Dad Takes Anti-Vax Mom to Court to Get Kids Vaccinated

(iStockPhoto/kiankhoon)

Co-parenting is difficult enough when two parents agree about the big issues, but when two parents are on opposite sides of an issue like vaccination, there’s not really any room for compromise. That’s why a U.K. family found itself in court when the father wanted their two kids vaccinated, and the mother–in defiance of all science and medical advice–refused.

According to The Daily Mail, the four- and two-year-old boys live with their mother, who appears to be deeply opposed to the use of vaccines on both “scientific” and moral grounds, because she says they’re dangerous and contain toxins and “metal elements,” and also because they are not vegan.

The boys’ father told the judge that the mother won’t even give the kids Tylenol because she is suspicious of Western medicine. The mother counters that yes, she is suspicious of all Western medicine, particularly “unsafe” vaccines. She said that her kids don’t need medicine, like vaccines or even Tylenol, because she feeds them all-natural, vegan food and they are free of toxins and thus had little chance of catching a vaccine-preventable illness, and also that she said their immune systems were strong because of her choices and thus, if they did catch one, they’d be fine.

The mother’s case was hindered by the fact that she could not convince a doctor or medical expert to come testify in support of her claims, and in the end the judge said that in the interests of public health and the boys’ well-beings, he’d rule in favor of the boys’ father and order the children to be vaccinated on the standard U.K. schedule.

“I am truly sorry that the mother will regard the decision as wrong, but my objective duty is clear,” said Judge Mark Rogers.

Of course the case is bringing out both the anti-vaxxers in the comments and the people who are pro-vaccine but against the state stepping on parental authority and forcing anti-vax parents to vaccinate against their wishes. But in this case only one parent did not want the vaccine, and the other parent vehemently did. It’s not parent vs. government; it’s parent vs. parent, and one parent had science and public health on his side.