A LIBERAL GETS LIBERTARIAN: Michelle Cottle is appropriately outraged that the government is apparently going to decide whether Americans should get vaccinated against smallpox:

I'm sorry, but if a well-informed, tax-paying, mentally competent adult wants a smallpox vaccine, she should be allowed to have it. If the government is worried about costs, make people pay for the shots--and pad the price enough to subsidize shots for poor folk. If we're worried about supply, then let's have a debate about what it will take to procure enough vaccine to go around. But don't babble on about how the government must weigh the risks to individuals and make this decision for us as though we were small children. Tell people the odds and let them take their chances.
...Yes, there would be some education issues and practical challenges to address. If at all possible, we want to avoid outraged citizens suffering ill side effects and suing the government, whining that no one told them the risks. Of particular concern would be people with compromised immune systems, who face a much higher danger of severe side effects. They might want to opt out of inoculation entirely, as well as take precautions around friends who had just been vaccinated. But these are details that could and should be worked through so that the individuals can be given a choice.
Hey, maybe we'll be lucky. Maybe all remaining traces of the lethal virus are in the hands of safe, sane, responsible, pro-U.S. scientists. Or if there is an outbreak, maybe the ever-vigilant, always-efficient public sector will be able to contain and swiftly vaccinate every single infected person. Maybe. But it sounds like a sucker bet to me.