Answer:
Merry tumbles, wounded, into the pit, another man falls down dead, and the three left alive turn and run. Silver shoots and kills Merry, just as the doctor, Gray, and Ben Gunn appear. The doctor urges everyone to chase the seamen and head them off from the boats.
They are efficient for rare diseases or diseases with a long latency period between exposure and disease manifestation.
Even though the people in the community cannot make their own choices, the quote means they should get to make their own choices for themselves and for their own happiness. Rather than other people making the choices they are making their own. No regrets.
