To vaccinate or not to vaccinate? It's a question that's been in the media spotlight for months, as many parents are choosing not to vaccinate their children based on religious reasons or fear of longterm side effects, specifically the theoretical link of vaccines to autism (I'll leave my own opinions out of this article).
The anti-vaxxer constituency is loud, but facing increased push back from a general population that has seen the return of illnesses that were thought to be eradicated. Nowhere is this push back more prevalent than in New York, where the state recently suffered through the largest measles outbreak in decades. In response, Governor Cuomo created a mandate that, for the 2019-20 school year, any child who did not meet the required age-appropriate vaccination schedule would be prohibited from attending classes.
A 14-day grace period was given from the start of the school year to allow parents to cooperate, but those 14-day grace periods started to expire last week.
As a result, hundreds of Anti-vax parents protested as they were picking up their children for what would presumably be the last day they would be allowed to attend classes.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said in June "I understand freedom of religion. We all do. We respect it. I’ve heard the anti-vaxxers’ theory, but I believe both are overwhelmed by the public health risk."
Parents who continue to not vaccinate their kids will be forced to homeschool.
Some of those parents are going as far as to compare this law to racial segregation and even the Holocaust.
Um......WHAT
Banning un-vaccinated children from schools may be a somewhat extreme measure...but I'm sure we can all agree that it's NOTHING like Nazi Germany.
Anyway, here's the full news story from Buzzfeed.
Do you think the law is going too far here?