# Make America Sick Again (Trump & Vaccine Refusal) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 17, 2017, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-america-sick-again-trump-vaccine-refusal/777384 "2017-01-17T13:47:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-america-sick-again-trump-vaccine-refusal/777384/61 "2017-01-22T15:22:50Z")
A pity their first concern would not be the health of our children. My own beloved son, the Err Apparent, had every vaccination I had, plus several I did not. Save one: he lacks that white spot on the arm that remains of a smallpox vaccination. Because they are no longer necessary. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-america-sick-again-trump-vaccine-refusal/777384/62 "2017-01-22T17:38:54Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Somewhat encouraging news: > > \*"In the week following Trump’s controversial meeting with vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr., STAT contacted all 23 members of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and asked whether they shared Trump’s concerns about vaccine safety. The committee oversees public health, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and held a hearing last February on the reemergence of diseases that can be prevented by vaccines. > > Eighteen senators, including eight of the 12 Republicans in the committee’s majority, expressed confidence in the US vaccination system and recognized the health benefits of vaccination."\* > > [Senators on key panel reject Trump's skepticism about vaccines](https://www.statnews.com/2017/01/18/donald-trump-vaccines-senators/) > > Trump can still advance the cause of antivaxery (at least by giving a platform for its leading bozos) but it won’t be easy to ram this nonsense through Congress as long as enough Republicans recognize what a p.r. disaster it’d be for the party. Is there any chance of this committee being reorganized soon? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-america-sick-again-trump-vaccine-refusal/777384/63 "2017-01-22T18:21:33Z")
I’m actually someone who avoided a vaccine due to medical reasons. I instead opted to have them test to see if I had gotten the MMR immunity from when I was a kid. I did, so I didn’t have to get the booster. My medical reason? The first time they gave me that shot was when I had the seizure that I am told left me dead for 45 minutes–on ice, which they were using to try and get my extremely high fever down. The fever caused the seizure. I wasn’t 100% sure about the causation, but I (and my doctor) didn’t want to take the risk. I say all that to then point out that, even after all that, I’m pro-vaccination. ---
**Author:** ![D.E.S.K.Top668](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@D.E.S.K.Top668](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D.E.S.K.Top668)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-america-sick-again-trump-vaccine-refusal/777384/64 "2017-01-22T23:27:24Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > [snip]first part of quote[/snip]So what do you want to do if parents don’t want to vaccinate their child. Be specific. I think that if an un-vaccinated child gets ill, their parents should be legally (financially) liable for ANY child’s health care that gets the same illness that their child suffered from if it can be proven that the un-vaccinated kid was in the same place while ill (even if not showing symptoms.) The payout will be halved if the sick kid wasn’t vaccinated either. If your own child is permanently damaged or killed by a disease that has a vaccine, and you didn’t vaccinate (for non-provable science reasons) you don’t get any insurance pay-out. If your child has a legitimate medical reason not to be vaccinated, no problem. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-america-sick-again-trump-vaccine-refusal/777384/65 "2017-01-22T23:38:20Z")
> [@BeepKillBeep](#): > > So it appears that Trump is going to push the anti-vaxxer agenda. Why are you surprised? In my experience (and I’ve mentioned this before), someone who buys into a whacked-out nut-job conspiracy theory buys into all of them. They simply do not have the means to filter out bullshit, nor do they have the mental acuity to accept sound, logical, evidence-based reasoning. For example: Trump is a birther (those who believe he’s renounced that are only fooling themselves; the big orange Turd simply stated that he would no longer be pounding that drum because “it’s a distraction”) and thus he buys into a so-called theory that’s based on nothing more than rank prejudice. Now along comes another loony “theory” about vaccines…and, what do you know! The Turd buys into it. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-america-sick-again-trump-vaccine-refusal/777384/66 "2017-01-22T23:41:16Z")
> [@Me\_Billy](#): > > And his blind sheep followers believe Trump… That is until someone close to them dies, THEN they wake up! You really think they’ll wake up? No, friend; they’ll just blame “big pharma”, etc., for the death. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-america-sick-again-trump-vaccine-refusal/777384/67 "2017-01-22T23:43:00Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > He won’t, he can’t, there’s a limit. There is a limit! Has to be a limit! Limits are good. Limits are great! Unless they get in my way–then limits are wrong. Limits a Democratic Party plot! ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-america-sick-again-trump-vaccine-refusal/777384/68 "2017-01-22T23:51:47Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Sadly ☹ this “moderate” stance has been whittled down in California to antivax parents’ getting the choice to homeschool their kids if they don’t qualify for medical exemptions. In the event of additional serious preventable disease outbreaks around the country, expect that increasingly to be the default “moderate” position. Too bad all the rest of the states/territories/districts don’t have that law in place. Also too bad is that homeschooling parents in every state/territory/district aren’t required to prove their “curriculum” meets the state/district/territory standards. There are plenty of decent homeschoolers who are actually teaching their children and teaching them well. What’s sad is that there are far too many homeschoolers who are pulling their kids out of public schools so the kids aren’t exposed to scary ideas such as integration and science. The more the government can punish the fearful group, the better AFAIC. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-america-sick-again-trump-vaccine-refusal/777384.md?page=3)