[Peace-discuss] chickenpox outbreak linked to vaccine exemptions

[E. Wayne Johnson]

One of the legitimate functions of government authority and the police 
power is the promotion of public health.

(see Jacobson v. Massachusetts, and Zucht v. King...)

The interesting issue is that vaccination is not a Zero Harm programme.
There is indeed a quite small risk of negative outcomes that vary from
redness and swelling at the vaccination site to lymphadenopathy to
severe systemic reactions, anaphylaxis and even death in extreme rare cases.

On the other hand the risk of epidemic disease in unvaccinated populations
is high and significant and the negative consequences of (preventable) 
infectious
disease on the General Population far exceeds the impact on the General 
Population
of random negative experiences by a minute number of individuals.

The impact on the general population of a few singlet non-vaccinated 
individuals is
negligible.  As long as the vaccination efficacy rate is about 80% of 
so, the opportunity
for a "forest fire" epidemic is near zero, so a few non-compliances plus 
a few natural
non-responders don't impact "herd immunity" at all.

The literature of the non-vaccinationist movement is an interesting 
study of incredible zeal
and incredible information.  see http://whale.to  It is interesting 
stuff and is a great stimulus
for those who already have a sick (as a brick) sense of contemptuous humour.
("I'm OK, You're Nucking Futs!" - Chevy Chase)


***

https://www.empr.com/news/vaccine-exemption-varicella-virus-outbreak-chickenpox-north-caroline-school/article/816020

November 21, 2018
Vaccine-Exempt Students Behind NC Chickenpox Outbreak

(HealthDay News) — North Carolina's largest chickenpox outbreak in 
decades is centered in a primary school with a large number of 
vaccine-exempt students, according to health officials.

Thirty-six students at Asheville Waldorf School were diagnosed with the 
disease last Friday, according to the Asheville Citizen-Times newspaper, 
BBC News reported. The school has one of the state's highest rates of 
religious-based vaccine exemptions for students.

Of the school's 152 students, 110 have not received the vaccine against 
the virus that causes chickenpox, the Citizen-Times reported, according 
to BBC News. In 2017-18, nearly 68 percent of the school's kindergarten 
students had religious immunization exemptions on file.
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