You may be too young to remember the iron lungs of the 1950’s. My children had a nearly zero risk of being imprisioen in one of those machines. I and the American public thought the developers of Polio vaccines to be heroes, not nitwits.

Where do we stop? With the nitwits who gave us CPSIA. Sometimes government works well, some times it doesn’t.

My biggest problem/fear is that some feel that the government should FORCE vaccinations.
What else would you like the government to take complete control over in your life?
What you eat?
What you wear?
What you say?
Where do we stop?

You may be content to let a bunch of nitwits who cannot seem to be able to balance a checkbook run your lives, I am not.

I repeat part of my comment above. There is a parameter lambda that applies to vaccinations. A rather high lambda applied to polio. It relates to the minimum level of vaccinations required for successful immunization. One’s freedom to decline vaccinations affects all of society, and thus the State has the right require vaccinations from high risk diseases.

Obviously we can let people choose whether to obey traffic lights. Did you study the cost/benefit of traffic lights?

Good to see someone finally standing up for the state’s right to inject me with whatever they see fit. Heck, why not make all vaccinations mandatory. You line up everyone and give them the shots. If they refuse, arrest them and inject them. Now that is some universal health care for you.

And before you jump up and call me an ignorant ill informed “religious moron”, let me add that I do vaccinate. I choose, however, to be informed and to weigh the “cost/benefit” prior to accepting them for myself or my children.

Not all vaccinations are created equal. I do believe that some are absolutely required and prudent. Others, however, are knee-jerk and reactionary. For example, the swine flu virus. (or the “regular” flu, for that matter. How long have we been vaccinating for that, yet it still kills thousands every year in the US)

Also, vaccinations are not zero-risk. It is in your best interest to know what the risks are and to determine if they outweigh the benefits.

All that being said. I really don’t think that the parents have a leg to stand on in this case. It is a private school and they are not required to accept applicants.

There are at least three types of polio virus, and one of the three can cause polio when included in a live-virus vaccination. That one particular strain was eliminated from the oral vaccine once it was eradicated and we have not had any polio in the United States in years.

Getting rid of polio a la smallpox is hindered by war lords and ignorant religious people. I heard a talk on c-span about the eradication efforts from Bruce Aylward. The man, and his colleagues, are heroic.

Kids get sick all the time. There was a report not very long ago by the English government taking great joy in reducing pre age 5 mortality from 60% down to 40%. Sara B lives in a strange world where ignorant hysteria is held on par with modern medical science. At least she vaccinates her own children.

From the government website:
“On October 1, 1988, the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 (Public Law 99-660) created the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP). The VICP was established to ensure an adequate supply of vaccines, stabilize vaccine costs, and establish and maintain an accessible and efficient forum for individuals found to be injured by certain vaccines. The VICP is a no-fault alternative to the traditional tort system for resolving vaccine injury claims that provides compensation to people found to be injured by certain vaccines. The U. S. Court of Federal Claims decides who will be paid. ”

One cannot normally sue the manufacturer without first going through the VICP for covered vaccines. There are other programs for compensation for injuries suffered from other vaccines (e.g. seasonal flu vaccines) but those are not applicable here.

To Sara B.: The things that are in vaccines that one may not want to put into one’s body are vaccine contaminants (SV40 monkey virus) that infect the kidney cells of monkeys used to make some oral polio vaccines. Also, some people (very few) receiving live virus vaccines come down with the disease it is intended to prevent. Chemicals having long complicated names (polyhexinthisandthat) used in vaccines have a proven safey record, but they may turn off the mother who wants to raise her kid on an “organic” diet.