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Should parents who refuse childhood vaccines be liable if their choice harms someone else’s kid? (lemmy.ca)
submitted 11 months ago by to c/canada@lemmy.ca
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Canada just lost its measles-free status. So here’s the question..

If an unvaccinated child spreads measles to someone else’s kid, why shouldn’t the parents be liable in small-claims court?

I’m not talking about criminal charges, just basic responsibility. If your choice creates the risk you should have to prove you weren’t the reason someone else’s child got sick.

Is that unreasonable?

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[–] 3 points 11 months ago (15 children)

How are you going to deal with pesky things like religious freedoms and the Mennonites/similar cults?

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  • [–] [S] 14 points 11 months ago (7 children)

    They are still free to practice their religion.

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  • [–] 1 point 11 months ago (6 children)

    And if vaccinations are against their religion? I'm not siding with them btw just curious how other people want to handle cult members in regards to holding them liable.

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  • [–] [S] 16 points 11 months ago (2 children)

    I still think they should be held liable, this is a preventable disease.

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  • [–] 6 points 11 months ago

    If they choose to not vaccinate their child, fine. But they shouldn’t then expose other people to their children’s infections.

    It gets messier when they are communicable before symptoms are showing. But if my Sally and your Bobby were at a party with 10 other kids, and the next day bobby is showing symtoms, and then a week later a binch of kids at the party are as well, then they should be held responsible.

    Especially if they had reason to believe Bobby had been exposed to it days prior.

    Make your choices, but if your religious choices are that important to you, then account for how that impacts other choices you make, and don’t put other people at risk.

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  • [–] 5 points 11 months ago (2 children)

    Ignore them when they harm society. They don't get the freedom to commit murder and they shouldn't get the freedom to not follow public health requirement just because they have some mumbo jumbo excuse.

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  • [–] 5 points 11 months ago (1 child)

    Gonna show my age here and I'm not from the USA, but I remember in the 80s the doctors and nurses would come to the school one day, we'd all have to line up, and we all got vaccinated with something. Pretty sure there was no parental consent involved.

    We've gotten a bit too soft on some things.

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  • [–] 1 point 11 months ago

    You keep them out of public schools to reduce the chance of them exposing other people as much as possible. Their co-religionists aren't likely to press charges, and many of these extreme religious groups don't want their kids in mainstream schools anyway.

    In other words, you can use government-funded schools or you can refuse vaccination (and pay for your kids to attend a private school that allows unvaccinated students, or homeschool them and do the work yourself). You can't have both. That's how school vaccine mandates are supposed to work in the first place. We've just gotten way too lax about upholding and enforcing them.

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