The first place a parent brings a sick child is usually the pediatrician’s office, and we did not want to run the risk of exposing a new baby to a virus that can remain airborne for hours. It turned out those conversations I overheard about “flexible” and “understanding” pediatricians in our new community came in handy; we crossed off their names from our list immediately.

But if vaccines are so important to my family, I’ve come to ask myself how intellectually honest it is for me to turn a blind eye and continue to allow my kids to socialize with families who are putting us all at risk.

That’s the problem with vaccine refusal: It is not an individual choice. It is a choice that endangers everyone, especially those too young or sick to be vaccinated.

Right now, the only solution to the anti-vaccine public health crisis on a legislative level is to eliminate nonmedical exemptions for children entering school, and it is a policy that should be instituted and tightened in every state, as it is in California. This is an important step that states need to take, but it is only part of the solution as more and more families opt out of the system.

Thankfully, government intervention isn’t the only tool we have to address this crisis. Pediatricians should refuse to treat patients who refuse to vaccinate, leaving parents who would expose a waiting room to the measles with a choice: Do I vaccinate to make sure my child can be also treated for normal childhood ailments like ear infections and strep throat? One should not come without the other, not when other patients are put at unnecessary risk.

Home-schooled kids don’t exist in a bubble, and they don’t stay exclusively at home during the learning process. Our children, for example, attend classes at nature centers, the local zoo, a children’s gym and more. In the case of these programs, especially ones organized by government entities like the county parks department, there should be a requirement to show proof of immunization to register. Departments of Health in many states, including New York, require proof of vaccination for summer camp; any organized program that children participate in should require the same.

Home-school families like mine may be at the front lines of this crisis, but the unvaccinated kids I know go to the same supermarkets, churches, synagogues and movie theaters your kids do. Rockland’s decision to “bar” unvaccinated children from public places may be an unenforceable edict, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be using every possible means to pressure members of the herd to act responsibly.