The recent outbreak of a measles in the unvaccinated made me think of a book I read several years back (The Panic Virus: A True Story of Medicine, Science, and Fear by Seth Mnookin) and briefly mentioned it on this blog. See Protect the kids or why people do dumb things.

It was a good book as I recall but the issue of parents doing a dumb thing in not getting their children vaccinated is still very much with us. My article has link to an article by Seth Mnookin that covers some of the same ground he covered well in his book. I don’t think either of us is calling people dumb. Even smart people can do dumb things.

Another good article that specifically covers the current measles out break is The Vaccine Lunacy: Disneyland, Measles and Madness by Frank Bruni.

There is quite a bit of information out there. Some of it is very good and some of it is misleading. If you are a parent, read it, consider the sources, and act to protect your kids.