Vaccinations

The furore in the US about whether vaccinations should be made compulsory is truly dumbfounding for a Singaporean.

Over here it is not even an issue or at least not one that I am aware of but considering that I am mostly unaware of a lot of issues though, maybe it is a bigger issue than I am aware of?

What I do know as a parent of two children is that there is a comprehensive immunisation program in place. There is even a National Immunisation Registry in Singapore, I kid you not. As you can see from the picture below, immunisations are clearly mapped out and administered to children from birth all the way up to 11 years of age.

As a teacher, I can also attest that regular health checkups are conducted in schools and for certain years, immunisations are administered in schools.

I also wondered as I was reading the news if there were parents opting out of vaccinations in Singapore? A quick Google search turned up scant details.

My personal viewpoint? Why would anyone not vaccinate their little ones against the infectious diseases out there in the world? I understand that we cannot keep them safe from everything but if there's a vaccination for a known infectious disease, surely you'd take it yourself, much less deny it to your little ones.

As I understand it, opponents against vaccinations often quote the following reasons;

1. effectiveness, safety and necessity of vaccinations
2. compulsory vaccinations go against individual rights and religious principles
3. the discredited but oft mentioned claims that the MMR (measles) vaccination causes autism.

It is pretty amazing that something so routine in one country can be so roundly debated in another. I have always believed that to live in society, we have to live by certain rules. Don't get me wrong, I am not talking about society prescribing the length of your hair or anything like that but surely when the decision revolves around curbing the spread of an infectious disease, we should all be able to agree that it is necessary.

Which was why it was so disheartening to hear politicians come out and attribute it to a matter of choice. I certainly hope that sort of mentality never takes hold over here.

In my humble opinion it is pretty clear cut.

If you're anti-vaccinations and decide to live in a cabin up in the mountains all by yourself, good on you. You should never be forced to vaccinate if you don't want to.

However if you've decided that you want to be part of society, live around people, go to the cinemas, walk in the parks and like the cases that triggered this discussion, visit Disneyland, then it's a moot point, you have a responsibility to keep others around you safe.

This article over here, claims that in some US schools, vaccination rates have fallen below 50%. That is a pretty shocking statistic. If your child was in one of those schools, contracted measles from an unvaccinated child and unfortunately died from it, how would you feel? You could sue the parents, rant at whatever god you believe in and cry your heart out but the damage would have been done.

Vaccinations aim to prevent that and it is sad we are allowing disinformation cloud our judgement.

If you're still reading this and still in doubt. Let someone more eloquent than me convince you about vaccinations. Roald Dahl, the author, lost a daughter to measles and wrote an impassioned letter about vaccinations - you can read that here.

I leave you with a simple infographic.