Chapter 11: In which Shantzy Pants Urges Parents to vaccinate their kids

The anti-vaccination movement has come to my attention recently. I listened to an episode of This American Life - called Ruining it for the Rest of Us- which gave a great look at the issue. There were also major court decisions this week that ruled against a group of families seeking compensation for their children's autism which they believe to have been caused by vaccinations their children received. Of particular concern is the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine.

Its been widely reported -NPR News, NY Times, This American Life- that scientific evidence concludes overwhelmingly that their is no link between vaccinations and autism. That said, I'm most interested in the emotional issues which would lead parents to choose whether or not to vaccinate their kids. The main point made by the This American Life story was that people will never make a choice like this based on "the public good" when they perceive a threat to their kids. This is completely understandable but I wonder why they would perceive the threat to their kids from a vaccine is greater than the threat from the actual disease.

Certainly we can't force people to vaccinate but I believe those who choose not to should pay a fee every year that would go towards bolstering all the aspects of the public health system that would need to respond to an outbreak of the related diseases. I believe the fee should be substantial since the possible consequences of an outbreak of a disease like measles, for example -such an outbreak occurred recently in California and was detailed in Ruining It for the Rest of Us- are huge.