The intrusion of the state into the family continues unabated:
As doctors struggle to eradicate polio worldwide, one of their biggest problems is persuading parents to vaccinate their children. In Belgium, authorities are resorting to an extreme measure: prison sentences.
Two sets of parents in Belgium were recently handed five month prison terms for failing to vaccinate their children against polio. Each parent was also fined 4,100 euros ($8,000).
And if you don't think it can happen in the U.S., read on:
In the U.S. state of Maryland, prosecutors and school officials in one county threatened truancy charges against parents who failed to vaccinate their children. The measure sharply reduced the number of unvaccinated children although nobody has been charged.
I'm not necessarily an opponent of vaccinations in general. It's pretty clear that some vaccines make sense, and have done much to improve public health. But I do not support the state making the decision for parents. Ultimate responsibility for the health and welfare of children falls to the parents, not to the state.
The Commonwealth of Virginia has passed a law that mandates that girls must be vaccinated against human papilloma virus (HPV), on the dubious grounds that the vaccine will prevent many cases of cervical cancer. There are several problems with this, the most important being that HPV is not spread through casual contact, so should not be considered a health risk for schoolchildren. Those who demand mandatory vaccination against HPV seem to assume that all children will become sexually active before reaching an age where they can decide for themselves if the vaccine makes sense. There's also the fact, highlighted in this presentation prepared by an official of the Virginia Department of Health, that Merck, the maker of the Gardasil HPV vaccine, lobbied hard for the mandate.
Generally, I think that pharmaceutical companies are making products that have a positive impact on our health and longevity. But allowing the state the power to mandate the use of particular drugs or vaccines has the potential to distort the incentives these companies operate on, giving them an incentive to use the state to force their products on the public, rather than have those products compete in the market on the basis of their effectiveness. That's a recipe for disaster, and something we should all be concerned about.
