The mixed messages on vaccines are backfiring. Measles is surging across the South, and Georgians will pay the price. Disease outbreaks restrict personal freedom more than any government policy: schools close, families quarantine, and communities isolate.
Even as the Trump administration now urges vaccination, confusion lingers. Georgia leaders must provide clarity: vaccines protect personal freedom and keep families safe.
A measles outbreak doesn’t just make children sick — it devastates families and communities economically. We know first-hand the negative impacts of lockdowns and quarantines.
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Policies framed as protecting “personal freedom” are creating the conditions that steal it. When vaccine confidence collapses, and diseases such as measles spread, freedom disappears — not because of government mandates, but because of diseases we have the power to prevent. And, in many cases, had been eradicated.
There are no state-mandated lockdowns in South Carolina, where over 990 measles cases were raging as of early April. The disease is already doing that for officials. Parents can’t send their children to school. Families can’t travel. Over 300 students were quarantined, their lives put on hold. More than 80 students were subject to quarantine at Anderson University and Clemson University. Per reporting, “More than 500 [South Carolinians] are in a 21-day quarantine and about 200 were ‘actively infected.’”
This is what happens when we abandon a tool that truly protects freedom: vaccination.
Federal health officials’ recent guidance tells Georgians to “talk to their doctors” about previously recommended routine vaccinations under “individual-based decision-making.” It sounds reasonable. It isn’t.
Nearly one-third of Americans lack access to primary care, per a 2023 report. More than 100 million people — including a quarter of all children — don’t have a local primary care provider. The situation is dire in rural Georgia. According to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, “Of the 159 counties in Georgia, 120 are considered rural and more than half of those rural counties do not have a pediatrician practicing within county lines.”
Parents don’t have easy access to providers who can walk them through complex immunization decisions. They’re trying to do the right thing for their children, but they need clear, trustworthy guidance from health leaders, not bureaucratic language and bad policy that makes informed decision-making much more difficult. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy, Jr., an anti-vaxxer, made a lot of speeches urging parents and, in particular, mothers, not to vaccinate their children, as he said vaccines are not safe. A lot of mothers heeded his advice and did not vaccinate their children. This was not a good message.
“Individual-based decision-making” is a nice way of saying “you’re on your own.” And when families are on their own, confusion wins, and children lose.
Fortunately, the Trump administration is beginning to realize what is at stake. Centers of Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz pleaded with Americans in February: “Take the vaccine, please. We have a solution for our problem.”
He’s right. We do have a solution. Vaccines work. They’ve worked for generations. They’re safe, effective, and the only proven way to prevent the outbreaks that steal freedom from families across the South.
What families need from Washington — and from Georgia leaders — is clarity. Not mixed messages. Not bureaucratic jargon. Clear, unequivocal support for the vaccines that protect children and preserve the freedom to live without fear of preventable disease.
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The outbreak in South Carolina is a warning. The 15 cases in North Carolina are a warning. The question is: Will Georgia heed it before it’s too late?
Georgians’ health depends on the answer. So does freedom.
Sally C. Pipes is president, CEO, and Thomas W. Smith fellow in healthcare policy at the Pacific Research Institute.