Sunder Katwala, secretary-general of the Fabian Society, has a post up at Liberal Conspiracy concerning MMR vaccination, and possible mechanisms for increasing uptake. One of the mechanisms put forward, by Mary Creagh MP, is:
She also proposes making MMR catch-up sessions for five year olds standard in every part of the country before they start school, and asks whether Britain should emulate the US policy where, alongside moves to ensure that low income children are not left unvaccinated, children can only start school where parents provide proof of vaccination (with exemptions on medical or religious grounds).
Sunder also points to the Canadian approach to vaccination, where there is no compulsion on parents to vaccinate, but those who do not wish to vaccinate their children have to actively opt-out of vaccination. Proof of vaccination is required for entrance to school, but parents who wish to avoid immunising their child have to sign documents to back-up their decision. There is no passive sliding into non-immunisation, as occurs in the UK.
Such a system is far from being compulsory, or Stalinist as the BMA have ridiculously suggested (in the process echoing past right-wing libertarian BMA concerns about state control they expressed prior to the formation of the NHS):
Dr Hamish Meldrum, chairman of the BMA, said forcing parents to have children immunised was “morally and ethically dubious” and would go “beyond the nanny state to a police state”.
Compulsory vaccination is undefendable on a number of grounds, both in terms of democratic politics and personal autonomy over one’s health. However, there should also be concerns about any plans to link schooling to vaccination policy:
- The effects of the MMR-autism hoax has started to subside. It is possible that the situation will improve without changes to vaccination policy, although of course uptake is still too low in many areas.
- The scientific evidence is now conclusive. Objections to MMR vaccine are now based on conspiracy theories or suggestions of conflicts of interest. Changing vaccination policy may re-enforce this viewpoint – and current press coverage in the Daily Express seems to support this view.
- The wider political climate. There is a feeling that the current Labour government is authoritarian in nature. There are concerns about detention with trial, the number of CCTV cameras on streets, and ID cards. Changes in vaccination policy are likely to be viewed in that context, and therefore may be counterproductive. Vaccination would be best kept out of the current troubles that the Brown government are suffering.
So although I am open to Creagh’s suggestion, so long as no compulsion is involved, I think that such a move would be counterproductive in terms of the public perception of vaccines. It could potentially undermine an argument that science has only just started to win.
UPDATE: Scotmum at JABS, the UK’s leading anti-vaccination website/organisation which the BBC see as a reputable source, states:
Even raising the issue of compulsion is the thin end of the wedge. If vaccines are made mandatory before school age even with the most liberal of exemptions (i.e. parents allowed to opt out for whatever reason) then the genie will be out of the bottle and as the Americans have discovered, exemption conditions will be made increasingly more stringent until non-vaccinators find themselves treated not unlike the Jews in the early days of Hitler’s Germany
Whereas, the hilariously named, Truthseeker goes for the Fabians:
New labour are controlled also by the unlected fabian society too who think we dont own our own lives but need to be told what to do by them from the cradle to the grave. The Fabians think your child belongs to them and is not your responsibility but theirs.
All this just a week after just what the public told new labour what they thought about them at the polls. Browns seems to be on a mission to do this country as much damage as possible before he is kicked out and to remove as many human rights as he possibly can.
It will rain in hell before Corrupt Gov politicians, Sociopaths dangerous cowards and Fabian Society nutters will make my families health choices for me.
Of course, such unhinged views are extreme.