Anti-vaxxers in Maplewood?

A new, and large study, once again says no link between autism and vaccines 

http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/22/health/mmr-vaccine-autism-study/index.html

I'm impressed by this article, written from quarantine, by a mother who has abandoned her anti-vax status after after realizing how close her family may have come to being part of a measles outbreak (while having a cousin who was an at-risk premature infant), but not soon enough to avoid having all 7 of her children get whooping cough.

She has done her research, and her family is doing catch-up vaccinations.  Kudos to her for having the guts to go public, and even come back to write a follow-up piece and answer questions.

http://thescientificparent.org/learning-the-hard-way-my-journey-from-antivaxx-to-science/#more-576

I didn't realize that there was a vote recently about religious exemptions for vaccinations in NJ, but there was: http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/03/assembly_panel_votes_to_make_religious_exemptions.html  

I'm glad they voted to make exemptions harder.  According to the article, there were 1,641 students with religious exemptions in 2005-06; it went up to 8,977 in 2013-14.

Can someone tell me what the religious objections to vaccination are?  i.e. relevant Bible verse(s) or equivalent for non-Christians? 

sac said:

Can someone tell me what the religious objections to vaccination are?  i.e. relevant Bible verse(s) or equivalent for non-Christians? 

:crickets:

Thread Drift: @sac You gotta go see the Broadway play "Hand To God"!  You will love it... and it is somewhat relevant to this conversation.

Is anyone else bothered by the fact that countless hours and dollars of scientific research have to be spent debunking the autism claim, over and over and over? 

sac said:

Can someone tell me what the religious objections to vaccination are?  i.e. relevant Bible verse(s) or equivalent for non-Christians? 

 http://www.skepticalraptor.com/skepticalraptorblog.php/religions-state-vaccines/

afa said:

I didn't realize that there was a vote recently about religious exemptions for vaccinations in NJ, but there was: http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/03/assembly_panel_votes_to_make_religious_exemptions.html  

I'm glad they voted to make exemptions harder.  According to the article, there were 1,641 students with religious exemptions in 2005-06; it went up to 8,977 in 2013-14.

 Not much harder. Anyone can type up a letter, there will even be form letters to use as templates, and have it notarized. Its a trivial effort.

kmk said:

Thread Drift: @sac You gotta go see the Broadway play "Hand To God"!  You will love it... and it is somewhat relevant to this conversation.

I just googled it and it sounds good.  Thx!

Still waiting for chapter/verse bible references that the Anti-vaxxers are supposedly basing their "religious" objection to vaccination on.  

Anyone know?

@sac ParticleMan posted this article above, which answers a lot of your questions:

http://www.skepticalraptor.com/skepticalraptorblog.php/religions-state-vaccines

TarheelsInNj said:

@sac ParticleMan posted this article above, which answers a lot of your questions:

http://www.skepticalraptor.com/skepticalraptorblog.php/religions-state-vaccines

I only asked for scripture references and I did not see any in that article. 

sac said:

TarheelsInNj said:

@sac ParticleMan posted this article above, which answers a lot of your questions:

http://www.skepticalraptor.com/skepticalraptorblog.php/religions-state-vaccines

I only asked for scripture references and I did not see any in that article. 

1-I don't think there are many anti-vaxxers here t answer your question

2-Scriptures pre-date vaccinations, so I doubt there are any direct references. Anything is going to be an interpretation or a religious text or edict.

ParticleMan said:

sac said:

TarheelsInNj said:

@sac ParticleMan posted this article above, which answers a lot of your questions:

http://www.skepticalraptor.com/skepticalraptorblog.php/religions-state-vaccines

I only asked for scripture references and I did not see any in that article. 

1-I don't think there are many anti-vaxxers here t answer your question

2-Scriptures pre-date vaccinations, so I doubt there are any direct references. Anything is going to be an interpretation or a religious text or edict.

Scriptures pre-date many things that fundamentalist Christians are against, but they seem to be able to find the prohibitions in them anyway.  

And interpretation is a large part of any modern religious practice based on ancient texts, so that in and of itself shouldn't be looked at scornfully. I think the issue is many people could claim a religious exemption because it's easy to get, not because it's sincerely held.

TarheelsInNj said:

And interpretation is a large part of any modern religious practice based on ancient texts, so that in and of itself shouldn't be looked at scornfully. I think the issue is many people could claim a religious exemption because it's easy to get, not because it's sincerely held.

I agree, but it is quite curious to me that (unlike issues such as abortion, gay marriage, etc.) nobody seems to be pointing to the Bible in support of their position.

Because, in general, it's not really a religious issue.Abortion and gay marriage are things the Church is opposed to. The Church is not opposed to vaccinations.

Just an FYI: http://www.forbes.com/sites/tarahaelle/2015/04/30/rubella-eliminated-from-the-americas-thanks-to-mmr-vaccine/

The MMR vaccine has been successful in eliminating rubella in the Americas and rubella is one disease that is linked to autism in some individuals. The vaccine has helped reduce the onset of autism rather than cause it. Oh my.

Here is an NJ Spotlight Article about religious exemptions and a link to see data for specific schools and communities.

http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/15/04/29/public-health-advocates-seek-to-close-new-jersey-s-vaccination-gap/

Article is good but the data for SOMA public schools seems skewed and riddled with inaccuracies.  How can we get good data on this for our local schools and daycares?  Who is keeping that data?  Health department?  School District?

edited to add  correct link

ParticleMan said:

Because, in general, it's not really a religious issue.Abortion and gay marriage are things the Church is opposed to. The Church is not opposed to vaccinations.

 If that is the case, then what are these religious objections based on?  I get the Christian Scientists or others who basically are opposed to medical care in general, but is there really any other doctrinal objection to vaccines?