Offit on vaccine exemptions

Our colleague Paul Offit published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal last week titled "Fatal Exemption" (Unfortunately, subscription is required for full access). In it, Offit notes the findings published in JAMA last month showing a significant increase in the number of vaccine exemptions and the corresponding increase in vaccine-preventable illnesses. The chief culprit, says Offit: the growing use of 'philosophical exemptions'. He writes, in part:

"When it comes to issues of public health and safety, we invariably have laws. Many of these laws are strictly enforced and immutable. We don't allow philosophical exemptions to restraining young children in car seats, to smoking in restaurants or to stopping at stop signs. And the notion of requiring vaccines for school entry, while it seems to tear at the very heart of a country founded on the basis of individual rights and freedoms, saves lives. Given the increasing number of states allowing philosophical exemptions to vaccines, at some point we will be forced to decide whether it is our inalienable right to catch and transmit potentially fatal infections."