Yeah my bad I shouldn ' t hate on a blurry pic <| sep |> I don ' t think you recognize the magnitude of such a statement . So if I ' m someone who values my right to choose , and I decide to not get a tetanus shot for my child , for whatever reason , it doesn ' t matter , I will be punished . I may be inflicted a fine until I do in fact get the shot . If I continue to refuse , I may even be put in jail or have my children taken away from me . I did consider this and I still think that it should be mandatory . Parents don ' t own their children . We punish them when they abuse their children and I think not giving them necessary medical treatment is child abuse . There are several countries where some vaccinations are mandatory , for example in Belgium , where children have to be vaccinated against Polio . And it ' s not just vaccinations . If parents decide that their child shouldn ' t get his asthma treatment because of some wacky religious belief , they should be forced to do it . It doesn ' t have to be prison , but they could have their child taken away because of severe negligence . The right of the child to have a dignified life and to get the treatment it needs should always be more important than the right of the parents to treat their children like shit . Taking children from their parents because of marijuana consumption however is a totally different thing and has to do with the insane drug laws in the US . All of this would bring about much more suffering than a life in which I , or my child , have a higher chance of tetanus . Well , I used tetanus as an example . Tetanus is pretty rare although mostly because of vaccination , but children still have a higher chance of getting it if they are not vaccinated . They play in the dirt , they get wounds , etc . And if you include other typical vaccinations like Polio or Measles , not vaccinating your child is a big risk , not just for the child but for society . And there are more checks and balances to this than you describe . Doctors would certainly be involved with this decision too . Sure , but if the parents don ' t want their children to get the treatment and don ' t want to pay for it , there ' s nothing a doctor can do . At least that ' s my understanding of how things work in the US . Maybe I ' m wrong there .