One must weigh up the good with the bad.
There are risks involved in living walking across a street could be fatal.
A few children may develop an adverse reaction to immunization.
But a very larger number are going to benefit.
Polio has been wiped out through immunization
Measles has been drastically reduced.
Whooping cough has also been drastically reduced.
I agree that society should have to pay for these benefits.
Any child that develops side affects should be more than adequately compensated but that is politics not to be confused with the benefits of immunization.
However what get my goat is that anyone can see their local priest and claim an exemption. Maybe the N.S.W. government should allow exemption
from wearing seat belts on religious grounds.

Answer is no we need to continue to have a high vaccination rate and contiune to apply persire on those nuts who wish to put their childrn and the rest of us in harms ways.

The question that the anti vaccination lobby would have us focus on is "what are the risks of vaccinating?" The reality is that there are risks and no one is denying it. However, this assumes that the alternative of not vaccinating is risk free.

There are enough viruses that have nasty and long lasting consequences including HPV, glandular fever, chicken pox, HepA, HepB, some of which have frequent consequences, and others simply trigger cancer, and other conditions, or all of the above.

Any person using rational instead of emotion will see that vaccinating has negative consequences in say 5 of every 1m vaccinated, while not vaccinating has negative consequences for 5000 of every million, and see that there really is no option. This goes even further when one considers the risk that non vaccinated children pose to everyone else, it then becomes a community rather than simply a personal issue.

I personally support people wanting to keep their kids away from those who are not vaccinated and think that vaccination only child care centres are a good idea.

To assume that we know everything there is to know about vaccines and their affects on human physiology, to assume that there are no more questions to ask, is to be "anti-science" in the truest sense. Recent revelations about the whooping cough vaccine is proof alone that the way we view vaccination and implement guidelines needs to be constantly reassessed and monitored. The relative risk of adverse affect from vaccines compared to chances of contracting the illness/suffering complications is not easy to measure for an individual in a developed country especially in the absence of a epidemic, even more so without adequate adverse event monitoring. If this is true, then economic or social punishment of those who either refuse all shots or opt for a different schedule is indeed, as the author has written, ethically fraught.

I ALREADY run/out of energy fighting the sheeple..ON THE OTHER THREAD
http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?discussion=6258&page=0

IF i had the energy..i would pursue..the death RATES IN CAMPS GULAGS
[restrained populations/under STRESS/war etc..RECALLING WE USED TO ISOLATE/SENTENCE PEOPLE INTO CAMPS/..ISLANDS ETC to protect/the not sick..how was that called..put through in batches..into often overcrowded 'isolation'/HENCE GREAT FIelds of dead kids

arise..when parents need TO focus..on their 'WORK'
EVEN KIDDIES WERE WORKED TO DEATH..now no one cares re making sure its safe

please not here..in so few posts
we already got safe/unsafe 'CHILD MINDING'..FOR THEM INJECTED
[LITTLE REALIZING THAT'S WHO GETS SICK]..

REGARDLESS..THE PARENTS ARNT 'VACCINATED'..
BUT THE VACCINATED..WONT 'LOOK SICK'..yet theIR PARENTS/SHALL.

THE MUTATION RATE..OF THESE SICKNESS
THE SUPER BUGS..THE ADVERSE REACTIONS...IM OVER REPEATING IT

http://www.google.com.au/search?q=POPUlation+mORTALITY+DUE+TO+DISEASE++GULAgS+CAMPS

Dear Shadow Minister,

<<Any person using rational instead of emotion will see that vaccinating has negative consequences in say 5 of every 1m vaccinated>>

Rationality is always relative to the goals, which in turn depend on one's values: it questions whether certain action would serve those goals. However, values are never rational.

The desire to vaccinate is rational only by those who value the biological functioning of the human organism above one's spiritual welfare - there is nothing rational about this preference!

Dear Ponde,

<<Maybe the N.S.W. government should allow exemption from wearing seat belts on religious grounds.>>

There is no need for special favours: Nobody should be forced to wear a seat belt - it's none of the state's business. If you want to risk your life, that should only be your own problem (and YES, the state should not pay your medical expenses).