Health Impact News Editor Comments: This is happening in one district in India, but could forced vaccinations and police action against anti-vaccine groups be something we could see here in the U.S. soon? Late last year the governor of California signed into a law a bill that allowed school officials and physicians to have the authority to vaccinate young girls with the Gardasil vaccine against their parents wishes. Many states have proposed legislation in place to remove existing exemptions to opt out of vaccines for children. World wide, there seems to be a concerted effort to take away people’s choice to refuse vaccines.
MALAPPURAM: District collector M C Mohandas has asked the police to take stern action against persons or groups who campaign against the vaccination drives of the health department in Malappuram.
Cases would be registered against those who are found to be behind the anti-vaccination campaign, under the different sections of Kerala Police Act 2010. “We have already discussed the issue with police officials”, said the collector.
The collector has requested the public to inform the police or the nearest health center, if they have any information regarding anti-vaccination groups or about their campaign.
The health department has already formed a rapid response team, to deal with the anti-vaccination campaigns in the district. Anti-vaccination campaigns across the district by different organizations, clubs, and local groups, had severely affected the polio vaccination programme conducted by health department last year.
Notices and pamphlets with messages against the immunization programme were distributed in rural areas. District medical officer (DMO) in charge, Dr Sakeena, said that the anti-vaccination campaign was the major reason for the decreasing number of children who get inoculated at immunization programmes during last few years.
Only 91.21% of children received the vaccine last time and the performance of district was very poor, when compared to other districts, she added.
Read the Full Article here: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kozhikode/Strict-action-against-anti-vaccination-groups/articleshow/11750297.cms
Vaccine Epidemic
How Corporate Greed, Biased Science, and Coercive Government Threaten Our Human Rights, Our Health, and Our Children
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