The head of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, is equating polio, measles and similar transmittable diseases with alcoholism.

Dr. Kirk Milhoan, chair of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), and a pediatric cardiologist, said on the podcast "Why Should I Trust You" that he had "concerns' some children might die or be paralyzed as a result of a choice not to vaccinate. But, he said, “I also am saddened when people die of alcoholic diseases.”

The two diseases are not the same. A person with measles is a risk to their entire community because it's "a highly contagious virus that lives in the nose and throat mucus of an infected person. It can spread to others through coughing and sneezing," the Centers for Disease Control says. Polio "spreads  through contact with the poop or sneeze/cough droplets of an infected person, even if they don’t have visible symptoms."

In other words, measles and polio are both diseases that you can get through contact with another person. You can't "catch" alcoholism by being around an alcoholic who sneezes not via their poop.

Milhoan's concern is about individual choice. In his view, one should not be forced to receive the polio or measles vaccine to go to school. It should be an individual choice. To make his point, he grabs an extreme example of a high school pupil who was denied graduation because she had not had all her childhood vaccines. She was 17-1/2 years old. In two months, she would be 18, and she would not be required to be vaccinated. This is a libertarian view, in which the government has no right to require any action by an individual – even if the action would benefit society at large.

The public health view is 180 degrees opposite. It values protecting the group over concern about the individual.

Both views have their merits. But one thing should be clear: It is simply wrong to compare communicable diseases such as polio and measles to noncommunicable diseases such as alcoholism or bipolar disorder.