents to stop taking medical advice from playboy bunnies would be more effective.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Sunday January 25 2015, @03:18PM
If you can figure out how to convince people to stop taking scientific advice from models, actors, TV personalities, etc. who don't know their ass from a hole in the ground you'll have solved a lot more problems than just the anti-vaxxer memetic infection.
It seems to me a practical starting point on vaccines would be to get them vaccinating their children later in life. Okay, so you're afraid that vaccines will increase the chance that your child becomes autistic. Fine, nothing I say is likely to change that. But by the time they're in middle school or high-school their brain development is past the "danger zone" where they might develop autism. So get them vaccinated then - measles, etc. aren't as dangerous to a near-adult as to a young child, but they can still be pretty nasty. And you'll be doing your part to protect all the other babies whose parents were afraid to have vaccinated. After all this is war, we all have to do our part to keep these diseases from sweeping though the population on a regular basis
Once you have your foot in the door you can then it becomes easier to improve the situation - you were going to get them vaccinated at 12? Well, maybe 11 isn't so bad. Especially if we ban non-vaccinated children from public schools without a valid *medical* reason. Or at least make parents watch an extended "this is your child on measles, mumps, etc, etc, etc." public service video every year before they are allowed to sign the personal belief waiver. These diseases can be *nasty*, make sure parents understand just what sort of permanent damage can be done to their child even if they survive it. And impose a real, if small, price on the parents - either get your child vaccinated this year, or once again spend 3 hours watching children suffer horribly.
(Score: 2) by Kromagv0 on Monday January 26 2015, @03:21PM
Since most of these people are unable to properly access risk why not make it provide a financial disincentive so that if there is an outbreak at a school they are responsible for a portion of the associated costs. So if there is an outbreak in a school and:
There are 40 children who's parents didn't get them vaccinated because they thought it might give their precious snowflake autism
30 of whom catch it
Another 12 who were vaccinated but it didn't work catch it and parents have to take time off of work
2 of those vaccinated but it didn't work end up in the hospital for a couple of weeks
In this case the parents of the 40 children now get to cover all of the expenses, medical and work, of the 12 who were vaccinated but it didn't work. The 30 who weren't vaccinated already have to eat that cost out of their own pocket so I am not concerned with that. I'm all for freedom of choice but your choices have consequences. I would also carve out an exception for those who have a real medical reason for not getting vaccinated since those are the people who are dependent on everyone else getting vaccinated. Additionally I'm sure that to cover this an insurance product would be provided and they would likely be able to just pay a monthly premium.
While not a perfect solution it seem the best I can come up with in our current system and is better than what we have now which is that there isn't any real consequences for the unvaccinated beyond just having a higher chance of getting sick. Granted someone might be able to sue now days and have similar results but good luck gaining access to the vaccination records.
T-Shirts and bumper stickers [zazzle.com] to offend someone
(Score: 1) by SecurityGuy on Monday January 26 2015, @05:06PM
Related: a lot of us probably have idiot friends who post things on social media that are anti-vax or otherwise BS. Don't just let it slide. Say something. I truly believe some people don't have any active voices of reason in their social circle, they just self-reinforce this nonsense.