Let parents make informed choices: Opposing view

MaryJo Perry | USATODAY

While vaccines are promoted as safe and effective, this is not true for everyone. Vaccine risks are different for each child because we are not all the same, and doctors cannot predict which child will be harmed. Inflexible vaccine mandates threaten the health of those children.

The federally recommended childhood vaccine schedule has exploded to 69 doses of 16 vaccines with hundreds of new vaccines in development. A baby today receives more vaccines by six months old than her mother did by high school graduation. Yet, there is incomplete testing of the safety of the current child vaccine schedule.

Why does our federal government protect vaccine manufacturers from product liability lawsuits? Vaccines are the only pharmaceutical products that enjoy government endorsement and indemnification. Since 1989, more than $3 billion has been paid to those injured by vaccines through the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program funded by taxpayers.

When citizens can't hold corporations accountable in court for the safety and effectiveness of vaccines, it is very important to protect our legal right to vaccine exemptions. Inflexible, one-size-fits-all policies and laws sanction discrimination against those making informed vaccine choices and violate the principle of informed consent, which keeps the practice of medicine ethical.

This is especially true in Mississippi where, unlike in 48 other states, parents have no legal right to file non-medical vaccine exemptions. Worse, doctors here are not free to grant medical exemptions without being harassed by government health officials seeking a 100% vaccination rate. Many Mississippi families endure hardship under these oppressive laws, and are forced to uproot and move to other states to protect their children, especially if their children have had severe vaccine reactions.

Parents love and want what is best for their children. Discrimination and hostility directed at parents seeking non-medical vaccine exemptions should concern everyone. We must secure and protect flexible medical, religious and conscientious belief exemptions in vaccine laws.

MaryJo Perry is co-director of Mississippi Parents for Vaccine Rights.