Unvaccinated adolescents ask how they can be vaccinated without their parents' consent

SALT LAKE CITY – As a measles outbreak crosses Washington State, children of anti-vaccination parents connect to the Internet to ask how they can be vaccinated without their parents' permission.

The Reddit website, in particular, has seen at least half a dozen messages over the past two months, where unvaccinated adolescents have asked what rights they, as minors, have to go against the beliefs of children. parents in health matters.

The fear that vaccines cause autism has taken a prominent place in this country. Nearly 10% of Americans believe that at least some vaccines are dangerous, according to the Pew Research Center, while 7% of Americans do not know if they are healthy or not.

Health experts insist that these concerns are unfounded. In fact, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention has devoted a whole section of its website to refuting the idea that vaccines cause autism.

Nevertheless, the conviction has been slow to emerge from the collective consciousness of the nation. Many health experts say that the recent measles outbreak in Washington is a direct result of this belief, which has a particularly strong influence in Washington. In some school districts in Washington, a quarter of kindergarten students are not properly immunized.

Recently, however, their children have taken matters into their own hands.

Five months ago, a 15-year-old teenager went to the Reddit community for advice on how to get vaccinated without the consent of his parents.

"It's been four years since I tried to convince my mother that vaccines are safe. I did not succeed, "wrote the teenager. "What legal consequences can I suffer if I simulate my parent's signature by giving me my consent to vaccination?"

Others soon followed in his footsteps. Three months later, the son of an 18-year-old anti-vaxxer asked, "Now that I'm 18, where do I get vaccinated?". Just 15 days ago, another teenager asked, "I am a minor who wants to be vaccinated. What are my options? "

We could find more than half a dozen other examples of teenagers who went to the site looking for a solution.

Some were informed of the laws in their states allowing minors to be vaccinated without the consent of their parents. However, most states do not give this to children before the age of 18, leaving most teens with no choice but to try to convince their parents to give them permission.

If their parents refuse, this can have serious consequences. In another thread, the child of an anti-vaxxer recounted his experience of being high without vaccines and the pain of having contracted measles at the age of 22. years.

Of all the stories of teenagers looking for vaccines, none have spread as far as that of Ethan Lindenberger, 18 years old.

Lindenberger's story has been recounted step by step in the media since he posted on Reddit two months ago, asking how, now that he had reached the legal age, he could get vaccinated.

"God knows how I'm still alive," Lindenberger wrote in his message.

Lindenberger says his mother refused to let him get vaccinated, believing they were at the root of autism. She maintained this belief even when he showed her scientific papers refuting this belief, telling her son that these documents were what an unspecified "they" want people to think.

"I just said that the world's largest health organization would be written off with some kind of conspiracy theory statement," Lindenberger told NPR.

However, as the story spread, another angle appeared. Lindenberger's mother expressed her own side of the story by telling Undark: "I did not immunize him because I thought it was the best way to protect him and protect him. . "

She compared her son's decision to a slap, saying, "It was like he was spitting on me, saying," You do not know anything, I do not trust you with anything, you do not know what you're saying. You made a bad decision and I will fix it. "

Since then, his son said he regretted talking about his mother and being portrayed in the media. In an interview with the BBC, he said, "I had to apologize for some of the things I said on Reddit, where I said that she was irrational, crazy, beast – because I was upset, I did not expect to be in the public eye and have to protect my mother. It's not fair to her.

Mother and son, however, both refused to change positions. Ethan Lindenberger is being vaccinated, while his mother is more proud than ever in her position against them.

According to her, this experience convinced her of the need to "better educate" her children about the dangers she perceives with vaccines.

"I need to start educating my 16 years and my 14 years now," she said, adding that's why I do not believe it.

Dave & Dujanovic, of KSL Newsradio, spoke about this story on the radio and, while celebrating the choice of their children at the start, co-host Dave Noriega admitted that if he was in the shoes of these parents it would be difficult to manage.

"It would be difficult. It would be very difficult, "said Noriega, admitting that he could only encourage these children because he shares their belief that vaccines do not cause autism. He however compared the experience of having a child who tells you that he wants to break with religion. "It would be very difficult to hear them say that they want to break with something that is very expensive for me. For me, it's religion. For this mother, it is the vaccines. "

If you missed the live broadcast, you can still follow the entirety of their conversation on Dave & Dujanovic's podcast.