Permitting parents to opt out of vaccinating their kids because of so-called philosophical reasons is folly, ACSH s Dr. Gilbert Ross and ACSH trustee and former advisor Dr. Jack Fisher write in yesterday s San Diego Union-Tribune. Twenty-one states allow "philosophical" exemptions for childhood vaccines, but they shouldn't, argue Drs. Ross and Fisher, an emeritus professor of surgery at U.C. San Diego. They say the public health threat posed by refusing to vaccinate children outweighs parental rights, especially given the recent whooping cough epidemic in California. They conclude by giving the parents of San Diego an easy assignment:
All that parents have to do to stop dangerous outbreaks from endangering their children and the entire community in which they live is sign on the dotted line. It is the easiest and most important bit of homework anyone will get this fall.