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posted: 5/7/2014 5:01 AM

The enduring benefits of vaccination

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Recently I wrote about a type of scientific denialism -- often practiced by religious people -- that cheats children out of the wonders of modern cosmology and encourages unnecessary religious doubt. But there is another sort of scientific skepticism -- often displayed by affluent and educated parents -- that withholds routine childhood vaccinations and encourages unnecessary disease.


In the latter case (as in the former) the scientific argument is not merely lopsided but single-sided. Like any medicine, vaccines have a very small risk of serious side effects, which doctors are trained to identify. But the association of measles vaccination with autism is entirely discredited. Childhood vaccinations do not involve dangerous levels of toxins and do not compromise the immune system. And vaccinations prevent a range of diseases -- chickenpox, diphtheria, measles, mumps, pertussis, polio, rotavirus, rubella, tetanus -- that used to routinely hospitalize, disable or kill children.



Those who resist vaccination are a varied group. The parents of autistic children seek and deserve an explanation. Unfortunately, vaccination is not the answer. Other "nonconformists" are a subset of home-schoolers, distrustful of government mandates and intent on the right to keep and bear viruses. A larger number of resisters are committed to an organic, chemical-free, natural lifestyle. This is attractive, except on diseases when the "natural" state -- through most of history and still in much of the world -- has been massive infant and child suffering and death. The achievements of science in this area are highly artificial -- and thank goodness.

The ability to opt out of vaccinations (other than for diagnosed medical problems) is often miscast as a matter of parental choice, leading to a proliferation of state exemptions for vague religious and philosophic reasons. What could be wrong with choice? A lot, when you are choosing to endanger your neighbors. Vaccination -- in a little-used but useful term -- is a social responsibility. It is a duty we owe each other as members of a community. Opting out should be difficult and burdensome. And there is no parental right to send a purposely unvaccinated child to public school, exposing other children to unnecessary risk.




Michael Gerson's email address is

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