Most parents want the best for their children. They want them safe and healthy; most but not all. Some don’t want their children healthy and vaccinated. Why? Some say religious reasons and others claim some political ideology.
These are anti-vaxxers. They refuse to have their children vaccinated and yours also. Who would actively prevent this? What mental flaw prevents them from knowing if your child has their shots, they don’t get sick? What moral aberration causes this?
Not only anti-vaxxers but anti-child and anti-family .Who says “who cares what disease is going around my kid won’t be protected from it.” Seriously?
This insanity is happening now and those in power preach this perversion. No worse example of this craziness exists than Robert Kennedy Jr. A fervent anti-vaxxer, RFK Jr. tried to tie Tylenol to autism or says vaccines aren’t necessary.
Shocking the medical community, the CDC said shots for newborns against Hepatitis B were no longer required. Doctors were upset. More children could die. You voted for this? Having your children or grandchildren’s health threatened by these crazy fools?
American medical opinion, like Don-Old Dump’s popularity, has dropped sharply. The CDC, once widely accepted, now widely rejected. Only a zoo has more quackery. Because of these deranged policies, ignore what the CDC or RFK Jr. now says.
In Michigan, this asinine advice was scorned and rejected. Many health care groups have publicly stated they’ll ignore it. They’ll continue to give shots to newborns.
Michigan DHS said 90% of infants infected at birth get chronic hepatitis B. Some 25% of them will die. This disease causes 22,000 infections and 2,000 deaths. The US began universal vaccination in 1991. Annual infections dropped by 99%; from 16,000 to less than 20. According to the story, RFK Jr. and the CDC have lost credibility and are already irrelevant.
What to do? Listen to your doctor for sensible advice.
The greatest proof of this right-wing stupidity is the measles comeback. Once declared eradicated in 2000, this disease began again in Texas and now has spread across the country. South Carolina is one example.
Some 254 people were quarantined during a measles outbreak there. USA Today noted health leaders said it stemmed from a lack of vaccinations. The story noted “at least 111 people have contracted measles since the outbreak began in early October…” Of those, 105 were unvaccinated. You can thank anti-vaxxers for this
Do you want this in Michigan? Oops, too late. Some 30 cases of measles were reported this year. Of those 30 cases, 28 had no vaccinations. “From January 1 through December 9, 2025, there have been 1,912 confirmed measles cases in the United States.
While growing up, not vaccinating your child was unknown. You wouldn’t do that anymore than you’d send them to school in their underwear. Refusing to protect your child against measles might get you a call from Social Services.
The anti-vaxxers babble about choice. They say I’ll decide if my kid gets sick or dies. Not noted is your child may get sick or die from their decision. Talk about serious mental health issues.
Then there’s the Religious Right. They want God to decide who lives or dies. If there’s an epidemic and people are urged to get a shot, they say no. If my child gets sick or dies, it’s God’s will.
There are major problems with that attitude. God can help you but you have to help too. If you stand there and do nothing as your child dies, that’s not God’s fault, it’s yours. You knew your child was dying and did nothing for them. You might be charged with recklessness, depraved indifference or something else If you’re arrested, use that phone call for a lawyer. If you really believed God wanted your child to get sick or die, your Bible is waaaay different from what most other people read.
You have a moral, medical and legal duty to protect your child from harm. Following medical conspiracies or distorted religious beliefs doesn’t absolve you of them.
For it is written “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?” Matthew 7:9-11
Today, if your child says they’re sick, will you ignore their symptoms? If they say take me to the Dr’s will you refuse? If they want a vaccine and you say no because some politician said so, how does that make them better?
Do you really want to tell your sick child “no, I can’t help you?”
Southgate resident Allan Bieniek’s writings have appeared in several publications, including The New York Times and the Harvard International Review.
