The last three lines of this sentence are MIND BLOWING.
"The measure would require private employers, including small business owners, to provide exemptions to any vaccination requirements if an employee has a “sincere” religious belief about the health benefits of a vaccine."
I should probably just avoid this whole subject, but, I'm a sucker. For the record, I'm fully vaccinated since birth and so are my children.
For obvious reasons this is becoming more political, but, until very recently it was usually hippies, or people who lived a "natural" life who objected to vaccines. We all went to school with people who were not immunized, we just didn't know it for the most part. Outbreaks were usually kept relatively small because vaccination rates were generally above 90 or 95%. Because we all went to school with those people, we all work with people who have no vaccinations now. It's just now they're making it another culture war cudgel.
Anyway, most states(looks like 44) still have religious exemption laws on the books about this and 15 with philosophical belief exemptions. That's less than there were before as some states have been repealing them in recent years. I remember, for example, California was one of the states that had a few breakouts due to a lot of personal exemptions 10 years ago and ended up repealing that part of their law in 2016.
The problem really is that they're being overused now, to the point that vaccinations for incoming kids in many school districts(including the one we live in now) are falling below 90%. I made the decision to pull my kids out said school district and I imagine a lot of people are going to have to make that decision in the future as vaccination rates continue to decline.
I appreciate that and I always appreciate interacting with you because I've found you to have a deep respect for the facts in any given situation.
It's turned out quite well for my kids, I have to say. They're excelling in a different environment and I wouldn't have it any other way at this point.
@BE Thank you. I appreciate you saying that.😊 While it's certainly an unnecessary, ridiculous as well as scary wrench to have thrown into your lives, I'm glad it's worked out well for you all. And, you also taught your kids something important - to not go with the flow, to use knowledge to practically protect themselves.
@BE @StillIRise1963 Okay but: V's are dangerous for some of us, and science can't yet tell who or why or when. I know this from my vax-damaged kid (MMR and DTaP; he was 2). No few of the folks with #LongCovid contracted it FROM THE VACCINE. Yes, some anti vaxxers are right-wing wackos; but some of us are here for science ... it's just science that no one wants to acknowledge. Check your retirement portfolio for how much is invested in BigPharma, and that's all the answer you'll need.
@BE @StillIRise1963 I'm usually silent on this for obvious reasons, but dammit, that's getting old. Also: Folks I know in #MECFS circles were fully vaxxed and boosted AND MASKED everywhere, and STILL got Covid, then LongCovid. It's a whole new ball game when you've had ME break your collagen engine, had spinal fusion surgery, and then end up disabled AGAIN - because no one will mask. !!! This issue is deeper than "vaxxers vs. antivaxxers."
@BE In any case, my kids are thriving in homeschool as their (vaxxed!) friends get Covid over and over and over, so ... yeah. #GoCapitalism
I get where you're coming from. Nothing is 100% safe and this whole vaccination thing is a culture war phenomenon at this point. Every state has medical exemptions for immunization exactly because nothing is 100% safe for everyone. You'll get no argument on that idea from me. Nothing's all good or all bad, there's always nuance, and people who sell certainty are full of it.
@BE @StillIRise1963 Well that makes you awesome. I was bracing myself. Many thanks. ;)
I appreciate that and I was talking about religious and philosophical exemptions for exactly that reason. Medical exemptions and other biological reasons are a whole different ballgame.
I'll tell a little personal story here. My very good friend was apparently nearly killed by the whooping cough vaccine as a kid, according to his doctor. He never finished the course of it and then actually got whooping cough as a teenager.
The world's a wild place full of uncertainty no matter how we wish to control it.
@BE @StillIRise1963 I've lost a lot of people over this, and a few I really cared about. Thanks for hearing me, and others like me, for whom vax issues aren't ... simple. :)
What religions would an exemption be applicable? I thought religions stress the importance and sanctity of life, which require to take all necessary actions to prevent the spread of disease and death.
In other words, a "religious exemption" for vaccines suggests the person requesting the exemption is not actually religious at all...
@trueslicky There are christian sects that eschew all medical intervention. @BE
Jehovah's Witnesses, I believe, but being able to list some off is way outside of my knowledge base.
"Among the thousands of American Christians seeking religious exemptions, some are disingenuously using their faith as a pretense for vaccine refusal, others are expressing their tenuous interpretations of the teachings of Christian faith, and others are invoking their own personal religious commitments while acknowledging that these commitments are not shared or supported by their religious authorities."
https://divinity.uchicago.edu/sightings/articles/are-vaccine-exemptions-actually-religious
Ultimately, if you're religious and want to have your actions in line with your beliefs, you get vaccinated. Full stop.
@trueslicky @BE Yep. It's abuse of the law/rule just like all the other things they do. They're not breaking laws, but rather stretching them such that they no longer have meaning.
Growing up in a Christian Science household, I'm well aware. I'm also well aware that the experimental life-saving surgery I had when I was 2 years old caused a "crisis of faith" with my parents. My father has been a Christian Science reader at church, and yet still made sure his kids had access to health insurance and medical care.
Because ultimately there's nothing in the Bible that eschews the use of doctors or medicine. Its an individual choice, not religion.
As a people, our willingness to entertain and to tolerate dangerous nonsense has been used against us.
It seemed like a small thing earlier, just some contrarian kookiness: Hippies in backwaters maybe, inverting the story, talking vaccines as the danger.
Same as they worried about mercury in dental fillings! I knew someone who had theirs yanked, who preferred cavities. Really!
But now?
After all the death?
I feel we should see foolishness as an "attack surface".
It is important to add:
I am also like this anecdotal hippie.
I am no different and no better.
I have also been the person steered by dangerous nonsense, the one targeted successfully by information warfare and reflexive control.
Compassion!
@BE I've always known there was a small contingent of people who didn't vaccinate, but as you say, it didn't matter since over 90% of people did. This is just one more example of a minority of folks imposing their ignorant views on the majority of sane people. So sorry you had to move your kids. ☹️