Irwin Redlener

Having insurance doesn't guarantee good health outcomes, but it is a critical factor.

Kids get a lot of lip service in disaster planning, but they tend to get far fewer resources than they need. The mantra of 'children are our most valuable resource' is almost never matched by actual funding.

There are several very good websites which describe the details of preparedness planning for citizens.

No organization should be allowed near disaster unless they are willing to cooperate with some level of established leadership.

Poverty leads to hardship and failure.

Every single administration in American political history has put cronies and pals and donors into political positions. But normally those people become the ambassador to Liechtenstein or the deputy undersecretary of commerce.

Americans do not have a good track record when it comes to preparing for disasters, unless they see a clear possibility of personally being in harms way.

The larger the disaster, the more necessary it is to have the government as the principal driver of recovery.

Very large scale disasters, especially those that have occurred in the developing world, have very long recovery periods.

Hospitals are about healing.

Every school should have well-rehearsed emergency response protocols covering a variety of possible scenarios, from fire to armed intruders. Schools should have good lines of communications with local emergency response officials and practice those relationships in drills and special exercises.

The risks are far greater to your child of not getting immunized than any kind of speculative potential relationship between the vaccine and the development of autism.