And it amazes me how often people can be so careless of the rights of others.
Giving careful consideration to how the exercise of rights by some impacts the rights of others in a society isn't being careless at all. It's benevolent, civic-minded responsibility rather than tyrannical oppression.
Adults are legally entitled to smoke cigarettes. Their rights to do so have limitations because they infringe upon the rights of others. Smoking in the majority of workplaces, schools, restaurants, public places, and the like are banned or restricted due to how secondhand smoke impacts others. Licensed drivers have the right to put their cars on the road, but they are not at liberty to drive however they please with impunity. Most hospitals require their medical staff to get the flu shot for the protection of their patients. The right to bear arms comes with legal responsibilities. The private school I attend now required proof of immunization for enrollment. The college I'll be attending in the fall also requires all students to have certain vaccinations as a condition of enrollment. That's standard for most colleges because each unvaccinated student compromises herd immunity. Rights are not being disregarded just because they are not unlimited.
Whether to properly vaccinate your child is a decision made by individual parents, but it has profound medical, financial, and emotional ramifications on many others in addition to impacting their own children now and in their future. It's not the parents who have gotten measles, but their children and other people's children who've gone through the agony of that disease. I know some of the kids at HBHS, a high school in SoCal that has been impacted by the measles outbreak. It is not the parents who have had to stay at home for three weeks, banished from school, athletic practices and games, club meetings, and social activities, but the teens. It's not the parents who are paying for the revenue the school loses each day kids are absent, but the taxpayers.
Measles is not just a misery-inducing rash and inconvenience, but a serious disease with the potential to cause fatality and permanent disability. My stepmom and dad are both physicians who volunteer with a medical relief organization every summer, and have seen the horrifying impact of this disease. They treated a toddler-aged girl in rural Peru villagers had described as diabolical and even demon-posssesd because of her wild tantrums and disobedience. They didn't realize that she never listened to instructions because she was deaf and with very poor eyesight as a result of her mother having measles while pregnant with her. Outside of America and other affluent countries rarely is it a matter of parents choosing not to vaccinate themselves and their children, but of their inability to do so. My job when I tag along on missions is to play the ukulele and keep the kids entertained in the very long lines they stand in to get vaccinations.
Here in California there are people whose rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are compromised by the rights of parents to not vaccinate their children. In a previous post I explained how my brother's unvaccinated playmate gave me chickenpox when I was a baby already in fragile condition due to being born premature, and how that led to sepsis and a hospital stay that terrified my parents. I still have health issues 17 years later.
The parents of a six-year-old boy with a very fragile immune system from four years of battling leukemia have made a request that the school ban unvaccinated children to protect him and other children who are incredibly vulnerable. I'm sure there will be parents who will yank out quotes and puff up about their individual rights and refuse to cooperate with having their children vaccinated despite the knowledge of the risk of that decision. I wish people would think less about individual legal rights and more about doing what is right, responsible, and fair for self, family, and society.
To get this thread back on topic, herd immunity is very much real, and it is dependent upon individual duty and cooperation. I believe we need to discuss the science of herd immunity here more than the history of one country, and focus more on conscientious responsibility than on than legalities.
ETA: My sister Tweeted this link to an explanation for herd immunity tonight:
http://www.health.harvard.edu/multimedia/herd-immunity-animation