Mississippi has long had high childhood immunization rates, but a federal judge has ordered the state to allow parents to opt out on religious grounds.

For more than 40 years, Mississippi had one of the strictest school vaccination requirements in the nation, and its high childhood immunization rates have been a source of pride. But in July, the state began excusing children from vaccination if their parents cited religious objections, after a federal judge sided with a “medical freedom” group.

Today, 2,100 Mississippi schoolchildren are officially exempt from vaccination on religious grounds. Five hundred more are exempt because their health precludes vaccination. Dr. Daniel P. Edney, the state health officer, warns that if the total number of exemptions climbs above 3,000, Mississippi will once again face the risk of deadly diseases that are now just a memory.

“For the last 40 years, our main goal has been to protect those children at highest risk of measles, mumps, rubella, polio,” Dr. Edney said in an interview, “and that’s those children that have chronic illnesses that make them more vulnerable.” He called the ruling “a very bitter pill for me to swallow.”

Mississippi is not an isolated case. Buoyed by their success at overturning coronavirus mandates, medical and religious freedom groups are taking aim at a new target: childhood school vaccine mandates, long considered the foundation of the nation’s defense against infectious disease.

  • TheHarpyEagle@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    19
    arrow-down
    31
    ·
    edit-2
    11 months ago

    Yeah but how many will it save from vaccine death or, worse, autism? I mean surely the vast number of deaths related to childhood vaccinations in the past four decades will uphold their argument.

    Edit: /s

        • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          4
          ·
          11 months ago

          We dont live in a world where sarcasm is obvious anymore, man.

          You can say the most made up ridiculous shit, and its still not as bad as somethign that has literally come out of someones mouth, probably infront of a crowd.

          which is why i /s anytime, anymore, no matter how obvious it was.

          and yours was pretty damn obvious, and still got a lot of people thinking thats real.

          Thats not a reflection of you, so much as its a reflection of what has become of society.

    • Rev3rze@feddit.nl
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      8
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      11 months ago

      how many will it save from vaccine death or, worse, autism?

      The number of people that are missing the obvious satire here is making me sad.