We have all heard the word “martyr” as used in the Middle East, and its grisly practice. When it refers to health care, some of our worthy neighbors are going down the road of martyring their own children. Measles vaccine refusal is the case in point. In the 1950s when the US population was half it is now, the measles virus infected half a million children; by 2000 measles was declared eradicated in the USA because childhood vaccination was near universal across the country, and indeed required for school attendance. The vaccine refusniks of today are now causing a measles recurrence, and the consequences will be consequential for many kids — lifelong brain impairment and sometimes death. You have a right to refuse to be vaccinated; you do not have a right to martyr your child on the shield of individual choice and right wing enthusiasm.

Bill Higgins

Port Townsend