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Canada’s government recently proposed a legislation that would require parents and/or guardians to attend an “education session” before their children can be exempt from receiving any vaccination.

According to CBC News, if passed, the proposal would also “require health-care providers to report to the public health unit what vaccines are given to children, in an attempt to reduce school suspensions over out-of-date immunization records.”

Currently, the Immunization of School Pupils Act requires Ontario children to receive certain vaccines before they can attend school, including diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (aka, whooping cough), measles, mumps, rubella, polio and meningococcal disease. In Ontario, if parents choose not to immunize their children for medical, religious, or philosophical reasons, they must produce a valid signed exemption form.

Eric Hoskins, Ontario’s minister of health and long-term care, reiterated in a statement given last Thursday, “choosing to vaccinate your child [not only] protects them from [acquiring the] disease, and it protects vulnerable children who can’t get vaccinated for medical reasons.” Hoskins also added, “that’s why it’s important for parents to keep their children’s immunizations up to date.”

“If passed, the proposed amendments to the Immunization of School Pupils Act would help parents and guardians make informed decisions about vaccination.”

Ontario’s chief medical officer of health in 2014, Dr. Arlene King, told CBC there is a lot of unfounded, unsubstantiated information and myths about vaccines, and recommended that parents speak to their health-care provider if they have questions.

I hate to admit it, but I do actually think this is a great idea.

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  • I don’t agree that anti-vaxers make any good points. Usually, their claims are made from lies, unfounded research, misdirection or hype. I think most parents who don’t want to vaccinate think they’re doing the best thing by protecting their children from “risky” vaccines but likely don’t really know all the ins and outs of the vaccinations. And to be honest, unless you’re a chemist why would you? There are legit reasons for some children not to be vaccinated but for the rest of us, the risks of not vaccinating far outweigh the risk of vaccinating. There will always be a risk but there’s a risk with everything you do in life too.

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  • This might seem a good idea but anti vaxxers make from their perspective also a good and grounded decision. Personally I think to say/act that we’re right and they not or they’re right and we aren’t is not right. There should be the right and respect of different opinions.

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  • I certainly think we need something like this in Australia. Far to many people don’t immunise because of unfounded and unproven ideas.

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  • A good idea – but some people still won’t listen.

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  • Such a great idea. Sadly anti vaxxers do not want to know the correct truth.

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  • I really like this idea. I think education is very important in this instance although I do worry that some people have such a strong belief that it will make no difference as they will simply ignore fact or claim the fact is wrong.

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  • I agree that anti-vaxxers should be given all the information that’s out there. It should also be a condition that children cannot attend school unless they have been vaccinated.

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  • I think it’s an excellent idea. I don’t agree with all the excusable reasons for not immunising tho. I don’t think religious or philosophical reasons are good enough to not vaccinate your child, putting your child and other children at risk, not to mention both are open to abuse by those parents who don’t really have a reason. I think medical issues should be the only allowable reason to not vaccinate. I think if you educated the anti vaxxers tho, many would change their minds. We definitely need to do something before these diseases are rampant again

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  • It is a good idea, but I do think no vaccine, no school is better

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  • I’m Canadian and pro-vaccine, but I think this would do no good, sadly. I prefer no vaccination=no school: “The only things people opposed to vaccinations are immune to are truth and logic. The New England Journal of Medicine was damning in a 2011 editorial after campaigns by “antivaccinationists” had caused a return of whooping cough in California, killing 10 people. “Antivaccinationists tend toward complete mistrust of government and manufacturers, conspiratorial thinking, denialism, low cognitive complexity in thinking patterns, reasoning flaws, and a habit of substituting emotional anecdotes for data,” the editorialists wrote.” http://www.theglobeandmail.com/…/the…/article22987563/

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  • i agree! Id like to see the results from the campaign

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  • I agree completely. I’m sure this campaign will have wonderful results!!

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  • I agree that vaccine misconceptions can cloud one’s perception of vaccination & sometimes simple education is all that is needed but by making education compulsory I don’t think will change the vaccination rates. It’ll just be a waste of money because sometimes you can’t change “stupid”

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  • This could be done so easily in every country.

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  • Australia needs this too!! And make them see children that are sick with the illnesses they refuse to vaccinate against!!


    • I agree with you. It should make see first hand what their own child/children may go through. During the education program they should be shown footage of the tragic results too. Maybe there would be some very brave parents who have either lost a child to a disease or have a child with ongoing problems from one.

    Reply

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