Thinking of the herd.

Seems hard to believe doesn't it, that some people in this day and age are so ignorant that they would rather let their children die of entirely preventable diseases than accept the fact that vaccines work; some people prefer conspiracy theory to reason. 

I hear Australia has recently passed a law that prevents parents obtaining child care benefits for un-vaccinated children (except in cases of medical exemption) At first glance this may seem harsh, but if you think about the havoc a child infected with Measles has in a crowded emergency room or doctors surgery and the number of innocent (unrelated) lives that could be affected in serious ways, then it seems more like a reasonable incentive. Many will say that you cannot legislate for things like this; i.e. that governments shouldn't be able to tell people what to do. This is certainly one way of looking at things. However, I prefer to think about it in terms such as, it's the duty of my Government to protect me (and my kids) Preventing the collapse of herd immunity to these killer diseases sure sounds more like a protective than oppressive measure to me.