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Home > Blogs > Ohio politics > Archives > 2009 > March > 10 > Entry
Stick a needle in it: more vaccines may be required
College students living in on-campus dorms and apartments would be required to be vaccinated for meningococcal meningitis and hepatitis B, unless they’re cleared for religious or medical reasons, if a bill introduced by state Sen. Gary Cates, R-West Chester, becomes law.
Cates pointed to recent meningitis cases at Miami University, Ohio State University and Ohio University in recent years as well as a recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that college students get vaccinated to protect against infection.
Meningitis can cause brain damage, hearing loss, learning disability and death.
“Meningitis and hepatitis B are both serious public health risks, particularly for Ohio college students living in the small, communal areas of a dorm or residence hall,” said Cates. “Vaccination is critical to prevent the spread of these life-threatening diseases and give our kids the opportunity to live and learn in a safe, healthy environment.”
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By Patty
March 11, 2009 3:47 PM | Link to this
The first cases of polio in children who received the tainted vaccine were reported to regulators on April 25, 1955 - two weeks after the nation began a drive to vaccinate millions of schoolchildren. Before it was over, 164 people would suffer permanent paralysis from the Cutter vaccine or from the outbreak of polio triggered by it. Ten others died. For a brief period, the “Cutter Incident” shut down the ambitious vaccination program and threatened to scuttle the effort that ultimately eliminated polio from the United States. The accidental paralysis of those healthy children is now all but forgotten, but University of Pennsylvania pediatrician Dr. Paul Offit called it “one of the worst pharmaceutical disasters in U.S. history.” 1993 The government has been found liable under the Federal Tort Claims Act for a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) violation of its regulations in approving two batches of Lederle Laboratories’ Sabin oral polio vaccine. The plaintiffs in this case contracted polio after their children took the vaccine. The court found that the FDA had approved batches of the vaccine which were not up to safety standards and that this approval did not meet the ‘discretionary function exception’ propounded as a defense. author: Cooper, Alan Publisher: ALM Media, Inc. Publication Name: The National Law Journal Subject: Law ISSN: 0162-7325 Year: 1993 See no reason to fear the government, they will always take care of you.By DRA
March 11, 2009 11:29 AM | Link to this
To Tom—If your vaccines are worth their weight in gold as you say they are, then your comment makes no sense at all. The vaccinated people seemingly always try to use the argument—if you’re not vaccinated then you are putting me (a vaccinated person at risk) WRONG, Herd Immunity doesn’t protect you or anyone else! If your vaccines worked so well then why are you still worried about getting the disease that you have “so-called” protection against?By David
March 11, 2009 11:10 AM | Link to this
LOL, we’d still have rampant polio if the people who thinks the government shouldn’t force any vaccines on us had their way.By null
March 11, 2009 9:52 AM | Link to this
The best decision is an informed decision. www.cdc.gov or simply put either meningitis or Hepatitis B in your computers internet search engine. If you have ever seen any of the vaccine preventable diseases, you would RUN and be happy to pay to protect yourselves and your children. The state of Ohio currently requires that all children grades K-9 be vaccinated with the Hepatitis B series and most colleges HIGHLY recommend the meningitis vaccine as well as Hepatitis B. Most employers are requiring or recommending vaccines also. Yes, you can sign a waiver to not have to get the vaccines and if medically contraindicated you SHOULD NOT get them, but if an outbreak occurs, you need to keep your children home to protect them. With the recent cases of whooping cough, I wonder how many parents kept their sick children home, not just out of school, but HOME, away from any PUBLIC area as to not continue to spread the disease. Again, be informed!By RMT
March 11, 2009 8:59 AM | Link to this
Government should not be forcing anyone to get a vaccination. No one should be taking away our right to choose which medical treatments we want for ourselves or our children.By Patty
March 11, 2009 8:34 AM | Link to this
If our government would enforce our immigration laws we would not be having these problems. Legal immigrants get vaccinated and checked against diseases. Illegals bring in diseases that we have been vaccinated for and had pretty well wiped out in the past. Now due to our government not protecting the citizens of this country we are being forced to vaccinate when we should not have to! If our government is not going to enforce our immigration laws and keep the illegals out, then they cannot enforce laws upon us.By Dave
March 11, 2009 8:21 AM | Link to this
Just annother added cost on the public. These vaccines cost up to $100 to get and most insurance companies will not cover the cost for anyone over the age of 16 some insurance companies have an age limit of 7. I hope the cost for this comes down. College costs are ridiculously high now there is no need to add more cost.By harddaysnight
March 11, 2009 8:09 AM | Link to this
Kareen, you don’t have to fight in court. It’s called get a waiver. Or how bout don’t live on campus? Hep B is something most children have already been vaccinated against anyway and it’s not something to play around with. IT KILLS YOUNG PEOPLE!!! Tom, it doesn’t increase your chance of dying.It increases their chance of dying because if vaccines are so great you’ve already had yours. Anyone who mentions Hitler or The Gestapo as an argument just totaly discredits themselves.By NIMBY
March 11, 2009 7:56 AM | Link to this
Come on people, vaccines are for the greater good, sure your loved one might have a one in a bizillion chance of a reaction to the vaccine, but if you are that worried, do not send the child to any public place in the first place. The rest of the world doesn’t want to catch a disease from your kid anyways if they are not properly protected.By null
March 11, 2009 7:15 AM | Link to this
Parents can claim a medical, personal or religious exemption for the other “required immunizations”. Why can they only claim a medical or religious exemption on these two???By Tom
March 11, 2009 6:39 AM | Link to this
This bill is an excellent idea. Vaccines are the best public health advance ever. If you are not vaccinated, that increases my chance of dying.By anglr
March 11, 2009 5:07 AM | Link to this
I read about this in school once but the book wasn’t clear on the subject. but later in life I learned more on my own. I think its called gestapo. Your rights fade away with every vote.By Kareen
March 10, 2009 10:43 PM | Link to this
Do not believe that any local, state or federal government should be able to force vaccines on the public. People who have medical allergies vaccines can cause death. Vaccines can also be harmful to people if it is tainted / bad. Why should American Citizens have to fight in court should their religion be against vaccines?? The schools can offer the vaccine to students but not force it is a better suggestion.