vaccine

A recent measles outbreak in San Diego highlights the growing number of parents who refuse to vaccinate their children against deadly diseases.

There's some nostalgia among doctors for the good old days when patients did what they were told, and doctors decided what to tell them. But it's hard for the rest of us to mourn this change; in general, patients probably know what they want better than their doctors. Increasingly, however, people are electing to make decisions that affect the whole community, not just themselves -- particularly in the area of childhood vaccinations. As the number of unvaccinated children grows, their right to make decisions about their own child's health is turning into the "right" to bring disease and death to the community. MORE