Government Forcing Families To Vaccinate Their Children

The Australian government plans to tighten the rules on mandatory vaccines for children by pulling welfare payments and childcare subsidies from parents who don’t vaccinate.

As of right now, the Australian law allows an exemption on vaccinations if:

1. Medically, a child is at increased risk of a serious reaction.

2. It conflicts with religious beliefs.

3. The family has personal objections to vaccines.

The new law challenges to omit the last option for ‘personal objections’. As the labor opposition supports this, it is very likely the proposal will become a law.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott expressed his opinions in a statement with Social Services Minister Scott Morrison, saying, “The choice made by families not to immunize their children is not supported by public policy or medical research, nor should such action be supported by taxpayers in the form of childcare payments.”

Why The Call to Action Was Made

This new law proposal was brought on by a recent outbreak of disease in Australia and similar happenings in other developed countries where the measles, whooping cough, and other such diseases that were once controlled are resurfacing due to the increase in numbers of children not vaccinated.

The hope of the Australian government is to see these types of diseases controlled again and eliminated from communities by having more parents choose to vaccinate their kids for tax purposes.

Many have supported the proposal, such as the Australian Medical Association and some parental lobby groups, but there are also those who disagree.

The Main Argument Against Restricting Welfare for Non-Vaccers

The main argument against the proposal is actually coming from vaccine advocates. Statistically, those who choose to personally object vaccines are mostly wealthy, so a welfare benefit will not change their mind on skipping the vaccinations for their children.

One report suggests the Australian government may have other reasons for the restriction of welfare, detailing their history of their hostility towards science and mentioning previous plans to cut welfare in other areas.

Last year, it was documented that only about 2% of parents chose to use the third option to result in being exempt from required vaccination. Numbers also show a decrease in children not being vaccinated for other reasons, such as an oversight, and not as a direct choice from the parents.

The Reason It May Be Important

Despite the low numbers of those opting to exempt from vaccines, it has been noted that parents who do not vaccinate their children tend to all be in specific areas, increasing the chance of an outbreak of infectious disease.

Those who want to see the new law come into place, hope the tax benefit will raise vaccination rates in those concentrated areas to create immunity within the community and prevent future outbreak.

source:

http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/australia-make-welfare-payments-dependent-vaccination

https://parentsforvaccinesafety.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/vaccinationbaby2.jpg