Armando told us a few weeks ago, and we wanted to deepen the implications of this news that takes us to the other side of the world with a fact that could well occur in other places in the future.
Faced with the phenomenon of anti-vaccination and the threat it poses to all, with the rebound of diseases that were controlled in our context, there are governments that have decided to act where it hurts the most: the pocket of people. People who do not vaccinate their children will not be entitled to certain tax benefits in Australia as of this year.
This is a tax punishment that may make more than one think if they do not vaccinate their children, although in this case it goes against the supposed freedom of vaccination. Come on, it will remain free not to vaccinate, but there will be economic damage. In a way, it makes sense, since the cases of unvaccinated children that infect others involve an “extra” economic expense in health that would not otherwise take place.
The measure was announced at the end of November, as a result of which 11% of Australian children under five are not vaccinated by parental will and that this attitude poses a risk to the population as a whole. Thus, the Government has decided that Those who do not immunize their children will not be entitled to tax benefits that apply until the children turn five years old.
The benefits total about 2,100 Australian dollars (about 1,700 euros) per child that will be paid to families, from now on, in three installments (a year, two and five) after verifying that the child has received all the prescribed vaccines.
The heads of Health and Family in Australia argue that, in addition to encouraging families to vaccinate children and not putting them in danger of more lives, this measure will mean, in economic terms, a saving of 209 million Australian dollars (168 million euros).
Recall that the anti-vaccination is at the origin of the rebound of diseases such as measles, rubella, diphtheria and mumps in several countries: Spain, Holland, France, Australia, United States ...
The increase in unvaccinated children puts everyone's health at risk: of infants, of those children who cannot be immunized by particular circumstances, of those who were born before mass vaccination campaigns and did not pass the disease, and of those who have lost or have weakened defenses against the virus ...
Even so, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States have found that the majority of people who got measles in the country in 2011 were not vaccinated against the disease.
The Vaccine Advisory Committee (CAV) of the Spanish Association of Pediatrics (AEP) warns that vaccination coverage against measles has fallen in our country to 80% or 85%, when it used to reach 95%. In Spain there have been no deaths from this cause (yes in the whole of Europe), although there are complications.
In short, not vaccinating children threatens the health of the entire population and I don't know if Vaccines are not entitled to certain tax benefits as is already the case in Australia It is the best solution, I would prefer that people become aware through good information. Although we also know that there is a lot of dogma on this issue and it is difficult to change positions.
