I've already established a distrust of our federal government. Now I can add the American Medican Association to the list of organizations that I take issue with, because of their position on vaccination.

See, the AMA's not too hot on religious freedom. Witness the resolution posted on their website (Link ):

Since religious/philosophic exemptions from immunizations endanger not only the health of the unvaccinated individual, but also the health of those in his or her group and the community at large, the AMA (1) encourages state medical associations to seek removal of such exemptions in statutes requiring mandatory immunizations; (2) encourages physicians and state and local medical associations to work with public health officials to inform religious groups and others who object to immunizations of the benefits of vaccinations and the risk to their own health and that of the general public if they refuse to accept them; and (3) encourages state and local medical associations to work with public health officials to develop contingency plans for controlling outbreaks in exempt populations and to intensify efforts to achieve high immunization rates in communities where groups having religious exemptions from immunizations reside. (CSA Rep. B, A-87; Reaffirmed: Sunset Report, I-97)

Let's look at this, shall we? First, a doctor declaring that unimmunized persons put an immunized population at risk is using scare tactics, and, quite frankly, LYING. Any doctor who makes such a declaration should have their medical license revoked immediately.

Can someone explain to me precisely how an immunized person is at risk from an unimmunized person? Isn't their "immunized" status supposed to protect them from contracting the disease, from whatever source? If the immunized status doesn't offer them extra protection, then we have been lied to about immunizations, and we should discontinue them immediately. If it DOES offer extra protection, then doctors who the immunized population is at zero risk from those who do not immunize. They do not, then, endanger the health of the general population.

Furthermore, the AMA's demands that religious beliefs be disregarded in favor of their opinion, which, however established, still remains OPINION, is a direct head on assault on the Constitution. When doctors are at odds with parents in the medical care, they lessen the chances that a parent will seek a doctor for a medical opinion.

The final sentence of the AMA's resolution proposes a direct war on religious belief by encouraging the government to use force to impose their beliefs on those who do not believe the same way. It is a direct call for fascism, and one we should be aware of, as well as one we should oppose.

I will certainly not argue the apparent efficacy of some vaccines. But I believe that we overvaccinate, and in doing so, hinder the development of a healthy immune system. And I believe the risks of some vaccines may well outweigh the benefits.

It is time for the AMA and our government to cease dictating how we live our lives and realize what precisely the freedoms we claim to hold dear were meant to entail.