Apparently, this story from NBC, on Flipboard is supposed to pluck at our heartstrings; we are expected to feel sympathy for the 5-year-old who can't attend school because she is not vaccinated, and for her family.

Well, I do not. They made a choice, as is their right, and they have to face the consequences. There are more and more outbreaks of disease due to the growing number of people who do are not vaccinated, and more and more diseases are becoming more dangerous (drug resistance of the diseases, reduced resistance to disease amongst people, etc.). Some families choose to not vaccinate their children on religious grounds, and some because they believe that vaccinations are harmful (this despite the claims of autism and other side-effects due to vaccination having been comprehensively debunked). We should remember, however, that having the right to choose to not vaccinate your kids does not give you the right to be protected from the consequences of your choices, even if the reasons for your choices are valid.

If you are allowed to send your child to school without vaccinations, you put at risk all the other children, and even adults. Schools have a mixture of ages, and some younger kids will be too young to have been vaccinated against some diseases. Some adults may have had vaccinations which have become ineffective over time, and need a booster; some adults cannot be given the necessary boosters due to being pregnant, or for medical reasons. Why should these people be threatened by your choices?

It may be that we are not being hard enough on the anti-vaxxers. The unvaccinated (children and adults) are a danger to others not only at school, but at social gatherings, in shops, on public transport, in restaurants, at swimming pools and beaches, and even at hospitals, doctors and dentists. The sensible precaution would be to shun them, and ensure that they can be easily identified in public, just like in medieval times with lepers (who were forced to carry a bell, shout "unclean", and live segregated lives), although, to be clear, I am not proposing this. Rather than complaining about the consequences that these people face now, with no access to schools in more and more places, they should rather consider themselves lucky that they are not treated like lepers. People can be very cruel when their health and safety, and that of their children, are threatened.