Colleges battling childhood illnesses

"I don't understand how any organization can require vaccinations, especially if they've been declined due to religious reasons." I don't know why any institution would be compelled to offer an education to anyone who would compromise the health of the community. Kind of like we are slowly outlawing smoking in confined places such as offices, restaurants, and bars - second hand smoke kills bystanders. Well, same issue with immunization. There are plenty of online courses one can take. Being immunized isn't the mark of the beast, its a health issue - a community health issue.

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Well it's not exactly as cut and dry as that....getting vaccinated does not guarantee you immunity...it decreases the likelihood of you catching an illness and make the case you catch (i.e. chicken pox) a lot less severe.

The more people that aren't vaccinated in your community, the more likely that the virus will exist in your community.

Exposure is exposure...

There was also recently a post on here about vaccines that had been improperly stored and were no longer effective. Makes you wonder how many of us are actually vaccinated with ineffective vaccines in the first place.

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I was told, at the health department, that anyone over the age of 7 who receives the pertussis vaccine will have convulsions. I wonder how they're going to vaccinate college kids for it.

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I figure that the officials have a public health argument -- they can require that those choosing to be part of the community not endanger that community. As others have said, not getting immunized makes you a potential carrier, not just a potential sufferer. They can't make you get immunized, but they can keep you from registering if you don't. (Heck, as late as graduate school, I even had to have an up-to-date tetanus booster! and that's not even contagious!)

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Personal freedom folks. No one should ever have any medical procedure of any sort forced upon them by any government or institution. There are many legitimate reasons to refuse vaccinations. They are not the end all be all of public health. I'm much more afraid of personal freedom being taken from me than I am of illness that in todays world is treatable.

Banning 426 students from classes because of one confirmed case of mumps at USM is insane. Insisting the entire student populace at BJU get a vaccination for pertussis is equally insane, although students sign away many personal rights just to attend there anyway and I would be surprised if anyone puts up much of a fight.

This isn't about vaccinations. This is about losing your right to choose what you want to do with your own body. Do we really want to support government (or instutionally) imposed medical procedures? Think about it. That's a very scary and slippery slope.

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I think the University is totally within it's rights. In today's world of liability if they DONT take action they'll likely be in more trouble than if they do.

Attending the University is not the RIGHT of anyone, it is a privilege. There are certain rules and requirements for admission. The University also has a duty to protect the other students in attendance, and the employees that work there.

There's a larger picture here to consider. No one wants their rights infringed upon, but we allow institutions to determine what we wear, what we pierce, whether we tattoo, and in this case whether we immunize. However, I also don't want to be the responsible party for making someone seriously sick. Even folks that are immunized could still carry viruses from unvaccinated individuals to their young babies that may not be vaccinated yet, or their elderly family members with compromised immune systems.

Yep...we have treatment now for these illnesses...doesn't mean people aren't sick in the meantime and it doesn't mean if caught by the right (or wrong) person that the results could be devastating.

Just ask military members and their families if it's optional...

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No vaccination is 100%. So it's not always the fault of those that choose to not vaccinate. When there was that mumps outbreak in Iowa a couple years ago over 90% of those that got sick were up to date on their vaccinations. Vaccinations are not the invincible barrier to sickness and death that the pharmacutical companies would like you to believe they are.

Attending a private school is indeed a priviledge and like I said before many rights are signed away to attend BJU anyway, so I doubt their decree will be a problem. On a state level though it is an entirely different animal. There are exemptions set up in every state except for two though so that our personal freedoms are not taken from us. That is why I say banning students from a state school like USM is insane, especially when you have people opting out for religious reasons. The government cannot mandate your religious ideals and should not force their own (in this case the belief that vaccinations are necessary for public health) on those that disagree. Pulling an education that was already granted, imposing rules after the fact, is just plain wrong. How can you not see that?

Illness will never be gotten rid of completely and we are fools if we blindly believe that a little shot of something is going to save us all from death. Common, people die of the common cold all the time. Doesn't keep you from going to the grocery store when you have a runny nose, does it? You are creating risk to others when you go out with any illness. And you also can expose people before you even have symptoms so are we suppose to all just stay in our little bubbles all the time? Would you want that mandated? Would you want to be banned from work on that basis? Which makes me think, how many adults are completely up to date on their vaccinations? Not nearly as many as aren't I would bet.

The military argument doesn't stand up at all. They know what they are getting into when they sign on. They are choosing to do whatever they are told to including vaccinations. Not even remotely the same as attending college.

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Uhhhh.... don't they pretty much TELL you at Bob Jones University what your religious beliefs are concerning vaccinations, and everything else? They recite their university creed five days per week, as I understand it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Jones_University

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I'm anti certain vaccines, not all. I won't go into why, jus that it is no one else's decision but our own. I don't understand why we are told to pump our babies full of diseases at such a young age anyhow. The vaccines I am in favor of are to be given at a proper schedule and not mixed up. Let the child's body deal with them one at a time!!! One vaccine I'm against is the MMR. I never want my baby to have it. My son did and I will regret it for the rest of my life. Doctors aren't GODS. They don't have all the answers either.. I firmly believe this all comes down to money, and scare tactics for them (drug companies) to get it.

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The universities banning students who aren’t vaccinated are doing so in the interest of public health. This isn’t anything new – I remember I had to show proof of a whole bunch of vaccinations before I could attend college (and that was 20 years ago!). And, like another commenter said, it’s not like you HAVE to go to that university. If you don’t want to be vaccinated, then you need to weigh that decision with whether or not you want to attend that college.

Also, the idea that kids’ immune systems are being overwhelmed by too many immunizations is just not true. The vaccines that our kids receive today actually have way fewer components in them than the ones we received as kids. There are so many myths out there about immunization. One place I’ve found on the Internet that has some good info on separating facts from fiction on immunization is the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia at www.chop.edu/consumer/jsp/division/generic.jsp?id=75743

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