Mandatory / Compulsory Vaccination?
With COVID-19, there is a renewed call for compulsory or mandatory vaccination. Should vaccines be compelled?
I do not believe that the government should force parents to vaccinate their children against their will. In the Bible, parental authority over children is so vast that parents could even bring rebellious children to trial and, if found guilty of consistent, persistent, and willful rebellion and wickedness, have their children executed (Deuteronomy 21:18-21; note that there is no record of parents actually following through on this with their children, as very, very few parents would want to do it, but it still shows the Biblical position on parental authority in relationship to the State). Similarly, children who cursed their parents or hit their parents would “surely be put to death” (Exodus 21:15-17) if there were multiple witnesses who were willing to testify to the fact (no Biblical indication specifies that the parents were required to testify against their children or, for that matter, that anyone at any time was compelled to testify against anyone else).
When Romans 13 outlines the role of the government, Biblically speaking, it is a “night watchman” sort of system with very limited authority. The government is to punish evil but is not even supposed to actively do good–that is the realm of individuals and groups in society such as churches–but only to “praise” the good without financial support (Romans 13:3-4). Biblical government is, in many ways, very libertarian on the spectrum of political ideology (learn more about the role of the government according to God’s Word here). Therefore, based on God’s revelation, a strong support for parental authority and a strong view on a very limited role for government leads me to oppose mandatory / compulsory vaccination. Furthermore, requiring parents who have religious objections to vaccinate is a very dangerous restriction of religious freedom.
Furthermore, in American history compulsory vaccination has led to many other restrictions on civil liberties. A 1902 mandatory vaccination law passed in Massachusetts in response to a smallpox epidemic was appealed all the way to the Supreme Court, which concluded that compulsory vaccination was constitutional in Jacobson v. Massachusetts (1905) by a 7 to 2 margin. For the benefit of the collective or group, individual liberty could be repressed. The precedent set by this decision allowed for the promotion of eugenics; for example, in 1927 the case Buck v. Bell upheld the mandatory sterilization of a person considered “feeble-minded,” arguing that “The principle that sustains
compulsory vaccination is broad enough to cover cutting the Fallopian
tubes.” The only precedent cited in case law was Jacobson v. Massachusetts. The (alleged) collective good from forcibly sterilizing undesirable people overrode the individual liberty not to be–to describe it Biblically–eunuchized. The expanded state powers that justified compulsory vaccination were used to uphold eugenic sterilization (learn more in the article here). The power given to the State over parents that is involved in allowing compulsory vaccination also justifies the elimination of many other civil liberties.
Thus, I am against compulsory vaccination, and I believe you should be against it as well.
What is not a reason I oppose compulsory vaccination
I am against mandatory vaccination because of parental rights. I am not against mandatory vaccination because vaccines do not work, are dangerous, or are ineffective. Vaccines are safe, are effective, and are a great blessing to mankind in this fallen world that God has allowed scientists to discover utilizing the Biblically-based scientific method. Thanks to vaccines, diseases such as polio, typhoid, smallpox, yellow fever, and rabies no longer kill, cripple, and cause terrible suffering to millions and millions of people. Anti-vax propaganda simply does not reflect scientific reality in the world God has made. Common ideas, such as the lie that vaccines cause autism, was spread in order to make its author a lot of money. If you do not vaccinate your children, you are increasing the likelihood that they will die or suffer because you believed scientifically inaccurate propaganda. You are also not loving your neighbor as yourself, for you are increasing the likelihood that other children or adults will get sick or die. Furthermore, you endanger the children of responsible parents who vaccinate their children, as their children, when too young to get vaccinated, may still be infected and get sick or die because you have refused to protect your own children from disease. (Learn more about vaccine safety here.) You may say that you don’t need to vaccinate because others do, and so there is herd immunity–but you had better keep your kids away from the airport, then, and had better not teach them to evangelize in an area that has a lot of immigrants. You definitely would want to keep them away from the mission field.
In other words, I believe that the government should allow parents to make foolish decisions, because allowing them to make foolish decisions–like not getting vaccinated themselves or having their children vaccinated, which is very foolish–is not as bad as the consequences are of the increased governmental power involved in compulsory vaccination. In Israel drunkenness was a sin, but it was not illegal. Failing to help the poor was wicked, but it was not illegal. God hated divorce, but it was legal. Failure to love one’s neighbor as oneself was a horrible crime, but it was legal. It should be legal for people to make all kinds of bad, foolish decisions, because increased government power is even worse than the bad, foolish decisions.
The only way to stop mandatory vaccination
While I believe that the position above is Biblically and practically correct, it is also one that is a loser politically. If enough people believe anti-vax propaganda and stop vaccinating, it is certain that there will be more outbreaks in the United States of easily preventable diseases, and children will die for no good reason. Enough angry parents showing pictures of happy babies and healthy children that are now dead or handicapped from diseases because of anti-vaccination lies will create an unstoppable wave of public support for mandatory vaccination.
Without mandatory vaccination, more children will get sick, suffer life-long hurt, and die. I believe that the less-easy-to-see consequences of mandatory vaccination are worse than this awful and very visible consequence of not mandating vaccines. But is that going to win in a room full of angry parents holding pictures of their now dead children and demanding their congressman support mandatory vaccination? Nope. Not a chance. Vaccines will become compulsory if enough people stop vaccinating.
So how can mandatory vaccination be stopped? The only way to stop it is by vaccinating voluntarily. If only a small enough percentage of the population doesn’t vaccinate, the people who are putting their children’s lives and the lives of other children at risk can fly under the radar, believe their misinformation, and not cause too much damage. But as their number grows big enough to compromise or eliminate herd immunity, public pressure from the death, disease, and carnage caused by their irresponsible actions will lead to mandatory vaccination.
So do you want to stop mandatory vaccination? Have your children vaccinated, encourage others to vaccinate, and fight inaccurate and unscientific anti-vaccination propaganda.
There is no other long-term way to stop mandatory vaccination.
–TDR
https://vaers.hhs.gov/data/datasets.html?
Thomas, have you ever been to this site and downloaded the data? I'd be interested to see if there is similar data of damage/death that has occurred for those who have not vaccinated.
Mat
Dear Bro Dvorachek,
Thank you for the link. Certainly, with millions and millions and millions of vaccines being given out, on very rare instances everything from irritation at the site of injection to various other things will happen. Probably someone has had an eye poked out with a needle after a nurse giving a vaccine slipped. One could compile a list of what has happened to people after they have purchased coffee at McDonalds and find all kinds of negative things that have happened, from spilling the hot coffee, choking on a stirring stick, etc. I had not downloaded data from that specific website prior to your posting the link, but I believe that it shows that vaccine safety is taken very seriously and anything that could on a rational scientific basis be traced to a vaccine is documented for analysis.
I believe that if you look into it you will discover that the death rate from unvaccinated children suffering harm to themselves and spreading disease to others very greatly exceeds side effects from vaccination.
Thank you for the link and the question.
I find this as an interesting discussion, not for what it says but for what it does not say. What I mean is the real problems and threats to traditionally protected liberties (that you briefly alluded to here) really has very little to do with this debate. Real problems in a nutshell are drug abuse, drug abuse, and drug abuse.
But I get it, we are not talking about that. I think the vast majority of people who are not into that "conspiratorial" mindset, understand the calculated benefits of all the things you are talking about. I just think the idea that anti-vaccination is some huge issue is overplayed, simply because the media for whatever reason they have, likes to talk about it. I would rather not just play right into their hand by thinking it is a big issue and bringing it up all the time when there are much more substantial (even health related) issues such as, just to name a single issue, stopping drugs from spreading and bringing a spotlight on those casualties. To give an example using this of what I am talking about: when people talk about supposed "race" issues, poverty issues, policing issues, that has significant undercurrents with rampant drug problems in those areas, yet nobody on the tv EVER talks about it, so it does not get the level of attention it should.
Instead all we get are discussions about UFO's, anti-vaccination and other types of oddball issues that hardly affect anyone. They affect such a small number of people, it's almost more a form of distraction. But the progressive media likes to talk about them as big problems, so the perception of them as problems goes up. We all get lectured by the big bro. media on these things pretty regularly. Pretty soon, you see people trying hard to distance purely in reaction to it and do damage control relating to those issues, not realizing that by even talking about them, they have already played into the hand of the people controlling the conversation. I don't see it as an issue, honestly, and it does not affect me.
But on a scale of things I think are doing tremendous damage, I do not think this weighs in for what it's worth in discussing it. Progressives will continue trying to push for public healthcare in general because it's how they control people. Getting votes which brings money to reward via the dole system and buy more votes. I could go on, but this would be drifting off topic which would not be considerate. Nonetheless, interesting points about protecting liberty as a higher purpose. A lesson we all learn from the historical examples of Communism and the damages it has done.
A.T.
I appreciate how this post just makes any parent who opposes vaccinations but still cares about their children and everyone else seem like a selfish irresponsible person as if they don’t have any common sense, no brain and no care. Surely this author has family and friends who are caring people that don’t vaccinate. Do you really mean to call them irresponsible and selfish and not loving their neighbor? Is there really no room for graciousness towards them? Have your own opinion about vaccinations but why do you have to present it in a way that belittles those who disagree? It seems so proud to write your opinion in a way that makes anyone who disagrees to be an idiot and not able to reason and come to a different conclusion. For this reason I don’t even care to discuss my opinion and arguments for or against. It wouldn’t go anywhere because I am clearly just naive and selfish.
All the best!
Hi Anonymous/ AT,
This is the only post that has been posted on this specific topic at What is Truth? for years, so we are hardly harping on it.
We are against drug abuse.
Thanks.
Hello Aonymous #2,
If you don’t care to discuss the issue, then perhaps it would be good not to just tell us that you are offended and that you think the post “seems so proud,” which, it appears, is not supposed to be belittling to its author, whom you criticize as belittling. Maybe you think mandatory vaccination can be stopped by convincing everyone that anti-vex conspiracies are correct. I disagree with you on that one.
All the best to you as well, thanks.
One more thing, Anonymous #2. Please try to take the post as reproving, rebuking, and exhorting instead of just getting offended, and, if you aren’t doing it already, try reading 50% mainstream science in addition to anti-vax sources, and see which have better documentation, sources, logic, etc. Thanks.