To Vaccinate,or to Not to Vaccinate?

      Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly, measles has made quite the comeback in Ontario.
Toronto Health Officials have confirmed four cases of measles-2 adults and 2 children. A 95 per cent vaccination rate is required for a population to achieve the protective "herd immunity," officials say. However, why is it that elementary schools have only a 43% vaccination rate? The answer, it turns out, is somewhat complicated by a lack of nationwide immunization regulations and provinces that allow for certain exemptions. More parents choose to follow religious or their personal belief out of fear of their extremely rare side effects. Parents have found a so called "Loophole" because a medical exemption if there's a medical reason you can't receive a vaccine, or there's a philosophical or religious exemption. This is putting both immunized and unimmunized children at risk for communicable diseases.

 As crazy as it sounds, I understand that  parents are trying to figure out what's best for their child, without regarding other children. Parents who feel that the government is butting into their lives with mandatory vaccine regulations, are unlikely to trust their health recommendations about what is safe for their kids. However, the cases of serious negative effects after vaccines are extremely rare. For such a slight chance, it  poses a huge risk on all people.

Will non-vaccinated people start an epidemic? I guess we'll have to find out...