home schooling and vaccinations

     One of the things that the public school system accomplished was making sure that all children had their vaccinations. When every child was assumed to be enrolled in school, we could assume that each school was checking on the vaccination status of every child. Most school districts required that a student be vaccinated before attending. Now that so many people are home-schooling, many children will never be vaccinated for diseases that may still become a threat to public health.  When enough people lack vaccinations, we could see epidemics of diseases we thought were "under control"--because the diseases were "under control" only with the widespread use of vaccines. We need a public health system that actually has the clout to insist on vaccinations for everyone. There are enough diseases to fight for which no vaccine exists.  Resources that might be used to find a cure for cancer, for instance, may be used to fight diseases for which we already have a vaccine. A waste.