What Would You Do is great for poll inspiration lol.

Can't put nicotine or alcohol in your system 'til 21, but teens are responsible enough to make their own decisions about this... oookay.

Tbh I think that teens should be allowed to drink and smoke if they choose. A lot of countries have no drinking age or a lower one that allows teens to drink. link. But that's a totally different debate.

As far as this goes, I think that there is a huge difference between drinking and getting vaccinated. Drinking can be dangerous, vaccinations are literally made to help. Unless a teen has allergies, as far as I know, getting vaccinated is something that they can do to protect themselves. Drinking = can be harmful. Vaccinations = helpful. I have yet to hear a story where a vaccination ended tragically.

There are teens who are concerned for their own health. Teens who beg their parents to get vaccinated. If a teen does their research and decides that they don't agree with the anit-vaxx conspiracies, I think that they should be allowed to bypass their parents and get themselves vaccinated for their own safety and for the safety of others.

Stories of teenage kids of antivaxxer parents going out and getting vaccinated give me liiiiife. Eg. Ethan Lindenberger, who un-brainwashed himself and went to get all the childhood vaccines he missed.

@dasm But nicotine and alcohol are obviously harmful, whereas vaccines are obviously beneficial? The better analogy is a child choosing to receive potentially life-saving medicine against the wishes of cult-believing parents (there are cults out there that refuse all medical treatment), or a teenage girl obtaining contraception despite her parents' objections.

Edit: link is making me emotional / nostalgic guys :')

You're either an adult capable of making your own decisions, or you're not. If you're under 18, you're a minor, and your parents are legally responsible for you.

Flip side: Should teens be able to decide to not get vaccinations for themselves?

Sometimes parents aren't right. link Ya know for all of my years on fanpop I still don't know how to attack links to words lmao.

Dude, I miss that level of activity.

As for the flip side, I feel like yeah, that should be allowed too. If we're giving them the choice to get vaccines against their parents' wishes the flip side should be allowed too. Though, like excess drinking, I don't think that it's a good idea.

I don't think that can be a blanket statement applied to all decisions by a minor. This is a health decision - one that can prevent them from dying or gaining long-term disabilities from disease. That makes it completely unlike alcohol, nicotine, voting, or the many other things we don't usually allow minors to do.

Another analogy: should Jehovah's Witness parents be able to refuse a blood transfusion for their child, even if the child will die without it?

The courts have deliberated on this issue in many jurisdictions, and have invariably held that the child should receive treatment. In the US, they emphasised three main points:
- The child's interests outweigh parental rights to refuse medical treatment
- Parental rights do not give parents life and death authority over their children
- Parents do not have an absolute right to refuse medical treatment for their children

British and Australian courts have also found that parental rights are not absolute, and that the child's welfare is paramount.

This is precedent that would apply to the vaccine scenario as well.

Re the flip side you raised: yes, they can also refuse, that's also part of their bodily autonomy (also practically, not like you can drag in a teen kicking and screaming anyway. You have to convince them)

US Cases I'm referencing, for the sake of completeness:
- Custody of a Minor 375 Mass. 733, 379 N.E.2d 1053 (1978).
- Prince v Massachusetts (1944) 321 US 158.
- Jacobson V Massachusetts 197 U.S. 11 (1905).
- Re O (A Minor) (Medical Treatment) [1993] 1 FCR 925, [1993] 2 FLR 149
- Re S (A Minor) (Medical Treatment) [1993] 1 FLR 376.
- Re R (A Minor) (Blood Transfusion) [1993] 2 FCR 544

British and Australian cases I'm referencing:
Bro just trust me (I need to go to sleep lmao)(might fix this tomorrow)

*Screeches incoherently because I used the wrong their and can't edit the poll anymore*

^