In light of recent outbreaks of measles and other vaccine preventable illnesses, and the refusal of anti-vaccination advocates to acknowledge the problem, I thought it was past time for this post.Dear parents,You are being lied to. The people who claim to be acting in the best interests of your children are putting their health and even lives at risk.They say that measles isnt a deadly disease.But it is.They say that chickenpox isnt that big of a deal.But it can be.They say that the flu isnt dangerous.But it is.They say that whooping cough isnt so bad for kids to get.But it is.They say that vaccines arent that effective at preventing disease. But 3 million childrens lives are saved every year by vaccination, and 2 million die every year from vaccine-preventable illnesses.They say that natural infection is better than vaccination.But theyre wrong.They say that vaccines havent been rigorously tested for safety.But vaccines are subjected to a higher level of scrutiny than any other medicine. For example, this study tested the safety and effectiveness of the pneumococcal vaccine in more than 37,868 children.They will say that doctors wont admit there are any side effects to vaccines.But the side effects are well known, andexcept in very rare cases quite mild.They say that the MMR vaccine causes autism.It doesnt. (The question of whether vaccines cause autism has been investigated in study after study, and they all show overwhelming evidence that they dont.)They say that thimerosal in vaccines causes autism.It doesnt, and it hasnt been in most vaccines since 2001 anyway.They say that the aluminum in vaccines (an adjuvant, or component of the vaccine designed to enhance the bodys immune response) is harmful to children.But children consume more aluminum in natural breast milk than they do in vaccines, and far higher levels of aluminum are needed to cause harm.They say that the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (and/or the vaccine court) proves that vaccines are harmful.It doesnt.They say that the normal vaccine schedule is too difficult for a childs immune system to cope with.It isnt.They say that if other peoples children are vaccinated, theres no need for their children to get vaccinated.This is one of the most despicable arguments Ive ever heard. First of all, vaccines arent always 100% effective, so it is possible for a vaccinated child to still become infected if exposed to a disease. Worse, there are some people who cant receive vaccinations, because they are immune deficient, or because they are allergic to some component. Those people depend upon herd immunity to protect them. People who choose not to vaccinate their children against infectious diseases are putting not only their own children at risk, but also other peoples children.They say that natural and alternative remedies are better than science-based medicine.They arent.The truth is that vaccines are one of our greatest public health achievements, and one of the most important things you can do to protect your child.I can predict exactly the sort of response I will be getting from the anti-vaccine activists. Because they cant argue effectively against the overwhelming scientific evidence about vaccines, they will say that I work for Big Pharma. (I dont and never have). They will say that Im not a scientist (I am), and that Im an Agent 666 (I dont know what that is, but Im pretty sure that Im not one).None of these things are true, but they are the reflexive response by the anti-vaccine activists because they have no facts to back up their position. On some level, deep down, they must understand this, and are afraid of the implications, so they attack the messenger.Why are they lying to you' Some are doing it for profit, trying to sell their alternative remedies by making you afraid of science-based medicine. Im sure that many others within the anti-vaccine movement have genuinely good intentions, and do honestly believe that vaccines are harmful. But as a certain astrophysicist recently said The good thing about science is that its true whether or not you believe in it. In the case of vaccine truthers, this is not a good thing. Good intentions will not prevent microbes from infecting and harming people, and the message that vaccines are dangerous is havingdire consequences. There are outbreaks of vaccine-preventable illnesses nowthroughout the United States because of un-vaccinated children.In only one respect is my message the same as the anti-vaccine activists: Educate yourself.But while they mean Read all these websites that support our position, I suggest you should learn what the scientific community says. Learn how the immune system works.Go read about the history of disease before vaccines, and talk to older people who grew up when polio, measles, and other diseases couldnt be prevented.Go read about how vaccines are developed, and how they work. Read about Andrew Wakefield, and how his paper that claimed a link between the MMR vaccine and autismhas been withdrawn, and his medical license has been revoked. Read the numerous, huge studies that have explicitly examined whether autism is caused by the vaccine and found nothing. (While youre at it, read about the ongoing research to determine what IS the causeor causes of autism, which is not helped by people continuing to insist that vaccines cause it).That may seem like a lot of work, and scientific papers can seem intimidating to read. But reading scientific articles is a skill that can be mastered. Heres a great resource for evaluating medical information on the internet, and I wrote a guide for non-scientists onhow to read and understand the scientific literature. You owe it to your children, and to yourself, to thoroughly investigate the issue. Dont rely on what some stranger on the internet says (not even me!). Read the scientific studies that I linked to in this post for yourself, and talk to your pediatricians. Despite what the anti-vaccine community is telling you, you dont need to be afraid of the vaccines. You should instead be afraid of what happens without them.Humans try to make sense of the world by seeing patterns. When they see a disease or condition that tends to appear around the time a child is a year or so old, as autism does, and that is also the age that kids get particular shots, they want to put those things together. Parents watch kids more carefully after they get shots. Sometimes they pick up on symptoms then. Just because two things happen at the same time doesnt mean that one caused the other. This is why we need careful scientific studies.Note: For people coming via a direct link, please also feel free to participate in a follow-up discussionhere.SEE ALSO:Avoiding the flu shot means you're risking a lot more than you thinkMORE:Here's one of the biggest misconceptions of people who hate childhood vaccinesJoin the conversation about this storyNOW WATCH: Watch Jeff Sachs destroy the anti-vaccine movement in under two minutes
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