CNN’s Erin Burnett addressed the question of vaccines directly–and personally–on “OutFront” Tuesday night, explaining why she’s vaccinating her own one-year-old son, and why she believes it’s a “moral responsibility” for all parents to do the same. Noting that some believe measles is a “rite of passage” in childhood, Burnett said “when I hear that, I think about something every American should worry about. That’s polio.”
Noting the devastation done to children before the polio vaccine–35,000 people crippled by the disease in the U.S. every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control. “People who don’t vaccinate probably don’t imagine their child never walking again because of polio.” Burnett showed images of Americans standing in long lines for the polio vaccine in the hopes of protecting their children from “a great evil.”
“We need to keep vaccinating,” Burnett said. “This is not about choice. This is about our moral responsibility to our children and people’s children.”