The Vaccine Uproar

Here in Texas there is quite an uproar about the governor's recent executive order to require pre-teen girls to receive a vaccine against the HPV virus before they can attend school. Now before I get into this, I want to state that Kelly and I have not decided whether or not we will give this vaccine to our girls. Since we homeschool, this order does not directly affect our family. We don't know enough about this vaccine yet to make that determination.

BUT, I have to say, I have been so surprised at the reaction across the state to this order. Even within my family there has been outrage from unexpected quarters. And frankly I don't get it.

Why this vaccine? Why not the Hepatitis A or B? Is it that this one is transmitted completely through intimate contact? The parents across the state see this as a violation of their rights to make medical decisions for their children.

And they are right of course. But my point is THAT THIS IS NO DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHER VACCINES, from the state education sex education, and other such things that come part and parcel along with government run education. Frankly, if you think that they have a right to demand your child have all the other vaccines, I don't see why you object to this one.

Yes, I know several of the other vaccines prevent illnesses that are airborne, and thus present a different threat. But (1) this does not trump the responsibility the parent has for the health and wellness of their children, made in consultation with a medical professionals, and (2) in the climate of sexual permissiveness that pervades that public schools these days, the difference between STD and airborne diseases is not as much as one would think.

Now our family is not anti-vaccines. We do give our children most of the shots available. Not all, but most. But we make this decision based upon our own research, upon the advice of our physician, and with much prayer. Not based upon what bureaucrats somewhere have decided would be best for my children, whom they have never seen.