title: Liberty has its responsibilities: holding non-vaccinators liable for the harm they do.
abstract: David Ropiek in his useful essay on how society should respond to the risks created by those who choose not to vaccinate themselves or their children does a very useful job of identifying the enormous costs in money and health that non-vaccinators create. He also pinpoints the many factors that drive vaccine resistance locating them not in a misunderstanding of the facts but, in fears and negative emotions. It is important to pay attention to his message since frequently those who want to try to reduce vaccine hesitation or outright non-vaccination behavior put their faith in education and resort to an invocation of the facts about the value of vaccines when it is fear and emotions that must be addressed.
authors.affiliation: Division of Medical Ethics; New York University Langone Medical Center; New York, NY USA.
authors.forename: Arthur
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Caplan
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D012308:Risk Management / Q000379:methods*; D016312:Treatment Refusal; D014611:Vaccination / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014612:Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage*
chemical_list: D014612:Vaccines
keywords: ethics; law; policy