We and other journals have published many studies and commentaries trying to better understand why some families want to invoke philosophical or religious exemptions for vaccination of their children. While some pediatricians believe there should be no exemptions whatsoever and we mandate all children be vaccinated to all vaccines, others feel differently. In fact, they use alternative vaccination schedules or simply agree not to vaccinate for philosophical or religious reasons to try to keep a family in their medical home rather than make forcing vaccination a reason for a family to leave a practice.It is for this reason that Opel et al. (10.1542/peds.2015-4230) share with us a commentary this week that presents an alternative approach of making the measles vaccine be the only vaccine restricted to no exemptions whereas all other vaccines might be possible exempted if the family so desires as a means of at least protecting all children from the most likely infection to which they are most susceptible nowadays—measles.
As you might expect, not everyone of us thinks this approach is a good idea, and as a response to this commentary, Drs. Carrie Byington, Ellen Clayton and Kathryn Edwards, all members of the AAP’s Committee on Infectious Diseases, share with us a counter-point perspective (10.1542/peds.2016-0189) to Opel et al.’s measles only (less restrictive) non-exemption alternative. Both these commentaries have very different perspectives as to whether or not making measles the only non-exemption vaccine is the right thing to do.
Inject some time and effort into reading both of these articles and then share your thoughts as to whose opinion you side with via a response to our blog, posting a comment on the online page that holds one of these two articles, or simply weighing in on our Facebook or Twitter pages. We think our colleagues from the Red Book team do make a good counterpoint to what Opel et al. (10.1542/peds.2015-4230) are proposing, but we want to hear from you! Share your thoughts with us by responding to this blog, posting comments online with these two commentaries in their comments section, or sharing your thoughts on our Facebook or Twitter pages.
