Is It OK to Cut Ties With a Friend Because of Her Views on Vaccines?
The New York Times • • health
Key Points:
- The letter writer is concerned about a close friend who holds anti-vaccine beliefs and is not vaccinating her children on schedule, which poses a health risk given their regular interaction.
- The friend feels unfairly judged and hurt by the decision to limit social contact, but the writer emphasizes that the concern is about health and safety, not personal animosity.
- The Ethicist notes that vaccine hesitancy is often linked to political partisanship and that unvaccinated individuals increase the risk of disease spread despite herd immunity.
- However, the Ethicist also points out that if the writer’s family is vaccinated, the actual risk from this friendship is very low, suggesting that the health risk may not justify ending the relationship if it is otherwise valuable.
- Ultimately, the Ethicist implies the writer might consider the friend’s well-being more than the potential health risk to their own family when deciding how to proceed with the friendship.
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