What are the health risks of allowing thousands of unvaccinated truck drivers to cross the border with contagious disease? America’s worst nightmare may be unfolding.
If enacted, a new policy will render the very core of trucking — trust — virtually meaningless.
Get used to it.
Shameful, right? Make no mistake: the policy is intended to get truckers to drop the personal objection to vaccination, thereby making it OK for parents to choose that their children not get vaccinated.
The Canadian government is proposing to make it legal for unvaccinated truckers to cross the U.S.-Canada border.
That is a recipe for disaster.
The medical community on both sides of the border agree: Flu and measles outbreaks could be a major public health disaster.
We are talking about preventable diseases that have been eradicated — but could reappear with devastating results — only if our society continues to allow an unvaccinated society to spread their virus.
As part of the proposal, the Canadian government will also mandate that health authorities “significantly reduce” the number of transport drivers who refuse to vaccinate their children.
“[We] urge people not to act on speculation or fears, and focus on hard facts about vaccine safety,” the government stated when announcing the proposal.
“When it comes to a vaccine, there’s no doubt that they’re 100 percent safe and effective.”
And, science is on the government’s side — it says a one-time booster vaccination is even better than ongoing maintenance to keep vaccinated children protected. That is why it urges parents to get their children vaccinated — not just for their own protection, but for the protection of others.
There is no doubt that an unvaccinated society spreads dangerous diseases – but the U.S. has proven to be highly effective in controlling the spread of many of these diseases. We’ve secured the distinction of having the lowest vaccine-preventable mortality rate in the world. In addition, our immunization law is 90 percent effective in preventing an individual from being diagnosed with a disease.
The World Health Organization estimates that in an unvaccinated society, 1 in 1,600 children would die from a vaccine-preventable disease. In an vaccinated society, 1 in 3,000 children would die from a vaccine-preventable disease.
For lack of a better analogy, imagine a world with one drinker who goes home and starts spreading even a microscopic bubonic plague throughout the entire population. And if we continue to allow unvaccinated truckers to cross the border into Canada, more of these dangerous diseases will spread and eventually infect and kill thousands of our people.
America should not, and will not, let that happen.
America’s best interests — not the few truckers who refuse to inoculate their own children — must come first. If the feds want to make trucking safer, they should focus their efforts on protecting the health of drivers and their passengers.
They should not try to give truckers the green light to willfully endanger American families.
That is why we have fought so hard to defeat this disastrous proposal.
The provision is currently pending approval at both the House and Senate levels. We urge you to contact your member of Congress and contact your local lawmaker to urge them to reject this dangerous policy.
American mothers and fathers expect that their children will be protected from diseases that have been wiped out in the past. That safety net for our children is built on trust and on transparency and transparency is stronger when people are allowed to do business with organizations who operate with integrity.
We must insist on the highest standards of vaccination in our society. While we can fight the battle for the vaccine movement, we can never let it defeat common sense in the face of science.
Congressman Dan Donovan (R-NY) represents New York’s 11th District. Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) represents Louisiana’s 2nd District. Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) represents Louisiana’s 3rd District.