News out of France that the country is embroiled in a debate over vaccines and vaccinations. The case is highlighted by Samia and Marc Larère who refuse to vaccinate their children and are now in the midst of a court battle over wether they should be charged for child abuse under French law resulting from their decision.

Vaccinations in France are at an all time low and the country has the lowest vaccination rate in Europe. The French have had a suspicion of vaccines due to numerous health-related scandals that have occurred there. One French doctor named Bernard Dalbergue used to work for Merck the company who makes Gardasil. He recently disclosed that the vaccine used to combat HPV maybe one of the biggest scandals in history.

I suppose it made no difference to people like Dr. Dalberque that aside from the fact that, like other vaccines, Gardasil is completely safe and has been successful in preventing cervical cancers in women. Dalberque is doing this out of some sick, perverted, and twisted sense of trying to make a name for himself on the backs of the people who die as a result of his vaccine denial.

The fact is when people advocate others to not vaccinate themselves and their children, they are really saying there is a right to infect others with a deadly illness like pertussis or small pox. When someone knowingly refuses to vaccinate they are indirectly violating the rights of another by imposing a risk on people who did not knowingly consent to it. That is especially true of children since not only are a child’s rational faculties and immune system not fully developed like an adult’s but kids or even adults who are not vaccinated are set up to be hosts for a virus to mutate into a deadlier strain. The best example of this is the Influenza Pandemic of 1918 where an influenza virus spread like wildfire after mutating that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people.

There is no reason for people not to vaccinate and anti-vaccine groups have a strong environmentalist influence. The anti-vaccine movement’s poster child, Jenny McCarthy, campaigned on Green Our Vaccines so they would be cleansed of alleged deadly toxins like mercury. In terms of France’s law it is very desirable for Samia and Marc Larère to lose their court case. It is tantamount to child abuse to not vaccinate kids.