SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the when-you-can't-make-them-see-the-light dept.
The Center for American Progress reports
The anti-vaccine sentiments that originated with a [completely] discredited British study linking the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) shot to autism have made their way to other western countries like Australia.
According to the government agency that tracks Australia's childhood vaccination rates, the rate of kids going without their shots has doubled over the past decade.
[...]Australia has announced an aggressive new approach in this area: Cutting off government benefits to parents who refuse to inoculate their children.
Under the proposal, parents who claim philosophical objections to vaccines will no longer be eligible for welfare payments and childcare rebates that can equal up to $11,500 per child in American dollars. Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced the policy change on Sunday, although it still has to be approved by Parliament.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 14 2015, @04:41PM
Well, let's be clear about this: these anti-vaxxers are incredibly ignorant. In fact, they are wilfully, obstinately ignorant. They are refusing to take a dispassionate look at the facts. I won't bother to put the citations here (yet again) for the benefits and risks of vaccination; we have been over this multiple times before. If you are interested you can just google them yourself.
Hollow propaganda?!? Do you consider these [who.int] to be propaganda? Really?!?
Maybe we should listen to them because they are acknowledged the world over as being the experts on the subject? Yes, much of the rest of the world looks to the CDC and WHO for guidance on disease control. Or are you one of those people that believes their ignorance is just as good as the hard-won knowledge of experts? And where does this accusation that the CDC are a bunch of whores for big pharma come from? I want to see some evidence for this claim. No, I don't consider your paranoid fears to be "evidence"; to make this claim credible you will have to show me that CDC are knowingly making recommendations that are counter to the interests of the population at large and advantageous to pharmaceutical companies. You might be able to make this accusation stick when directed at the FDA, but even then you will have some work to do to prove your case.