Parents Putting Children, and the Community at Risk

The facts are quite clear, there is no tie between vaccines and Autism*, and this has been conclusively proven.

The doctor who came up with this cockamamie theory had his ticket yanked. The removal of Thimerisol (which was an independent good regardless of the non link to Autism) made no difference in the trajectory of the disease.

Vaccines represent the greatest success in public health in the history of...well..history.

When we see reports like this one the Neanderthal^† anti-vaccination movement, the basic points which need to be made are as follows:

• There is no evidence that vaccines are listed are linked to any disease.
• The idea that there is a link to Autism is false and has been completely disproven.
• This puts the entire community at risk, because unvaccinated children spread the disease.
• It puts holes in herd immunity.

These basic points were not made in this article, though it was hinted at when the writer quoted Sybil "I'm a Moron" Carlson saying that vaccines caused "immunology".

Let's be clear. Vaccines do have risks, I know someone who is in a wheelchair because of a vaccine induced case of polio, and my mother had an allergic reaction to the horse serum used in the tetanus vaccine, but they are less than that of not being vaccinated, and they are acute, not chronic.

The anti-vaccine movement is based on two things, stupidity and ignorance involving the science, and a blithe disregard for for the effects of society.

That's why we are getting outbreaks of measles, mumps, whooping cough. Because these people are creating reservoirs of disease out of their children, and it affects the vaccinated too, because no vaccine is 100%, and some vaccinated children are put at risk.

^*Full disclosure, my son is on the spectrum, diagnosed with Aspergers.
^†In deference to the GEICO cavemen, I wish to apoliogize for any offense to true Neanderthals.