There's nothing philosophical about sick kids

Infectious diseases that used to claim the lives of one in six children before their fifth year are making an alarming comeback in the US, writes ACSH s Dr. Gilbert Ross in yesterday s Guardian. Dr. Ross, along with ACSH friend Dr. Henry I. Miller of Stanford s Hoover Institution, observes, The culprits are parents who should know better and the politicians who bend over backwards to accommodate them. In their op-ed, Drs. Miller and Ross look at the disturbingly lax attitude that Americans have toward the vaccinations that have made former childhood epidemics like polio and diphtheria such a rarity in this country. They specifically condemn philosophical exemptions from mandatory vaccination. However, the authors warn that this amnesia about the threat of infectious diseases and a fraudulent scare that supposedly linked autism to vaccines have led to diminished compliance with vaccination schedules, and this has led to disease outbreaks. For an overview of the problem, as well as a means of combating it, read the entire op-ed here.