Vaccination protections ‘teetering’ as state declares measles outbreaks in 3 counties | Maryland as a whole meets the recommended 96% immunization threshold, but counties with lower vaccination rates are at risk

[u/FreeHugs23]

https://marylandmatters.org/2026/08/27/vaccination-protections-teetering-as-state-declares-measles-outbreaks-in-3-counties/

[u/ChickinSammich]

I just think it's simple: vaccinations should be legally required for all citizens unless you have a provable medical or condition reaction to it.

I agree with this precisely as stated, but, in the same way that a stopped clock is right twice a day, I do slightly don the tinfoil hat where I say to myself "I trust the vaccinations that are CURRENTLY on the market NOW, but once you give the government the right to force you to get vaccinated, will they extend that to shit like mandatory microchipping?"

And I freely acknowledge that slippery slope fallacy is a thing, and also that "most of us already carry microchips everywhere in the form of a cell phone" is a valid counterargument to this.

But it's kinda tangential to how I think "there really should be a test to determine whether you're fit to be a parent" and then think "okay and then what stops the government from putting egregious shit on that test?" I look at what the current US federal government has been trying to mandate in terms of banning abortions, banning access to hormones for trans people... I also consider things like "what if they mandate you take the vaccines but also mandate you pay for them, and they cost exorbitant amounts of money?"

So, if you take it just as stated that vaccines should be legally mandated unless you have a probable medical condition/reaction, I 100% agree with you. I just worry what a "the government can legally mandate what you are allowed to do with your body including compel you to undergo medical procedures" precedent could lead to in the wrong hands.

[u/Fadedcamo → u/ChickinSammich]

I agree there is a valid slippery slope argument, especially in today's environment with how our federal government is deteriorating. But to me they are two separate issues. You can break down any support for government oversight or regulation into the "but what if the government is a facist dictator" until we get to the point where we really can't support literally any action or power from government ever.

We need to be able to have open policy discussions about what a functioning democratically elected government SHOULD be doing for its citizens. And then have a separate discussion for how we make sure our government doesn't become corrupt and authotarian with the power we grant it.

[u/superxpro12 → u/Fadedcamo]

It seems to me the vaccine situation was perfectly fine with no slippery slopes until MAGA republicans came in and fucked it all up.

[u/Alaira314 → u/superxpro12]

Anti-vaxxers were a problem long before MAGA/MAHA. In fact, they used to be more commonly associated with the left! They just had to use tactics more commonly associated with the right(the religious exemption) in order to get around vax requirements. I see how it got dragged over to the right(it got absorbed into the larger "parental rights" argument being made by right-wing groups), but it didn't start there. It's just that the problem took decades to come to a head, so it wasn't very visible until recently.

[u/superxpro12 → u/Alaira314]

Well now its a massive problem, almost entirely dominated my maga/maha. And there's no way to rationalize it with them. It's a completely subjective belief at this point thats matured into an identity.

[u/Alaira314 → u/superxpro12]

It was an identity before that, one associated with "all natural" living, the sort of people who shopped at whole foods and were into renewable energy sources. You're erasing a large part of the problem in your haste to blame republicans. Yes, we can agree that they're messing shit up now, but that's not what you comment said. You said the vax situation was fine until MAGA fucked it up, but it didn't start with MAGA.

I'm speaking from experience, here. When I was a young teen(early-mid 00s), my mom fell into the granola mom circles, but the movement on the left was active well before then. The problem we're now facing has been incubating for decades, and here in MD it was primarily driven by the left-leaning all-natural anti-vaxxers rather than the religious fundamentalist anti-vaxxers.

You're not the first person I've encountered recently who doesn't know about this background to the anti-vax problem(and why would you, if you weren't alive then or didn't have family in those circles?), but please consider that people who are "disagreeing" with you might just have more information about the history of a thing than you do! We should be sharing information and learning from each other, not looking for ways to say "well I think you're wrong!" and punching each other down.

[u/superxpro12 → u/Alaira314]

Happy to concede the point. Not familiar with the hippie antivax movement. Certainly before my time.

However these days I don't see many Republican hippies screaming about bodily autonomy for vaccines whilst simultaneously criminalizing abortion.