Attack of the Vaccine Nazis

It was predictable that the spike in measles cases (I hesitate to call it an epidemic) would lead to the active promotion of immunisation, but the latest pronouncement by MoH suggests that the place has been completely over-run by Vaccine Nazis. They are now saying that un-immunised children will be denied schooling for up to two weeks if they have been in contact with a known measles case.

Superficially, this might seem like a logical thing to do, until you recall that 33% of partially immunised kids and 10-15% of “fully” (two dose) immunised kids will also catch measles. It therefore makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to keep non-immunised children from school, if you are going to allow immunised contacts free access. As it is, the practice of keeping children home for a fortnight is a fairly dubious one, unless you also insist that the child and his/her entire family stay out of contact with everyone during this time. Also Measles can take up to 21 days to incubate and is not infectious until 1-2 days before the rash appears. It is also vastly more infectious than the flu, making isolation futile.

One has to assume that this is simply another way of pressurizing families into having their kids immunised.

The irony of advocating a compulsory assault of a child with a needle “for their own good” while simultaneously objecting to the use of smacking for corrective purposes has apparently escaped these people.

Make no mistake here. I think the measles vaccine is a worthwhile addition to our immunisation schedule. It is the least benign of the childhood diseases and the vaccine works well, with few side effects. The dark myth of autism from the vaccine has now been dispensed with by a number of excellent clinical trials. It is mildly annoying that the measles vaccine is packaged with mumps and rubella, both very benign childhood diseases (Rubella should be given separately to girls when they are older). There is some evidence that the immunity developed from having a benign childhood disease is much better than the immunity acquired by vaccination. Childhood diseases like chicken pox and mumps are far more serious in adults than in children. It may therefore be better to catch these diseases in childhood, rather than be immunised for them. Note that I do not include measles in this.

Having said all that, I think that immunisation for measles should still be a choice. Coercive methods are unwarranted and have no place in a modern society. If we cannot persuade people the immunise their children because it is the logical thing to do, we have no business trying to bully them into it by restricting their children’s education of the flimsiest of grounds.

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