It’s no different than if you fed your children say, mercury, and then claimed you believed it was helpful because of Facebook gurus or similarly unaccredited sources.
I totally agree that children should be vaccinated.
But I just want to point out that there is a difference between actively doing something to harm your kid, and passively not doing something to protect your kid.
Lack of protection is not equivalent to active harm.
Parents should still be required to vaccinate their kids.
Letting your kids play in traffic isn’t acceptable even though it is passively not doing something to protect them. That’s because being different doesn’t mean that one is always fine.
Not vaccinating kids* is like letting your kids play in traffic and letting them drag other kids into traffic too.
*the exception are kids who can’t be vaccinated for medical reasons
I’ll upvote, agree they aren’t exactly the same, and edit but I’ll also argue they should both be illegal. That is admittedly opinion but let me explain. My reasoning is there are other examples of passively, but still criminally, failing to protect a child: improper storage of firearms, explosives, or chemicals. Not using seatbelts or safety seats. Failing to secure medical aid for a desperately ill child. I am not a lawyer, but those seem to set precedents where the adult wasn’t actively putting a gun in the kid’s hand or causing a fatal illness but they were still prosecuted.
Given the prevalence of anti-vaxxer parents, it seems current law doesn’t make failure to vaccinate your young child a criminal charge. My argument, and I know there are other views, is it should be (although defining criminal limits would require work). We protect kids in other situations where there’s no ill intent and IMO that’s a good thing. I know my position errs towards caution and is somewhat extreme, but polio is pretty extreme. The arguments that anti-vaxxers bring eerily mirror those brought by people who resisted seat belts (and I know you clearly aren’t one, just continuing the reasoning). 40 years later I think most agree mandatory seat belts proved to be a good and reasonable requirement that saves thousands every year.
I totally agree that children should be vaccinated.
But I just want to point out that there is a difference between actively doing something to harm your kid, and passively not doing something to protect your kid.
Lack of protection is not equivalent to active harm.
Parents should still be required to vaccinate their kids.
Letting your kids play in traffic isn’t acceptable even though it is passively not doing something to protect them. That’s because being different doesn’t mean that one is always fine.
Not vaccinating kids* is like letting your kids play in traffic and letting them drag other kids into traffic too.
*the exception are kids who can’t be vaccinated for medical reasons
I’ll upvote, agree they aren’t exactly the same, and edit but I’ll also argue they should both be illegal. That is admittedly opinion but let me explain. My reasoning is there are other examples of passively, but still criminally, failing to protect a child: improper storage of firearms, explosives, or chemicals. Not using seatbelts or safety seats. Failing to secure medical aid for a desperately ill child. I am not a lawyer, but those seem to set precedents where the adult wasn’t actively putting a gun in the kid’s hand or causing a fatal illness but they were still prosecuted.
Given the prevalence of anti-vaxxer parents, it seems current law doesn’t make failure to vaccinate your young child a criminal charge. My argument, and I know there are other views, is it should be (although defining criminal limits would require work). We protect kids in other situations where there’s no ill intent and IMO that’s a good thing. I know my position errs towards caution and is somewhat extreme, but polio is pretty extreme. The arguments that anti-vaxxers bring eerily mirror those brought by people who resisted seat belts (and I know you clearly aren’t one, just continuing the reasoning). 40 years later I think most agree mandatory seat belts proved to be a good and reasonable requirement that saves thousands every year.
Negligence is absolutely a form of harm.