One of the few semi-sane bills to be introduced in the Oklahoma legislature is SB 83.
Introduced by State Senator Ervin Yen, the first Asian-American to be elected to the Oklahoma legislature, it would allow a child to skip a mandated vaccination only if a doctor says the immunization could endanger the child's life. Otherwise, the kid can not attend public schools.
That's a lot different than the current law in the books. Currently, a misinformed parent or guardian who believes everything on the Internet can also object to the immunization of their child, and in the process, increase the chances that their kid comes down with a serious, highly contagious illness that can be spread to other children who unfortunately have parents who believe everything on the Internet. This will be eliminated if Yen's bill becomes law.
Naturally, the legislation has irritated the extremely vocal, militant, essential-oil peddling anti-vaccination crowd that you've likely already unfollowed on Facebook. Even though they probably home school their kids so it doesn't matter if they go to public school or not, they responded to Yen's legislation the best way they could – good old-fashioned American racism.
Check out these postcard mailers that an unnamed anti-vaccination group sent to some Oklahoma residents.
You know what's kind of funny? I think all the people pictured in the second postcard (minus Yen) would totally approve of this style of messaging. As Donald Trump and many other dictators have taught us, fear and paranoia is much better at persuading people than facts.
That being said, I seriously doubt most anti-vaxxers would agree with this blatantly racist style of messaging. Remember, they're just normal people like you me. They live. They laugh. They love. The only difference is that they're a bit more gullible and will believe anything Jenny McCarthy tells them.
Plus, obvious racism aside, let's admit what's kind of true. It does seem a bit totalitarian to mandate vaccinations for those people who don't want them. But guess what? So is drafting people to fight in a war they don't want to fight. We've all seen Outbreak a few of times. The government is all-powerful. It can quarantine a town if it wants to. It might as well be able to implement safe, effective, scientifically proven methods of preventing and eradicating illness and disease, too.
