Fight over vaccination comes to Rhode Island

This time, it’s over Health Department mandate for vaccine that prevents several cancers

By Will Collette

My thanks to Pat Kent for reminding me that the RI Department of Health is holding a series of public education forums on its June decision to require that school children be vaccinated for the HPV virus (Human Papillomavirus) prior to entering the 7^th grade in Sept. 2015. This vaccination is a series of three injections over a six-month period.

These sessions will give parents a chance to hear the public health rationale for mandating vaccinating (i.e., protecting public health and using one of the few vaccines available that actually prevents cervical cancer plus a variety of other cancers that can occur in both men and women).

They will also serve as a platform for members of the public, many of them fired up by right-wing rhetoric and “anti-vaxxer” zeal picked up on the internet and especially through social media.

Health Department officials got an earful of that at the first session. Click here to read some of the comments about how preventing cancer is tantamount to imposing a dictatorship.

The opposition is being whipped by groups like the RI Center for Freedom and Prosperity, a hard-right, no-think tank.

The theme has been picked up by such people as our local state Rep. Justin Price (R-Militia-Tea Party-Three Percenter) who sort of represents Exeter-Richmond-Hopkinton in his peculiar way. He wants the Health Department to withdraw the mandate.

A big believer in conspiracies, Price is a top contender for the title of stupidest member of the General Assembly. Unfortunately, there is no vaccine for stupid.

For its part, the state Health Department didn’t do a very good job at laying the groundwork for what should be a commonsense public health measure before it announced the mandate. Even their on-line information on HPV vaccine requires some searching. We found it and you can read it here.

There is also a powerful economic imperative supporting mandatory vaccination: preventing HPV-related cancers saves billions of dollars in future health care costs and lost productivity. The miniscule cost of vaccination pays an astounding benefit to the national economy.

By not getting out in front, the Department is now on the defensive from people who seem to think that vaccinating children against this cancer-causing virus amounts to the state promoting sexual activity among school children (as if kids past puberty needed any prompting to think about sex).

First off, studies have shown no connection between getting the HPV vaccine and subsequent sexual behavior among teens. Second, while the vaccine can be given at older ages, it is far less effective; you get the biggest bang for the buck by vaccinating kids before they are likely to start becoming exposed to the virus.

It seems to me that this current flap over the HPV vaccine is of a piece with the internet-driven hysteria that has led to an alarming number of parents failing to have their children vaccinated against communicable diseases such as measles, mumps, whooping cough, etc., and a corresponding rise in outbreaks – and fatalities – from these diseases. 

These outbreaks can be directly tied to how freely states allow people to claim exemptions from mandatory vaccination.

In my opinion, no self-centered concept of personal freedom gives a parent the right to conduct germ warfare against the rest of the people. As Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson wrote in 1949, “The Constitution is not a suicide pact.” So-called “parental rights” do not trump public health.

The Health Department is allowing exemption from vaccination for medical reasons that must be certified by a doctor, and also for religious reasons. I’m fine with the first exemption – in fact, this whole issue would pretty much go away if these upset parents would have a talk with their family doctors.

I am not fine with the religious exemption. At no point during my 12 years of parochial school experience did I ever encounter a Commandment saying “Thou shalt spread pestilence among your neighbors.” Even if you read something on the internet.

The next Health Department sessions will be held at:

8-11-15            Peace Dale Library, 1057 Kingstown Rd.,
Peace Dale,  6:30 PM – 8:00 PM.

8-12-15            East Greenwich Police Department, 176 First Ave.,
East Greenwich, 6:30 PM  – 8:00 PM.

8-17-15            Cumberland Public Library, 1464 Diamond Hill Rd.,
Cumberland, 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM.