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> Here, growing up, we have a list of vaccines that a child gets as they grow up (tetanus, diphteria, chickenpox, etc). your pediatrist knows the schedule and follows along, obviously. This is such an important point ! History has many examples of how fatal and disabling diseases were conquered by medicine, giving billions of people healthy lives. Each of these victories is celebrated as human mastery of science, and dominion over its environment. Fast forward to now, and there is a small but growing rejection of this idea, and instead the concept of individual liberty has become sacrosanct, to a point where it appears to be valued more than public health. I dont think this is really the case. I prefer to think that people have become accustomed to living comfortable long lives in excellent health and that people have forgotten how far we've come, and how we got here. I haven't done empirical research, but most of the sentiment for freedom of choice seems to come from highly developed areas of the world, where people have lived with the expectation of good health and without fear of epidemics, for 2 or maybe 3 generations. I have yet to read of any such sentiment in developing nations of Africa, Central America, and eastern Europe where they perhaps remain more aware of the dangers of disease spreading in a community. |