Showing posts with label herd immunity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label herd immunity. Show all posts

Saturday, March 16, 2019

The costs of failing to immunize children are staggering. Just ask one young boy in Oregon.; The Washington Post, March 15, 2019


Editorial Board, The Washington Post;

"The argument that states should permit only narrowly defined religious objections to vaccination hinges on the idea of herd immunity, which prevents contagious diseases from spreading if a high enough proportion of a community is vaccinated. This is why vaccination requirements are linked to a child’s ability to attend school. Parents’ right to choose what happens to their own children is outweighed by the state’s interest in protecting all children.

Tetanus, while not itself infectious, is included in vaccination requirements because the shot immunizing against it also protects recipients from whooping cough and diphtheria. But the Oregon case is a reminder that the vaccination controversy is not only about whether parents have a right to endanger other people’s children. It is also about whether they have a right to endanger their own. The six-figure cost in Oregon is startling enough. The cost to the 6-year-old boy, who could barely walk when he was transferred out of the ICU, is tremendous...

Parents have substantial leeway to weigh risk as they see fit — but when does a parent’s right to be irresponsible run up against a child’s right not to contract a life-threatening illness?"

Saturday, April 1, 2017

Trump Is President. Now Encrypt Your Email.; New York Times, March 31, 2017

Max Read, New York Times; Trump Is President. Now Encrypt Your Email.

"As lawyers and civil libertarians point out, federal criminal law is so vast and complicated that it is easy to unwittingly violate it, and even innocent conversation can later be used to build a criminal case. Encrypting your communication isn’t a matter of hiding criminal activity; it’s a matter of ensuring innocuous activity can’t be deemed suspicious by a zealous prosecutor or intelligence agent. Telling a friend that a party is really going to “blow up” when you arrive is less funny when it’s being entered into evidence against you."