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Narjas Zatat
Jan 29, 2019
iStock and Twitter screengrab
The debate surrounding whether or not children should be vaccinated against diseases continues to rage on.
Doctors and health professionals are agreed that immunisations reduce morbidity and mortality caused by a range of illnesses.
Despite its known successes, there are those who believe the widely disproven argument that vaccinations cause autism.
In 2019 immunisation rates in America are low, and the blame has been put on anti-vaccination parents.
Doctors are fighting a recent measles outbreak in Oregon and Portland– a disease that can be vaccinated against.
The spread of the illness has been linked to anti-vaxxers.
In light of the outbreak, author Andrea Philips pointed the discussion over vaccinations on Reddit – where, she reminds people, teenagers go to ask about how they can get vaccinated without their parents’ consent. She wrote:
There’s a whole genre of Reddit posts where teens ask how to get vaccinated without their parents consenting.
Just. Just so you know, that’s a thing.
She’s right.
One teenager posted in the subreddit r/legaladvice, where he asked people what he can do to get vaccinated without getting consent.
The unnamed 15-year-old asked Reddit users the following:
I am writing because I am the 15 year old son of an anti-vaccine parent. I have spent the last 4 years trying to convince my mother that vaccines are safe. I haven't succeeded. So instead I am trying to research how to be vaccinated without my mother's consent.
The Minnesota teen researched a number of statutes regarding health and needed some help clarifying them.
People recommended a few things he could do, including:
- Talking to a nurse about his concerns
- Talking to a teacher
- Doing some more research on states and age of consent
However, most people were of the same opinion: What can children do to bypass getting parental consent to get vaccinated against serious illnesses? In short: nothing.
The age for medical consent varies in America, but the minimum age of consent in some states is 16 years old. In other places, the age goes up to 18.
In the UK, the age of consent to treatment is 16 and over in most cases.
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