In the past year, the United States has seen a rise in disease outbreaks, with the measles virus gaining the most attention. Despite being nearly entirely eradicated within the US, measles has seen a concerning comeback among children. This is largely due to the rise in anti-vaccination sentiment and vaccine hesitancy among adults and new parents, spurred on by the Trump administration.
More and more people are opting children out of vaccines early, leading to cases of children contracting illnesses they were previously less likely to have. Vacine hesitency is causing the degradation of herd immunity and leaving certain populations vulnerable to contracting illnesses.
Religiously exempt people have become the unfortunate spotlight of these recent epidemics. Under previous circumstances, these groups wouldn’t have that much cause for fear of their children getting sick because of the steady number of people renewing their vaccinations each year. But now, more and more of their children are becoming sick, and the question of maintaining these exemptions is being debated more than ever before.
It is an unfortunate new normal that we all now live with, but when dealing with things as delicate as religious exemptions, the biggest question remains whether a situation is grave enough for outside forces to step in. Far more people are open and accepting of adults who are religiously exempt than children, but how far is too far when going up against parental rights?
As the conversation continues, the best that people can hope for is to share correct information and to listen to their personal healthcare workers, because it ultimately comes down to the specific person to do with the information that they’ve been given.
