A swine flu vaccine mix-up has sparked outrage and concern.
Two children were given the vaccine without their parent’s consent. One mother said her daughter ended up in the emergency room after getting sick.
It’s a major mistake that could’ve cost one little girl her life.
It will be a long weekend for 6-year-old Nikiyah Torres as a result of an H1N1 vaccination she received Thursday morning at PS 335 in Brooklyn.
“He just gave me the needle, without asking me what is my name,” Nikiyah told CBS 2 HD.
Without her mother’s consent.
“I’m outraged. What parent wouldn’t be?” mother Naomi Troy said.
New York City health officials said another student — at PS 65 on Staten Island — was also given the vaccine without parental permission. Nikiyah’s mother said she’s furious over the mistake and not just because of her general objection to the H1N1 vaccine, but also out of concern over how it will interact with medication Nikiyah takes for epilepsy.
“I don’t understand how you make a mistake like that,” Troy said.
It’s easy to make a mistake like that when you don’t care, and in particular when schools are forced to deal with things schools ought not have to deal with (ie: administering medication to children).
Since the advent of the H1N1 vaccine, we’ve heard much criticism of parents that refuse to get it for their children. In some criticisms, we’ve outwardly seen the parents called bad parents and other kookiness, and told to just get over it because modern medicine is better than “antiquated” panic.
The problem is that some parents have legitimate concerns about a brand new vaccine that’s not really been tested that widely. And yes, some parents are downright kooky and wouldn’t give their kids the vaccine if there were 32 billion people that took it safely and double-blind studies backing it up.
That is a parent’s right, though. As long as that parent is responsible for that child, society at large has no place telling that parent that any vaccination is required.
I read an article last week written by a man whose child has (or had) leukemia, and was concerned about parents not giving vaccines to their kids and how his daughter’s weakened immune system would be endangered by their “negligence.”
Sorry, sir, but your daughter’s health is endangered by you and you alone. If you’re that worried about her health, home school her. A parent’s obligation to children starts primarily with their obligation to their own, not a person they may come into contact with such as a leukemia patient. If you’re concerned, keep your daughter home.
The issue here is simple. Parents have willingly given up the authority to raise their children for so long that arrogant schools and municipalities are shocked that they’re pushing back on forced vaccinations. Parents exercising their right to choose vaccinations, health care, and treatments for their children is a parental issue, not a societal one.