Let's Make It Harder to Opt Out of Vaccinations

We need to make it a lot harder for parents to refuse vaccinations for their kids, writes Michael Gerson in the Washington Post. It's bad enough that those who wrongly believe vaccines cause autism or brain damage are endangering their own children, but they're also putting the general public at risk, he writes. Too often, states let parents skip the shots "for vague religious and philosophic reasons" under the umbrella of parental choice.

But this is way different than, say, teaching your kids that humans walked with dinosaurs. This isn't just wrong, it's "wrong and dangerous," writes Gerson. "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." Click for his full column. (Or to read the story of one woman who regrets growing up in an anti-vaccine household.)