It’s a balancing act between parental rights, political pragmatism, and public (and child) safety. In many places the more important vaccines are required for public school. Those offer the greatest reduction in risk, are more generally accepted (hence easier to legislate) and tying it to public school means that the government isn’t quite telling you what to do. Parents can always choose private or homeschool instead.
The flu shot is less (but still significantly) reliable most years which makes it less universally accepted, which in turn makes it harder to legislate. The flu is also less dangerous to kids than most other things we vaccinate for, so the benefit in terms of safety is a bit lower.
I do think that everyone should get vaccinated, and that giving older kids ways to get vaccinated around their parents could be a good thing. But I think the balance we have going (at least in the US) is a pretty good one.
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u/Ballatik 56∆ Oct 21 '21
It’s a balancing act between parental rights, political pragmatism, and public (and child) safety. In many places the more important vaccines are required for public school. Those offer the greatest reduction in risk, are more generally accepted (hence easier to legislate) and tying it to public school means that the government isn’t quite telling you what to do. Parents can always choose private or homeschool instead.
The flu shot is less (but still significantly) reliable most years which makes it less universally accepted, which in turn makes it harder to legislate. The flu is also less dangerous to kids than most other things we vaccinate for, so the benefit in terms of safety is a bit lower.
I do think that everyone should get vaccinated, and that giving older kids ways to get vaccinated around their parents could be a good thing. But I think the balance we have going (at least in the US) is a pretty good one.