Anti-vaxxers are hazardous to everyone's health

 Sanitary sewers, clean water, antibiotics and vaccines have transformed public health wherever they are available. Lamentably, the reach of these life-saving measures doesn't extend equally throughout the world, and millions of premature deaths and unnecessary suffering occur every year because of lack of access.

But where vaccines are available, there is no excuse for most people not to be vaccinated, not only for their own well-being but to protect the rest of the community. There are certainly a few cases where people can and should be exempted, but these cases underscore the critical importance of everyone else being vaccinated to provide herd immunity.

Sadly, in wealthy western nations in the 21st century, superstition and fake news are gaining ground against vaccines. The public health community must not dignify anti-vaxxer superstition. Your freedom ends where you actions endanger others, and refusing a vaccine without a sound medical reason endangers others.

"Accurate, targeted counter-messaging from the global health community is important but insufficient, as is public pressure on social-media companies. The United Nations and the highest levels of governments must take direct, even confrontational, approaches with Russia, and move to dismantle anti-vaccine groups in the United States.

"Efforts must expand into the realm of cyber security, law enforcement, public education and international relations. A high-level inter-agency task force reporting to the UN secretary-general could assess the full impact of anti-vaccine aggression, and propose tough, balanced measures. The task force should include experts who have tackled complex global threats such as terrorism, cyber attacks and nuclear armament, because anti-science is now approaching similar levels of peril. It is becoming increasingly clear that advancing immunization requires a counteroffensive." https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01084-x?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20210429&utm_source=nature_etoc&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20210429&sap-outbound-id=5AB8277351F94F4E1E58A9116A21ABE522EF6F6D