Pro-vaccine positions contend the safety of vaccines and their track record of nearly annihilating deadly and dreaded diseases; but detractors say the benefits have not been examined in the context of the shots potential interactions with one another, among other seemingly imperative points.

By:  Claire Bernish / The Free Thought Project  As a shift toward authoritarianism in Western governance finds civilians increasingly at the mercy of liberty-robbing laws, punitive (in)justice, and state control, our individual sovereignty as human beings and parents to decide whether or not children should be vaccinated might not be ours to make quite soon.While both sides of the public vaccine debate maintain intractably obstinate, the governments of Australia and several European nations have come out in support of inoculation mandates — or penalties steep enough to equivocate mandates — to the consternation of parents concerned for the dearth of comprehensive research on the topic.

Pro-vaccine positions contend the safety of vaccines and their track record of nearly annihilating deadly and dreaded diseases; but detractors say the benefits have not been examined in the context of the shots potential interactions with one another, among other seemingly imperative points.

Both sides deem one another child abusers for their positions, and — although Western laws do not yet prohibit refusing inoculation — legislation trends intimate the State has lost patience with parents who refuse to follow the full vaccination schedule, in whole or part, with children enrolled in public education.

Driving the international push toward mandatory immunization are multiple outbreaks of diseases worldwide — measles and whooping cough, for example — previously thought so minimal a modern risk as to be considered nearly eradicated. Recent acts of legislation throughout the West indicate the response to these public health crises will ultimately mean a loss of choice for the people on a particularly thorny topic, Vox reports,

"Europe has long struggled with a vaccine mistrust problem … and these new laws or policy proposals arose in the context of ongoing, unprecedented measles outbreaks across the continent. Australia has also dealt with its share of vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks, and the government crackdown is part of a push to get 95 percent of Australian children vaccinated with routine immunizations, above the current rate of 93 percent."

European and Australian lawmakers quickly busied themselves with fending off possible epidemics, reaching various State-forced solutions to the debate.

At the end of July, Italy's Parliament approved a mandatory if a controversial course of ten vaccines to be given children through the age of 16 years — for which parents must produce proof in order to enroll kids in school or face a fine of €500 (approximately $600) for noncompliance.

German officials did not prohibit refusing immunization but did turn teachers into snitches and trepidatious parents into potential criminals by imposing inordinate fines of up to €2,500 (about $3,000) against those who refuse vaccine counseling from their doctors for their kindergarten-age children — as well as the requirement school administrators report offending parties to authorities.

France intends to deem 11 vaccines mandatory by next year — adding eight to diphtheria, polio, and tetanus already required — although, as Vox notes, fines and penalties for violations aren't yet clear. Notably, a survey last month found a telling three in ten people do not trust in vaccines — a figure growing by the day.

One drastic solution to the immunization debate — dubbed 'No Jab No Pay' — comes from the state of South Australia, where unvaccinated children would be barred from daycare and preschool, with massive fines of $30,000 ($24,000 U.S.) levied against schools allowing kids who aren't inoculated to attend. Parents also lose social benefits.