It's all about herd immunity.



And right now, Michigan is in danger of losing it, putting everyone at risk of contracting deadly diseases.



Especially the most vulnerable among us.



Nearly half of the state's population lives in counties with kindergarten vaccination rates below the level needed for "herd immunity," the public health concept that when at least 93 percent of people are vaccinated, their immunity protects the vulnerable and prevents the most contagious diseases from spreading.

There are more than 800 schools in Michigan with waiver rates so high that they've lost their herd immunity, making those schools prime targets for disease outbreaks such as the recent whooping cough outbreak and measles cases near Traverse City.



Those who choose not to be vaccinated and who choose not to vaccinate their children allow a breeding ground for diseases to grow and spread to others. They put healthy, vaccinated adults at risk because no vaccine is 100 percent effective. They especially put the most vulnerable at risk — infants too young to be vaccinated, the elderly, people with medical conditions that prevent vaccination, and those undergoing cancer treatments or whose immune systems have been weakened.



This public health crisis can be traced to the "philosophical waiver," which allows parents to opt out of vaccines for any reason and still send their unvaccinated children to public schools. Due to the ease of opting out of vaccinations, Michigan historically has ranked at or near the bottom in childhood immunization rates, and it's quickly getting worse.



Now is the time for lawmakers to eliminate that exemption, which accounts for three-quarters of all waivers, and strengthen the rules surrounding religious and medical exemptions as well.



All Michiganders bear responsibility for allowing this untenable situation to occur. Lawmakers are responsible for failing to act, even after an infant died of whooping cough in 2012. And citizens are responsible for not speaking up. Parents, it's not enough sit around and grumble about people who don't vaccinate. It's time to press legislators to do their job and protect your children from vaccine-preventable diseases.



To that end, MLive Media Group has created a petition calling on the Legislature to enact the following changes to Michigan's childhood immunization requirements for public schools:



Remove the philosophical exemption

Strengthen religious waivers

Strengthen medical waivers

Make vaccination rates public

There exists a small but highly vocal minority of Michigan residents who firmly believe vaccinations will harm their children. And unfortunately, this group is growing, led by individuals posing as vaccine experts and bolstered by the state’s willingness to look the other way.

They are free to continue believing vaccines are harmful, even as the entire medical and scientific communities try in vain to tell them otherwise. But they should not be free to endanger the lives of everyone else with their views. Parents who hold these beliefs may choose to homeschool their children or send them to private schools if they are unwilling to listen to science.



Lawmakers who fear this group should pay heed to the fact that 80 percent of U.S. parents believe all children should be vaccinated before even entering day care. These same parents surely expect the same or better of their public school systems.



The overwhelming success of vaccinations is all but eliminating deadly childhood diseases has made us complacent. But the resurgence of certain diseases and the loss of our herd immunity should serve as a wake-up call. We must take bold action now to regain that herd immunity before it is too late.



Sign the petition, and spread the word.

This is the opinion of the editorial board of MLive Media Group, the parent company of MLive.com. The board is made up of the company's executive leadership, content directors and editors who oversee the 10 local markets that make up MLive Media Group. See the full list of editorial board members.