As the recent Institute of Medicine report concludes the scientific evidence about vaccines benefits and microscopic risks is clear and convincing. Report: Vaccines Are Safe, Hazards Few And Far Between
Yet, politicians of all stripes have indirectly fed the the unfounded fear of parents who refuse to vaccinate, thereby endangering the lives of others. the Obama administration has ducked the issue of vaccine safety instead of addressing the issue clearly.. It has missed several opportunities to promote vaccine safety and have, in the past, caved into anti-vaccine forces. It has given money to anti-vaccine groups. At the same time it was unfortunate that Rick Perry backtracked on the issue of requiring HPV vaccination, not because mandatory vaccination is appropriate (it should be used sparingly) but because in doing so he did not reaffirm the importance of the vaccine in eradicating many forms of cancer that are increasing in prevalence. And Washington State, where parents are refusing to immunize their kids in record numbers, has buckled under pressure for anti-vaccine forces and failed to enact a law making it tougher to bail out of vaccinations. www.kvewtv.com/article/2011/aug/01/wa-leads-nation-parents-opting-out-immunizations/
For many reasons lots of politicians don't want to say they support a government requirement of any form. (The battle over the individual health mandate is a case in point.) And they don't want to confront parents who insist vaccines cause autism. But requiring people to be immunized is a way of protecting the freedom not to be exposed to vaccine preventable illnesses. Many, if not most, of those who are infected by vaccine choicers and their kids, are infants or immunocompromised children who rely upon others to protect them against disease and death.
Freedom is not the unfettered right to avoid the dangers dancing in your head at the expense of the health and life of others. Living in and benefitting from a free society requires not just meeting obligations but also abiding by norms of thought and collective action that comport with reason and science. Thomas Jefferson observed: "The value of science to a republican people, the security it gives to liberty by enlightening the minds of its citizens, the protection it affords against foreign power, the virtue it inculcates, the just emulation of the distinction it confers on nations foremost in it; in short, its identification with power, morals, order and happiness (which merits to it premiums of encouragement rather than repressive taxes), are considerations [that should] always [be] present and [bear] with their just weight."
Politicians and public health officials should stand up for medical science and not contribute to what the National Vaccine Advisory Committee calls "the culture of refusal."
