Letters | Hong Kong’s measles outbreak: Failure to vaccinate children should be seen as child abuse
- The potentially deadly consequences of diseases like measles should convince parents to take their responsibility seriously
- In some countries, children who are not vaccinated are banned from schools and other public places. Hong Kong should follow suit
If you see a child being abused by his or her parents by, for example, physical violence or malnutrition, the authorities could step in and protect that child. Failure to vaccinate a child could leave them susceptible to pneumonia or death and is tantamount to child abuse – and must be similarly acted on. Adults can believe anything they like, but not if it affects children or others around them.
Lee Faulkner, Lamma
Link between pet jabs and autism is plain nonsense
From the world of stupid ideas comes a stunningly stupid idea: not vaccinating pets because they may get autism. Not vaccinating pets is not only wrong, it’s actually animal cruelty and should be treated as such.
Pets are also subject to a number of illnesses that can be easily prevented with vaccinations, and yet some people refuse to protect their pets’ health. Although autism has a broad range of indicators, the ones often mentioned are a lack of communication skills and repetitive behaviour, descriptions that match my cat’s behaviour most of the time.
It is clear who should be muzzled and, if they don’t vaccinate their children, who should be neutered.
Dennis Fitzgerald, Melbourne
