经济学人下载:危险群体(2)

Other parents fret about thimerosal, a preservative that contains trace amounts of mercury. Not only were these amounts minute and safe, but thimerasol has now been eliminated from all vaccines, with the exception of multi-dose flu shots. Often these parental conversations then turn into new-agey free-for-alls, where vaccines somehow join the list of conventionally grown avocados and unfiltered tap water as lethal menaces.
还有些父母对含有少量汞的防腐物质硫柳汞心存忧虑。其实它在疫苗中的含量极少，对人体是安全的，现在，疫苗都不再含这种物质——多次使用的流感疫苗除外。父母们对孩子的这些关切常常成为所有人可以免费获得的新异类，疫苗不知怎么就像常见的成熟鳄梨或未经过滤的自来水一样成了威胁性命的玩艺。

Nonetheless the issue runs straight into the classic American tension between individual choice, which is good, and public health and safety, which is also good. All states save Mississippi and West Virginia allow a religious exemption for vaccinations, and 20 states also allow a more vague philosophical exemption. So what can health officials do?
然而，这个问题直接触及到一个典型的美国选择困境，一边是个体选择，另一边是公共健康和安全，两者都是好东西。除密西西比和西弗吉尼亚，其他各州在疫苗接种问题上准许使用“宗教豁免”的规定，全国有20个州准许使用更为模糊的“哲学豁免”规定，那么健康办公室又能做些什么呢？

Principally they can try to educate more parents with good science rather than internet drivel. Mr Pan is also pushing a law through California’s legislature that would require parents to discuss vaccination with their paediatricians. If the parents still want to opt out, their doctors would have to sign a form to show that the parents were told about all the risks and benefits.
首先，他们可以用好的科学来教育更多的家长们，不让因特网上的谣传肆意流传。潘先生正在通过加州立法机关推行一部新的法律，该法要求父母们要与儿科医生讨论接种的问题。经过讨论，如果父母仍旧希望放弃接种，医生将需签署一个表格，以表明这些父母们已被告知接种疫苗所有的风险和好处。

John Talarico, the chief of immunisation in California’s public-health department, says that vaccination rates will probably keep dropping in some demographic groups for a while longer. The root problem is that today’s parents are the first in history with no memory of the maiming and killing caused by polio, tetanus, diphtheria or measles. At some point an epidemic will remind them.
加州公共健康部免疫主任约翰-塔拉里克表示，在一个稍长的时期内，一些区域的疫苗接种率也许仍然呈现出下降的态势。根本问题在于，这一代父母们不知道脊髓灰质炎、破伤风、白喉、麻疹对人类的戕害，在历史上这是第一次。也许在某个时候，一种传染病会提醒他们一下。