evidence: On supporting science journalism [...] Can't children thrive without vaccines? We live in a crowded, fast-moving world, and disease travels easily. The data are clear: failure to immunize a child comes with a much more formidable risk—leaving children vulnerable to contracting a potentially debilitating or lethal illness. Some children are too sick or too young to receive inoculations, so they remain at risk. If those children or other unvaccinated kids come into contact with someone else who was not protected against certain microbes, that can set off a wave of disease such as the measles outbreak in the U.S. in the summer of 2017. Maladies that have become uncommon, such as polio and measles, can also quickly reappear if we stop vaccinating against them, particularly when they are unintentionally imported across geographic borders. The 2015 measles outbreak that rippled through the U.S., for example, had genetic markers that suggest it came from an overseas traveler. Protecting kids actually helps protect everyone.