Dear Mom who decided not to vaccinate her kid against the measles

Yeah, I’m going there. I mean when I put up a picture of my kid in his car seat wearing a puffy coat, I had NOOOOOOO idea the kind of ruckus that would explode. But I’m writing this knowing full well that vaccination shit is a TOUCHY subject and that some people might get their panties in a bunch reading this.

After seeing the news about the recent outbreak of measles in Disneyland, it took me a few days to muster up enough courage to “go there” on my blog, but you know what I finally decided. F that. As I learned from a very important book (Five-Minute Spiderman Stories), with great power comes great responsibility. And hell if I’m gonna stand by and watch sweet little innocent kiddos get sick and die and have other shitty lifelong problems because of a few selfish jerkwads.

So here goes.

Dear Mom who decided not to vaccinate her kid against the measles,

I get it. You’re like a mama bear. A mama bear that protects her young against any and all dangers. And no one can say you have to give your kiddo some bullshit shot full of chemicals that might have a few side effects.

I totally agree. We should all protect our children from anything that’s gonna hurt them. So I hope you don’t mind that when I see you walking down the street that I might tackle your kid to the ground and shove a big ole shot in his leg with the MMR vaccine. You know, to protect MY baby bear. (FYI, I’m being sarcastic and I’m not really gonna do this to someone else’s kiddo, just in case you’re too dense to figure that out)

‘Cause here’s the thing, MY kid can’t get the MMR vaccine. That’s right. MY kid has cancer and can’t get it, so when your very healthy kid who can handle getting the measles spreads that shit to my kid who can’t, guess what happens to my kid.

SHE DIES.

As in gone forever. (FYI, I’m using creative license here to make a point and neither Zoey nor Holden really has cancer and both of them have been vaccinated for everything under the sun).

But thank God you didn’t risk your child by giving him a shot that science has proven to be totally SAFE. Yeah, that’s right. That ONE study that said the MMR vaccine might cause autism has been totally debunked. In fact, I just read that it was all an “elaborate fraud.” But why on earth should you believe me? I’m just a stoopid mom in fat pants who still has baby brain three years after I was preggers. So here’s what the CDC says in case you’re want to hear it from a REAL expert:

Is there a link between the MMR shot and autism?

No. Scientists in the United States and other countries have carefully studied the MMR shot. None has found a link between autism and the MMR shot. 

Well, that’s a little vague isn’t it? NOOOOOO. No, it is not vague at all. The CDC blatantly says the MMR shot does NOT cause autism.

And guess what that means. That means you didn’t get your kiddo vaccinated and killed someone else’s child for no good reason. Awwww shit, who’s the perfect mommy now? I mean yeah maybe you’re thinking I’m being all melodramatic about this, but here’s another little thing I pulled off the CDC website so you can be lazy if you want and not do the research yourself. 

Is it serious?

Measles can be dangerous, especially for babies and young children. From 2001-2013, 28% of children younger than 5 years old who had measles had to be treated in the hospital.

For some children, measles can lead to:

  • Pneumonia (a serious lung infection)
  • Lifelong brain damage
  • Deafness
  • Death

Wow, that doesn’t sound like just a little rash and fever. That sounds pretty bad. And guess what, I didn’t know this until the recent measles outbreak, but there are like a shitload of kids who can’t get vaccinated for all sorts of reasons. Kids who are less than a year old. Kids who have cancer. Kids who are allergic to the shot. Kids who have immune system problems. Kids who have blood disorders. Etc etc etc. Yup, there are lots of kiddos out there whose parents would LOVE to get them vaccinated but they can’t.

So ordinarily I’m all for parents deciding whatever they want for their own kiddos. You wanna feed your kid expensive organic green shit out of your mouth? Go for it. You wanna sanitize the crap out of your kiddo’s hands every five minutes? Whatever floats your boat. You wanna let your kiddo pick her own bedtime? That’s not my style, but you do whatever the hell you want.

With ONE exception. If your choice can hurt someone else, it’s not okay.

Anyways, please, it’s not too late. Go get the shots for your kiddo. Or if you’re on the fence and you’re deciding what to do, don’t just research it. Make sure you’re reading what the RELIABLE experts say. Because there are a lot of ass-hats out there who are spouting a bunch of bullshit on the Internet and they’re not stopping to think their bullshit might actually be killing children.

Sincerely,

A mom who vaccinated her kids because she thinks scientists are a whole lot smarter than she is

P.S. If you think I’m kinda sorta funnyish and might like to read some of my other stuff, don’t forget to check out my New York Times Bestselling book.FinalIHeartCover

 




There are 1,073 comments for this article
      • Dyl at 12:22 am

        So merck’s mumps vaccine is less than 95% effective? This has nothing to do with measles (you know, the subject of this post). and even a vaccine that is less than 95% effective is more effective than no vaccine (that is 0% effective).

        • Wendy Smith at 9:03 am

          Uh, you do know the measles vaccine is a 3 way vaccine, right? Measles, mumps and rubella? MMR, get it?

          • la at 2:41 pm

            Uh, you know that the vaccine for measles does not protect people from the current strain of measles that is going around? Pointless, get it?

      • dave at 1:36 am

        Why don’t some of you leave this post, google Merck vaccine whistleblower, and then come back and spout off all your knowledge. Merck tried to have it thrown out .must be some proof to proceed. Case includes falsifying tests, inadequate tests, lying about effectiveness, throwing out undesirable results, hiding links to autism, and quite a few other problems. And why? To create a monopoly and make the most money. But Yeah, they’re safe. they’re doing what’s best. Why don’t we hear about it? Because big pharmacy runs or has a hand in almost every media outlet. in the long run they will pay a fine, grease some pockets, claim they fixed it all, and do it all over again. It’s the American way. But we are all conspiracy nuts. it’s never happened before.

        • Just No at 4:15 am

          Nope, your pretty much insane. The whistle blower thing only showed that it was less than 95% effective. There are no links to autism with vaccines what so ever.

          • ben at 7:20 am

            You are clueless…that is a WHOLE other issue.merck is in hit water over lying about efficacy. The whistleblower is ANOTHER huge issue that mainstream media didn’t touch. The SENIOR scientist for the CDC came forward saying him and others were told to hide data showing African American boys were at a 300% increased chance of developing autism after getting the mmr. Do your research, you lost any credibility talking about something you KNOW NOTHING about. Bam

          • Heather at 9:25 pm

            Huffington Post would disagree…google the article

          • FactsSolveProblems at 3:44 pm

            APA Format please for providing evidence of stating that all vaccinations are showing a 100% or at least 99*% effective, so that we can continue to inject infants with so many vaccinations, because we don’t care about anyone else’s children. Question is about future generations and while you dispute this argument, it is the efforts of people who will, to prevent from your grandchildren of being affected by the contamination of vaccinations. Let’s continue to promote and hide the facts that actually are preventative and will help make future generations safe. GET THE FACTS and please provide this in an APA format before speaking out such ignorance.

            Please review an 4 hr senate video of real people who do extensive research on vaccinations and the harm they cause. This is what people do to promote and protect children before they speak out about the problems. FACTS SOLVE PROBLEMS.

            http://www.c-span.org/video/?309672-1/federal-response-rise-autism-rates

          • Natalie Gunn at 12:05 pm

            Yup…none whatsoever besides the hundreds of thousands of children who were perfectly healthy and then received the mmr or dtap and now have regressed and bang their head on s**t all day, within days of receiving the vaccines and have been paid out by the vaccine court which is paid for by tax payers money because they were being sued so much and needed protection.

        • Kirsten at 1:34 pm

          Since I have autistic children, I can safely say if I could go back in time I would still vaccinate them. I would rather have them be as they are than dead.

          • Tracy at 12:27 pm

            I also have a child with autism and feel the same way. The thing is if these unvaccinated kids develop one of these diseases and are in the hospital you know d**n well those parents will tell the doctors to pump everything under the sun into their kid to save them.

          • Sam at 6:48 pm

            Anyone who says you’re a moron or an idiot is ridiculous and has obviously never been within 5 feet of a child. I would rather have a child with autism, or Down’s syndrome or only one leg than have my child DIE because the caught a disease that I COULD HAVE PREVENTED by giving them a vaccine. Sorry, but if you don’t vaccinate and your kid dies from measles or mumps or whatever that s**t is on you. Hope you can sleep with that at night

          • Jillian H at 3:20 pm

            Really? My son became autistic after his shots. If i could go back i would not vaccinate him. Doctors can treat n cure measels however they cannot with Autism. If they can save ppl with Ebola than can treat measels. Autism and the brain damage some patients can not be fixed. Or the kids that die from vaccine. Cant bring them back

          • AJ at 10:47 am

            As I said careful what you cite as research – Huffington Post is rife with unreliable research that is based on other unreliable research and – it disagrees because THAT is its job.

            http://www.cdph.ca.gov/Pages/NR14-018.aspx

            About a death from Whooping cough of a neonate.
            The reason I had not seen a whooping cough victim in our Kids Intensive Care Unit for years and it was supposedly gone from Australia, was that we had a high ‘Herd Immunity’. The reason that this child died is unarguably because the only 95% efficacy added to 100 percent of people being immunized is no longer the case so there are subtle (less so every day) Gaps in said Herd Immunity. Mothers and fathers will do what they will . Eventually they will stick to their guns and do what they feel in their hearts is right – its what parents do. but parents are not often scientists and can only go by their horrifying window of experience and that of similarly normal people who post about this .
            Eventually governments will legislate and take that choice away because safety is basically inherent in immunization – science knows this the rest is just made up crap and parents experience . Yes immunizations are containing dangerous stuff in trace amounts its part of how it works. With out the live or attenuated virus it can do nothing in some cases. Its job is to trick the body into believing it has the virus so it produces antibodies (in most cases) otherwise it will not work even 95%.
            The main issue arises if you get your kids immunized when they are already sick. The infection the have can cause a massive immune response when coupled with an immunization because that is what a real virus does and that is what many Immunizations do – pretend to be a live virus. Parents who cite their own experience and their poor children’s fates may possibly have fallen victim to this doubling of the infective process.
            If that process causes a large fever (and that may be part of the original infection but the Immunization can always take the blame because parents do not want to feel in any way that they have no identifiable and blamable cause.
            It breaks my heart to see babies die. We have managed to keep all the whooping cough babies alive that were brought to us alive (not all made it to us however). Every single one of them will be on oxygen at home for at least a few years (those who are not still in hospital or suffered Organ failures as a result and died down the track say a year later).
            Someone posted that no one died of the measles outbreak.
            Measles is not all that is out there.
            When the (mutated)Ebola virus comes to your area, and there is an immunization available – will you stand by your guns and be one of the people who chooses not to immunize against it?
            I wonder where your govt will stand on your choice then.
            See a short film called ‘Cough’ its a slight window into the potential if some airborne lethal Pandemic arose in a civilized country.
            You do not need to see the film to think this through.
            Survive.
            I hope we all survive.
            Immunize.

            P.S. I am a front line Health Care Worker. Ebola is utterly terrifying as it is –
            It wakes me with nightmares even before it has entered my country at all.
            if it ever becomes Airborne?
            – God(-insert appropriate deity or leave blank-) save us all!

          • Tammy at 2:37 pm

            When I was a child they didn’t vaccinate for measles, mumps, chicken pox or rubella. I had all 3 and I am healthy!!!! I was sick for a few days and then fine. It’s a NORMAL part of growing up, that’s why it’s called childhood illness. None of these illnesses require I am medicated or require special care for the rest of my life. This is the case for 95% of children. Do these statistics sound familiar? These are the same success rates that vaccinations have… accept they don’t require I be injected with toxins, I just got sick and then got better. And I have antibodies for these for the rest of my life, no booster required. We have to ask ourselves why we have SO many more vaccinations then we did 30 yrs ago… are we healthier?

        • RN_AJ at 10:54 am

          As I said careful what you cite as research – Huffington Post is rife with unreliable research that is based on other unreliable research and – it disagrees because THAT is its job.

          http://www.cdph.ca.gov/Pages/NR14-018.aspx

          About a death from Whooping cough of a neonate.
          The reason I had not seen a whooping cough victim in our Kids Intensive Care Unit for years and it was supposedly gone from Australia, was that we had a high ‘Herd Immunity’. The reason that this child died is unarguably because the only 95% efficacy added to 100 percent of people being immunized is no longer the case so there are subtle (less so every day) Gaps in said Herd Immunity. Mothers and fathers will do what they will . Eventually they will stick to their guns and do what they feel in their hearts is right – its what parents do. but parents are not often scientists and can only go by their horrifying window of experience and that of similarly normal people who post about this .
          Eventually governments will legislate and take that choice away because safety is basically inherent in immunization – science knows this the rest is just made up crap and parents experience . Yes immunizations are containing dangerous stuff in trace amounts its part of how it works. With out the live or attenuated virus it can do nothing in some cases. Its job is to trick the body into believing it has the virus so it produces antibodies (in most cases) otherwise it will not work even 95%.
          The main issue arises if you get your kids immunized when they are already sick. The infection the have can cause a massive immune response when coupled with an immunization because that is what a real virus does and that is what many Immunizations do – pretend to be a live virus. Parents who cite their own experience and their poor children’s fates may possibly have fallen victim to this doubling of the infective process.
          If that process causes a large fever (and that may be part of the original infection but the Immunization can always take the blame because parents do not want to feel in any way that they have no identifiable and blamable cause.
          It breaks my heart to see babies die. We have managed to keep all the whooping cough babies alive that were brought to us alive (not all made it to us however). Every single one of them will be on oxygen at home for at least a few years (those who are not still in hospital or suffered Organ failures as a result and died down the track say a year later).
          Someone posted that no one died of the measles outbreak.
          Measles is not all that is out there.
          When the (mutated)Ebola virus comes to your area, and there is an immunization available – will you stand by your guns and be one of the people who chooses not to immunize against it?
          I wonder where your govt will stand on your choice then.
          See a short film called ‘Cough’ its a slight window into the potential if some airborne lethal Pandemic arose in a civilized country.
          You do not need to see the film to think this through.
          Survive.
          I hope we all survive.
          Immunize.

          P.S. I am a front line Health Care Worker. Ebola is utterly terrifying as it is –
          It wakes me with nightmares even before it has entered my country at all.
          if it ever becomes Airborne?
          – God(-insert appropriate deity or leave blank-) save us all!
          PPS – I hope this does not post multiple times – it is not letting me save 🙁 hehe Conspiracy!!!!

    • tloveipsy at 10:27 pm

      a child undergoing traditional treatment for cancer that is immune suppressing can catch any one of hundreds of strains of viruses or bacteria with devastating consequences such as a particularly nasty cold or any ”bug” that they don’t/can’t vaccinate against. They could also get into the car one day and be in a fatal car crash. I know this is the emotionally manipulative argument that seems to receive online standing ovations for ”the cause” but it’s not a very good one if you put in in perspective.

      • mommywife at 10:44 pm

        For real???? I am an real life cancer mom and it’s not the same thing by a long shot!!!! And until you have stood in front of a tiny casket because some effing idiot thought they didn’t need to vaccinate their kid and your immune compromised kid, who you vaccinated as a good parent FYI on chemo their vaccinations go into hibernation and don’t work, then shut up!!!! Cause I have and your an IDIOT for even seeing there might be a comparison there. Sincerely- a very pissef off cancer mom who hates that there are idiots who trivialize and minimize the lives of all the poor sick kids who don’t deserve the shitty hand life dealt them and they sure as hell don’t need extra bullshit from idiots on top of it

        • Jessie M at 12:16 am

          I’m so sorry hun, that is so horrible! I have read a lot of crap about the “dangers” of vaccinations and I have not turned down any of the vaccinations for my son because I feel that the risk of him getting one of these illnesses without the vaccination far outweighs the risk of him having an allergic reaction or “getting” autism from them and because of stories like yours! Some idiots just don’t think about anyone but themselves/their own children and it is truly scary that they put babies, children, and adults who can’t get vaccinated at risk by refusing the vaccinations for no good reason and don’t give a crap if their child gets someone else sick and causes someone to die. People really need to realize that these things that the vaccines are there to prevent are NOT gone and are very deadly and were only kind of in check because of the VACCINATIONS! But now thanks to these idiots who believe this bull that the vaccinations will hurt anybody who gets them, these illnesses that we haven’t seen in so long are coming back…hopefully these people will realize that they need to get their kids vaccinated and do it asap. You are absolutely right…these sick kids do not deserve to suffer and have enough to worry about without extra crap like this that could be prevented.

          • bonnie h at 2:26 am

            Jessie M, my youngest was born with a malignant brain cancer. I know how you feel. Cancer patients of all ages are so susceptible to any type of infectious agent. I don’t know if your sick child has school age siblings, mine did, and we asked the school district if they could please ask other parents to report any cases of infectious diseases (no names needed, just to help us keep it away from our baby as much as possible). We also vaccinated ourselves and our older kids religiously. Cancer families have to become germophobic. Not all cancer kids are confined to hospitals for long periods of time. A lot of them go in to the hospitals and/or clinics for a day at a time. They still share one side effect: weakened immune systems.

          • Joe at 7:14 pm

            Vaccines do/have caused cancers. Maurice hilleman started and ran merck’s vaccine program. He developed over 36 different vaccines. You do not need to search the net very hard to find a video of him laughing about how certain vaccines were causing cancer. There are over 60 studies which have confirmed this! Watch the video. Read the studies. The video was never meant to be seen by the public. Luckily someone thought we should know. There is also the video of Bill Gates speaking to a crowd telling them he supports population control and thus vaccination. These are easy to find online. Kids are hurt every year by vaccines. Get the vaccine. Things will be fine…until a few years down the road. Now those same companies who made money giving cancer can make money treating it!

        • ben at 7:21 am

          Your child probably had cancer FROM the vaccinations

          • Ingrid at 9:33 am

            How dare you. I’m a mom of a healthy child, but what you just said was horrific. Instead of hiding behind your computer or cell phone typing ridiculous statement. Maybe think if you would say that to one of these mothers face to face before hitting send.

          • Johanna at 9:35 am

            Wow i cant believe how heartless you could be by leaving a post like that…if you were smart enough to read and do some research you would see that there are side affects to everything treatment wise that we put in our bodies but you have to weigh the good and the bad but for you to say something like that just goes to show how ignorant you really are…i would strongly suggest that you apologize yo that mom to whom your disgusting post was directed to so that not everyone thinks your a waste of skin and a useless peice of crap as i do!!!! I have also reported you in regards to your post which is offensive

          • Judy at 10:05 am

            Wow. You are an awful human being for saying that. How dare you!

          • Taunie Roethel at 10:31 am

            OMG… are you serious right now…what a moron.

          • michelleleab at 12:37 pm

            What a horrible stupid insensitive comment to make. You are an awful person.

          • Dianne at 3:09 pm

            Just a question..since you are so very anti-vaccination…ARE YOU VACCINATED? Did your parents trust their doctors so you never had to be subjected to any one of the diseases that children do get vaccinated for? If so, then you have no argument and that goes for every other person who is anti-vaccination. I was not vaccinated as a child and I got the measles (it was horrific)and the chicken pox. Luckily I turned out ok, but I would never ever wish those diseases on my children and so they are vaccinated. I don’t need to read study after study, I just have to look at my healthy children to know that vaccinations work.

          • IZAYER at 4:43 pm

            I totally agree. IT’S CALLED THE INDIRECT EFFECT OF VACCINATIONS PEOPLE!

          • amanda at 6:39 pm

            wow.. hes not saying i hope your kid gets cancer or i hope your kid dies of cancer.. he is saying that maybe its the vaccine that cause it.. maybe thats a cause. have you ever thought about it? do you just think because people TELL you something is good you just do it. your kids or family that have cancer.. did you go straight for chemo or research other options? for you people to say horrible things to this guy.. shame on you! I’m sorry there are kids with cancer out there.. that is terrible.. and I’m sorry there are parents that have to go through that too. But to tell this guy he’s an asshole and you hope he dies a long agonizing death?? WHAT THE F*CK.. you guys are horrible!

            Other than christians.. i have never read more horrible comments from people.. than people who vaccinate. there are so many websites out there. obviously some are going to say vaccines are what you need.. and some are going to be against.. the point is that you research all of them. there is a chance that kids/people may not die from the measles or other diseases like this.. and then some may. Same thing with vaccines. Some are fine.. but sometimes things happen to kids. Sometimes people get one kid vaccinated and it messes them up SO bad they don’t want to give them any more vaccines.. or their other kids any vaccines. Every body is different. People react differently to different foods. Some people can die if they are allergic to a certain food. And you can’t even say “oh well YOU are vaccinated aren’t you..your parents vaccinated you”.. um yeah.. that was the choice of my parents.

            Things are also made differently now. Ex: Jessica Alba’s mom told her to use this baby detergent to wash her babys clothes in. Well she did, and she had a bad reaction to it. When she did research on it.. she realized it was made differently. It had different chemicals than it did when her mom used it. Coca cola.. used to have cocaine in it. Obviously the realized that was not a good idea. People that vaccinate are angry and get pissed that people who don’t vaccinate won’t inject things into their kids.. to protect the other kids? You say when someone else’s kid gets cancer or the disease they will understand.. So likewise.. if you were to vaccinate and something horrible happen to your kids.. maybe you will understand.

            People have this misconception.. that “non-vaxers” don’t vaccinate because of jenny mcarthy or autism. Obviously you have no idea. That is not the reason. Keep vaccinating you children.. but research..everywhere you can. I don’t think it causes autism.. but I’m not totally against it either. There are way more autistic children, cancer, mental disorders.. lots of things going on. I don’t completely trust our government. If you do.. you are blind. You don’t have to be a “conspiracy theorist” but think for yourselves! don’t just do what people want you to do or think what they want you to think. Bash me.. i don’t care.. but Im not a bad parent BECAUSE I research anything having to do with my kid before I make a decision. Do I think I am 100% right all the time.. no. But I’m not going to blindly give my kids something I’m not sure about. you can voice your opinions and be angry.. but you are ADULTS stop acting like children! stop telling people you hope they die. Karma is a b***h.. you tell someone you hope they die and it will come back threefold. someone you love might be the one to die.. or something horrible will happen to you. stop wishing horrible things on someone. ESPECIALLY when all they did was say.. maybe they got cancer from the vaccine. they didn’t wish harm on anyone.

          • Diana at 7:22 pm

            You are a total asshole and show no empathy for poor children going through something so horrific. But go ahead and come on a parenting blog to show your complete lack of compassion!! May God have mercy on your useless bitter soul!!!

          • amanda at 5:23 pm

            lol diana.. im not sure if that was directed to me or ben.. but seriously? neither one of us have said anything like that.. what makes you think we have no sympathy for children.. or anyone on here. I agree with some of these other ladies.. its a choice to vaccinate our kids. Im sorry cancer is out there and anyone would have to deal with that.. but we don’t know whats causing it. it very well might be a vaccine.. it could be something else. people are getting very rude. telling people they hope other die.. jesus! Too many stories (like a few on here) where peoples children have had horrible things happen because of vaccines. You don’t know for sure if the vaccine or disease is going to harm someone. so as a parent you make the decision.. to tell someone you hope they die or say these nasty things… you people are horrible!! karma is a b***h.. stop acting like one.. just worry about your family and stop wishing death and horrible things on others. if i believe in god.. i would say he is sending you straight to hell.. he would be ashamed of how you people are acting. anyone can come on here and comment. so don’t tell me where i can and can’t post lady

          • Maribeth at 10:03 am

            You are an IDIOT!!! Do you have any medical degree to support that???!!!

          • AJ at 10:10 am

            ‘Your child probably had cancer FROM the vaccinations’ –
            So the unimmunized kids that I see as a Kids Intensive Care RN, who get cancer and Autism and all those things kids should be immunized against as well on top of that – just bad luck I guess – whereas you’re arguing that Immunizations give cancer and or Autism like almost ?80 ? 90 percent(Probably) ?
            Thankfully your lack of Genius is just what Immunization needs as its champion – so thanks ‘ben’ – You Rock! 🙂
            So about the ‘research'(and I use the term very loosely because anti-immunization gurus do),
            You can cite what you think is research but if you trawl back through it seriously and check out its methodologies and its target groups and the methods of sampling its just skewed information similar to Newspaper Journalism – Not Research at all. I spent a few years as an Anti Immunization person – and one week got obsessed with getting my argument right so I researched the research – as I had studied research recently and the way to do this was fresh in my head. For the Record the ‘Yet to be published article from the University of (whichever name they choose this year i have seen Michigan and Minnesota and 2 others ) has been rolled out for over 10 years and reworded a little here and there. If its unpublished there are two very important factors .
            1) -If its not published it IS NOT RESEARCH at all –its a supposition based on nothing.
            2)- It may have been so transparently useless as far as valid research goes – it was not published for that reason. You only find this article if you look back through what anti-Immunization writers are calling their facts – its just there to flesh out the numbers in the Bibliography. Also you will find ‘loop research’ that cites one that cites the other so neither have any actual facts that they are basing some of the arguments on (you do this by citing an older version of the research who then years later cites your words that were from their own words – as the source – its there if you look hard enough). However its incredible lack of credibility makes the whole premise tainted with more than just a smattering of BS. The problem with this sort of thing today is that if you spend a day fabricating crap around your theory it looks solid and well supported even if its a 5 day dead rat in the center of it all. Sadly the average person only does their research through google/search engines and only to about 1 or two levels of depth.
            (Originally a PS.) You will not find any research that has been published in an actual university that states fully that in a total populace of any given area when the immunized were compared with the fully non immunized the numbers who had ASD/Autism/Cancer were thus. (there are a few faked ‘Institute of X and Y’ that are cited as well as a professor who did not exist whose colleagues were blinded etc. etc.
            -( who has her own identity on Wikipedia so she MUST exist rofl.).
            Two of those are in fact companies that exist but have no grant to do research in any way shape or form.
            (not a randomly selected by the author with a dodgy method ie. ‘parents who came to me in support of my theory ‘ is not random sampling).
            And that From the grave evidence from Maurice Hillman – hehe lol indeed
            ( http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2013/09/11/a-zombie-meme-rises-from-the-grave-maurice-hilleman-the-polio-vaccine-sv40-and-cancer/ ). Mercola is definitely not stupid he is an ‘internet genius’ ! . It has made him millions in book sales and probably will one day be responsible for many many more deaths than ‘Polpot’, ‘ben'(above) and ‘Auschwitz’ .
            Do NOT do your research – pick apart the research that is there and find the parts that unravel. Or else your research into this issue is just befuddlement by internet gurus who will sell you their book full of smoke and Mirrors . Magic!

            PS in my case that weekend of researching the research became about 1 month and by the end of it I was converted – back to a Pro Immunization Stance and very embarrassed.

        • Jamie at 8:47 am

          My cousin suffered encephalitis post MMR. She was paid by the vaccine injury fund. She will never live independently, never have her own children. She’s not dead, but she is injured by a vaccine her parents trusted. MMR is not risk free. Some people will become permanently and irreversibly injured after getting it, and the real problem is that there is NO acknowledgement of this! It gets denied and brushed under the rug. Does she matter less than your child?

          • logicate at 10:12 am

            No, MMR is not risk-free. However, it is extremely low-risk. The slim odds of your cousin’s negative reaction is vastly outweighed by the benefits of the vaccine. Arguing otherwise is like railing against seatbelts after you experience the outlier crash in which the belt caused more injury than it prevented, ignoring the overwhelming majority of the time the opposite occurred.

          • Pam at 3:46 pm

            Jamie, I am so sorry to hear of your cousin. There ARE vaccination risks as well. I am not sure if this mother is using a mask for her child with cancer, but that and proper hand washing would go very far in preventing a secondary illness in her child. I have chosen not to vaccinate my children because I do have a choice. There is much more to the MMR vaccine concerning the cell line was grown on an aborted fetus, then there are the mothers who have told me their child was developmentally healthy prior to the MMR vaccine and now are anything but. I can understand this mother is angry, but she is very abrasive in her words and almost seems to be attempting to be offensive. I am sorry that her child is sick and I would not wish that on any parent and child. I can only imagine, but please know that you are making a choice to respond in a nasty way to those of us who choose differently than you do.

          • Mellie at 1:52 am

            Thank you Pam!! This mom’s tone absolutely needs to change. Vaccinations aren’t mandated, they are still a parent’s choice. Am I missing something? Has someone died from the outbreak? No?
            If she 100% knew for a fact, the one thing that gave her child cancer, would she continue to give that one thing to her child? HECK NO!
            So this mom is selfish, saying that her child’s evil is worse than anyone else who might be going through something with their child, directly related from the MMR vaccination. At least she can still talk to her child and her child may survive cancer, if she stays clear of the general public. That’s what the state requires of unvaccinated children when there is an outbreak, to stay home from school, for the unvaccinated child’s protection. BTW, mercury, which is in the MMR rapidly depletes the immune system and increase one’s chances of contracting cancer.Think on that.

        • Jenn Hooper Herrera at 12:48 pm

          BRAVO! Fellow cancer Mom here too! Stand in our shoes with the fear of your child dying if they come in contact with a previously eradicated disease, then get back to me pal!

          • Maribeth at 10:09 am

            EXACTLY! I don’t have a child with cancer but I can imagine the frustration of you having to deal with these people who “know it all” !!!

        • KR at 9:12 pm

          I there, so sorry to hear about your family’s trials. Would you mind providing me links or info about “anti-vaxxers” being the only “carriers” of disease? Even a quick Google search shows that everyone is a carrier, furthermore, even the pro-vaccine articles mention everyone being carriers. I’ve only heard of the media trying to “trend” phrases like ‘the anti-vaxer movement is causing epidemics…’ . If anything, asymptomatic vaccicnated people are putting others even more at risk as they don’t know they are carriers, while un-vaccinated people have symptoms and like with any disease will likely stay home and not spread it as much or for instance find themselves on the same floor as cancer patients. Unfortunately there are two sides to everything and I may be wrong and if you have any convincing info to share I would like to read it.
          Thanks

        • Mike Crane at 9:23 am

          So your saying that you vaccinated your immune comprimised child and then she eventually died but it was actually some mystery UVax child who killed her? Why dont you accept the fact that your genetics suck and your bloodline was probably supposed to be weeded out.

          • Unamused at 4:11 am

            Officials, “Hey… Now that the race riots have died down, let’s turn parents against each other.” Anything to keep the sheeple distracted from their corrupt behavior. At least this discussion is less mind numbing, to those who aren’t completely paralyzed by cognitive dissonance, than which football player (idolized criminal) dropped the ball during the superbowl. To quote Orwell, “To keep them in control was not difficult.”

      • Keenan Blackburn at 4:25 am

        You’re answer is ridiculous. ‘A person with cancer is so sick that so many things can kill them, so adding one more thing that lowers chance of survival doesn’t matter’? Really? In essence that’s exactly what you said.
        So by your argument:
        I should be able to play Russian roulette and point the gun at you without getting in trouble. Because it’s not a garauntee that I’ll kill you, and hey, you already have a chance dying from some thug on street anyway. I only increased the chance of you dying.

        • Shawnee at 2:46 pm

          This reminds me of when I was pregnant and asked my ex not to smoke in the house because it might hurt the baby. His response was that there was smog and other toxins outside, so why should cigarette smoke bother me. Kind of seems like the same argument if you ask me.

      • toby at 6:28 am

        If the vaccine was so safe, why do they not allow an immune suppressed patient recieve it??

        • Betsy at 7:11 am

          Vaccines depend on your own immune system to work. They rely on you to make memory cells that will protect you later if you’re exposed to the infectious agent. If you don’t have am immune system (chemo pretty much destroys it) then the vaccine can’t help you. Your immune system is awesome! Help train it so it can protect you!

          • Chris at 8:37 am

            If you wan to train your immune system you shoud see a chiropractor. By removing the interference in the connection between the brain and body it allows the body to operate the way it was designed. Your immune system will functikn at its 100% when there is balance in the system and no longer live in the sympathetic state. Stress further depresses your immune system by putting you more in the right brain, thus limiting the time the left brain has to control the immune system. Go go get checked, they know the nervous system.

          • Vaxxers at 11:48 am

            No better way to test your immune system than to inject your body with untested chemicals.

        • Shelley at 10:04 am

          Because someone with a suppressed immune system doesn’t build the antibodies!

        • Tiffany at 10:40 am

          Do you know how vaccines work? A very weak (or dead) version of the disease is injected into your body so that your immune system can fight it and make natural antibodies so that you can easily fight the disease in case you ever encounter it again. People with suppressed immune systems cannot even fight off the weak diseases to make antibodies. Imagine what the real disease could do to them!

          • RichCoulter at 10:47 am

            That’s how they’re supposed to work, but in reality VICP has paid out almost 3 billion dollars to parents of vaccine-injured children, all of whom were pro-vaccine and trusted their pediatrician. They did not get informed consent.

          • Katie at 3:59 pm

            That 3 billion is a total from 1989 until today paid out to only about 4,000 families out of the millions of children who had received shots. No one has denied that vaccines can have some very real and serious side effects. The VICP was set up to help the families at a quicker rate than going through the traditional courts (You have to prove that it was a vaccine injury). There were about 14,000 claims through that period (1989 to present) but only 4,000 had actual verifiable vaccine injuries.

            No one hid the dangerous side effects of vaccines. My doctor’s office provided the literature every time my children had a vaccine. You can’t guess who is going to have the very rare side effects hence the VICP program

            Also every medication out on the market can cause some serious side effects, even garden variety of aspirin. Penicillin is a huge advancement for modern science but people are allergic to it. If we took every medication off the market that someone was allergic to or had a bad reaction we would have no medications.

          • Mike Crane at 9:45 am

            For all the idiots here its not the dead or weakened viruses that anti’s are concerned about. This is where the research is key. Its about all of the adjuvants that are put into the shots to “help” the body react. Things like polysorbate 80, aluminum, human diploid cells, egg culture, msg, and so on. I am not even going to mention thimerisol as that is a given. These are the issues that you sheep like fall in-liners never seem to realize. You are injecting this s**t right into the bloodstream bypassing all the bodies natural immune building responses. If you want a good perspective read Dr Russell Blaylocks papers on the effects of flouride, vaccinations, and msg on the human body, he is a neurologist who has recently come around and started doing his own research, maybe because he understands the brain. I guess you need to have one though to understand it.

        • Andrea at 1:29 pm

          Toby, you are so ignorant you don’t even deserve an answer.

        • julie at 4:19 pm

          vaccines work by exposing your immune system to a small amount of a disease so that your body will build the white blood cells needed to fight that particular disease. a person who is immune suppressed essentially does not have an immune system, so even that tiny amount of disease can wreak havoc. we naturally build up our immune systems when we are children by rolling around in filth and putting things in our mouths that definitely should not go there. vaccinations are just a more efficient way of building immunizations because we just take the one bit of filth we want instead of rolling in a big whole pile of it. think about the kind of people you meet-the person who is constantly slathering on hand sanitizer probably gets sick more often then the office slob. children who seem to have been born from a bog miss less school for illness then those kids whos parents are following them around with wet wipes.

      • Ali at 1:45 pm

        Let’s do put it in perspective, if your child got cancer and the way to prevent it from killing them is chemo, a cocktail of poisons that could kill even a healthy child, wouldn’t you do it? The reactin to vaccines is much lower than the good it does. Many people from a time before vaccines wish they had a child with a reaction than one in a grave. Even when measles are not fatal, there are many lifelong side affects that are devastating. I survived them. I can tell you even with out the permenant damages, the sickness alone is something I would not wish on my worst enemy let alone an infant or pregnant mother.

      • kelsey at 8:21 am

        You’re a freaking idiot! I hope your kid gets measles so youll understand why vaccinations exist. Even if the vaccine caused autism (which it doesnt), there is a saying we in the medical field like to use. Its called benefits out weigh risks! Your kid will not get autism from this vaccine. Now stop being a dumb a$$ and go vaccinate your kid!

      • Janelle at 11:54 pm

        I am an adult, who has lived with severe Chronic illness since childhood. I was born with a Rubella rash. I have been on 6MP for over 15 years to keep my immune system suppressed. I am currently on high dose steriods after catching the really bad flu in November. This measles outbreak scares me.

        I know I got my vaccines in so at one time I had immunity. Now I can not get any live vaccines and being exposed to anything especially measles is life threatening to me. My doctors have told me to be very very careful. I am upset not just for the children who are fighting cancer or other illnesses but also for all of us living with serious challenges that now have to be sequestered from being in public.

        I am offended that you would say such callous things and dismiss the right to life that we who are chronically or acutely ill. Society is ultimately judged by how it treats their most vunerable of society. Your cruel statement of dismissal towards the sick is a testament to your barbaric heart and thinking process.

        If you fail to vaccinate a child and allow your child to make others sick you should be prepared to live with the consequences and proper yourself financially for wrongful death suits and massI’ve medical bills. Because that is what will happen because we should not have to pay for your stupidity.

      • andy at 6:39 pm

        Put this into perspective. Thousands travel to Disney every day. Of all the cases only 5 were innoculated the other 68 did not get their immunizations. Its a safe thing to say that the vast majority if not all of the thousands of exposed people each day had received their shots. Most of those whom received the disease were quarentined or hospitalized. Ill take my chances with the vaccines and gather my info from more resputable sources then snopes or the naturalmommy. My 4mo does not have a choice right now and I have to depend on the vast population to use common sense and valid info.

      • Silverwynde at 11:23 am

        So by your logic, a five mile bridge is maybe 99.97% safe, so you’d rather risk it and swim in the shark infested waters. Because somehow the risk factor is the same.

        Put that into perspective.

    • Heidi Warkentin Bosley at 1:09 am

      Except that it isn’t kids who are getting the disease and passing it around in the first place. No, it’s traveling ADULTS who haven’t had a booster since they were about 12 (like most of us). ADULTS traveling to other countries and bringing it back with them. Try doing a little more research first.

      • Shelly at 2:12 am

        Why isn’t anyone talking about the illegal immigrants that probably are at the root of the outbreak???

        Stop attacking the parents who have the right to not give their child these disease shots, filled with mercury and chemicals.

        Disney is walking distance to Mexico. If you are an Illegal immigrant adult who sneaks into America from Mexice and who doesn’t pay taxes, they don’t have insurance and never received shots. This person then went to DL with their little Mexican-American born vaccinated child, but they are the host walking around infecting people. When is that story going to come out? Republicans should be all over this story, trying to find the ACTUAL root.

        • AliaAtreides at 7:32 pm

          Are you serious? For your information, most of Latin-American countries have FREE vaccination for children and adults. your statement is not simply wrong and xenophobic, but shows you have no idea what you’re talking about whatsoever. Clearly you are just that kind of person that goes for the convenient explanation, the one that agrees with your own small, prejudicial line of thought. For shame!

        • Tay at 12:12 am

          I want to reach through the computer and punch you in your big dumb racist face.

    • Heidi Warkentin Bosley at 1:12 am

      And while I am sorry for the mother who has a sick child, my first responsibility is to my own children – not to yours.

      • bonni h at 2:38 am

        I respectfully disagree with you. While your first responsibility is to your own children, when it comes to highly infectious and dangerous diseases, your responsibility is also to the greater community at large.You do not live in a bubble, neither do your kids.

        • a loving parent at 12:01 pm

          My responsibility will never be for the “greater community at large” our responsibility will always by save just for our children and you should do the same… As in what’s best for your child not saying to give or not give vaccines… What if we looked at you and said the same thing you should sacrifice your responsibility to your child because we on this side believe the vaccines are not good for us. There are two side and you will have to just accept that!

          • Andrea at 1:32 pm

            Dear “a loving parent”, I agree with you. Your responsibility should be to your children. Now, schools, fun-arks and other such places should hold “greater community at large” before your child, and hopefully more of them will be asking for full immunization records to let your little germ bags in.

          • Christine at 1:47 pm

            What would you do if your child became infected with the measles? Would you go to the doctors that urged you to prevent the disease in the first place?

          • Janelle at 12:07 am

            Be prepared for wrongful death and medical bills from the kids and adults your decision causes. We should not die because you choose not to care for those in your community. If you do not care about your community, you should not participate in community life. We have rights not to get sick and face the severe complications and life threatening consequences of contracting life threatening virus.

            I am an adult who is severely immune suppressed, who has lived with mutiple immune diseases since the age of 9, who needs the public to be well vaccinated to protect me. Your choice to be indifferent towards others has real life consequences. You do not have the right to destroy our lifes. You do not have the right to kill us. I speak for the children and anyone who is suppressed. Shame on you!

      • Just No at 4:20 am

        You are risking your child’s safety by not vaccinating. Yes the biggest spread of diseases were by traveling adults, but now they are readily available in our country. Its pricks like you that got my little cousin killed because they wern’t okay with the risks that a false study put out there.

        You have so few risks with vaccinations at all, yet you want to risk it all for the hopes that your internet googling is better than medical science. From someone who lost family, go f**k yourself!

      • Ingrid at 9:36 am

        Wow. That right there is exactly what is wrong with our society.

      • Kassie at 9:39 pm

        Heidi- could not have said that better myself. While as a mother, I totally understand wanting to protect your child and my heart aches for anyone that has to go through this, I can’t even begin to understand the desperation that brings. But the logic is crazy. My child is sick, so you have to risk your child’s safety to maybe protect my sick child. Risking another child’s health/life is acceptable to you to make you feel like your child will survive longer, but it is outlandish and child abuse for a mother to not vaccinate in order to keep her child healthy and abstain from the risks? When my child is sick (which is like never) I keep her home and away from people because that is the right thing to do. In many cases, specifically Pertussis for example, the vaccine makes you a carrier. In other words (according to the CDC) the vaccine does not prevent you from getting the virus, it simply eliminates or alleviates your symptoms so you don’t even know you have it then, you take your “safe” vaccinated kid to your brand new baby nephew/cancer friends house and your kidlet gives said baby/cancer friend a great big old slobbery kiss and viola, your cancer friend now has whooping cough. Also the vaccine does not guarantee you won’t get the virus, hence why there are such high numbers of vaccinated people with the measles from Disneyland or any other “massive outbreak”, so to blame all the ills of the world on non vaccinated people when vaccinated people could also get your child sick is beyond me. and to the blogger…scientifically proven? no. financially proven to be safe by companies and government agencies that stand to profit from them? yes

      • A real mom at 10:03 pm

        I hope your not handed your child lifeless to caress in your arms one day because someone else had your point of view.

    • Jo Hagey at 12:29 pm

      I’m in my late 60s and had both types of measles as a kid. But blood work during my first pregnancy showed I was at risk for measles. I got the shot months before I planned to become pregnant again. I knew I was at risk because I was a teacher. Thankfully I was never exposed. That same risk could exist for other expectant mothers who believe they are protected and are exposed to kids whose parent won’t get the shots. An unborn child could be at risk due to their negligence.

    • jerusha at 12:49 pm

      I’m a mom of a 6 year old with autism. And I agree with all you wrote.

      There is another side to this that no one is really talking about. And that is educating people on what autism is! SO let’s say for the sake of argument that vaccinations did cause autism in like 1 out of a million kids. Heck let’s say it causes it in 1 out of 10! Just to be silly. Okay so basically people are saying they would rather risk their child dying or risk killing other kids, then to risk having a kid like mine. To them I say F-YOU! Are are an idiot! My daughter is amazing! Yes she is high functioning and some kids with autism aren’t. But high functioning or not kids with autism are still incredible human beings. My daughter is smart, capable, funny, and you’ll never meet a friendlier kid. If more of the world was like her it’d be a better place.

      My point is that even if vaccinations caused autism… WHICH THEY DO NOT… it is NOT a good argument for not vaccinating your children! If you think death is less horrible then autism you are a raging idiot! I’m not at all afraid to say this either. There is no argument that will make you sound like anything more then an ignorant, selfish, and CRUEL fool who thinks Jenny McCarthy has a PhD.

      • Kirsten at 1:44 pm

        Jerusha, I agree with you. I have two kids with autism. They have and will get their shots. I would rather have the challenge of my wonderful kids than see them die before me. I also don’t want to cause the death of some other person’s child.

      • ASD Mom at 1:47 pm

        I love you!!! This is such a great response and I am 100% with you on it! Is having an ASD child a challenge? Yep. Would we change anything about them? Nope. My son is a handful, but he’s protected against preventable diseases because he’s vaccinated. And hopefully he’ll stay that way and there won’t be mutations. And of course, do vaccines cause Autism? No, they do not.

      • Shawnee at 2:55 pm

        I have an adult son with autism and this is what I have been saying. Am I happy my kid has autism? No. Not really (though I know he had it from birth). It sometimes makes me sad that I’ll never be mother of the groom or a grandmother. But it isn’t a death sentence. My kid is an awesome guy. I couldn’t imagine preferring to watch my child suffer and die than have him be the awesome dude that he is.

      • Pam at 3:48 pm

        Yet, there are plenty of people on here saying that had the measles..the CDC wants us to believe the measles is an imminent death sentence. I know people who have had rubella as well and my little sister had Mumps before she had her MMR. All survived. Now, maybe they could figure out how to cure Lyme disease…that is a horrible disease!

        • Use your brain at 4:31 pm

          Of course we’re only hearing from people who got measles and survived. We’re not exactly going to be hearing from people who didn’t survive measles now are we?
          If they had a vaccine for Lyme disease, would you get it?

          • Jerusha at 11:23 pm

            LOL! Sorry but that was great. 🙂

            And on a serious note dying is only one fate of these diseases. My mom knew a woman who had polio as a child and still was crippled and still suffered the effects of it 30+ years later.

            And what about Ebola… All the freaking out over that this year. If a vaccine came out tomorrow would people start screaming against that?

    • Lesia Yates at 2:21 pm

      Agree I applaud you for writing this article. I couldn’t agree more. Children who are in my no suppressed and can’t take vaccines can and do catch everything from other children and its worse for them. Get your child vaccinated it protects them and everyone else. As a nurse I see these issues these people who don’t vaccinate are the same ones who turn around and sue the Dr when their child dies because and I quote. YOU DIDNT TELL ME THEY COULD DIE FROM THIS. Yes we did very thoroughly but you chose not to listen because you are smarter than the doctors and nurses who see what happens when there are outbreaks like this. Vaccines that actually prevent your child from catching these and dying. Get your children vaccinated

    • Janelle at 12:24 am

      Thank you thank you thank you! As an adult who is severely autoimmune suppressed due to severe Crohns, Asthma, Celiac, Arthritis, Chronic Pyoderma Gangrenosum, Fibromyalgia/CFS, non-diabetic peritheal neuropathy, and other issues I speak for all whose very lives are threatened by this outbreak. I am still recovering from major flares related to the flu epidemic and now I am scared what this outbreak will mean for me.

      I have fought a very long battle since the age of nine with mutiple hospitalizations, surgeries and more infections one could imagine. I currently take 6MP and high dose steriods to stay alive. In the past I have been on biologics/TNF inhibitors and chemo based immunosuppression.

      It infuriates me that because of some uncaring ìndividuals decide to put the public in danger, if I was to catch the measles now I could die. I was born with a Rubella rash, survive Rheumatic Fever, and Scarlet fever as a child. But now my immunity is majorly compromised. Any past immunities are most likely compromised. I can not get immunizations of anykind now. If I catch the measles this year, I fully plan to sue anyone found to be responsible for the outbreak. I should not be paying for others stupidity and disregard for public safety.

    • Get a grip at 11:22 am

      Yes! Thank you! This madness has to stop. It’s like people are in the dark ages! (Except with all of this available research today, there is no excuse. At least back then they had SOME kind of excuse) A person read an internet article from somebody who read a study by somebody who extrapolated some kind of idea without FULLY and COMPLETELY understanding basic scientific principles and voila! And entire nation put at risk of another epidemic of completely controllable diseases…by people who still believe the the world is flat. Bravo. My sister has a disease and is one of those who could die from measles! Remember typhoid Mary? C’mon people. This is INSANITY!!!!

    • FactsSolveProblems at 3:37 pm

      Until your grandchildren are impacted…

    • Jesus Christ at 7:10 pm

      To the original blogger (because scrolling past over 1,000 comments would take far too long):

      I love how a woman with 0 scientific knowledge quotes science. My son is six and has had N0 immunizations. He is developing much more rapidly and properly than his sibling that had the MMRII and now has a FAT bank account, approved by a federal lawyer and federal magistrate.

      You don’t just assume they go around cutting large checks to kids that were absolutely fine, now do you?

      So take your stupid a*s fiction combined with your stupid a*s fears and do the math.
      90% chance of fkn up his life royally for about a 90% chance of MAYBE preventing one infection. You come at my child with a needle, I’m coming at you with two 9mms blazing.

      Promise.

  1. Kelly_elaine47 at 9:37 am

    LOVE LOVE LOVED this. I’ve got a graduate degree in Public Health, focusing much of my school work on epidemiology. The misinformation regarding vaccinations out there among parents, I believe, is one of the most dangerous public health issues in America. I wish more people would speak out this way. And for the record, I vaccinate my kids, and neither of my children have immune system issues or cancer. However, my baby does have febrile seizures when she runs a fever. Yes, many will say these seizures are harmless. But have you watched your child go stiff, turn blue, and seize for minutes, wondering if they will wake up? If not, let me tell you that it is the scariest, most helpless moment of my life, one I’ve had to relive with ear infections and the flu. So please people, vaccinate your kids. It may just be a fever and a rash for some kids, but for others, that minor fever will become major.

    • Sarah at 11:21 am

      I have cousins that had seizures with fevers! I was outside with one when she was 2. She was playing and then suddenly went very stiff. Wasn’t moving, eyes rolling back. I picked her up and ran inside crying, thank GOD her dad was home, he knew what to do.
      Scariest memory to date that I would not wish on anybody.

          • Allen at 8:09 pm

            Point is that because her child is sick, *your* child must be vaccinated.

          • ms.smith at 9:08 pm

            Yes, Allen. I hope your kids don’t get measles because they could die. But the choice is yours.

        • smart one at 10:04 pm

          sounds like the kids getting seizures are the ones getting vaccinated,,, your blog was bullshit and anytime you want to meet face to face ,, bring it on,,,,,, everyone is a bully on the internet,,,, I feel sorry for your kids,,,

          • chrisw at 10:44 pm

            Why do you say that smart one? I think lots of kids get seizures, whether they are vaccinated or not! Anything can cause them, from infections for example, and a multitude of other causes. Why do you feel sorry for her kids, because they are protected from disease?

          • Jesus chris at 12:09 am

            “You’re”. For fucks sake, sheeple, one things for gotdamn sure, vaccinations don’t f**k with grammar skills, so wtf is your problem. Can’t master 4 or 5 letter words, but you’re weighing in on biology? The f**k is that about? T

          • Elyse at 4:33 pm

            Whenever I read these comments, I lose faith in humanity. It is plain and simply a bunch of faceless bullying. I do not vaccinate. I am not evil. I just have a mind of my own. If you do vaccinate – good for you. We all love our kids. Period.

    • Jen at 11:34 am

      I have one that has had febrile seizures. He just had one last month AT 8 YEARS OLD, because he had the flu and his fever quickly shot up to 105. It’s a horrible thing to see, I agree. That’s why we vax consistently. Hugs, I feel your pain!

      • Daina at 4:59 pm

        So your son is vaccine injured and yet you still vaccinate him? That sounds like a very wise choice. No wonder you feel the pain.

        • amy at 5:14 pm

          Where does it say her child is vaccine injured?

          • Jesus chris at 12:12 am

            This person is obviously a moron, don’t bother. When you handle turds, you just end up with s**t on your hands.

        • Keoki George at 5:39 pm

          Uh, where in that post did Jen say that the vaccine injured her child? reading comprehension much?

        • Edward at 7:22 pm

          Daina’s point is what caused an 8 year old to be succeptible to febrile seizures?

          • Daina at 8:03 pm

            I honestly thought it did say flu shot. And yes I do have reading comprehension problems thank you for your astute observation of that.
            So since it doesn’t say flu shot, when he had the flu did he also have the shot? As we have been told (esp this season) they do not work well and make you more susceptible to getting a strain of the flu. But yes my point was when. Was the fever seizures starting because if it started from a u that he was also vaccinated against (esp a flu he could have very possibly gotten from the very vaccine he was given) seems like a vaccine injury to me.

        • trish at 9:22 pm

          Said he had the FLU and fever shot up quickly which caused the seizure. Comprehend what you read much?

        • IgnoranceIsNotBliss at 9:29 pm

          Exactly. Ignorance is alive and well. I feel for the kids of these drug pimping parents.

        • Dennis Westler at 9:56 pm

          Daina, febrile seizures have no relation to vaccination. She has the child vaccinated so as to remove the chances of getting the fevers that cause the seizures. Because childhood diseases have become more uncommon than they were when i was a kid parents no longer realize they are much more dangerous than the rare and usually non-life threatening side effects the vaccines can cause.

          A rash or light fever from a vaccine seems much less of a danger than life long blindness, deafness or brain damage. Vaccines have caused a few deaths per million, if that many, but Measles will kill one in every 1000 children who get it, an additional one per 1000 will get encephalitis, 20 per 1000 will get pneumonia. Both those diseases increase the mortality, especially in the very young.

          Wise and civic minded parents vaccinate their children. The foolish, self absorbed and mislead do not. This may sound harsh, but it is not. It is the truth.

          • smart one at 10:07 pm

            HPV vaccine killed 34 in ONE MONTH,, keep giving your kids these safe drugs,,and my daughter goes to a school that with a child that has gotten autism from shots,, oh wait no that can’t happen,, he was perfectly fine and healthy before the shots,, hmm must be something else,,,,cause hey we aren’t ever lied too,,,,

          • Christina Nelson-Smith at 11:09 pm

            Dennis, thank you for a well informed and intelligent answer. I have vaccinated all three of my girls. Normal, happy, healthy kids with no problems at all…

            …and for the love of God smart one please, please, PLEASE learn the difference in the use of commas and periods.

          • Jesus chris at 12:17 am

            That person isn’t smart enough to grasp what you’re talking about. She feels one way, and that’s how these people are, that’s it, they’ve been given their opinion and they’ll keep it untill they die. No amount of reason or logic could change her mind. Idk, if we could convince them jesus said it, we might have a shot at getting through to them.

          • Jessica at 1:02 am

            Dearest “Smart One” Are you sure it wasn’t the chicken they ate the night before?? I read this one “study” that said that eating chicken are related.

      • Doc at 11:10 pm

        You’re kid had the flu? Your consistent vaccinating must have left off the flu shot. Oh, and the seizures was because the fever shot up quickly. Not because of anything to do with vaccines.

        • DigDeeper at 1:07 am

          If anyone truly studied the science of disease/vaccines and immunology, nobody would get vaccinated. Even if vaccines worked, do you really trust the government (that’s the FDA and CDC ) to carry it out correctly? Apparently you ignore the science, trust the govt/”experts,” and are unaware of all the chronic conditions that we have these days…unknown cause, of course.

        • michelleleab at 12:45 pm

          Dearest “Smart One” (it’s just precious by the way, to call yourself smart when you are obviously not)..are you sure it wasn’t your un-vaccinated daughter’s cooties that gave that child autism? Get a life…we’re all hoping that your whole family gets polio and dies. Survival of the fittest after all and it’s obvious that you are too stupid to live.

      • Jillian H at 3:46 pm

        Sorry bout that. Rotate motrin and tylenol every 4hrs and stick him in a cool/warm bath not a cold bath. Only way to reduce a fever efficiently.So you got him the flu vaccine?? Thats prolly why he got sick. Ive never had the flu shot and ive never had the flu. Let your body “naturally” build a defense not artificially with these chemicals.

    • Kristi at 2:15 pm

      I am 30 and have a 1 1/2 year old. I suffered from febrile seizures when I was a baby and I was hospitalized due to them and the doctors/nurses gave me suppositories of acedamedaphid(Tylenol). My mom started to give me the Tylenol suppositories whenever I had a fever and I never had febrile seizures again. When I became a mother my mom recommended the Tylenol suppositories but I was skeptical and asked my doctor who told me she used them with her own son, so I bought some just in case. Tylenol no longer makes them but FeverAll makes them. The first time my son got a fever it spiked quicky and he spit up the liquid Infant Tylenol. So I talked to his doctor and asked again about thr acedamedaphid suppositories and she gave me the okay. His fever went down and he’s never had a seizure even though he has a higher probabilility of getting them bc I had them. You might want to talk to your doctor about suppositories.

    • Emily S. at 3:57 pm

      Yes, seizures are an awful thing to witness. Terrifying for all involved. So you can imagine my parents’ pain and fear when I started seizing as a baby after having the pertussis vaccine (not the new DTAP). I’m allergic to the medication. The reaction to the vaccine may just be a fever and a rash for some kids, but for others, that minor fever will become major.

      • Susan at 7:25 pm

        Yes the old vaccines had issues but not the new ones. I had a Tetnus Shot when I was a kid and ended up being hospitalized. That was 35 years ago. They have made leaps and bounds since. I think people are foolish not to vaccinate their children. We now have outbreaks of dangerous diseases that were irradiated.

        • Daina at 8:09 pm

          The “new vaccines” do have issues. Have you never read the side effects that are listed? Among which includes seizure, uncontrolled vomiting, autism (yes it is listed as a side effect and they have paid out for it that’s just fact from the CDC website), oh and death. I would say that is some issues. The “out breaks” that are happening are primarily among the vaccinated, and with a mutated form of the disease.

          • rickfro at 8:39 pm

            What is your source that the outbreak is happening among the vaccinate and it is a mutated form of the disease? That has not been reported here in San Diego. A few were vaccinated, most were not. I’d be interested to know where your information comes from.

            According to the cdc website, these are the side effects of the mmr:

            What are the side effects?

            Most children do not have any side effects from the shot. The side effects that do occur are usually very mild, such as a fever or rash. More serious side effects are rare. These may include high fever that could cause a seizure (in about 1 person out of every 3,000 who get the shot) and temporary pain and stiffness in joints (mostly in teens and adults).
            http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/measles/fs-parents.html

          • Ryarg at 9:03 pm

            ALL of the outbreaks of measles in SD currently are from unvaccinated people.

          • Dede at 9:22 pm

            I wouldn’t watch, read or listen to what ever place your getting your information from. The outbreak is because of children not getting vaccinated. They say it could have came from illegals. Parents that do not get their children vaccinated are irresponsible.

          • Dennis Westler at 10:01 pm

            And the side effects are exceedingly rare. Much rarer than the side effects or mortality from the diseases being vaccinated for. But what the hell, if it is only your kids, go to town!
            One thing to note, if you do a little research you will find that a lot of the side effects of these things are exactly the same from the administration of placebos. They do these things calls double blind trials, it is called science. Ever hear of it?

          • Holly G at 10:48 pm

            From the CDC website you are pretending to quote:

            Is there a link between the MMR shot and autism?

            No. Scientists in the United States and other countries have carefully studied the MMR shot. None has found a link between autism and the MMR shot.

          • Christina Nelson-Smith at 11:13 pm

            Almost everything out there has a side effect. Ever looked at the side effects of an aspirin?

            Side effects and complications of taking aspirin include:
            Stroke caused by a burst blood vessel. While daily aspirin can help prevent a clot-related stroke, it may increase your risk of a bleeding stroke (hemorrhagic stroke).
            Gastrointestinal bleeding. …
            Allergic reaction. …
            Ringing in the ears (tinnitus) and hearing loss.

          • Jerry at 12:09 am

            What about the side effects of reading the comments section? I’m feeling nearly all of these reading this garbage.

          • Johanna at 9:50 am

            Funny i have gotten side effect lists for vaccines and none of the ever listed autism as a side effect….but if your going to go in the direction of side effects what about over the counter meds that you may take or give to your kids have you ever read any of those??? Everything medication has listed side effects and possible side effects it all really depends on the person who is taking them

          • kelsey at 8:38 am

            Hey stupid, EVERYTHING HAS A SIDE EFFECT! So your kid has an ear infe tion, strep throat, staph infection, what the hell ever. Are you going to skip giving him his antibiotics and let him die of sepsis because death, seizures, etc are listed as a side effect? No you arent. Use your F-ing brain.

      • Amanda at 8:35 pm

        Emily S, when I was a kid, my neighbor, who was 6 months old and healthy, had the same vax. Her brain started seizing continuously. She never progressed developmentally, and eventually regressed into a permanent vegetative state. She only lived into her early 20s, on a state institution. So yes, there were serious reactions beyond just a fever and a little rash.

        As for the author, that study from the CDC stating that vaccines aren’t linked to autism, well that changed again a few months ago. One of the lead researchers in that study came forward and said there actually WAS a link. He was let go from his position at the CDC and the story was buried. Look it up–it’s not easy to find, but it’s out there.

        • A PhD at 9:34 pm

          It was easy to find, and if you read it and understand statistics, your statement is misleading. Correlation is not causation, and one subgroup having significant effects when all other effects are null is likely due to a type 1 error. Please stop spreading harmful misinformation when you do not understand how to interpret it.

          • Nicolas at 9:48 pm

            Amen PhD. Statistics should come with a label. “Use only if you are smart enough to comprehend”

          • Amanda at 10:07 pm

            A PhD, I never said there was causation. But pro-vaxers love to rant about how anti-vaxers are all so stupid because there is obviously NO link between vaccines and autism. Well, there was a link found. A LINK. I SAID A LINK. Not causation. A link is compelling, and deserves mention.

        • Smarter That You, R.N. at 10:40 pm

          A huge piece of important information like that would be VERY easy to find! The CDC’s job is to research and survey science-based information in order to give recommendations about things, such as immunizations, to the public. They aren’t the ones making the vaccine! They would absolutely alert the public if any vaccine was causing that serious of a reaction!

          Oh, and your neighbor…when you were a kid?? How long ago was that? Vaccines and drugs in general have come leaps and bounds within just the last 10-15 years! Science and medicine change on a daily basis, for the better! You seriously need to remove your head from your a*s and get your self educated before you post such ignorant, mindless s**t!

          • Amanda at 10:12 pm

            Oh wow, smarter than who? RN. Yes, my neighbor died. I’m glad you think it’s unimportant because it was oh so long ago. I don’t see how that’s relevant. Guess what? We are told vaccines are safe. And guess what? Back in the 70s, people were told vaccines were safe. And how ignorant are you, thinking that there is no conflict of interest at the CDC? Are you really that stupid, or are you a troll? Have you ever heard of something called a pharmaceutical lobby? If vaccines are 100% safe, let me come into your office and you give my kids their shots. Before you do it though, I want you to sign a statement saying that you guarantee my kids won’t have a reaction, a serious reaction. No healthcare provider would ever sign that.

        • Master of Science at 3:04 pm

          A link is either causation or correlation. Are you a statistician or have you conducted formal academic research (not google or search engine research?) It is unfortunate when negative health events correspond to vaccinations, but they are NOT causative. Absent of medical evidence ruling out all other causative factors, it is still highly unlikely that this child suffered as a result of the vaccine. Furthermore, this child would have been equally likely to have had the same reaction to another unidentified pathogen that was not related to the vaccine. It is life, and sometimes it really sucks and it’s awful for the child and the parents. I would rather not knowingly give my child, or any other, an increased chance of dying, but by not vaccinating your otherwise healthy child, that is what you are doing – putting a death sentence out there for another child who relies on the immunity of others.

          • Amanda at 12:16 pm

            Master of Science, well, you’re wrong. My neighbor died as a result of the old DPT vaccine. And if you look it up, there was a class action lawsuit. The vaccine manufacturer actually admitted fault and paid money to those involved in the class action lawsuit. And for your info, no, I am not a statistician. But I do have an advanced degree in information science and my research into vaccines has been extensive. Unlike most people, my research didn’t stop with the CDC website and the info being spoonfed by the media and the larger medical community.

    • Daina at 5:01 pm

      When was her first seizure? Did you know that this very thing is a side effect of vaccines? I know you say you have been studying epidemiology, so surely you have read the side effects of the vaccines right?

      • Lisa at 6:35 pm

        My sister had febrile seizures BEFORE she was vaccinated. Caught measles BEFORE she was vaccinated which then caused complications (encephalitis) and as a result has frontal lobe brain damage. Every kid should be vaccinated.

      • Harriet Huestis at 6:58 pm

        Seizures are not a side effect of vaccines meaning caused by them but rather seizures can be triggered in those already susceptible to them. Febrile seizures are very common occurring in 1 out of 25 children after anything that causes fever, disease or vaccination and they would occur more frequently and be more severe from disease because of the greater immune response to fight off a pathogen, making vaccines actually protective. Epileptic seizures have many triggers including flashing lights, noises, lack of sleep, and disease. Epileptic seizures after vaccination could be coincidental but could also be due to immune response, which would be greater during disease. I have epilepsy and like most vaccinations do not trigger seizures but in the few that it does it is almost always inconsequential. I wasn’t vaccinated as a child because I had measles encephalitis at 4 months old and as a consequence I had uncontrolled severe febrile seizures leading to repeated status epilepticus. This went on until I was seven years old. My schooling was delayed a year to reduce my risk of exposure to disease laden rugrats. Disease can not only trigger seizures but it is a cause of them as well.

        • Daina at 8:06 pm

          Seizures are a side effect of the vaccines or do not read the pamplet/hand out you are given because you blindly trust your doctors that get paid for every vaccine that they give out?

          • Emily at 8:09 pm

            Seizures are a side effect of the vaccines, in fact it is well documented with the old pertussis vaccine. It’s also the number one thing my ped, who is very pro vax, warned me to watch out for with my son.

          • Moira at 9:59 pm

            I would always, always choose seizures, even though they are very rare and unlikely, over measles. Measles are incredibly contagious and much more deadly than seizures. The ONLY reason so many people can go without the protection of the vaccine is because of herd immunity. However, as we are seeing, when vaccination rates drop low enough that protection vanishes and we have outbreaks. If you do not want to vaccinate your children, you also should not be allowed to attend public schools or take your children to public spaces where there are other people. Your fringe anti-science beliefs do not give you the right to spread death and destruction amongst unsuspecting innocent victims.

          • smart one at 10:19 pm

            Daina you are wise,,but you are fighting idiots,, they hide behind degrees and believe that gives them the right to sit and judge.who do you think funds all this?The thousands and thousands of people that go to DL and they call it an outbreak to scare to sell,, to let people think it’s okay by being bully’s on these threads. Susan you statement is beyond stupid,, you were put in the hospital and you say they have made leaps and bound,, duhh no they made more money,,, and you didn’t learn,,,

          • Karla Estrada at 12:50 am

            please for the love of god stop being so ignorant! why are you so…stupid? Really, just stop with the ignorance and stupidity and idiot talking.

    • Harriet Huestis at 6:28 pm

      Febrile seizures, I get it they look scary, but they are very common and 1 in 25 children will have a febrile seizure but as your doctor reassured you they are almost always inconsequential and the main risk is traumatic brain injury from the fall not the seizure itself. I say this not as someone who has witnessed their child seizure but as someone who has them.
      I had measles encephalitis at 4 months old; I was rushed to the hospital seizing. I was not expected to live. If I lived I was expected to be so severely disabled that my parents were told to put me in a home. After several weeks in hospital I recovered enough to go home.

      As a consequence of measles encephalitis I had uncontrolled severe febrile seizures leading to repeated status epilepticus. Status seizures are rare, occurring in less than 1% of seizures. They are defined as continuous or repeated seizures for over 15 minutes but people like me , with brain injuries or anomolies, average over an hour. These are the dangerous life threatening seizures but despite this with timely modern medical care hypoxic brain damage or death is very rare occurring in less than 1 in 1 million status seizures. Despite having dozens of status seizures I have no hypoxic brain damage and this is the norm.

      I currently have epilepsy. My seizures stopped when I was about 7 or 8 and I was taken off medication. My seizures returned in my mid twenties but were just simple uncomplicated seizures not the status seizures of my childhood. My then 9 year old daughter and her friend were alone with me and witnessed my first seizure and had to call an ambulance. There was some confusion with the emergency operator as the kids were saying I’d been shocked, while she heard shot, (I’d been hooking up the new TV). Finally the operator understood asking if I’d been electrocuted and my daughter responded” we’re only 9 years old; that’s too big of a word.”. Acknowledging how scared they felt at the time, my daughter was quickly able to laugh about it. I hope I can get you to this stage. There is a lot of stigma against seizures and epilepsy and holding on to unnecessary fear about it only adds to it. Febrile seizures, without a brain injury/anomaly, are not indicative of later epilepsy and most seizures, febrile or epileptic, are not something to be feared. My seizures today are completely controlled with medication and I can drive, have baths and live alone; but even if they weren’t at worst they would be an inconvenience.

    • Grandma at 12:48 am

      Ever think maybe the problems your child has are due to the vaccines? Have you seen the stats on how Amish children (who never receive vaccinations) don’t have autism and other health problems that are rampant for the rest of the population? The sciences are being proven wrong about things frequently. They are mortals who can and do make mistakes.

      So please tell me. If it isn’t the thermerisol in vaccines that’s causing autism, then what is it that is causing an almost epidemic of this terrible malady? And please don’t give me the tired old argument that “we can better identify it now.” I work with the autistic and anyone who can’t identify it isn’t paying attention.

      Bet more kids die of immune disorders today than died of measles before MMR came along.

      BTW, did anyone bother to read the link provided by Anastasia?

      • Gayle L. McDowell (@gayle) at 1:05 am

        Yeah… you’re wrong on both accounts. (1) Most Amish do in fact vaccinate. (2) The Amish do have autism.

        Also, autism covers aspergers. A lot of people WITH aspergers don’t know they have it. It’s not that easy to diagnose, and better diagnosis can hugely explain the increase in autism rates. Note that autism rates vary substantially by state — the vaccines rates do not vary that much.

        Also, okay, let’s suppose the rates of autism have truly increased. Why on earth would you say it’s due to vaccines? A TON of studies have failed to find a connection. And if autism were really liked to vaccines, then they would. Why not blame something else? Isn’t that much more reasonable?

        • Sherrie at 10:00 am

          And if autism were really linked to vaccines (which they AREN’T) would you really rather your kid be free of a social development disorder and catch a potentially life-ending disease? Really? I’ll choose the autism over death. Thanks.

          • RichCoulter at 10:34 am

            109,000+ cases of measles since 1992 in England & Wales, zero children have died. Potentially life-ending disease? Getting out of bed is potentially life-ending. “I’ll choose autism” said no parent of any child with autism ever.

        • RichCoulter at 10:32 am

          “A TON of studies have failed to find a connection. And if autism were really liked to vaccines, then they would.”

          Define “TON” first of all, then address how many of those studies compare rates of autism between fully vaccinated and fully unvaccinated kids (make sure to look up the definition of the word fully before you answer this). The answer you’re going to reach is “none of them”. Given no studies have compared autism rates between those two groups, how can they ever find a connection when they’re not looking?

          • Kim at 9:01 pm

            Since I can’t reply to your comment above I need to reply to it here. Your above statement that no parent of an autistic child would say they choose autism over a disease. I am the parent of an autistic teenager and I would choose autism each and every time over measles, mumps, etc. in fact when I had my second child 3 years after the ASD diagnosis, I still chose to vaccinate. So, yes, I don’t hesitate to choose autism.

      • Shyla at 2:55 am

        That stuff about the Amish is quoted but not true. Many Amish vaccinate although not all. There are autistic kids in the Amish community. The big difference is the Amish don’t sue. They don’t sue over autism. They don’t sue if a child dies from measles. They keep things private. To outsiders, it appears they have no problems because they are very private.

      • Ingrid at 10:04 am

        Hmm… did you ever notice the Amish are a community that sticks to themselves? I mean I’ve not traveled thru any major airport and been surrounded by Amish individuals. I would guess unless santa and his 8 flying reindeer is flying them from coast to coast they are not fans of air travel, with all its modern moving part’s. I agree that those less involved in mainstream will probably have much lower risk. I feel if people had to be financially responsible for the risks they take with others lives there would be less of this mentality. Drug companies get sued if something goes wrong and doesn’t turn out the way they intended. However the parents who opt not to vaccinate take not only their child’s health and life into their hands, but then others when they send their kid to school, airports, malls, Disney, etc. If the choice they made hurt someone else’s child or god forbid killed a child should they not be held to the same financial consequences for their choices as these drug companies they complain about. Double standard??

        • K Alo at 10:10 am

          Actually drug companies can’t be sued for vaccine (un)safety or for vaccine injuries. They are financially shielded from even paying into the vaccine injury fund. Your $3 surcharge you pay every time you get a vaccine funds that. Look it up.

      • Caitlin Seyer at 10:20 am

        It’s interesting you mentioned the amish not having cases of autism. Have you ever thought about maybe it is not the fact that they do not get vaccinated, but their lifestyle in general? Look at all the chemicals and pesticides in our food they do not have. I could see that being more of a factor considering our food is not studied as much as vaccines safety wise. Read Skinny b***h and do some research. It is a big eye opener.

  2. Ophelia at 9:38 am

    Yes, yes, YES – thank you for being brave enough to say this. Hunker down for the shitstorm to follow!!!

  3. Jen at 9:39 am

    I have a child with autism. He is also alive. The second bit trumps the first. Autism is no joke, don’t get me wrong, but I have friends who have actually had their kids die and every time I think how hard my life is, I remember how hard theirs is.

    • Alicia at 3:15 pm

      Very well said! It’s sad that anti-vaxers make Autism to be such an awful thing and that the world doesn’t need another autistic person! Autism or not you should treat people with respect. All children are special and special needs children make my heart swell with love even more when they come in my office. I do not hesitate to take a little extra with any patient that needs it.

      • Cynthia at 3:49 pm

        I have a vaccine injured child. If only my pediatrician had been honest and told me she did not vaccinate her own children because of her belief that it causes autism. I so appreciate the special care you give your special needs patients. Would you be willing to babysit my son for the next 70 years? I’m overwhelmed.

        • Sarah at 4:47 pm

          Yea then you could have left your child not vaccinated and made potentially hundreds of other children sick, deaf, or even dead. Not your child, not your problem, though eh? I’m sorry a vaccine affected your child the way it did, but that outcome is one in literally hundreds of millions. It is still the safe bet, still the more responsible decision, to vaccinate your kids.

          • Angie at 4:57 pm

            The risk of a vaccine injury is MUCH higher than acquiring the disease itself.

          • Daina at 5:10 pm

            In many cases the ones that get these diseases are already vaccinated. They get a mutated form because of the vaccine. Also in many countries like England vaccines are just a suggestion not a requirement and people are not just epidemicly hit by diseases and all dying. But because the U.S. has a law that no one can sue the drug companies, doctors, or anyone else if their child is hurt it’s ok to push it, falsify “facts”, and punish even people that don’t vaccinate. Everyone is so determined that autism is not caused by vaccines, well then why is it listed as a side effect in the paperwork, and why did the vaccine court pay out millions of dollars last year to children that was proven vaccines caused their autism.

          • James M. Barber at 5:22 pm

            The two people responding with bullshit about vaccine injury being a higher risk than the disease are f*****g idiots. There is a mountain of evidence to the contrary. These people are gullible as hell and incapable of reading a basic scientific journal article. They just spout the same, stupid, paranoid, tired tropes from the ever evolving anti vaccination crowd. The kind of people who they they gain a doctorate by having a child pass out of their v****a. Get over yourselves and talk to a real doctor you conspiracy theorist nut jobs.

          • tloveipsy at 10:55 pm

            ”may” ”potentially” … these are the words that are causing everyone to scurry around in a panic. No one would ever get into their car in drive if they applied this same logic to car accident statistics. So why the freakout over this? especially since car crash fatalities are way higher than actually having complications and then dying from of any of these diseases. Look it up on the cdc… yes there are people who have had complications from these illnesses but if you can think of all the ways one could ”potentially” die on this earth, this freakout over vaccination is really laughable.

          • Lori at 11:02 pm

            So, youretelling this poor mother that despite her vaccine injured child, she should be glad, because now other children were protected? Youre one cruel b***h. Only in a sci fi movie and in communism have I ever heard the saying that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one. You wouldnt be talking so much S**T if that was your child. Heartless, cold, cruel b***h! Your childs injury is acceptable because others are now not exposed. You are one hell of a piece of work.

          • a loving parent at 12:26 pm

            So basically you are saying her child didn’t matter…she should suffer the consequences in the hopes that somebody else’s child wouldn’t have to. That’s awesome :-)!!!!! We should all think this way and we could all get along. Let all agree to damage our own children in the hopes that it might save someone else’s child yay!!!

          • Jen at 3:14 pm

            Daina they actually are definitely still having outbreaks of these diseases in the UK, and people are definitely dying. Most parents get the shots anyway because it is the right thing to do, not because they are ‘required’ to. They’re not ‘mandatory’ here in the US either, nobody is forcing you to enroll your children in public school. You might be interested to know that they actually give shots to kids IN public schools in England, and the parents have to choose to opt out, not in. They just recently went around giving 4 year olds the flu shot.

          • Kathryn at 4:07 pm

            I still do not understand the inability of people to get into other people’s shoes. The numbers of deaths from the measles today is equivalent to the number of deaths from vaccines. In my experience from the people I read about online, the numbers come up about the same. This is still, and should be, a parent’s choice. People should better protect themselves with healthier diets than depend on a one-size fits all vaccine program. It makes no sense to me that we expose such tender ages to so much toxicity before the age of 5. If I had my way, I would keep my children up to five yrs. old close to home not exposing them to the public as much, nor making the public feel afraid of my children because they were not vaccinated. I would love to homeschool, but the world seems to demand that you take your kid to the school system since you are already paying for it making it difficult to afford an alternative. I do not like government dictating everything you do in life. It is not natural, and it resembles more and more the dystopian worlds we see in the movies like “V for Vendetta”. The day the government starts forcing vaccines and scrutinizing all of our personal life choices penalizing us if we are not fitting in with the “good citizen” crowd is the day I will find an island. Freedom!

  4. Micki at 9:39 am

    Thank you for your being the voice of reason. Good for you and even better for everyone else!

  5. Rachael at 9:41 am

    I loved you before, but I love you do much more now. THANK YOU!

    • Rachael at 9:42 am

      And by do I mean so. Stupid auto correct and me not proof reading.

  6. Tara at 9:43 am

    http://www.merck.com/product/usa/pi_circulars/m/mmr_ii/mmr_ii_pi.pdf Please read adverse reactions starting on page 6. I have my children vaccinated, however, I wish I would have done more research prior to vaccinating them. This is the insert for the MMR vaccine… the doctors do not give you this to read prior to vaccinating… they are not giving you all the info for each vaccine that they force on your children. I’m not saying you should or should not vaccinate but you should at least have the info before you decide.

    • Stephanie at 9:55 am

      I’m sorry but most if not all of these adverse reactions happened to 1% of the people it was administered to. If you read those on ANY medicine (not just for kids) they are usually scary enough for you to not want to take them. Doctors wouldn’t prescribe the medicines or vaccines if they weren’t safe for over 90% of the population. Now I didn’t look up any statistics so you can make of this what you will.

      • mila at 2:55 pm

        The 1% that you claim is not correct, and the number os bigger, and it only consists of the reported cases, and most cases are hidden and said to be not from vaccine, when they are. Why do you think vaccines have their separate courts system? They pay the parents of children injured by the vaccines in return for their silence. So yes, your numbers are off.

        • Tom at 5:21 pm

          Please tell me where you’re getting this information from. I constantly hear from people against vaccinating that the number of children injured from vaccinations is higher than reported but there is NEVER any actual facts or links to back up that claim. Nearly every drug available is going to have a small risk of side effects, that is inherent to taking medications. Want some facts? Read the (scientific) studies showing the rates of measles, mumps, and rubella going up drastically over the last several years, and being centered around the areas of highest vaccination denials.

          • James M. Barber at 5:26 pm

            The fact that they can’t back anything they say up is just part of the insanity. Its all a big conspiracy to them. They might as well admit they also believe in chem trails and alien landings. These people don’t need evidence, when they have their half educated ideas as to how business and medicine work. Complete nutjob conspiracy theorists, nothing more.

          • aislestylist at 6:39 pm

            All I know 100% is my experience. My child was injured (NOT Autism. ITP, look it up.) and not one of the many doctors reported my case. I didn’t sue anyone, etc. I’ve met many people who have been through the same thing, so certainly vaccine injuries are higher than reported.

          • Harriet Huestis at 7:38 pm

            Aislestylist you I believe. ITP is a known rare measles vaccine reaction.

            Rarely, ITP occurs within 6 weeks after immunization with MMR or MMRV vaccine. In most children, post-immunization thrombocytopenia resolves within three months without serious complications. In individuals who experienced ITP with the first dose of MMR or MMRV, serologic status may be evaluated to determine whether an additional dose of vaccine is needed. The potential risk to benefit ratio should be carefully evaluated before considering vaccination in such cases.

            It is a concern because of the bleeding risks, it should be noted that measles infections have a greater risk of ITP.

            As a general rule, besides allergic reaction to a vaccine component and local swelling at the injection site, vaccines can only cause the same reactions as the disease can since weakened or inactivated germs or germ parts are mostly what vaccines are. If the vaccine causes it then the disease causes it more often and more severely.

          • nicole at 8:12 pm

            It’s Hard to link Facebook articles that you skim on your news feed about how horrible vaccines are. Plus all the cool kids say they are bad SOOO…

        • Holly G at 10:56 pm

          Separate court system? What on earth are you talking about?

          • K Alo at 11:10 pm

            OMG you should have to have a brain before you’re allowed to join the conversation. For the uneducated: In 1986 (National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act) laws were passed and more recently in 2011 confirmed that the makers of vaccines will not be held liable for vaccine injuries and cannot be sued. You can not sue the drug companies if a vaccine harms your child. Instead, all of you lovelies who line up unquestioningly to get your shot pay a surcharge to fund the fund to pay out to those parents who can prove the vaccine injured their child. I would continue but really if you didn’t even know that most basic info, there’s nothing I can do here.

      • Peas at 10:19 pm

        What if My child becomes that 1%? 1% is not so insignificant when your child is part of it. I could really care less if anyone elses children catch anything. My obligation isn’t to protect anyone else’s kid but my own. For my family and our lifestyle, we decided vaccines were unnecessary.

        • Holly G at 10:58 pm

          “My obligation isn’t to protect anyone else’s kid but my own.”

          This statement sums up the anti-vax movement perfectly and embodies the selfishness of the worst of our American values.

          • Peas at 11:10 pm

            Can you hear me shrugging my shoulders? Call it what you want.

          • Tim F at 1:02 pm

            Selfishness seems like a poor way to describe the problem. People who do not vaccinate put their own kids at greater risk, AND their stupidity puts other kids at risk as well. It is like a scientologist who wrecks the minivan into a kindergarten trying to get away from thetans. Dumb and destructive all at the same time.

        • mommywife at 10:59 pm

          Seriously? So let me get this straight your kid is more important then all the others in the world. Yeah whatever. I have 5 and I may love them more then any other but I will never teach them they are more important in the world then anyone else NEVER!!! I pray you never have to pay the ultimate consequence for your decision and even more no one else who your kid is around has to as well!

          • Peas at 11:18 pm

            My kid is absolutely the only relevant and important kid in my world. Just like you probably feel the same way about yours. I’m not teaching my kids that they are more important than anyone else. I’m teaching them that their family are the only people who matter in the end.

          • Tim F at 1:04 pm

            Again, NO. Anti-vaxxers kids are not all that important to them at all. If they cared about their kids they would vaccinate. Their self-righteousness and feeling of control are more important than their kids, other peoples’ kids and really anything else you could care to name.

      • Grandma at 12:58 am

        LOL! Dr’s prescribe medicine because the drug companies give them trips to the Bahama’s for pushing their drugs! Just watch how many drug reps are coming and going at the Dr’s office. There is always time for them, but the patients are rushed through like cattle.

        • kelsey at 9:19 am

          Clearly you dont work for a doctor’s office or you would know the facts instead of just pretending to. I ACTUALLY work for a doctor’s office. Yes, we do have reps. Yes they do try to get the doctor’s to prescribe their drugs, but the extent of their “bribes” is feeding us free lunch. And guess what, we still prescribe the generic over their brand! Our docs dont get free vacations, they dont earn anything extra for prescribing, and they arent given brand new cars. Know the facts before you open your ignorant mouth. Obviously it happens sometimes with shitty docs who are only in it for the money, but the whole reason we go into the healthcare field is because we love people and have compassion and hate to see people sick. Do you really think I would wipe your grandmothers poopy a*s, give her a bed bath, or feed her because she had a stroke and can’t do it herself if I didn’t? No, I can assure you I wouldn’t. Stop being so stupid. And if you can’t do that, then home school your kid because they shouldn’t be allowed in public schools if they are a threat to everyone else’s kid. Selfishness doesn’t look good on anyone.

    • Dana at 9:57 am

      It’s unfortunate that your dr didn’t offer this info before vaccinations. My pediatrician gives me the paperwork at the start of every appointment and then actually gives me the time to read through, and then verifies that I do in fact want the vaccination. I believe every good dr should do this.

      • Jules at 11:36 am

        Your doctor gives you THIS…THIS is NOT an insert! It even says if you want more info to ask for an insert because….THIS ISN’T AN INSERT.

        http://www.immunize.org/vis/ipv-00.pdf

        “Ask your doctor. They can give you the vaccine package insert or suggest other sources of information.”

        Have you ever asked your doctor for an insert? No, you haven’t…because you thought THIS was an insert.

        • CJ at 7:42 pm

          I actually ask for the actual insert each time. I also ask for the batch number, vaccine manufacturer and any other identifying information for the particular shot my child is getting. That information goes into their medical file. Please don’t assume that those of us who vaccinate have not done our research. We are not “sheep” and we don’t blindly follow either our doctors or the CDC. (or any of the other names that pro-vaccine parents are being called on this thread)

          I respect your decision to choose not to vaccinate your child. I will not call you names. However, I do disagree with you. And, my research demonstrates to me, that your choice is putting my child at risk. Therefor, while I will refrain from calling you names, I will ask that you refrain from going out in public, attending public schools, or holding jobs that interact with the public.

          I’ll ask for those things nicely, because I can’t force you to do anything. But, I will also be demanding that my legislators start changing laws immediately to prevent your choices from hurting, or killing, my child.

          Anti-vaxers will not change their opinion. But, the rest of us have the right to demand that laws change so that the risk they pose is minimized.

          • Daina at 8:22 pm

            If vaccines work, and your child is vaccinated how will unvaccinated people (yes people because many adults are not up to date either) putting your child at risk?
            Also you constantly come in contact with unvaccinated and never know it because people don’t wear a sign telling anyone. So remember next time you’re at the store and the cashier hands you your change or receipt they probably aren’t up to date. And the postman that leaves your mail, they probably aren’t up to date either. Nursery workers, teachers, bankers, food cooks, should I keep going?
            Children who are not vaccinated are not the only ones that “can be carriers” but if they are carrying its probably because they are sick, and like any reasonable person would stay home, and get well. Yet while your vaccinated child sheds live viruses and diseases from the vaccines my children (which are actually auto immune compromised) should actually be asking you to stay out of school, church, public, and such.

          • nicole at 8:22 pm

            CJ are there some steps I can take to do the same. I’m very nervous my children will be attending school with others that are not vaccinated. Would love to take a stand to make a change. Our poor neighbor, a little girl has cancer. She unfortunately can’t get vaccinated. My heart brakes for them that this is just one more worry on their long list. Too many people reading into silly Facebook articles. Something needs to change. If I can’t stop you from putting my child and others in danger I will try and fight so the law will.

          • DigDeeper at 1:31 am

            Explain how your vaccinated child is in danger from an unvaccinated child. He or she should be protected by all the vaccines, antibiotics, and wonderful technology, right? Just hang in there, all us unvaxed will die off from measles, etc. soon…not. We have innate immune systems that are more advanced and complex than any fricking man made vax or intervention…you da’s.

          • Johanna at 10:21 am

            You know what people as parents its our choice to vaccinate or not and i really dont think any of us have the right to belittle anyone for their choice. I choose to vaccinate my child never had any issues my sister vaccinates with no issued as does the rest of my family i have friends who have kids who have seizures or autism but were born that way diagnosed pre vaccine so to say that vaccines cause these issues is a pile of s**t…i vaccinate its my choice and if you or anyone else has an issue with it i suggest you kiss my a*s, untill you spend the time in school and get a phd you have no right to attempt to “educate” others on the crap you read on the internet like most of these pages and sites say “information should not be a replacement for actual medical advise”

      • Mama Bear (author is an a-hole) at 11:37 am

        Yea 1%, and the chance of getting any of the MMR diseases is FAR less then 1%…so I’ll take my chance on my child getting the measles the brain swelling….,ever notice he statistic that more educated people vaccinate less….hmmm

        • KF at 11:52 am

          Yes, but that very low probability of getting any of the MMR diseases is entirely conditional on the percentage of the population that is vaccinated against MMR diseases. It’s called “herd immunity” – you can afford to skip the vaccine if everyone else has already had it. As the number of people electing to avoid vaccination increases, the probability of contracting these diseases will also increase. Measles, in particular, is highly contagious. If a high enough proportion of the population isn’t vaccinated, the likelihood of catching Measles can skyrocket.

          • FactsSolveProblems at 3:55 pm

            Please provide an APA format paper on how vaccinations have prevented a history of diseases? There has never been any evidence proving that vaccinations actual prevent disease.

          • FactsSolveProblems at 4:08 pm

            Please provide an APA format paper on how vaccinations have prevented a history of diseases? There has never been any evidence proving that vaccinations actual prevent disease. – GET THE FACTS about not vaccinations verse how vaccinations are being preserved. No the difference….And the number of vaccinations and especially during infant stages. How, why, and what is important for getting the information straight.

            http://www.c-span.org/video/?309672-1/federal-response-rise-autism-rates

        • Megan at 12:14 pm

          You are such an ignorant a-hole. Seriously. I actually hate people like you. Herd immunity. Surprised you’ve never heard about it since you’re so highly educated.

        • Melody at 1:53 pm

          Really? So the richest man in america and his wife…. are all for vaccines. They are very well educated people. And they also advocate for people to vaccinate. Your argument is invalid.

          Melinda Gates (Bill Gates’ wife)
          “We take vaccines so for granted in the United States,” Gates told the Huffington Post in a prerecorded interview published on Thursday. “Women in the developing world know the power of [vaccines]. They will walk 10 kilometers in the heat with their child and line up to get a vaccine, because they have seen death. [Americans have] forgotten what measles deaths look like.”

          • Sara at 6:01 pm

            That’s because the measles caused death less than 1% of the time. It’s never been a “deadly” disease in this country since proper sanitation was introduced. Third world countries are malnourished and do not have adequate sanitation, their death rates are not comparable. Look up the death rates yourself on CDC. And complication rates. Then search VAERS for adverse reactions to MMR. I think you’ll be surprised if you can do the math required.

          • IgnoranceIsNotBliss at 9:39 pm

            Hey smartass. Bill gates and his wife support vaccines because he stated it is like ‘natural selection’ meaning vaccines actually help with population control!! Ya big dummy. He was supporting it as a means to limit the amount of ppl on earth which ultimately affects the climate Eco system etc. so yes the Gates support it but as a means to KILL. Smh. YouTube bill gates speech on this. He says it with his own dumb moth. Jesus ppl WAKE UP!! Or don’t. Lol. Maybe he’s right. Some if you fools don’t deserve to continue the DNA

        • Smarter Than^^ at 5:36 pm

          Yeah, because you are obviously more educated then the “general” population. Learn proper grammar.

          • Smarter than E at 9:04 pm

            Ooh, snap. I think you’re implying that if she learns proper grammar, THEN she will be better equipped to make a valid argument THAN you?

        • Harriet Huestis at 8:02 pm

          The risks from the vaccine is far lower than 1%; it is less than 1 in 1 million, 0.00001% risk of permanent harm and is in fact so low that none can be shown to be causally related to vaccination.
          Until measles is eradicated world wide or unless you completely isolate yourself your risk of catching measles is near 100% especially in areas with low vaccination rates. People try to do a false calculation using the low number of cases with the entire population but most of the population is immune. Over 90% of those exposed to measles who are not immune become sick so what is your risk of being exposed to measles. Remember you have the risk of being exposed continuously.

        • Grandma at 1:14 am

          Why are you”Vaxers” concerned???? If your child is vaccinated he is SAFE, right? He can’t get sick from my child who is not vaccinated. That means all the un-vaccinated children should kill each other off with their rampant diseases nes pas?. But if your child is vaccinated he/she will be safe, so all is well and you can go back to your dens and leave the “non-vaxers” alone!!!

          I notice those who push vaccinating also have the foulest mouths (or fingers in this case). Wonder if that’s a side effect of vaccines?

          • chrisw at 3:45 am

            No Vaxers are not concerned for their vaccinated children, they are concerned for the children that are too young to have their shots, or are undergoing cancer treatment, or have immune disorders, who ARE at risk from your unvaccinated child.

          • Tiffany at 11:33 am

            You want to know why?

            1) Although they are very effective, vaccines are not 100% effective. One does not know whether the vaccine worked until it’s too late unless testing is done and it usually is not.
            2) Some “Vaxer” children are not vaccinated. Those under 12 months of age and those with serious illness cannot be vaccinated.
            3) “Vaxers” don’t want any children to die, not even the “non-vaxer” children. Children who have not gotten vaccinated have been safe in recent history due to herd immunity. That herd immunity is disappearing due to low vaccination rates. “Vaxers” get frustrated and angry when preventable injury and death occurs. When “non-vaxers” talk about the various reasons they will not vaccinate, it usually boils down to “I want the protection and benefit of vaccines without assuming any of the risk.” That protection is now going away because too many people feel that way.

          • a loving parent at 12:43 pm

            Hahahahahaha that is the funniest thing I have read on here! Thanks for pointing that out! I wanted to read all the comments but keep thinking I should put it away because of the foul mouthed people on here.

        • Tim F at 1:08 pm

          Depends where you take them. Hang out in the poorer corners of Bangladesh, or a Waldorf school in Orange County, and you have a far, far greater chance of taking home a vaccine-preventable illness.

          • Katie at 4:29 pm

            Let’s talk India. They have a lot of poor areas with no sanitation. They went Polio free within three years of taking the polio vaccination with no advancements towards sanitary practices in their country

    • ms.smith at 10:03 am

      There are worse adverse reactions from GETTING MEASLES!!! And based on percentiles, your child has a higher risk of getting measles than having an adverse reaction.

      • Annetta at 10:19 am

        Where is the like button. I hate when people say they can have a reaction and have problems. But getting the measles can permanently disfigured and kill you, or other kids. It is the other kids I’m helping when I vaccine kids. I can’t be vaccinated I was the 1% that had a reaction and lived. So I fear for my life every winter. Thank you for not vacating your kids I might die and leave my kids with out a mom.

      • Karen at 2:09 pm

        Incorrect, according to the CDC, you child has a 1 in 1,000,000,000 of getting an adverse reaction from a vaccine. Yet they have a 1 in 6,000,000,0000 chance of getting the measles. That’s 6 times the infection rate. Here are just some of the adverse reactions to the MMR. They are seizures, permanent brain damage, blood disorders, neurological disorders, immune disorders, and arthritis. According to the CDC there has not been a death to measles since 2003. So I’ll take my chances with a illness that consists of a rash and bad cold, over a permanent disability any day.

        • Jodie at 2:24 pm

          Right now the risk of getting measles is small only because most people are vaccinated. It is easy for you to take that risk since you are relying on the people who do get vaccinated As the vaccination rate goes down the measles rate will become alarming. The CDC says: “In the decade before the measles vaccination program began, an estimated 3–4 million persons in the United States were infected each year, of whom 400–500 died, 48,000 were hospitalized, and another 1,000 developed chronic disability from measles encephalitis. Widespread use of measles vaccine has led to a greater than 99% reduction in measles cases in the United States compared with the pre-vaccine era. The virus is highly contagious and can spread rapidly in areas where vaccination is not widespread. It is estimated that in 2006 there were 242,000 measles deaths worldwide—that equals about 663 deaths every day or 27 deaths every hour. If vaccinations were stopped, measles cases would return to pre-vaccine levels and hundreds of people would die from measles-related illnesses.”

          • Thomas at 9:04 pm

            That “decade” before the vaccines was also before clean running water, hygiene, health care, the environment was more favorable for diseases in general… The vaccines came online about 6 years AFTER the diseases where already in decline.. So it’s questionable at the very least that the vaccines are the only reason for improvement…

          • Morester at 12:46 am

            Thomas, the “decade before the vaccine” would be 1950, I wasn’t alive in that era but I’m pretty sure my parent’s had clean water, good hygiene, decent health care and so forth. The vaccine was not made until the 1960s, the polio vaccine was not made until the 1950s, so blaming the disease on poor living conditions and such is not a relevant point.

        • Rachel Tilleyshort at 7:27 pm

          1 in 6 billion chance of getting measles? Ummm…. noooo…. There is a 1 in 1 million chance of a serious adverse reaction to MMR. You need to look at the statistics of getting measles for an unvaccinated population, not from the population as a whole, because your odds of getting measles as a vaccinated person is exponentially less than as an unvaccinated person.

        • Matthew Hunt at 7:58 pm

          Per the World Health Organization, there where 145,700 DEATHS from measles in 2013 world-wide. Even on the CDC site they say since 2008 there where 9 deaths from measles in France alone. Perhaps you should go read the CDC site again. If your basing your decision to allow Polio into your life on your “stats”…your quoted statistics do not match the CDC nor reality.

          I would post direct links but most forums refuse to allow that, so just go to the CDC site and search for “measles mortality death” and make sure you unckeck the EID box. The very first result, first paragraph, second to last sentence: “During 2000–2008, global measles mortality declined by 78%, from an estimated 733,000 deaths in 2000 to 164,000 in 2008”

          So…164,000 is NOT zero.

    • Diana at 10:03 am

      My children’s doctor absolutely gives us this info before immunizing. They have a read and sign for all immunizations and then send us home with additional information . If your doctors aren’t giving you this info maybe you should ask for it or switch doctors.

      • Jules at 11:36 am

        Your doctor gives you THIS…THIS is NOT an insert! It even says if you want more info to ask for an insert because….THIS ISN’T AN INSERT.

        http://www.immunize.org/vis/ipv-00.pdf

        “Ask your doctor. They can give you the vaccine package insert or suggest other sources of information.”

        Have you ever asked your doctor for an insert? No, you haven’t…because you thought THIS was an insert.

        • mila at 2:57 pm

          That’s right, say it like it is, the misled population of sheep-mom’s who’d rather not do any of their own research, is getting mislead qnd angry, that’s the media’s goal.)

          • vio at 4:08 pm

            Yes Mila, YES! Wake up people!!!!! Do you really trust the CDC? Common now it’s time to start thinking for ourselves. Unfortunately we are living in a time when everything is run by profit. Who do you think are the ones creating these vaccines? The pharmaceutical companies! Do you really think they give two shits about our health. All they care about is the money. They are the ones submitting these “scientific data” to the CDC and it’s just laughable. It’s actually really frustrating as a parent to young kids these days because it’s damned if you do, damned if you don’t. But I’m not going to inject my kid with toxins that “might” provent all these diseases. How about we all focus on our diet and creating a really healthy immune systems and stop living a fear based lifestyle created by the ones in power

          • James M. Barber at 5:36 pm

            So every doctor, and most research scientists are in a secrete plan to hurt children. Neat story, but it could a use a dragon or two. Nut job conspiracy theorist morons, go make friends with a real doctor or research scientist and grow up. There is no secret plan, there is no conspiracy. Just you and a lot of stupidity and fear. If you really wanted to argue against medical opinion perhaps one of you window lickers could go back to school. Nah that would take effort, anti vaxxers are lazy, and would rather believe an insane conspiracy theory, like chem trails, rather than admit they don’t understand the science.

          • Here's your dragon, Barber at 7:48 pm

            I apologize, but I’m getting a little incensed over “James M. Barber” and his repeated comparisons of parents who choose to make a LEGAL decision regarding their children’s health and safety and conspiracy theorists. He sounds like a kool-aid drinking nutjob who would probably believe that drinking a gallon of Roundup pesticide is perfectly safe because the government allows it to be sprayed on our food. Follow the money, do your own research and above all, think CRITICALLY. “Lazy” are the people who blindly, without research or due diligence follow “the herd” without asking questions and educating themselves. Oh and guess what James… this is LIFE, none of us are getting out of here alive, whether vaccinated or not.

    • kelseytish13 at 10:07 am

      Any GOOD physician is going to give you all the facts, including all handouts on the vaccines, ours does. If we have questions or concerns we talk about them with the physician. ALL medicines have these ‘scary’ reactions, they occur in a tiny subset of the population. We choose to take the risk that our child will be part of the 99% of the population that has no adverse reaction. There is a reason physicians spend so long in school, they have the training, the education and the facts.

    • Brg at 10:10 am

      Pretty sure legally they HAVE to give you the VIS before the vaccine! At least we do in my profession!!

      • Jules at 11:34 am

        Your doctor gives you THIS…THIS is NOT an insert! It even says if you want more info to ask for an insert because….THIS ISN’T AN INSERT.

        http://www.immunize.org/vis/ipv-00.pdf

        “Ask your doctor. They can give you the vaccine package insert or suggest other sources of information.”

        • Jules at 11:35 am

          Have you ever asked your doctor for an insert? No, of course not…because you thought THIS was an insert.

        • MyKidsAreVaccinated at 1:45 pm

          Wow I’m getting tired of reading this response over and over! I’m a Certified Pharmacy Technician and have access to (and have read) all of those package inserts. No, not just the handout the Dr gives and you’d have to be an idiot to think that a flat, single sheet of paper is a package insert for ANY drug. Guess what? Most of the antibiotics, cold remedies, allergy medications, breathing treatments, etc. that you give your kids when they actually contract a disease that could have been prevented carry those same warnings and statistics. If you read the package insert for every medication you’d never give your kid amoxicillin or Claritin. And no, the print-out the pharmacy gives you on the back of your RX label is not the package insert, but apparently, you think it is.

          • D at 2:40 pm

            Yeah… I actually *don’t* give my kid OTC drugs, either, so that’s kindof a moot point…

          • nicole at 8:31 pm

            Uugggh please post this every chance you get!!!!

          • SMH at 9:46 pm

            Yeah I agree with D… usually parents who avoid vaccinations also avoid unnecessary medications as well. It’s the same parents who are paralyzed in fear over things like the measles.. which isn’t the plague that they are making it out to be… that also run to the doctor for every little sniffle demanding drugs.

    • lisslo at 11:09 am

      Do you know the side effects of drinking too much water? Nausea, vomiting, dizziness, confusion, hyponatremia (low sodium in blood, which can result in muscle weakness or spasms, seizures, unconsciousness, coma and even death). Sounds dangerous. Maybe you should stop drinking it.

      • Ann at 1:23 pm

        So true! Thanks for that! EVERYTHING has side effects. As parents we have to rely on science and history to help us make our decisions. I’m thinking the odds are on my side and I’m willing to take that chance with my 4 kids. I can’t protect them from everything. I can’t know what they will be allergic to before they are exposed to it. I can only trust science and my gut.

        • K Alo at 4:06 pm

          I think what’s sad about this comment is that it spells out exactly what is wrong with a “one size fits all” vaccination policy on infants and very young children. Their doctor (and clearly, their own mothers) doesn’t take the time to make sure that the baby can handle what is being injected into their tiny, fragile systems. I’m not completely anti-vax for any reason, any time. But this “shoot ’em up with 48 shots before they turn 12 or whatever crazy number it is now” is mind-boggling. Can’t we give these kids a minute to develop their immune systems, confirm that they are healthy enough to receive a shot and then administer them, slowly over a long period of time?

          • chrisw at 3:54 am

            If a child’s immune system isn’t developed enough to get vaccinations by the age of 12, it probably never will be! They don’t get the injections all at once! 0-14 years is plenty of time to spread out 48 shots.

      • Sam at 5:44 pm

        LOL. So true. That’s awesome. Down with water!!!

      • FactsSolveProblems at 4:19 pm

        Especially in parts of the country who put large of amounts of fluoride to cause brain damage over a period of time. Yes, get point Lisslo…There are many Americans’ aware of this very subject and will not drink tap water because of this very same issue. So, we can continue to argue the amounts of mercury in each shot as either an isolated situation when 1 out of 66 children have autism, and not including the others with mental delays like bi-polar and attention disorders. I think it is reasonable to say, it is okay to continue to ignore the concerns about mercury being used to preserve vaccinations while being manufactured in Inda…To boot. I think it is safe to gamble more lives over keeping vaccinations just the way they are with no change what so ever. We clear on why now? Why so many people will not vaccinate until these changes are addressed. Please review the evidence of how mercury in high doses and especially in infants will cause Neurological disorder: Autism, ADD, ADHD, Bi-polar, and seizures…etc.

        Please provide an APA format paper on how vaccinations have prevented a history of diseases? There has never been any evidence proving that vaccinations actual prevent disease. – GET THE FACTS about not vaccinations verse how vaccinations are being preserved. No the difference….And the number of vaccinations and especially during infant stages. How, why, and what is important for getting the information straight.

        http://www.c-span.org/video/?309672-1/federal-response-rise-autism-rates

    • Tracy (@TracyAnne_) at 11:26 am

      You know what though? I don’t need to read the d**n insert. The most important thing I learned in college was how very STUPID I am about SO VERY MUCH. I’m not going to watch a YouTube video about an internal combustion engine and then attempt to fix my car. I won’t read a blog post about electrical engineering and then attempt to wire my house. Because a PhD in Google doesn’t come close to the wealth of information found in a doctor and the scientific community. All I need to know is the risk of complications from the diseases is tremendously greater than the risk of reactions to the vaccine.

      • lfrogers@msn.com at 11:47 am

        “Because a PhD in Google doesn’t come close to the wealth of information found in a doctor and the scientific community.”

        I thought it was worth repeating.

      • beth_k at 1:32 pm

        Yes! That & trust in the scientists & doctors more than people like Jenny McCarthy. Sorry, I think Jenny McCarthy can be hilarious, but I choose to turn to the scientists & doctors when making a choice about my kid’s health. And I don’t need to read the inserts to know what the scientists have found & what the doctors recommend.

        • DigDeeper at 1:55 am

          FYI–scientists and doctors get their information from same/similar sources. It’s not necessarily their fault, if they’re unaware, but it is the evil behind the source. Many med schools have been funded originally by Rockefeller money; that’s right the oil guy…and also interestingly enough the same guy who founded American cancer society. Money, greed, motive. Antivaxers have no real motive.

          • Tim F at 1:18 pm

            As a Ph.D. kind of doctor it pains me to defend the intellectual integrity of MD’s in general, but I should point out that modern medical practice does sometimes base its practices on a reasonable facsimile of the scientific method. In fact epidemiologists are some of my favorite kinds of MD, knowing as they do how to use statistics without hurting themselves. You can use statistics and the scientific method to ask things like whether vaccines cause autism, or fevers or failure to use the turn signal later in life, and the answers are no, rarely and maybe.

      • Carl at 4:48 pm

        Nobody talking about inserts has mentioned that it is less a medical document than a legal document. The pharmaceutical company is required to include every incident that happened during trials, regardless of whether the medicine being tested was the cause. Therefore, if you walked into a wall and bruised your forehead, they are required to include forehead bruising in the reported adverse affects. Now, that being said, a doctor or nurse that doesn’t want to give you the insert when asked needs to be confronted. There’s no reason not to give it to you. Just don’t assume you have the education in medicine and familiarity with clinical trials to have perspective on what you are reading.

        • Kate at 6:45 pm

          “There’s no reason not to give it to you.”
          There is actually a reason. It’s called the nocebo effect. Basically, you’re more likely to experience adverse side effects if you believe you are likely to experience adverse side effects. This reality puts medical professionals in a tough position, because they are both ethically obligated to inform you of all risks…but informing you increases your risks.

      • SMH at 7:55 pm

        Well I believe you said it yourself…. because of how very stupid you are, you choose to ignore your right to make a fully informed decision. That’s pretty much the definition of sheeple… trust those educated docs so you don’t have to think for yourself. Ask one of those doctors what he/she was taught in college about nutrition…. absolutely nothing. But that’s okay because OBVIOUSLY eating healthy has nothing to do with a strong immune system! Sometimes I think vaccines have completely eradicated common sense…. after all, we have to give them credit for eradicating something right? If you seriously trust every D**k and Jane who holds a diploma I can’t imagine the field day investment bankers would have with you….

        • K Alo at 8:11 pm

          Smh… ur so wrong. My brother said they have 3 pages dedicated to vitamins & nutrition, lol. After all since the textbooks are completely funded by drug companies why would they put that a solution is found in natural sources? These people are so ridiculous. Idiocracy, anyone?

    • Mama Eps at 3:22 pm

      Have you bothered to read about the side effects of Measles, Mumps and Rubella? Oh wait, you did starting on page 6. For those who do not have an intact immune system, they get the infection from the vaccine so they are at risk for all the possible complications of all 3 components of the MMR vaccine. BUT if your child has a healhty immune system, the likelihood of those complications are infintesimally small. However, if the unimmunized child gets the disease, the risk of those complications are WAY higher. Risk of death by measles is 1 in 500. That does not include the 1/1000 who get meningitis and recover but are brain damaged for the rest of their life. The tide will turn when someone who is provaccination has some tragic outcome because their child got measles from someone who used Jenny McCarthy as their medical advisor and sues the living s**t out of them.

      In my 15 years of pediatric practice, I have NEVER seen a single serious complication. They do exist but are RARE. Yet no one who chooses not to vaccinate has ever been able to tell me what they are risking by NOT vaccinating. This is my newest favorite website because it does tell you. It is a bit heavy on statistics and medical info for the lay person, but this is the s**t that makes me wonder how anyone could possibly consider NOT giving the vaccine:

      http://immunizationinfo.com/diseases-prevented-by-vaccines/measles/

      For other reliable information:

      http://www.vaccineinformation.org/
      http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/parents/
      http://vec.chop.edu/service/vaccine-education-center/

      If it were up to me, everyone who refused information would have to take a test on the complications of the disease and if they did not pass, they could not refuse. All the parents whose children suffer complications utter the same tragic phrase: “I did not know this could happen to us”. And it just kills me because the information is there and that side of the story is not told enough.

      • Mama Eps at 3:27 pm

        ERRATUM: last paragraph first line should say “refused vaccination” not “refused information”. They don’t refuse it, They just don’t always read it.

    • Harriet Huestis at 7:08 pm

      This explains the insert. They are a legal document not an explanation of the expected side effects.
      http://www.skepticalraptor.com/skepticalraptorblog.php/vaccine-package-inserts-debunking-myths/

      The risk of permanent harm from any vaccine on the current routine schedule is less than 1 in 1 million and is in fact so low that none can be shown to be causally related to vaccination. Contrast that to the risks of a wild measles infection where 10-30% are hospitalized, 1 in 20 have some form of permanent harm (vision or hearing loss, lung scarring, brain damage and more) and 1-3 in 1000 are deadly despite modern medical care.

    • Kat at 8:57 pm

      Oh, hey! If you do CTRL-F and search for “autism” there is literally not one single instance of the word in the entire section. Imagine that.

    • Deborah Ballard-Pence at 1:52 am

      Yes! Anyone read this info? Bet you can’t comprehend it without looking up a few words and when you do, do you really want fetal bovine viruses and virus pool ingredients and recombitant human albumin, among other things sorbitol, which are screened for the absence of adventitious substances, which the screening methods are still being perfected in your child/ baby?
      They do double blind studies, yes, but they only study one ingredient/ shot at a time. That’s how it gets approved by the powers that be. They don’t test them all together nor do they inform you of this little fact.
      How could anyone be well informed before thus she of smart phones and being able to research everything right away?
      Anytime you have to get an injection for yourself or your child, always ask for the insert. They have it, and they have to supply you with it by law. Not just a consent firm, get the insert and read it.
      Well, if you care enough to do so. Then make your own decision.

  7. Amie at 9:44 am

    Thank you for writing what I have been thinking. I feel on this subject I need an anger management class. It pisses me off that those asshats risk the lives of other kids as they stand on their soapbox.

  8. momma2boys01 at 9:46 am

    Love it and support you fully! I have a child with sensory issues and a child without. Both are fully vaccinated! Vaccines do not cause autism. If they did I’d have 2 kids with sensory issues! I don’t! Wakefield made that stuff up! He admitted to making it up and no longer can practice medicine. Please do not play “Russian Roulette” with your children and other children who cannot be vaccinated.

    • EMKW at 9:01 pm

      This!!! My older cousin, who is 45 has autism, and was never vaccinated. How would Jenny McCarthy and Wakefield explain that>

      • DigDeeper at 1:10 pm

        Answer is in his health history. Or in his parents. There can be other causes besides vaccines, you do realize that, right?

    • DigDeeper at 1:01 pm

      What is with the excuse——my kid can’t get vaxed? Paul Offit, M.D. (huge pro-vaxer) said we could each receive 10,000 shots no problem, they’re complete safe! So, don’t give me that crap about allergic or immunocompromised. Shift the paradigm–don’t hamper the immune system, build it up. If your kid is weak, then you need to isolate them; not make everyone else in the world get unlimited shots! Sorry, it’s survival of the fittest, and smartest, not survival of the most vaccinated, antibiotic absorbing, Lipitor loving, self-induced diabetic morons.

  9. Dana at 9:46 am

    Amen, sister! Those who choose to believe Jenny McCarthy over solid scientific research need to take their unvaccinated kids and go live on some island somewhere far far away so their stupidity doesn’t harm others.

    • DigDeeper at 1:05 pm

      That’s the problem, it’s not solid. Quit blindly trusting the “experts” that are tied to govt and pharma. Look at independent studies and people with no motive. No motive.

  10. Life With Teens and Other Wild Things at 9:46 am

    Thank you. So much. Maybe, just maybe… a few of those “on the fencers” will listen.

    I was an on the fencer. So, I talked to my pediatrician, a very smart lady who I trusted, because guess what? I’d done my research. I knew her degree came from a strong, accredited university. I’d spent time talking to her and knew that we had similar parenting philosophies. I’d asked her questions and gotten straight-up answers. We didn’t always agree 100% but I knew she was as passionate about keeping my kids healthy as I am. So, when she said “This vaccine is necessary for the future health and safety of your children”, I had no problem believing her. She was very straightforward about the potential risks, and offered me more information if I wanted it.

    Maybe it’s time we started using our critical thinking skills, and discerned between Someone With an Actual Degree, and Jenny Mccarthy.

    Yeah. I went there, too. Somebody has to.

  11. Jennifer Stewart at 9:46 am

    Love you baby sideburns. thanks for this. As an epidemiologist working in public health we need more people standing up for science.

  12. sealedwithmyhug at 9:47 am

    Totally awesome! I agree! I believe in personal choice, but when your personal choice is potentially putting other people at risk, not cool.

  13. Kelly_elaine47 at 9:47 am

    Tara – I appreciate your point here. However, I would suggest that you consider switching doctors if yours are not sharing this information with you prior to vaccinations. My pediatrician provides me with the adverse reaction data during the appointment before the vaccinations are given. So, at the 4 month appointment, we get the information sheets to read over prior to the 6 month appointment. That gives us 2 months to research and review all adverse reaction possibilities. If you can’t switch doctors, I’d suggest you request this from yours.

    • Jamie at 9:52 am

      Mine too!! They not only provide the information , they provide me with a vaccination schedule in advance so that if I disagree in any way we may make arrangements that I am more comfortable with!

  14. bevmae at 9:47 am

    AMEN Sista!! I am a nurse and nobody can say it as good as you can. Thank you!!

  15. Jamie at 9:49 am

    Finally!! Thank you for writing this so much! If I hear another person site their research for not vaccinating their children has come from some stay at home mom who HAS NO MEDICAL DEGREE I am going to scream!!! Thanks for sticking up for the rest of us moms who are constantly referred to as “uninformed” about this issue. Why is it that the non vaccinating parents automatically assume that us vaccinating parents did no research!

  16. Nicole Clarice Thompson at 9:51 am

    Thank you!
    My kid is one of those who can’t get vaccinated because she has an autoimmune disease and she has to take immunosuppressive drugs. I also have a three month old who is too young for the shot. With two kids at risk and confirmed cases in our community I am afraid to take my kids out of the house!

    • DigDeeper at 1:23 pm

      Just curious, all those here who are FOR vaccines do know that Europe, Japan, etc. don’t recommend what USA does and that we are ranked #72 in the world as far as healthy countries go. We, well our unfortunate govt, spend $2 trillion per year on healthcare… that’s #1 in spending btw. One more thing to chew on (among many), Cancer and deaths due to medical mistakes are the highest on the list now…hmmm, why? $$$$, pink ribbons, poor science, wrong paradigm.

  17. KW at 9:54 am

    AMEN! Why people listen to Playboy bunnies rather than trained physicians for medical advise is beyond me. Diseases that were irradicated are now circulating again. Generations before had no choice but to deal with these deadly diseases. We have the choice & I don’t understand why anyone would choose to take the risk with so many deadly diseases.

    • Shannon Haynie at 2:52 pm

      If something is eradicated, that means it’s gone forever. Clearly those diseases were not eradicated, since SOMEONE got them and spread them to someone else. Smallpox is eradicated. The one and only disease that has been, so there’s an instance when vaccination can do that. But maybe check out what “vaccinations” they originally started giving out for that disease which consisted of cutting your arm open and dragging a contaminated string through it. More people died from infected wounds than were saved from that great “public health” campaign.
      But my kid did have an adverse reaction to her first set of vaccines, and I choose to defend my choice not to try again and “see what happens”. How does that make me a self-righteous person? Actually, yes, it does. I have rights, and I’m exercising them, my SELF. I’m not telling you what’s right for your kid, and I’m also not a big fan of Disney Land. So congratulations on not having a problem with vaccines, I do, and I think this blog post was fairly annoying.

      • One scientist mom to another at 2:59 pm

        You are not understanding the point. You have reason not to vaccinate, adverse reactions happen with ALL meds (cough, cold, tylenol) The issue is with healthy kids with NO perceivable chance to have a reactone not vaccinated.

      • Sarah at 4:13 pm

        Actually, Measles was eradicated in the UNITED STATES. Since you don’t like Disneyland (which is crazy, in my opinion) you might not know that people go there from all over the world. Someone brought it from outside the US. Since the MMR vaccine has over a 90% success rate only a few people contracted. If no one vaccinated, it would have been most of the people there. Measles is one of the most contagious diseases out there. It travels in the air (no contact required) and can linger in a space even after the sick person has it. If you haven’t vaccinated your chances of contracting it are over 90%. I am sorry that your child had a reaction, that must have been scary. But instead of being bitter that people love vaccines, you should be grateful that the majority of people are protecting your unvaccinated child from getting them. You should be thanking everyone for helping protect your child with the hard choice you had to make.

        • RichCoulter at 9:41 pm

          Wrong, there hasn’t been a single year in which no measles cases were reported in the United States. If you believe 100 cases is “eradicated” then you need a dictionary.

        • smart one at 10:34 pm

          sarah you need to shut up,, you are ignorant in every thing you say. People like you scare me, because I didn’t realize how stupid some of you really are. I am glad you love vaccines, I wish you would have some more,, perhaps the HVP virus would be a good one for you. Oh wait am I bitter too? Golly gee I believe I will survive,, eh!!

          • Tim F at 1:26 pm

            HPV. You must be an english teacher to know so much and write with such coherence.

      • Harriet Huestis at 7:23 pm

        “More people died from infected wounds than were saved from that great public health campaign”
        Citation needed. Early vaccinations weren’t as safe as ones today and early small pox ones could be especially unsanitary and they did kill some however they saved far more else people wouldn’t have gotten them. But what does vaccination techniques from over a century ago have to do with today’s highly effective and exceedingly safe vaccines especially since we no longer vaccinate against small pox because it was eradicated. Small pox is not the only disease eradicated by vaccines; we have also eradicated rhinderpest, a measles like disease in cattle. Polio is nearing eradication. Measles and rubella are also targeted for eradication. Vaccinate people so we don’t have to vaccinate any more.

      • Someonewithabrain at 2:08 pm

        Vaccines do not use live viruses to infect people. And your kid having an itchy spot on their arm or whatever other “reaction” you perceived to have occurred is b.s.

    • DigDeeper at 1:33 pm

      Tell me, I’ve never heard from my family or any family that our grandparents or their grandparents or great, great gps died off from all of these terrible, awful, scary buggies. The only one ever mentioned was polio injuries, mostly from the vaccine, and since it is supposed to be eradicated, they simply rename the disease aseptic meningitis. You do understand that the powerful AMA and CDC and FDA do this, right? Because if they don’t, the entire medical profession would crumble, in turn our economy.

    • SMH at 8:08 pm

      Because playboy bunnies aren’t making money from the pharmeucetical industry…. drs on the other hand… it’s like politics and lobbyists, hand in hand for the love of $. I should say, however, that there are more and more drs and scientists who are removing the BS from their spectacles and speaking out. Although you probably won’t hear about many of them thanks to the uber biased media.

  18. JC1209 at 9:56 am

    I believe the reason why parents are not vaccinating their children is because they did not live in the era when these diseases were rampant. I am a firm believer in vaccination, both of my kids have all of their shots. What we have to remember is we have open borders now. A lot of the people moving here do not have vaccinations and are from countries where these diseases still exist. So, they are bringing them here. ( Just to be clear- I am not saying anything bad about immigration!) Which is opening up diseases and viruses we have not seen in the U.S. for years! It is our responsibility as good citizens to keep up herd immunity! Especially for the kids that want to get vaccinated, but can’t due to cancer, allergies, etc! That is part of living in a society, sometimes you have to put the society first!! If you are not a vaccinating parent, then you are saying that you are your children are too good for the society in which you live! My answer to that would be, you should move!!! That way you would not be endangering the rest of us good citizens!

    • Nicole at 11:19 am

      In case you are curious, here is a link to a website that shows vaccination rates for measles in other countries around the world. http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.IMM.MEAS/countries It is interesting to note that most countries in North America have the same if not better rates of vaccination (in this case, for measles) than the United States. The countries with low rates are mostly African countries, and people there go to extreme measures to try to get those shots. This is not an issue of open borders. This is an issue of a large, first-world country, the United States, having citizens who scoff in the face of technology and advancement because they think they know better than experts. That’s just arrogant and ignorant.

      • DigDeeper at 1:41 pm

        What’s ignorant is you ignore the ingredients, you ignore the fact that Africans die because of malnutrition and poor sanitation, you ignore the amazing God-given immune system, you ignore the sanctity of human blood, you ignore the state of our society’s health, you ignore the fact that mistakes can be made.
        Did you smoke cigarettes decades ago because doctors on TV commercials said smoking was healthy? That happened, are you to young to know, or just plain ______

        • DigDeeper at 1:47 pm

          I ignored the fact that you said “interesting to note…” Most countries in North America have better rates than USA…how many countries do you think there are sweety?

          • Nicole at 10:02 am

            There are 23 countries in North America, plus dozen of possessions and territories, honey.

            Out of those countries, only Mexico (89%), Haiti (65%), the Dominican Republic (79%), Guatemala (85%), Honduras (89%) and Barbados (90%) had lower vaccination rates for measles than the US (91%) in 2013. Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala were all higher than that in 2012, 99%, 93%, and 93%, respectively. So I stand by my statement that most of the countries in North America (16 out of 22) have higher vaccination rates than the United States, and therefore there is not a large threat of non-vaccinated immigrants coming into the United States from other countries in North America.

        • Nicole at 9:40 am

          I was speaking to the fact that the prior poster was concerned that immigrants were bringing these diseases across our open borders. I was merely stating that if we’re talking North American immigrants, most of those are already immunized by the time they immigrate here. I’m not sure why you decided to go off on other tangents that were unrelated to what I posted. And yes, Africans die of poor nutrition and sanitation. They also are surviving at higher rates than before because of vaccinations.

          So, pray tell, what happens when your “God-given immune system” fails and you fall ill with one of these diseases, like measles, mumps, whooping cough, polio, etc. Are you going to just ride it out at home and see what happens, or are you going to consult a medical professional?

          • FactsSolveProblems at 4:32 pm

            We better all take magic shots to keep us all safe than…Mute issue of why vaccinations are important, but how they are being manufactured and preserved. It is less than 1% under age 2 to likely for measles to cause death. Most people get the measles regardless of the vaccination…So what is your point? It is better to risk how the vaccinations are being preserved in mercury to increase the number of mental health of issues worldwide. Some countries have stopped vaccinations until they understand more of what is causing these numbers to increase.

            A+ for doing your research on how many countries vaccinate, but this isn’t actually why people are not vaccinating their children.

            Please provide an APA format paper on how vaccinations have prevented a history of diseases? There has never been any evidence proving that vaccinations actual prevent disease. – GET THE FACTS about not vaccinations verse how vaccinations are being preserved. No the difference….And the number of vaccinations and especially during infant stages. How, why, and what is important for getting the information straight.

            http://www.c-span.org/video/?309672-1/federal-response-rise-autism-rates

  19. myhapplyplace at 9:58 am

    I completely agree with you! There is so much evidence that proves the immunizations are safe. What always boggles my mind is the whole reason for creating these immunizations. How many children suffered and died because of measles, polio, chicken pox, etc, etc before these immunizations where created! There was obviously a need for a solution. How many parents “back in the day” would have loved to have the medical system we have today. How many parents kept multiple lockets of hair to remember their babies who passed. too many! I am so very happy we live in todays modern society with advanced medicine. I do not feel as if the medical system is trying to hurt my child by inoculating them against something that ravaged the innocent and tore families apart.

    • jen at 1:58 pm

      Can you share a link to a double blind placebo controlled study showing that vaccination is safe and/or effective? I’m curious. I’ve never been able to find such a study, nor has any MD I’ve asked, or anyone else for that matter. TIA!

      • One scientist mom to another at 2:41 pm

        here is one for the flu vaccine: http://journals.lww.com/pidj/Abstract/2006/07000/A_Randomized,_Double_Blind_Study_of_the_Safety,.5.aspx

        As for the MMR:
        http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199505113321904 (this was just for kids allergic to eggs)
        Here is one just in order to ELIMATE the disease dated 1994:
        http://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJM199411243312101

        You do realize the steps drugs go through in order to be APPROVED for use include double blind studies and clinical trials?? The Doctors and scientists have to way the benefits of the risks and for DECADES we have been on the winning side of this disease because of these people. They know and are still improving the systems. For example, Thimerisol (mercurcy containing agent that USED to be in the drug) has been removed from all vaccines dating back to 2001. There are still flu shots with it, but guess what?! You can request a version without it if you have the allergy.

        This is about the community, not just you. The community needs us to remain vaccinated for the sake of those that can’t.

        PS, it took me 5 minutes to find 3 vaccination double blind studies. I’m sure I can find more if given a few more minutes. Whoa is me with a PhD.

        • RichCoulter at 9:44 pm

          Find a study comparing overall health outcomes between fully vaccinated and fully unvaccinated. (look up the word fully if you’re about to respond by referencing KIGGS)

        • DigDeeper at 1:54 pm

          I can request a shot without Mercury?…….Nahhhh, give me the one with poison!!!

          It’s really hard for me not to say mean things to you ______s. So I’ll just correct your spelling, thimerosal.

  20. Garren at 9:59 am

    Because you will inevitably be the recipient of harsh and unwarranted backlash for writing this post, I want to take the time to say THANK YOU A THOUSAND TIMES for going for it and speaking out in favor of vaccinations!!! My daughter is only 3 months old and just started to get her vaccinations last month, but it already scares the hell out of me to think that there might be kids she comes in contact with who haven’t gotten their vaccines. We are how lucky to live in a country where the majority of the time your health insurance PAYS for the entire bill when your kid goes to the doctor and gets their shots?!? Parents in third-world countries would kill for that kind of good fortune to be their every-day standard.

  21. Sheri at 10:01 am

    Thank goodness you went there!!!! My child was is sensitive to the medium in which the vaccine is delivered…I opted to go through the trouble of giving him the shot over the course of THREE HOURS…a teeny tiny bit at a time. He is now a healthy, protected 19 year old.
    Vaccinate? Um YES, of course.

  22. Jodie at 10:03 am

    Amen! I taught for many years at a preschool for children with special needs. Many of these students were medically fragile and could not be vaccinated for various reasons. There is also the sad reality that vaccinations do not work for everyone. Many of the people infected at Disneyland had been vaccinated. We all count on a robust vaccination program so that the possible exposure to these potentially deadly diseases is minimal or nonexistent. Healthy people who choose not to vaccinate put all at risk.

    • BabySideburns at 10:08 am

      That’s awesome Melody! It’s a little scary speaking up knowing that a lot of people are going to get angry at you. Voices for Vaccines looks awesome.

  23. Paula Sears at 10:05 am

    Guess what??!!! EVERY SINGLE medication, drug, vaccine has an adverse reactions sheet! Have you seen the risk sheet for Tylenol or a simple cough syrup? Probably not, but they exist. I used to work in a dispensary, and the pharmacists all agree that if aspirin were a new drug on the market today, it would be available only on prescription. My doctor told me that those “Adverse Reaction Sheets” exist not just to keep you supposedly “informed” but more so as a disclaimer because in the US, drug companies can be sued for every minor, non-associated symptom that some money greedy parent thinks their kid has because they were given the drug/vaccine. As my doctor tells me, “Do the benefits outweigh the risks??” And if the risk is brain damage or death, I say “Yes they do!!”. And it’s not just your kids who are at risk if someone has measles or mumps, I’m at risk too. Because I had an allergic reaction when I was an infant to the vaccine and now I have to walk around unvaccinated and hope that all you people have your kids vaccinated. My son has been fully vaccinated, even against chicken pox. When I asked my doctor jokingly why anyone would need that vaccine, he told me he has a young patient who is now blind because of contracting chicken pox and another that developed swelling of the brain. Say no more, vaccinate my child please!

    • Michelle at 1:36 am

      People cannot sue manufacturers of vaccines. It’s the law. FYI

  24. Tiffany at 10:11 am

    Thank you thank you!! There is still common sense in this world!

  25. Lori at 10:12 am

    Thank you, Karen. You are brave and articulate and just d**n cool. Know that your sisters-from-other-mothers are standing behind you when the anti-vaccers fire back. <3

  26. Katie Duda-Murphy at 10:13 am

    If you’re going to tell other parents to vaccinate their children, I hope to god that you have been tested to ensure that it isn’t YOU who is spreading the disease. Every adult that I know (including myself and my husband) who has been tested has not had an immunity to measles and needed to get a booster themselves.

    • BabySideburns at 10:17 am

      My husband and I both got the booster when we were in the hospital after having our first baby.

      • Katie Duda-Murphy at 10:21 am

        Most people are very unaware that vaccines don’t last forever. I’m glad that you are, but I wish piece of information would be included when every complains about unvaccinated children. Because it isn’t just children…..

    • Cait at 11:03 am

      I’m fabulously blessed to have both an incredible pediatrician (who goes through the reaction sheet and schedule with me in advance) and an OB who stays on top of adult boosters. I had a Tdap in 2011, and am getting a booster in a couple of weeks. Pertussis is spreading fairly quickly among adults who are unaware that their immunity may have worn off. As for the MMR, you can can be checked with a quick blood test to see if you still have immunity. Bottom line? We all need to do our part for public health – get educated, talk to your doctor(s) and stop listening to Jay Cutler and Jenny McCarthy!

    • linz at 4:47 pm

      Good to know. I will ask my doctor. Still 100% for vaccines even though I bawl my eyes out when I have to get a shot

    • Tim F at 1:29 pm

      Just a thought. If most adults had lost their immunity, Disneyland would have hundreds to thousands of cases rather than just the tens of kids who had irresponsible parents. Measles is that contagious.

  27. Coffee with a side of Autism at 10:13 am

    YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!! :::: Standing ovation::::::
    As a mom to 2 boys on the Autism spectrum, it PAINS me to see the people banging the drum about some “link” between autism and vaccines. That *Doctor* was and is a fraud. He is still feeding off desperate parents seeking answers, any answers, as to why their child has autism. Measles and Whopping Cough are BACK because of this crap! Here’s something interesting…. We are friends with a family that has 4 children, all on the autism spectrum. After the first 2 these parents decided not to vaccinate the next 2 (because that was the height of the autism/vaccine BS) The younger 2 are STILL on the spectrum despite NOT being vaccinated. In fact the older 2 ~vaccinated~ are mild and high functioning, and the younger 2 ~not vaccinated~ are moderate/low functioning. Fascinating right?

    I am furious that people are choosing not to vaccinate their children. Not because of a serious health issue, but because of some whispering, conspiracy, nut job theory. Oh, and thanks to these people…. I might have to go and get a shot now to cover myself. Fantastic! >:(

    • Rachel Tilleyshort at 7:43 pm

      Yes – I know a family that are similar. Eldest is vacc and asd, second part vacc and asd, further two completely unvacc and asd. She is still however convinced it is the vacc.

    • Mjones at 1:36 pm

      I know a family with four kids the older three got vaccinate and have autism. Her youngest child is the only one that doesn’t have it. She did get this child vaccinate but later then what is recommended. I’ll start by saying my kids are vaccinated and I believe in vaccination. However, I think if everyone could take a step back and relax. Why does it have to be so extreme? People are either on way one side extreme or the other. I don’t think things will ever be solved that way. Why not start raising money to research this farther. Maybe there is a gene or something in SOME children that if they get the shot it could cause autism……why not study it and keep studying it until we find some answers. I thought maybe the mom I knew could tell someone about her experience, why aren’t we taking a closer look at this families that have been mentioned? I know we won’t get far in understanding until we can all clam down and not see in such extremes.

  28. Jesy Payne at 10:16 am

    My first child actually got a mild case of the measles when he had his first MMR. That did not stop me from fully vaccinating him and his younger brother. I think it’s highly irresponsible to not vaccinate your child. However, I am not going to lecture you if that is what you choose. Most pediatricians around me do not accept new patients who refuse to vaccinate

  29. Rebecca Doerfler at 10:16 am

    Thank you for being brave and posting this. I guess if you are rich and have a big chest, (Jenny McArthy), what you say is more believable than some nerdy scientist. I just shake my head at these parents who believe celebrities and probably don’t read “real” studies. There are actually doctors that have put up signs in their offices that say “If you are not going to get your child vaccinated, we are not going to be able to meet your medical needs.” Yay, them!

  30. Danielle at 10:17 am

    Big time <3 this, and you! Right know the comments are pretty much friendly towards you, but I know at some point that will turn. I just wanted to take a moment and say that I agree wholeheartedly with EVERYTHING you just said!!

  31. Melissa at 10:17 am

    So so so love this! You have hit right on where i think most parents feel. And i read through some of the comments and i totally agree if your pediatrician isnt giving you enough info in your opinion ask for more or switch. We are the only ones who are willing to fight and protect our children. But what we do with our kids effects someone elses. If you send your sick kid to school you are exposing other kids to what your kid has. Thats unfair.

  32. Mommabear of 2 at 10:18 am

    LOVE, LOVE, LOVE THIS!!! There is a reason for years and years these diseases have been at bay. Now because people have stopped vaccinating their kids, these life threatening diseases are making a come back. I understand wanting to protect your kids(would do anything to keep my kiddos safe), but you also have to think about all the others you are putting at risk.

  33. jadecary at 10:22 am

    Isn’t it wonderful that we live in a country where we are free to choose our path. Mothers are smart. Choice is hard. The alternative is harder.

    Be well.

    • nicole at 8:48 pm

      Not really in this case. Their choice to not vaccinate puts others in danger. Could possibly even kill some.

      • DigDeeper at 2:05 pm

        So you and your family will get every vaccine that is in the pipeline? They are coming out with some doozies. Get all your boosters too! Oh, wait…you know that one hepatitis vaccine they give newborns is to protect against disease that only IV drug users and promiscuous people get, right? Wow, that’s some family you got there!!!!

    • Tim F at 1:34 pm

      As long as the people who choose to put their own kids in danger keep the little vectors at home and away from public places then I agree 100%. Bring them within shouting range of normal families and the parent is being both irresponsible (their choice!) and recklessly endangering others.

  34. Bill at 10:26 am

    You must be really angry at the Federal government for letting thousands of children into the US from third world countries without being checked for diseases.

  35. Heather at 10:32 am

    Loved you before, but love you more now!! I have debated vaccines with parents for years. I have done my own research of studies from all over the world (thankfully I got college credit for this too so double win for me)!!! On top of all of that my son does experience autism and I still stand behind vaccines!!! He has been vaccinated for everything under the sun. This past year I had a friend who lost her 4-year-old daughter to something that she was vaccinated against, but some other kid was not and passed it onto her. I now watch daily how my friends aches for her child to be with her and how she has had to handle that she did protect her child against everything and it still didn’t work. So people get with it, the report that stated MMR causes autism WAS A FRAUD!!! Wake up and get real, you are not only helping your child, but you are helping your niece, nephew, neighbor’s child, best friend’s child, and your children’s best friends!!!

  36. Sarah at 10:32 am

    There are several reasons why you are my favorite mommy blogger, but this post is one of your most AWESOME!

    I did my research on vaccinations and talked with my Dr. We agreed upon a delayed vaccine schedule. I didn’t agree with giving my baby 4 shots at a time. My rule was no more than two vaccines at a time, and only one live virus at a time. We were in the Dr. Office monthly but everyone was ok with that. I was fortunate that I was able to dedicate the time to go and make it happen and that we had the insurance who would play along.

  37. Kristin at 10:35 am

    Do those not getting vaccinated take over-the-counter meds? Like Advil, Tylenol? Because I’m pretty sure people have died from taking those too. Every TV commercial advertising any medication always lists all the horrible side effects, it doesn’t stop people from taking them. Plus, I’m sure I read somewhere that looking at a computer/phone/TV screen can give you a brain tumor and make you blind, yet here we all are reading this:)

  38. mychoicenotyours at 10:36 am

    Wow. You’re pretty ignorant if you believe that people don’t vaccinate because we think it causes autism.

    • Lynn at 11:09 am

      Then justify your excuse, if you’re not vaccinating for one of the reasons she mentioned.

  39. Kait at 10:39 am

    Thank you for writing about this. I am a researcher who studies measles and watched as it killed children in sub-Saharan Africa over the last several years. Vaccination is critical to prevent that from happening here at the levels it occurs there.

  40. Dawn Suriano Wilson at 10:42 am

    Coming from a mom that gave her healthy 1 1/2 year old the MMR vacchine and he lost his hearing 3 months later (yes, the CDC website does now confirm that the MMR vaccine can indeed lead to deafness), I still gave my 5 year old son the MMR vaccine. I delayed him until he was 5 years old, but I still gave it to him. The risk of getting measles far outweighed the possible risk. We will not be giving him the booster, but he received the first one, which is the most important. I am all for vaccinations – as long as I can unbundle them as much as possible and space them all out. I am grateful for a Pediatrician that works with me.

  41. Diane at 10:42 am

    I’m glad you shared this. However, I think that there are more concerns with immunizations that people realize. A little over a year ago I became one of those moms who’s children were exposed to unvaccinated children. I have to admit that I wasn’t concerned at all. These children are almost always healthy except for the occasional cold or earache. The the unthinkable happened. My children, the un-vaccinated children and another child all had a field trip together. We noticed that she had a cough that seemed pretty bad. Her mom kept explaining it away saying that she had been sick and this was a residual thing. I was uneasy because my daughter has sever asthma and when she gets sicks, she scares the heck out of me. Well a few days later, we noticed a few of the kids clearing their throats and complaining of a tickle. Then t happened. Six children under one roof with whooping cough all thanks to a little girl who had been vaccinated and somehow got it anyway. My son coughed until he was near the point of passing out. I watched him turn shades of blue and purple that no human should ever turn. No one should ever have to fight to breathe and once you hear your child gasping for air like that you will never forget it. I began searching the internet for home remedies to help relieve the cough and low and behold I stumbled across the CDC website. I was shocked at what I read. More children who have been vaccinated have whooping cough then those who have not been. I called the Dr and they said we had to wait it out. I researched and found some home remedies that really helped and my daughter was fortunate to have a very mild case of it. My poor son however, was not so lucky. It lasted for months. This began in October and went clear into the next year. In December both of my children we diagnosed with pneumonia, which is very common after whooping cough. Here’s the real confusing part to me. Both of my children are vaccinated. Yet they somehow managed to get things that they shouldn’t have. Did I mention that I also got whooping cough? Oh yea, I am vaccinated and get vaccinated regularly because I’m a CNA. How is this possible? The information that I came across about the vaccines is very scary. My sister in laws best friend was directly affected by vaccines when her daughter had a set of seizures and is not permanently brain damaged following vaccines. Her family sued and won!!!! They proved without a shadow of a doubt that the vaccines caused their child harm. A couple weeks ago a friend of mine reached out asking for prayers for her 1 year old nephew. He had recently had shots, and became symptomatic. He developed a fever, loss of appetite, fussiness and bam a seizure that put him in the hospital for a week. Again my children are vaccinated, and we have been lucky to have no last effects, but it does happen. The vaccines are dangerous and if you research how they were developed and changed because of their toxicity it’s very scary. They have been diluted so much so that most of them no longer work or wear off after a couple years. That was why my vaccinated children were able to get sick. I went to a private school for a few years and vaccines were required. I remember a friend of mine missing time for measles. What’s even weirder is that when my son had his chicken pox vaccine, he developed shingles. I kid you not, My then 4 year old had shingles in the arm that he was given the vaccine. His Dr said he didn’t even know that was possible. There is so much that we don’t know, that I think it’s a tough call.

    • KB at 11:04 am

      You should buy a lottery ticket or something. How odd that one person has so many stories of adverse effect within such a small circle of friends and family.

    • B. Durbin at 12:34 pm

      The pertussis vaccine—acellular pertussis—is one of the weakest of the modern vaccines, with a “success” rate that’s only about 80%. The original whooping cough vaccine was stronger but had a chance of developing whooping cough itself from the shot, which is why they moved to the weaker acellular version. It wears off in roughly a decade, which is why they encourage people who are going to be around kids to get a booster. It’s also a scheduled vaccine for pregnant women in their third trimester, in the hopes that extra immunity will be passed along to their infants.

      In terms of immune response, it’s very likely a genetic similarity which explains why your whole family got it. Three of the four people I know who have gotten pertussis are related, though their cases were decades apart. They’re also from a family with hereditary asthma—the other case I know *developed* asthma from lung scarring.

      It’s important to track your own family health issues, of course. But if you *can* get the shots, you should… because otherwise it’s just like gaps in a fence. (P.S. You can get your immunities checked through a blood draw. I know someone for whom the measles vaccine doesn’t take, and she has an infant daughter right now. And there’s a possible measles case in our town. Scary stuff.)

    • jen at 2:01 pm

      I’m sorry for what you went through. But you are absolutely right that vaccinated people can and do get the diseases they are vaccinated against more often than the unvaccinated.

    • Leah M. at 5:09 pm

      Thank you for sharing this. I do vaccinate my children, but I try to unbundle and space them out a reasonable amount. I have very reserved confidence in governmental research agencies, their motivations and influence do not look at the individual, but at the whole and at the money. They’re weighing a cost/benefit analysis on all their decisions too. Kids under 2 are recommended so many vaccines and some are hardly relevant until they’re older or traveling abroad. I believe this is motivated by the fact that people take their babies into the doctor regularly for the developmental checkups and not as much as they get older, so the chances are greater for more kids to receive all vaccinations if done at a younger age. I think both sides should take a real look at independent research. It’s not easy to find, but it’s out there. Copy-paste from the CDC website just makes my eyes gloss over. I’m not a paranoid conspiracy person, but I also don’t have unquestioning trust in the government to have my kids’ best interest in mind all the time (hello FDA). So, with that in mind, I do not think people who don’t vaccinate are the most ignorant and selfish people any more than I think people who religiously vaccinate without question are God’s gift to mankind. I think there should always be people questioning and pushing for better vaccines and more research. We don’t have it all figured out. There are still plenty of cases where harmful side effects to vaccines are seen, where vaccinated people are contracting and even dying from diseases they were supposedly protected from. There is no guarantee on either side. The most helpful thing anyone can do is question and constantly seek more information and research. The government should always be pressured to produce the best vaccine technology available.

      • Pam at 11:09 pm

        This has to be the most thoughtful post. Most of the posts coming from both sides of the fence are so mean and belittling. you hit the nail on the head. These poor babies get so many shots in the 1st year of life, no wonder some of them end up with “something” spread it out. and give them some time in between shots. I have 6 kids that were all vaccinated “on time” with NO adverse affects. but with all the stories surrounding the MMR vaccine, it made me do a little research of my own. I think I would have done it different. I would have vaccinated, just put it on a different times schedule. I would like to hear from any military parents out there on what their vaccine schedule is for when they are required to leave the country. I have a relative in the Air Force that is only allowed 2 shots per visit and they have to be spaced out by so much time before the next set of 2 can be delivered. My question is, Why is an adult only allowed 2 shots at a time but my 1 year old got the MMR + 3 other shots in the same day?

      • K Alo at 11:17 pm

        This is a very well thought out and logical post. Thank you. These are my feelings exactly, except I chose not to vaccinate at all, as my parents did not before me. With not vaccinating comes responsibility. I make every effort to detoxify my kids’ environments, we do not eat junk food. I make everything from scratch except for rare occasions using only the best ingredients. We buy natural, non-toxic products. We eat tons of veggies. I keep my babies home with me until kindergarten (if I were really awesome I would homeschool! 🙂 so they have stronger immune systems when they come in contact with all of their unhealthy peers. You do have to use your common sense and give your kids the best chance at sailing through the disease should they get it.

        • SMH at 9:58 pm

          Absolutely agree! I find it frustrating to think that if parents took the time they spent arguing about other people’s kids needing vaccinations and used that to learn how to naturally strengthen their OWN child’s immunity, they wouldn’t need to live in such fear…. because you know there is a filthy measles, mumps, rubella filled child hiding around every tree, bush, and corner just waiting to jump out and salivate all over your precious vaccinated child. Get a grip people.. stop allowing the media to paralyze you into submission. I also find it ridiculous that the parents who choose not to vaccinate usually have spent far more time researching and weighing both sides than the parents who take their doctors word as gospel.. yet we are the uneducated illogical ones… sigh.

  42. Katie at 10:42 am

    I have a 9-month-old (children under one can’t receive the MMR and some other vaccines) and I am constantly terrified that she is going to contract a disease from an unvaccinated child. Like, constantly. We don’t go to playgroups or anywhere else where there are children I don’t know, because babies are DYING from these diseases. I’d rather be seen as a huge Debbie Downer and keep my kid safe. Anyone who chooses not to vaccinate their kids not only risks their lives, but the lives of every infant and immune-compromised child.

    • Bridget at 4:40 pm

      I actually just read an article today that says you can give your child the MMR after six months if you’re concerned they’re going to be exposed (i.e. if you’re traveling abroad or live in an area where there’s an outbreak, like in California), but you still have to give it again at 12-15 months because the immunity doesn’t quite “take” earlier, due to some of the mother’s immunity still being present in the child. Check with your doctor, obviously, but it might be something worth asking about 🙂

    • SMH at 10:08 pm

      I used to feel that way, but as time went on and I realized my children’s natural immunity is stronger than I gave it credit for, I stopped worrying about it so much. Worrying in itself can cause illness and disease. I now have 6 children of various ages… the oldest will be 15 this year. Not only do we venture into society on a regular basis and my children attend public school, but we have also never had to deal with any of these “preventable” diseases despite being exposed to a couple. My children rarely even catch a cold. Naturally strengthening your child’s immunity through nutrition and eliminating toxins in the home, food, and water supply will take you much further than a boat load of vaccinations.

  43. Lisa at 10:43 am

    Love this and totally agree with you. I have my kids vaccinated and I did it working with my doctor to spread them out one at a time every week to not overload my kiddos. Thank you for saying this because I totally agree.

  44. Heather at 10:44 am

    It is really upsetting that people aren’t getting vaccinated. For some reason my rubella immunity wore off and I didn’t find out until I was pregnant. If I had contracted the measles, my baby would have had severe birth defects. I will be getting a booster when I am eligible. So scary! Vaccinate!

  45. Kathleen at 10:53 am

    One of the things that a lot of people don’t realise is measles is highly, *highly* contagious. This is what makes it so dangerous.

    From the CDC website:
    Measles is a highly contagious virus that lives in the nose and throat mucus of an infected person. It can spread to others through coughing and sneezing. Also, measles virus can live for up to two hours on a surface or in an airspace where the infected person coughed or sneezed. If other people breathe the contaminated air or touch the infected surface, then touch their eyes, noses, or mouths, they can become infected. Measles is so contagious that if one person has it, 90% of the people close to that person who are not immune will also become infected.

  46. melissa Jenkins at 10:57 am

    Yea Like this bullshit you just posted!! Wow! You should do YOUR research!! Dr Wakefield study has not been “debunked” and has been replicated like 17 times in other counties, oh and by the way, he didn’t say it CAUSES AUTISM, he said there might be a link! And also, if you don’t know what actually classifies autism, it is a list of symptoms that are ALL possible side effects listed on your precious vaccine label!
    Also, how scary you mentioned measles can be…those numbers are taken from a “whole world” statistic, and not all lifted that died were even children. Measles is a very mild disease, Pharmaceutical company’s have scared you into thinking otherwise! Look up the graphs, measeles were declining before the vaccination was even given. how about we try feeding our kids proper nutrition to boost their immunity, instead of loading them with yet another chemical!
    Yes, some kids cannot have the vaccines, thank god for that, as it would only add to their problems!!

    • Melissa at 11:27 am

      Ummmm what… that quack who wrote that up has lost his medical license. .. and retracted his statements as well. Please do share this factual information that you are stating.

    • Lauren at 4:02 pm

      Wakefield is also not even close to the only one. And autism is most definitely not the only possible “concern.” I see more of a problem with uneducated parents who jump on the one study that was done that was supposedly debunked as their reason for ignoring any other studies. Everyone automatically responds to my choice to not vaccinate with, “you know they proved that vaccines don’t cause autism, right?” YES!!!! I work with kids with autism, I’m not concerned with that. It’s the other side effects–seizures, loss of bodily control, DEATH that concern me…

    • S at 4:39 pm

      Then why did he lose his medical license? Waiting for that explanation.,,

      • Susan Czarnecki at 5:47 pm

        The Vaccine-Autism Connection: A Public Health Crisis Caused by Unethical Medical Practices and Fraudulent Science
        Dennis K Flaherty⇑
        Dennis K Flaherty PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical and Administrative Sciences, University of Charleston School of Pharmacy, Charleston, WV
        Correspondence
        : Dr. Flaherty, dennisflaherty@ucwv.edu
        Abstract

        In 1998, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, a British gastroenterologist, described a new autism phenotype called the regressive autism-enterocolitis syndrome triggered by environmental factors such as measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccination. The speculative vaccination-autism connection decreased parental confidence in public health vaccination programs and created a public health crisis in England and questions about vaccine safety in North America. After 10 years of controversy and investigation, Dr. Wakefield was found guilty of ethical, medical, and scientific misconduct in the publication of the autism paper. Additional studies showed that the data presented were fraudulent. The alleged autism-vaccine connection is, perhaps, the most damaging medical hoax of the last 100 years.
        MMR vaccine regressive autism Wakefield

  47. mom2abubbleboy at 10:58 am

    My son is a bubble boy – he can NOT receive any vaccinations or it will kill him. He relies on “herd immunity” which means the people around him being vaccinated to protect him. He has had Rotavirus twice which there is a vaccine for and ended up on life support each time. It was by the grace of god that he survived. I really wish more people were well informed and considered how their actions of not vaccinating affects other members of the community. People need to not only be responsible for themselves but to their fellow citizens.

  48. tessamartinuk at 11:02 am

    When my youngest was 2-3 weeks old a little boy who lived near us died from having measles. My oldest was 3 and had had all her vaccines, my youngest was a brand new newborn baby, too young to get her vaccinations. I was absolutely terrified. Now I realise some people don’t agree with the MMR, well guess what there are 3 seperate vaccines, 1 for measles, 1 for mumps and one for rubella. So if you don’t want to have the MMR, then vaccinate your child individually. Don’t put other children at risk. The little boy who died couldn’t be vaccinated, all of his siblings were but he had an allergy to eggs so was unable to be vaccinated.

  49. Karen at 11:03 am

    Good stuff. My husband and I were just talking about this. Good job!

  50. Shannon C at 11:05 am

    So I have nothing against your feelings I have three children and two are fully vaccinated my third well he’s only 4 months and no I haven’t stuck him yet I am on the fence about that. My reason behind it isn’t autism I believe that u are born with that, but on my sons 4th bday not the exact date he had to get the bit load of shots and lets just say he got very sick not going to go into detail but 30 min after a shot something after going in completely healthy. Months following my perfectly healthy niece goes in for her kinder shots normal kid happy out going, so they give her the shots an a*s load at this point, the next day she got a 105 fever sezurs the doctors say oh that’s normal she’ll b ok in a couple of days. The same day she ends up in the hospital on ventilatiors and is now for ever brain dead. This once perfectly healthy little girl is gone forever because they did what ur suposse to do, or the government try’s to scar the s**t out of you, but have u ever looked at the ingredients some are toxic very toxic and others are big heart grinded up monkey intestines, and they are only 50 percent effective look it up this is all off the CDC website. So I haven’t fully made my choice but if I do it’s because u can’t always trust people or bribe what they say is 100 percent the truth. Also with the out break people who were vaccinated had it to the guy who brought it from his so called vacay was also vaccinated.

  51. Paige at 11:06 am

    You are seriously misinformed. Vaccinating my child does not protect your child unless your child is also unvaccinated. The only people at Disney who caught the measles were people who were also unvaccinated. If being a good Mama Bear to you means injecting your children with a ton of diseases, harmful chemicals, and yes, even aborted fetal tissue (i.e. dead baby) then by all means do so. Those of us who believe being a good Mama Bear means to NOT inject our children with that disgusting crap have accepted the fact that we are putting our children at risk for things like the measles but protecting them from a lifelong battle with autoimmune disorders, Autism, and too many other ailments to count. I want those who do vaccinate to understand that UNVACCINATED PEOPLE ARE THE ONLY ONES AT RISK. So you injected the Measles into your child already as a baby? Great! If my child catches it them your child will not! We have weighed the pros and cons and the risks of vaccinating are far greater than the risks of not vaccinating.

    • joe at 11:31 am

      Some kids can’t get vaccinated, because they have known conditions that make it unsafe for them. And in any case, the measles vaccine is effective about 97% of the time, so if your measly a-hole kid wipes his spit-covered hands on a hundred non-idiots, probably “only” three will get a life-threatening illness. Without commonly available vaccinations, it would be much more.

    • Jodie at 1:21 pm

      Actually, 6 of the 34 cases at Disneyland were people who had been vaccinated: http://www.wired.com/2015/01/vaccinated-people-get-measles-disneyland-blame-unvaccinated/

      You not vaccinating your children DOES affect my children and everybody else’s. Some children cannot be vaccinated and vaccines are not 100% effective. I realize that facts will do little to persuade you but the only way your unvaccinated child does not pose a risk is if you move to a deserted island.

    • NinjaD at 1:43 pm

      You say “… and yes, even aborted fetal tissue (i.e. dead baby)” – this is demonstrably false. Even the National Catholic Bioethics Center, which is adamantly anti-choice, knows this. http://www.ncbcenter.org/page.aspx?pid=1284

      “What does it mean when we say that these products are made in “descendent cells”?
      Descendent cells are the medium in which these vaccines are prepared. The cell lines under consideration were begun using cells taken from one or more fetuses aborted almost 40 years ago. Since that time the cell lines have grown independently. It is important to note that descendent cells are not the cells of the aborted child. They never, themselves, formed a part of the victim’s body.”

      “What do I do if there is no alternative to a vaccine produced from these cell lines?
      One is morally free to use the vaccine regardless of its historical association with abortion. The reason is that the risk to public health, if one chooses not to vaccinate, outweighs the legitimate concern about the origins of the vaccine. This is especially important for parents, who have a moral obligation to protect the life and health of their children and those around them.”

      You then go on to say “UNVACCINATED PEOPLE ARE THE ONLY ONES AT RISK.” – again, no. Vaccines are not 100% effective. Those who choose not to vaccinate are, whether they want to admit it or not, relying on the benefit of herd immunity provided to them by those who do choose to vaccinate. You’re welcome.

  52. Charly at 11:09 am

    Yeah!!!!! Love this post. Thank you for being a responsible member of the community- it takes a village.

  53. Alisha P. at 11:10 am

    I agree 2,000%. Thankfully, none of my children have cancer. But I do. I’ve lived with cancer for almost 5 years now. (Actually today is the anniversary of getting the diagnosis.) I rely on my children and family’s herd immunity to keep me healthy. Also, my youngest child is 2-years-old. (November) I wasn’t able to give him much of an immune system. He’s up-to-date on his immunizations. But he still gets sick very easily. In 2013, I had to call 911 because his fever was 106 rectally even after giving tylenol and ibuprofen. He’s caught so many lung infections/RSV that his lungs are damaged and now has asthma. He NEEDS herd immunity. He needs people to stay at home when they’re sick so he doesn’t end up on a vent in ICU just because we went out to eat one night and someone touched him with their snotty hand.

    • fuchsiasky at 12:13 pm

      Is there a like button?

      My husband is fighting cancer. Our immunity protects him. If he got measles he would die.

      Congratulations on your 5 years! That is amazing.

  54. Stephanie at 11:10 am

    This is great! Thank you for having the courage to speak out! I don’t know when society turned from trusting medical professionals to feeling like they are out to get them! And the fact people say “it’s all about the money” well you can research and see that vaccines make up 13% of a large pharma company’s income. 13%! Granted that’s a lot of money but not enough to risk handing out a potentially dangerous drug. Clearly they know it’s safe. My other favorite fact about vaccines is that the developers often give them to their own families first! Respinsible research is so important, so many seemingly reputable websites actually have any-vax motives!

  55. Heather at 11:15 am

    My kids got the MMR shot, but I was scared to death. And, it wasn’t Jenny McCarthy that scared me, it was my long time friend with a severely autistic child. He was a normal, thriving 18 month old, until he got his his first (and last) MMR shot. He stopped talking, stopped walking, stopped making eye-contact and it has been a nightmare ever since. She AND her doctor know that it was a reaction to that multi-vaccine shot.

    Yes, this reaction is statistically very rare, but my friend would trade her life to be able to have her son have the measles instead of……. special schools, strict diets, daily therapists, impossible to find child care, a kid with zero friends, watching his unbearable frustration, coping with the debilitating strain on her marriage, the guilt of neglecting the younger sibling, the guilt of feeling like “she did this to him”, and the knowledge that he will never be able to care for himself and what that will mean after she dies.

    I’m not anti-vaccine, but you all are making it out to be an easy, no brainer, drop in the bucket decision, and that’s an insult to those who have been permanently injured by vaccines. (In the U.S., in 2014, 365 people were paid over $202 MILLION from pharmaceutical companies that either settled or were found guilty of vaccination injury in a court of law.)
    http://www.hrsa.gov/vaccinecompensation/statisticsreport.pdf

    • Delyn at 3:04 am

      Amen Heather. I have a niece whose four year old son who has experienced this identical thing. You are a fresh voice in this discussion. Thank you.

    • Tim F at 1:43 pm

      You know that autism typically manifests at about the same time as the vaccines are scheduled. You can also correlate schizophrenia with graduating college.

  56. EE at 11:16 am

    YESSSSS thank you, BS!!!!! It’s important to have discussions about this for the people who may be “on the fence” about this issue. You may never convert the anti vaxers (there’s not a lot of discussion that can be held when both parties disagree on what is considered a “credible” source) but I know there are people out there who needed to read this. I’m glad you stand with science. People don’t realize how much more dangerous the actual diseases are, even IF they were right about vaccine reactions (which THEY’RE NOT). I’m sorry for all the sanctimommies that are going to attack you for this.

  57. Casey Quinlan (@MightyCasey) at 11:20 am

    A-freakin’-MEN!

    I had measles when I was 9YO, during the depths of the Cold War (months after the Cuban missile crisis), after there was a nuke drill on the US Navy air station where I lived at the time, Miramar.

    I was at school, off post, during the drill itself, so I wasn’t in the hangar where hundreds of Navy family members – wives, kids, including my mom and my little sister – were amassed in a practice round of “what if?” However, one of the kids in that heaving scrum was found, within a day or so, to have measles. And therefrom ensued an outbreak.

    This was 2 years before the measles vaccine came along in 1963. My sister got the measles, and then, a couple weeks later, so did I.

    What I still, 50+ years later, clearly remember is being sicker than I ever have been, including the time I had the flu in 1980 (which was no party either, lemme tell ya). My temperature spiked to 106ºF that afternoon, and – on the Navy Clinic’s phoned instructions to my mother’s frantic call – my mom proceeded to plunge me into a tub full of cold water and ice cubes, where she physically held me for several minutes. She then wrapped me in wet sheets – also cold – and put me in bed.

    I remember having M.C. Escher fever dreams, which closely mirrored the going-under-ether visions I’d had when I was 4YO, being put under for a tonsillectomy. My mom hovered for hours. The fever broke around midnight. I slept, and spent the next few days recovering.

    With my adult knowledge, I’ve known for decades that my mother saved my life that day, and that fate/luck/whatever saved me from brain damage. 106ºF fevers can Vegematic a human brain.

    Listen, fuckwits, VACCINATE YOUR KIDS. For measles, and for all the other standard stuff. Unless you’re really into gambling with their g*****n lives.

  58. Alecia at 11:27 am

    Just also remember that some people cannot vaccinate due to allergies and such. Our family is one of those families. We don’t believe in the autism link, but we cannot vaccinate due to the shots making us ill.

    • DigDeeper at 2:18 pm

      Can u tell everyone else that illness from vaccines can be delayed and cause long term chronic conditions? Or immediate allergic reactions are the only things that get attention?
      Wake up people, Cancer is the most common thing these days……don’t you see what’s happening? Bad ingredients in food is one cause, but bad ingredients injected directly into your bloodstream, come on! That is not the natural path(ogen) these diseases take. And you think man can fool nature?!? You aren’t eradicating disease, you’re eradicating the human race.

  59. Heather at 11:31 am

    Here’s a “credible” source: From 1988 to Jan 2015, The US Department of Health and Human Resources reports 14,531 vaccine injury claims and 1,153 vaccine death claims. 3,895 (or 27%) were compensated with settlements or have been able to prove their case in court.

    Can you imagine your child DYING from the DTP shot? 692 sets of parents can. That’s how many kids have DIED from that shot since 1988. Yes, that is still a miniscule percentage compared to the number of vaccinations that have been give in that time. BUT, if that doesn’t give you pause, as a parent, that is concerning.

    • Jill at 12:17 pm

      Settlement doesn’t necessarily mean the claim was proven. It often means that the insurance company found it cheaper and more expedient to pay the claimant off than go to court, since even a court victory for the company costs time and money. Even “prove their case in court” means “convinced a jury beyond reasonable doubt,” not irrefutable proof. Can I imagine a child dying from DPT? Yes. But I can more likely imagine them dying from diptheria. From the CDC: “The U.S. recorded 206,000 cases of diphtheria in 1921, resulting in 15,520 deaths.” That’s just one of the diseases vaccinated for in the DPT.

    • Nicole at 12:24 pm

      3895 compensatable claims out of how many vaccines given? 1153 deaths out of how many vaccines given?

      There are 72.4 millions children under the age of 18 in the United States currently. Let’s assume 70% have been fully immunized. That’s around 50 million kids. That doesn’t even include the fully vaccinated adults that would be included in this 27 year span, but let’s just stick with the 50 million to make the math simpler. So, 1153 deaths out of 50 million…that’s 2.3 deaths per 100,000, or 1.15 per 50,000. I’m sorry, but that’s a g*****n medical miracle. I’m not trying to underscore the pain and suffering of a family losing a child or loved one because of a vaccine injury, not at all. But please understand that this is an incredibly low number of incidences considering the widespread use of these vaccines.

      The chances of an average person getting hit by lightening in their lifetime are 1 in 3,000. Basically, you are over 16 times more likely to get hit by lightening in your lifetime than dying from vaccine injury. But I’m sure you still go outside in thunderstorms. You are 4 times more likely to die in a car accident (1 in 10,000) but I’m sure you still drive. Vaccines are one of the safest things around.

      • autisticmomma at 2:15 pm

        Seriously need a like button. Go Nicole!

      • K Alo at 11:28 pm

        Nicole – I think you just gave the stats for the likelihood your kid will catch measles, one and two, the stats for getting some kind of complication from measles. or dying from the measles. Thank you for pointing out how unnecessary it is to vaccinate against measles. And ” I’m not trying to underscore the pain and suffering of a family losing a child or loved one because of a [measles complication], not at all. But please understand that this is an incredibly low number of incidences considering the widespread [cases of measles]. and I’d rather take my chances with measles (I did have them after all and so I know) then with the vaccine.

        • Nicole at 12:25 am

          Here, read: http://jid.oxfordjournals.org/content/189/Supplement_1/S4.full

          Measles complications are no joke, and, with varying severity, affect 30% of patients. In an un- or under- vaccinated community, the chances of catching measles, a highly contagious disease, are 90%. In a fully vaccinated community, the chances are still 3-5%. So, yeah. Measles, measles complications, etc., are a much bigger threat than vaccine injuries. And it’s very sad to think that this disease was all but wiped out a few years ago, but has come roaring back with a vengeance because people would rather have a disease than try to prevent it. That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me.

          During the 2013-2014 influenza season, there were 96 pediatric deaths in the United States. But, the flu “isn’t that bad”, so a vaccine is pointless, right?

          • Nicole at 10:21 am

            SMH, I am unable to reply to your comment regarding the doctors agreeing that measles is not likely to turn deadly. No, a person is not likely to die from measles, but they definitely could die from the pneumonia that develops (1 in 20) or maybe they just get encephalitis (1 in 1000) that can cause serious enough convulsions to leave a person paralyzed, deaf, blind, mentally handicapped, etc. So, no, a person may not die, but they could end up with a very poor quality of life after having the measles. But, no matter what I say, I know it won’t matter to you.

      • Nicole at 12:42 am

        Ooh! I found hard data here: http://www.hrsa.gov/vaccinecompensation/statisticsreport.pdf

        Page 7-8 shows 2,236,678,735 doses of vaccines given 2006-2013 with 1,668 compensable petitions. 1 in 1,340,935 with a compensable vaccine injury. There have been 1153 deaths reported since 1988. Even if all those deaths occurred during that 2006-2013 period (which they likely didn’t), that’s a fatality rate of 1 in 1.9 million. You have a better chance of winning the lottery than dying from a vaccine-related injury/complication. Seriously.

        Vaccines are the greatest medical achievement of our time.

        • RichCoulter at 11:16 am

          Vaccines are the greatest propaganda acheivement of our time followed in a distant second by allopathic cancer treatments. Antibiotics are the greatest medical acheivement of our time and we’re messing that up via factory farming.

          When you look at vaccine injuries you’re only considering immediate and severe injuries. Not a single study exists comparing overall health outcomes between fully vaccinated and fully unvaccinated children, not a single one. Suggesting that vaccinating in the long-term is a better overall health choice for children living in developed countries is not a scientifically supported statement.

        • K Alo at 10:33 am

          But Nicole – isn’t that EXACTLY what pro-vaxxers are saying? That they’d rather have a child who is autistic or vaccine injured than DEAD??? So, the pro-choice vaxxers are saying the same thing… they’ve done the research and made the decision that they would rather take the chance of their child being injured from the measles than of being injured from the vaccine. These are all judgement calls. The parents who choose not to vaccinate did not make the decision lightly… they are beefing up their child’s immune system on a daily basis so that if their child DOES come in contact with the disease, their chances of being injured will fall DRASTICALLY. That is why most parents are not afraid of the actual disease. It’s not because they forgot what the disease was like. For pete’s sake, I HAD the measles, as did all my siblings. I know exactly what I’m exposing my kids to.

          • Nicole at 4:17 pm

            Choosing to not vaccinate is selfish, period. Non-vaxxers, pro-choice vaxxers, whatever you want to call them, are relying on enough other people to choose to assume the risk of vaccination in order to reduce the risk of communicable diseases spreading like wildfire throughout the population. Choosing to not vaccinate increases the number of hosts available for a disease to infect, thereby increasing the spread of the disease, thereby increasing the chances of an outbreak. Looking no further than the door of your own home is short-sighted. You live in a society where your decisions affect others. Act like you care.

      • Heather at 11:05 am

        Nicole, these are all great and logical points.
        But, when you watch a friend with a severely vaccine-injured child, and see how incredibly hard and painful life is for their entire family, you can no longer keep on the blinders. In the end, I chose to fully vaccinate for the greater good, but that was in NO WAY a no-brainer decision as so many of you are making it out to be.

        Tell me if, hearing a good friend say THESE words to you, over and over, wouldn’t give you pause:

        “I will never forgive myself, because I DID THIS TO HIM. I decided to take the risk of the shot -vs- the risk that he MIGHT get one of these illnesses, AND that he MIGHT be one of the few that has lasting or lethal complications from said illness. I chose to give him the vaccine that took away his voice and his smile and his human connection. And the most guilt I feel comes from the fact that I didn’t do one minute of research before making that decision.”

        • Nicole at 10:31 am

          I truly feel very sorry for your friend. I would tell her so, and also thank her for doing the responsible thing, especially since it had devastating results. And then I would do everything in my power to help her and her family find out the whys…why her child, what about his genetics, environment, lifestyle, whatever it may be, caused him to have a reaction when so many don’t. Perhaps finding out the why would prevent yet another family from experiencing the same devastation, and she may feel some relief from that. If she doesn’t know the why, hindsight is useless…she could have done all the research in the world in advance, but if she wasn’t aware that her child’s (insert reason for reaction here) would cause a reaction, the outcome would’ve been the same. Again, I’m truly sorry your friend’s child was one of these extreme rarities.

  60. hillary at 11:39 am

    I have a child with autism (my first born). I had him vaccinated. Did I vaccinate my second child? You bet your sweet a*s I did! I nevwr thought the vaccines caused his autism, but regardless, i vaccinated her for the exact reason you pointed out. Even if they had proven vaccines cause autism, I’d still have them vaccinated. Having an autistic child is better than having a dead or totally disabled child.

    As a child I developed encephalitis from the chicken pox. Silly chicken pox, it’s just a few itchy bumps- yea right! I couldn’t speak or walk for a month. I was lucky to not suffer any permanent damage. Pass the vaccines!

    • SMH at 10:26 pm

      WOW! Even if they had proven vaccines caused autism, I’d still have them vaccinated?! WOW! So basically you’re saying you’d choose 100% to give your child autism rather than risk your child being infected with an illness YOU BELIEVE to be fatal? Holy crap! I knew the media had people scared of these illnesses but I didn’t realize the depth of that fear. That’s insanity, I’m sorry.

      • FactsSolveProblems at 4:47 pm

        AMEN…Brainwashed is more like it. Can you imagine the money losses if everyone stopped vaccinating. It isn’t about the “vaccinations”, it is about how they are preserved. Until people realize the difference of the ‘number’ of vaccinations and how their preserved, and especially to infants. We stand against this argument to make people panic about getting sick in public. I don’t think they know how to solve this problem of preserving vaccinations or their in denial because of admitting how much damage has been done. Why there is enough stir-up on the subject that something will work in favor of improving vaccinations. American’s trust their vaccinations 100% while being manufactured in India is just astonishing to me. It is like trusting your kid’s welfare to anyone. Not all doctors are subject matter experts. You need to get 3 opinions before committing your health issues to one doctor. Do you homework and understand the exact problem before speaking out against why parents who have witnessed this problem of 1 out of 66 children have autism and not including other mental health issues like ADD. Yes, mercury in high doses and especially to infants can cause Neurological disorder.

        GET THE FACTS!!!!!!!!!!

        http://www.c-span.org/video/?309672-1/federal-response-rise-autism-rates

        • chrisw at 11:15 pm

          Mercury in high doses in infants may indeed cause damage, however there is no Mercury in any vaccines, be more concerned about the fish you eat, that is where Mercury resides, not in vaccines. Please get the facts..

  61. britt at 11:42 am

    Thank you for going there!!!!! It needs to be brought up! All these anti vaccine mamas get their panties in a bunch if anyone says ANYTHING. I love you and everything you stand for!

  62. CT at 11:42 am

    This disgusts me. A HUGE apology to the mothers whose babies have died or who have been rushed to the ER with blue lips and struggling for air like my baby did.
    Sad.

  63. skrappergirl at 11:45 am

    I LOVE YOU!!! I’m choked up and the tears are about to spill onto the keyboard. I have the child that CANNOT BE VACCINATED. I would give anything to have my baby girl vaccinated against the MMR. She had her first one. She had a massive allergic reaction to it. We are not sure what in it she is allergic too but it was so severe she cannot have the booster. On top of it….SHE IS ALLERGIC TO ALL ANTIBIOTICS. So the parent that doesn’t vaccinate against the MMR and then sends their kids to school (oh there are so many that send sick kids to school) has pretty much just signed my child’s death certificate.

    I live in constant fear when I hear about another Measles outbreak. Her titer’s show she is no longer immune. I would give anything to vaccinate my child. I would give anything to be able to give her an antibiotic to cure her strep throat. I don’t have that privileged.

    People don’t understand. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for speaking for us mom’s out there whose voice can’t be heard as loudly as yours. My daughter and I are truly grateful to you for it.

  64. Dorito Reiss at 11:50 am

    “But why on earth should you believe me? I’m just a stoopid mom in fat pants who still has baby brain three years after I was preggers.”
    YOU SAID IT!
    I’m still not vaccinating either.

  65. Cindie Anne at 11:51 am

    Love! My son is immune deficient. And has autism! Guess what, we knew he was autistic before the age for the MMR shot. He got his shot split in 3 given a month a part. I paid extra, but he is immune compromised so our Doctor split the shot in Measles, Mumps and Rubella for us and it was ordered and my child is immunzed, cause with his immune system, parents who do not vaccinate are a threat to him!

  66. Lyme Mom at 11:52 am

    I have a friend that had a perfectly healthy walking talking little boy, then he got the MMR…now he an autistic 5 yr old. I got my daughter the chicken pox vaccine and guess what…she still got them 6 months later…She has all her vaccinations but Im not completely 100% agreeable with the CDC…she now has lyme disease and has for 5 years, they (CDC) say 2 weeks of antibiotics and youre cured…well guess what??? its been 5 freakin years!!! and shes still on them because everytime we stop she gets sick 🙁

    • autisticmomma at 2:20 pm

      Sounds to me like you need a new doctor and there is something else going on. The CDC openly points out how vaccines don’t always take and that it takes significant time for your body to build immunities.

  67. Lee at 11:53 am

    I am a mother of two amazing and beautiful kids. My son just happens to have autism. He is fully vaccinated and will continue to receive his vaccinations on time and as needed. How he became autistic, I don’t know. Maybe he lost a genetic lottery? Either way, his vaccinations protect him from crippling diseases that were once all but eradicated. I will always advocate for his autism AND the complete vaccination of all kids who can get them. There is no reason to not protect your kids from crippling and debilitating diseases just because you fear a developmental disability that can be managed and sometimes triumphed over. There are worse thing than autism and shame on some people for making others believe there aren’t.

    • Lauren at 4:15 pm

      There are far worse things than autism, that can all be a direct result of a vaccine injury–death is one of them.

  68. Amanda at 11:55 am

    Bunch of garbage. Still not going to vaccinate, as is my right.

    • Tim F at 1:47 pm

      No problem. Just keep your little vectors away from public places. Otherwise you are recklessly endangering both your kids and everyone else’s.

      • SMH at 10:38 pm

        Be sure to also avoid vaccinated children for 6 weeks after injection as well as the unvaccinated children if you are truly that paranoid of illness…. because they CAN and DO shed. In fact maybe the vaccinated children should live in a bubble since their parents are the blatant germophobes.

        I really need to think this logic through…. okay… step 1.. avoid unvaccinated children, step 2 avoid newly vaccinated children, step 3 get vaccinations (which lower my child’s own natural immunity by forcing his/her body to protect itself and eliminate toxins/heavy metals) that may or may not protect my children from the filthy children in step 1 and 2. While at the same time making sure my own newly vaccinated children don’t go around any babies or immunocompromised individuals for 6 weeks! Got it! Makes perfect sense! Yeah, sorry sounds like a PITA to me. Maybe I’ll just give my kid a salad instead of MickeyDs

  69. Dana at 12:00 pm

    Exactly! I am allergic to the Pertussis vaccination and I get scared every time there is a whooping cough outbreak. The other thing that is frustrating is that newborns cannot be given most vaccinations right away so those non-vaccinated families put these newborns at risk too. I feel families that make this choice are no different from people that drive drunk or reckless, you are putting others lives at risk and should be charged as such.

  70. Tragoudi Arpa at 12:14 pm

    Every time the vaccination issue comes up, it’s always boiling down to the good of the many outweighs the life of the few.

    Sounds too much like Star Trek and Spock to me –not America.

    But I find it absolutely absurd that requiring all children to be vaccinated is great and to be promoted as the solution to everything, even though many children, while a “small percentage” of the total, are expected to be putting up with reactions and illnesses that maim or kill them so the majority of the group will be “protected.”

    This is the common “medical logic” always used for vaccinations. What is missing from the vaccination protocols and studies are detailed studies on every single child/adult that gets ill or has a negative result from having a vaccination. These are critical in determining why a medication that “generally” works is so horrible for some individuals. These kinds of studies would go a long way to bolstering confidence in the decision to vaccinate or not vaccinate. Everyone knows that with regard to every single approved medication there are some individuals who absolutely should never use that medication. Why aren’t vaccinations similarly documented and on a case by case basis, that information applied to individual patients in consultation with their doctors?

    It is too simple to state one-size fits all on vaccinations. It is just as horrible if your own little one has reactions or medical issues from a vaccination as it is for a child to get a disease. The disease can be very bad, but so can vaccinations. Also, not all vaccinations work properly even when they are used. This year’s flu vaccine is a case in point with protection levels only in the 25% range for the type of flu going around. So these things just don’t always work.

    A more complete understanding of the truth is needed.

    • Asthmatic at 2:24 pm

      Perhaps you need to read up on the CDC a bit more. Every vaccination is documented and every outbreak or symptom that occurs within a reasonable amount of time after the vaccination is documented. So before you jump down the CDC’s throats, read up on it. I’d currently be dead if it weren’t for vaccinations and all of the breakthroughs over the years. So sorry if I don’t support your logic.

      • Delyn at 3:18 am

        No, in fact every bad reaction from a vaccine is not reported, even when child got sick two days after vax, and was taken to ER, with fever and covered in red spots, they said it was not from the vax. So obviously was not reported.

  71. Britt Smith at 12:22 pm

    Dear mom who believes everything the CDC says I feel sorry for you and your children. Never stop asking questions, that’s what we try and teach our children, it’s called critical thinking and you know those drug ads constantly on the TV rebuking drug safety and giving compensation for strokes and cancer and other fun things? Well at some point the CDC and the food and drug administration said those products were harmless too…

  72. amyg1176 at 12:25 pm

    From one fully vaccinated family to another…..BRAVO. Well said, and you are very brave for doing it!! Thank you!!!

  73. Stop Blaming Us at 12:30 pm

    The measles “outbreak” is being spread by the shedding of live vaccines. Most of the kids who are getting it are VACCINATED. So, if that’s the case- vaccinating is what is spreading the disease. And that also means that vaccinations aren’t doing their “job”. I am so tired of hearing these outbreaks ( which really aren’t even close) be blamed on unvaccinated children. The media won’t tell you that this measles outbreak is not “wild”- it is “lab-made”. And they also aren’t reporting that most that have it are VACCINATED.

  74. Valerie at 1:09 pm

    Single antigen measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines are no longer available in the United States. Unfortunately, it’s the 3 in 1 or nothing.

  75. jenna at 1:09 pm

    Your post is also misinformation. The reliable source of the vaccine insert for MMR states autism IS a known side effect of the vaccine. I’m all for vaccines, but I am also for informed consent. Your post belittled families who have children injured by vaccines. The vaccine courts have paid out millions to damaged children who *gasp*, we’re diagnosed with autism after their vaccines. So be passionate about it fine, but stop contributing to the lack of science and facts, and maybe parents who are cautious about vaccines might take you seriously.

  76. AllieB at 1:15 pm

    We should write a bill and submit it to state legislatures. Children who are not vaccinated based on a personal belief should not be allowed into their local public schools. Non vaccinated children due to cancer, immune problems or other medical reasons should be allowed. There should be one public school per region to send the non vaccinated children. It would help prevent the children who aren’t vaccinated from spreading diseases through the general population. Also it would cluster all the children together. Would an anti-vac parent be willing to send their child to a school where all the other kids are similarly unprotected? Where one case of measles would literally take down the entire school? It would change the story. We can talk about it all we want, but until some of us are willing to stand up and say, no, we don’t want our kids in school with non vaccinated children. It’s isn’t a personal belief, it’s dangerous and risks the health of everyone around them. People should not be allowed to endanger their neighbors because they either don’t understand or they disregard the science. They are betting on our children being vaccinated so their kids will never get the diseases. Well, fine, it’s a free country, but education is a state run venture. The state can choose where to send the children in it’s service. Send them all to one school. Let the parents deal with the actual consequences of their choice.

    • thisislife83 at 2:56 pm

      That was one of the dumbest comments I have read all day, there are plenty stupid one’s above yours but this made me laugh. smh

  77. krissy at 1:20 pm

    Biggest pile of s**t ever!
    Good luck to the sheep le following your s**t

    • Asthmatic at 2:52 pm

      Very classy. I see your momma raised you to be a real lady and substantiate your claims.

  78. Sheryl Titone at 1:25 pm

    THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! My son was not able to have the pertussis vac because of life threatening allergies when he was an infant/toddler. He did get everything else, tho. He is 32 now, but, I still get frightened every time he gets a respiratory infection because he & his wife are world travelers & I worry what he might have come in contact with, disease wise. Now I have to worry about him right on our own home turf! My grandchildren have been fully vaccinated, but, they have friends who have been vaccinated for nothing. Just who do those parents think they are endangering my grandchildren because of their f*****g ignorance & stupidity?? My generation lived with all the diseases that have been eradicated over the years & we know full well the repercussions of them & as parents we were thrilled that our own children would never know them. These kids should not be allowed into the public school system. The government should set up other schools for the unvaccinated & let all those kids get sick & leave our healthy kids alone!

  79. FlgirlinWi at 1:31 pm

    I could argue with you but I’d be wasting my time. Instead I’ll feel sorry for all of you for drinking the koolaid & risking your children’s health, life & well-being by injecting toxic substances into them. I hope someday you will see the light.

  80. MOM with kids, too at 1:34 pm

    With THIS vaccine, I agree. However, there is a lot of research out there about the implications of the Varicella vaccine (Chicken Pox). Why are children as young as 8 suddenly coming down with shingles after having two sets of the vaccine? Are there side effects which are causing sterility/infertility later in life? These are questions that cannot be answered…why? Because the vaccine has not been around long enough. And YES these are scientific studies based on facts, not on parental opinions. For those vaccines that are truly solving a disease that was an “epidemic”, there should be no question. For those that are not, you need to step back and look at why it was created. MONEY. The vaccine creators (MERCK, Smith-Kline Beechham, etc) found a spot that they can MAKE MONEY. If they weren’t making millions of dollars (and spending millions as lobbyists in the federal government), I think parents would also be more willing to take care of it. YES, doctors make money off of administering vaccines. Find a dr you trust- they will tell you what they really think. And no, not every pediatrician feels that ALL vaccines are necessary. Yes, I vaccinate my children. Research. Discuss. And don’t put down all parents who don’t vaccinate. If your child can’t be vaccinated, then you DO need to be momma bear and protect them. These diseases have not been “completely gone”- ever. The risk has always been around, even with the vaccines. These outbreaks are not just happening because people are not vaccinating. They would happen no matter what. We are more aware of them because of the times we live in. Just keep that in mind.

  81. proudtonotvaccinate at 1:34 pm

    Too bad You cannot express a viewpoint without blinders on and using obscenities.

  82. Shane at 1:38 pm

    Great you’re speaking hypothetically about your children dying because of someone who didn’t vaccinate. Your kid won’t get the measles from my kid, even though we stopped vaccinating when he was six months old.
    Know why?
    Because the vaccination he got when he was six months old KILLED him.
    That’s not “get my panties in a bunch-you breathed cigarette smoke in my direction” what MIGHT happen, it’s a three foot coffin going into the ground.
    So you’ll have to excuse me for not vaccinating the remaining two kids. Sorry about the inconvenience.

    • Chris at 3:08 pm

      Shane, I’m so sorry to hear about your son. For parents like you, I do wish the venomously pro-vaccine side would at least retract their claws a bit in order to see that it’s not a one-size-fits-all no-questions-asked for every child. So many cite things like herd immunity and those who can’t get the shots, at the end of the day coming to the “greater good” conclusion. But I always think of children like yours who are ultimately sacrificed for the dogma of vaccination. I vaccinate. Every needle stick makes me sick to my stomach with worry for what reaction might happen, but I go along with it (with only one shot at a time every 2-4 weeks). I so wish we had both sides to the story, that we knew every thing to know not just about vaccines and how they work, but about the immune system, which we STILL don’t fully understand. I will always ride the fence, as I have many concerns about ingredients and how the shot fully bypasses the natural way the immune system works. But it drives me crazy to always be reduced to one who listens to Wakefield or McCarthy, and to be told the CDC and pharm companies have NEVER had conflicts of interests or never lied (Merck — found to have overstated efficacy of the MMR is the first to come to mind). I couldn’t care less about Wakefield and McCarthy, but I worry about BOTH risks that come with both vaccinating and not. It’s not an easy decision for many parents. It’s not black and white. We can scream, “But science,” all day long, but even science isn’t perfect. It’s been wrong many a time before — that’s how it advances. I hope we eventually reach a point where instead of hearing “more boosters” we get to hear “we were wrong.” Not necessarily to get rid of vaccines altogether, but to make them SAFER. Will never happen in my lifetime, but one can hope.

  83. Ken at 1:48 pm

    I feel dumber for having read this. Honestly. You chastise non vaccers for not researching the issue and then cite exactly one source who is completely controlled by Big Pharma. Do me a favor and look up CDC and Fraud in goodgle and let me know what you come up with.

    Well i have news for you…you spent a ton of effort to say how your kid can die from measles from my kid and cite the reason being to your kid has cancer. Well…i feel horrible about that but then you didn’t cite where there was a chance for death in any of the stats you posted. Well, i have news for you…150 people had measles in the US last year…any idea how many died? 0.

    Keep watching the news and the fear mongering over an ailment that is necessary for immune system development. While you are at it…when did you and every other adult in your family last get the mmr shot? Because immunity isnt forever…in case you were under any false pretenses about that. You may want to invest in a bubble too because there is waaay worse than measles that doesn’t have a magical toxic concoction for you to mandate that everyone else take.

    Oh…and that “fraudulent” study was replicated around the world no less than 4 times. You may want to research the topic from both sides before you spout garbage that you have no idea about. While you are at it…you may want to look into alternative cancer treatments so your kid has a chance at a long life. Gerson Therapy is one that i would recommend…but be forwarned…the fat slobs who run both quackwatch and snopes would say it is lunacy…..

  84. ta at 1:51 pm

    If my unvaccinated child.has measles your vaccinated child wont get it then, right???

    • Tim F at 1:53 pm

      Odds are about 90-97%, depending on the schedule and specific vaccine. In other words at least three and maybe ten out of each hundred kids your little vector meets could take the disease home. Plus measles hangs in the air for days. Most will never even know your kid was ever nearby. Then you have the kids with compromised immune systems, cancer patients, transplant patients and several other conditions that make it impossible or inadvisable to get vaccinated. You will almost certainly sicken them, and for no reason except that you cannot grok epidemiology.

  85. Proud mother of a son with autism and a cancer survivor at 1:53 pm

    As a mother of one child with autism and one a cancer survivor, I say BRAVO!!! I have all 4 of my kids fully vaccinated…why? The alternative when my child was going through cancer treatments was not an option. STOP BLAMING US, “The measles “outbreak” is being spread by the shedding of live vaccines. Most of the kids who are getting it are VACCINATED. So, if that’s the case- vaccinating is what is spreading the disease.” That’s a bullshit statement. As a mother of a child who was undergoing cancer treatments and couldn’t get vaccinated, I have a little more knowledge on the subject. Here’s the deal. I had two babies while my daughter received treatment. We had to take precautions when the young ones got their vaccines. Those precautions? Don’t let her touch their excrement. That’s it!!! So unless everyone is going around touching pee and p**p of other people at an alarmingly high rate, your theory is wrong.

  86. aryyogeswary at 1:56 pm

    FYI, here in Indonesia (about 8700 miles away from US) there are also people who are against vaccinations. Namely because they claimed it is useless and extremists even say it should be avoided because (gasps) the Jews invented it and has been using it to sickened the good people in order to make themselves wealthy. This just goes to show what crazy theories people could come up with just because they don’t have the full understanding about how things are.

    I grew up in a better part of Indonesia, and I remember my mum managed to get us all the vaccines needed. Nevertheless, there are parts of Indonesia where these vaccines would be hard to come by, or even affordable. And with the poor health service, the vaccines could potentially save their lives. I can’t grasp why people in US would refuse a vaccine so readily available. Beside, it is not fair either. I have to re-do all my vaccines to apply for US visa, and here the US citizens stubbornly insist they don’t have to do vaccines.

  87. canuck57 at 2:00 pm

    I was never vaccinated for measles…or mumps for that matter. However, I did contract both when I was little, as were dozens of other kids in my neighborhood. I missed 2 days of school, and I was then immune. Not vaccinating against simple cases like this does not mean instant death.

    I was vaccinated for polio, smallpox, diphtheria, and tuberculosis though, for obvious reasons. You cannot really get these diseases and guarantee yourself survival; hence, immunization is definitely recommended, and common sense is mandatory.

  88. rearnakedchoke at 2:03 pm

    You’re so ignorant. And you will continue to be. You come near my kid and I would choke you out. You probably didn’t know that the vaccinated can be carriers. Ever hear of shedding? Plus, you’re under the assumption that vaccination equals immunization. It does not. Also, herd immunity has been proven to be false on a number of occasions.

  89. manddee at 2:22 pm

    I may not have a doctors degree, and I am not a scientist, but I am a mommy who knows her child. After my healthy happy baby received his first set of shots he developed an extremely high fever of 104 and just laid in his crib completely unresponsive. When I called my Pediatrician, I was told a high fever was normal and I was just an over reactive new mommy. When I took him for his second set of shots the same thing happened, yet again the doctors told me it was normal. My husband and I thought for sure we killed our child by trying to protect him. He has no allergy to eggs, but yet these highly toxic vaccines was doing harm to my child. When i expressed my concern to my doctor I was given all the scientific information of the vaccines protecting my child, the need to protect other children and all that other medical bull. But here’s what i know, my child didn’t blink, my child didn’t smile, laugh or cry. He just stared off into space and didn’t acknowledge anything. That’s what I knew for 2 days, and that is why i don’t vaccinate. Those vaccines did something to my child and i did not need a medical degree to see that. Luckily, he recovered after about a week. Because for all the doctors words, medical knowledge, and pamphlets it did nothing to ease my concern that i did something horrific to my child. That is my experience with those pesky minor side effects that you mentioned and BTW one of those minor side effects is death. ..And, yes I know all doctors and pharmaceutical companies say their vaccines are safe, but didn’t they say that about cigarettes years ago too?

    • SmartaMama at 2:36 pm

      So sorry you went through this:( Hope people open their eyes and start looking into the facts instead of repeating the old song about safety, herd immunity and saving the world.

    • Tim F at 2:00 pm

      If you only want anecdotes, we could spend the next six years hearing from parents who watched their children die, go blind or suffer permanent brain damage from preventable illnesses. Each parent just gets one paragraph.

  90. Sherrel Walborn at 2:25 pm

    I am a grandmother and did vaccinate my children. However, my problem is not with the debate of whether to vaccinate or not but with your language. Do you eat with that same mouth that all that filthy language comes out. I would think that if you really want to make a difference, people would take you more seriously if you could use more facts and a whole lot less profanity. If you are educated enough to write a blog, you should have enough language skills to write without all the profanity.

    • SmartaMama at 2:33 pm

      Her language gives out her high intellegence and knowledge;)

  91. SmartaMama at 2:27 pm

    Dear Mom, who vaccinated….Good for you! Have a nice life! Sorry for your kids:( You’re so narrow-minded, hope it works ok for you!

  92. Heather Keet at 2:37 pm

    I love this. I run a home daycare and let me tell you, you can have your opinion…until you risk other lives. I am an infant only home and most of my kids can’t be vaccinated yet. I am relying on the other kids in the neighborhood to be vaccinated.

    Stop being selfish people! Vaccinate your child and help those who cannot.

  93. Marie at 2:46 pm

    Just a heads up, a child who receives any vaccine will actually shed the virus for up to 30 days, which means anyone who comes in contact with a recently vaccinated child is at risk to contract the virus. As far as the debate goes, my problem is that an MD is not given as much vacccine education as one might think. To me it would make sense to have a few classes solely on how a vaccine works, what is in them, and how the body responds. Unfortunatly if you look, they have a chapter or two in their curriculum. I had a neighbor who was an MD, and didn;t know some things I did through my research. I spoke to my pediatrician when my first was 2 months old, we decided to wait because the amount of mercury, and his weight was not a good mix….more research we decided not to, and you know what, when I asked my pediatrician who I LOVE, got an education on side effects, she was unaware of, and agreed with me that my child was at high risk for adverse effects.
    I am so sorry you and your family are bearing an unbearable weight with a child suffering from cancer. But please understand that those that don;t vaccinate are not to be hated, why should I have to live with a damaged child because of chemicals that are in fact carcinigans, and brain toxins, when my child had risks that were not discovered until 6 months of age, and by then was supposed to have had at least 4-6 shots. I acted in the best interest of my child, and have done hours of research on the CDC and FDA websites, and if you have 3-5 hours to spend to dig through all the pages, you find data that contradicts what the mainstream media and pharmaceuticals report, and what the MD’s regurgitate.

    Again I am sorry for your pain, and will pray for recovery and strength through this trial.

    • Chery at 3:52 pm

      Her kid doesn’t actually have cancer. Just more uneducated information she is spewing. She goes on to say in the next paragraph that her kid doesn’t actually have cancer. I quit reading at that point because the words blah blah blah cake to mind.

  94. mila at 2:50 pm

    Some very misinformed and biased author. That’s right you’re not smarter than they are, so be smart and do your own research, don’t be lazy and spread your misleading angry hate. Measles vaccine IS the cause of the “outbreak”. Vaccination DOES NOT EQUAL immunization. There is no immunizations available, only toxic vaccines that are called “effective ” as long as they bring your white blood sells to spike right after injection for a little while. Your white blood cells spike from ANY harmful bacteria or toxin we come in contact with, this does not immunize us at all.

    • Ellia at 9:38 pm

      Well, here’s an opinion from a trained and certified epidemiologist (aka me): your science is wrong and the author is right, if a little blunt. Everything you just wrote above, in all of your posts, would be marked as wrong on one of my immunology, bacteriology, virology, epidemiology, or pathology exams. I won’t say any more on the matter because your posts prove in and of themselves that you are completely uneducated and unfamiliar with the biological and chemical fields that contribute to medical study.

  95. Kerry at 2:57 pm

    While I definitely defend your right to post your thoughts and opinions, I have to somewhat struggle with the fact that you seem to believe everything the news or the government tells you. I could go online and find information to both support your claims and debunk your claims….and both would be from trustworthy sources.

    My children have received almost all vaccines however once they were older I started asking questions and the scary thing is….that the CDC cannot answer all of my questions and concerns about most of the vaccines out there.

    Most doctors and drug companies will also tell you that the majority of their drugs are safe, however I have very strange side effects from many of them. When you ask a doctor about it, they deny the drug could be causing it. When I talk to a pharmacist, they can find that the drug in question can cause those side effects, just not in many of the cases. Therefore the drug companies chose to not disclose them because 99% of the population won’t have those problems. But for those of us who fall within the 1%, it is a constant struggle to get anyone to listen and realize that these drugs no longer are life savers but life threatening. This could easily be the case with some of the vaccines as well.

    • mila at 3:10 pm

      That’s right, and it’s not 1%. Everyone has side effects, just in different moderation. And they’re not just side effects, they are the effects of the drugs, just not the desired type. Most doctors admit they don’t even read the ingredients on the vaccines, it’s not that they are so misinformed, many just pretend they are not to be held responsible. Why? Because the doctors don’t control the Pharmacy and drug companies, but vise versa. The drug companies and pharmaceutical agents study qnd bribe doctors with lux vacations, dinners, whatever it is that they like personaly. If the doctors start questioning the system, they are easily replaced. So that’s our system.

      Ps: I know quite a people phone used to be pharmacy techs and saw the harm and turned 180 degrees and went natural. Even a well known MD, who’s son could not be cured from MS, now has his own naturopath clinic, thanks to effective results from homeopathic approach ))

  96. Naomi Rogers at 3:04 pm

    Oh my. I have never been so appalled by anything I read before. And I vaccinate! Who are you to throw so much hatred out to the world? I used to adore your articles until I read this s**t. And your followers who are bashing other people, wishing death on innocent unvaccinated children..is really sickening. I used to wait for your articles to poo up on my newsfeed, but I will not support someone who is so foul mouthed and ill-mannered as you are. Give people enough time and their true colors show. You perfect thang you, pray to your God you need Jesus. Blessed be. I’m wiccan. Spread more love than hate. This could have been worded so much better that the stones you just casted.

    • rebecca at 2:52 pm

      I agree. Both sides of this argument- There are some truly hateful, hurtful things being said. Assumptions being made. Awful. Just awful.

  97. Steph at 3:05 pm

    The two sides of this debate will never be solved. Each opinion, does merit at least some hard facts. Not vaccinating your child indeed waves obvious side effects. (Many of which, or worse can be found in almost everything you come in contact with throughout your entire life.) Vaccinating your child can lessen the risk of contracting or spreading (provided you aren’t already a carrier) “said disease” or could aide in fighting it off. However, you risk the side effects.Since everyone has done a great job of siting facts throughout this thread, I will limit my fact finding to ONE. Disease. Is not a debate. It is a real fact. There are no fool proof ways of escaping sickness. This is one FACT everyone CAN and SHOULD agree on. As a living being you assume risks every single day you are still alive. Although I can agree with theories around the CDC not divulging everything, I, like most people know that there was a time, not long ago where medicine was not so modern and people lived much smaller life spans. Was medicine/ vaccines the sole reason for early on-set death in every case? Emphatically NO! However, it was a largess part of the problem. The only difference between vaccinating and not vaccinating is when you vaccinate, you take a scientific risk that you will lessen your chances of contracting or potentially spreading the disease. Sure, you could already be a carrier- but, you control what you can control and the more people who are vaccinated the less likely to contract, or ability to recover improves. Not vaccinating keeps you 100% safe from potential side effects and provides the opportunity to strengthen your immune system through everyday exposure, but fully risk contracting or spreading the disease and knowingly risking lives of others around you. Again neither is fool proof. To both sides of the coin, more than likely, no matter what you choose, you assume a great risk- this, totally dependent on your very own body. I agree wholeheartedly that It is a tragic thing to hear stories on both sides, or worse to have endured suffering or death because of either choice. On a final note, as mentioned above- I do find some uneasy truths mentioned above about CDC thought provoking… I thought to myself while reading all of the comments-“What if instead of thinking that vaccines were a sneaky trick….we thought that the real underlying problem is that we won’t ever stand together as a selfless community and so we will never actually cure any deadly disease? If the passion found in this thread could be put to an effective use… it would be incredible the things we could impact in the world.

  98. Lauren at 3:16 pm

    I DID think you were funny, and DID plan on reading your book, but not anymore. Your research is one-sided and all from one source. How about some of the side effects of the vaccines? Humor doesn’t help you out on this one, sorry.

  99. tyler at 3:22 pm

    You lose all credibility…swearing to try to get your point across makes you sound like a 5 year old throwing a temper tantrum. Grow up and worry about your own kids not everyone else’s. Choices YOU make every day can expose your kids to diseases but your still gunna live life your way. I think there are larger things to worry about in life than trying to get everyone else to vaccinate their kids.

  100. Savanah at 3:23 pm

    This just makes me so sad. I’ve always loved your site….until today.

  101. Karla at 3:24 pm

    Wow you are so intelligent that all you can do it use cuss words. So glad I wasted my time reading your blog. Do you think people who don’t vaxx trust the CDC. Maybe you should find other people who aren’t part of the big parma to do your research on. Oh and maybe we should talk to obama about letting so many foreigners into our country. Because I’m pretty sure those are the ones bringing back the diseases, not the unvaccinated. I think many parents just try to make themselves feel better for putting crap into their kids, by saying that scientist and doctors tell me their safe. BULL CRAP! Newsflash! The government, doctors, ect, aren’t really looking out for us.

  102. ML at 3:33 pm

    The fact that drug companies are completely financially protected from lawsuits resulting from injuries sustained using their vaccines is the scary part. The VICP is so bogged down in red tape, and keeps those who have been injured quiet is a travesty. The pharmaceutical companies don’t have any incentive to improve their drugs or ensure they’re safe when they don’t have to worry about being sued.

    You pro-vaxxer’s can hem and haw all you want about herd immunity, yada yada. My daughter had a severe reaction to her first round of shots, and the Doctors gave us a cold shoulder. Let’s play this out…I take both my kids and get them caught up on all recommended vaccines, cause I’m a terrible parent and wasn’t listening to or caving to social media pressure…My son handles it ok, maybe a fever, but nothing major, but my daughter develops some major health issue, (Encephalitis for example) that is obviously connected to the vaccines you are all up in arms about us giving our kids. As a parent, I have NO RECOURSE. Please, tell me again how I’m ruining your life?

    Everyone is so quick to trust the government and scientists…well the government can be wrong about a lot of things and the Nazi’s had scientitst’s…

  103. Gene at 3:35 pm

    Nice blog. Trying to reason with stupid people who listen to Jenny McCarthy and the like is a waste of time. Perhaps if we’re lucky the stupid people will die off. Go Darwin!

    • Terri at 2:32 pm

      I made my choice not to vaccinate with both our family doctor and immunologist backing me on that choice.
      Some people(children) just cannot and/or should not be vaccinated. The sooner people wake up and realize that if it were 100% safe then it would be legalized. But since vaccines are not 100% without risk, the government will not make it mandatory.
      I doubt there will ever be enough proof to say vaccines are 100% safe because immunity is just one of those things that alters between generations and strains of diseases change and mutate.
      So Darwin was right, those who adapt NATURALLY will survive.
      Not those that were forced to adapt and evolve.

  104. sandyinmd at 3:36 pm

    Thanks for this post. I was a youngster back in the days BEFORE the MMR vaccine (yup, I am old.). I had all three illnesses and both versions of the measles were dreadful. To make matters worse, I passed the measles along to my 3 month’s pregnant mother. Because of my mom having the measles at this point in her pregnancy, my baby sister was born deaf in one ear and has 60% hearing loss in the other ear. A few kids in the neighborhood were hospitalized. I hope people get their children vaccinated. Ask your parents (or grandparents) how bad it was when these illnesses were common place in the U.S..

  105. angela at 3:43 pm

    As a mommy who can’t have one of my triplets vaccinated due to medical issues, I LOVED this article!!!! I will be reading more for sure!! Thank you for being a big voice for us mommies that struggle!!

  106. Chery at 3:44 pm

    Sigh……immunocompromized children including those with cancer actually have a more rigorous vaccination schedule than healthy children. Children with cancer can be and are vaccinated and they are re vaccinated. It is rare a child who CAN’T be vaccinated and those children generally can not be vaccinated because of reactions to the vaccine not because of health issues. Also healthy and vaccinated children also carry disease so a measles outbreak anywhere isn’t communicated JUST by non vaccinated children. A vaccinated child can transmit it to a non vaccinated child.

    You should understand what you’re writing about before you write about it. You can find the suggested course and frequency of vaccinations for immunocompromized kids on I believe the CDC website.

    I say this as a parent of healthy vaccinated children.

    • Janice at 4:46 pm

      What kind of immunocompromised kids are you talking about? And what types of vaccines are you talking about??? At this point in time, most pediatric transplant centers do NOT allow live vaccines – like the MMR – for pediatric organ transplant patients – those kids must rely on herd immunity. For these families, a measles outbreak is utterly terrifying. Measles has a 30% mortality rate for children with liver transplants.

      I say this as a parents of a child on immunosuppression.

  107. Kristen at 3:50 pm

    Im curious why you have it out for a mother that didn’t vaccinate her kid when its estimated over 50% of the population isn’t up to date on their shots and can be a carrier for just about anything…

    There are natural immunities we are missing out on because of vaccines:

    Passive Immunity: I’ll use Chickenpox as my example: I’m really glad that I had the wild type – natural chicken pox and not the vaccine as a child. This means that I was protected and more importantly, my baby was protected when I was pregnant. it also means my babies were protected at a time they were the most vulnerable to having complications if they caught the disease (when it is too early to get the vaccine – under 1 year).

    Active Immunity: My kids will not get the chickenpox vaccine and I hope that they do come in contact with the disease so that they can develop their own natural immunity. My daughter will then be able to pass it along to her infants and her babies through breastfeeding.

    Wild type boosting: Your active immunity is maintained by being exposed to a virus. You won’t develop the virus if you’ve already had it but each time you are exposed to the real thing it boost your immunity. So when my kids come down with chickenpox, it will help me maintain my own immunity, just by being exposed to the virus again.

    Unfortunately without natural immunity, we have created a population that is now dependent on repeated vaccinations, leaving infants and the elderly vulnerable…..

    • Harriet Huestis at 5:47 pm

      MMR doesn’t require boosters. TDaP is the only adult vaccine that requires a booster every ten years and more frequently if pregnant or around infants. Adults go get your booster. But adults behind in their boosters will vaccinate when they become aware of the need especially when they are motivated by the arrival of an infant. Vaccine refusers are a far more serious problem precisely because they refuse and their refusal motivated by false beliefs.

      There is no such thing as natural immunity. You acquire immunity either by suffering through disease or by skipping the suffering part and being vaccinated. No matter how immunity is acquired, disease or vaccine, the antibodies are indistinguishable.

      Passive immunity is simply maternal antibodies passed in vitro and it doesn’t matter how they were acquired and the levels of maternal antibodies start to drop off in the weeks following birth until they disappear by about 6 months. Disease acquired do decline slightly later than vaccine acquired but however this protection is acquired it is hardly absolute and the infant may be at risk during outbreaks making important to keep up vaccination rates to prevent outbreaks.

      You chose a very poor example of chicken pox to demonstrate active and wild type boosting showing your lack of understanding. Once you have chicken pox you have it for life and the Varicella virus hides in your nerves and is kept in check by your immune system. It can become active later in life, usually in seniors, when your immune response is weakened. This is what is known as shingles and is said to be extremely painful. 30% of those who had chicken pox infections will have shingles. You can get a shingles vaccine to protect yourself.

      The problem with wild type infections, your active immunity, is that it carries all the attendant risks of the pathogenic disease including severe illness, disabilities and death that vaccines do not. Measles is especially dangerous with 10-30% requiring hospitalization, 1-20 having some form of permanent harm (vision or hearing loss, lung scarring, brain damage and more) and 1-3 in 1000 cases being fatal. Pertussis, whooping cough, is also known as the 100 day cough and it is known for breaking ribs in adults and killing infants. It was once thought that measles immunity was lifelong but while measles was endemic people were always reexposed. It is too soon to tell whether additional adult MMR boosters may be necessary, but since the vaccine is exceedingly safe this is a nonissue to the reasonable.

      • K Alo at 11:42 pm

        You are completely Incorrect. My mother got her lifetime natural immunity without getting the disease or the vaccine. She got it from being around her brothers who had the measles. One of my 5 brothers also got immunity from being around the rest of us who were symptomatic. No one in my family was every vaccinated. There is NO documentation whatsoever, even from the cray pro-fax side that states natural immunity is not lifelong.

      • KC at 7:52 am

        “The problem with wild type infections, your active immunity, is that it carries all the attendant risks of the pathogenic disease including severe illness, disabilities and death that vaccines do not.”

        Have you ever been on the VAERS database? Its only estimated that less than 10% of all serious reactions are reported. I dont have the MMR numbers handy, but take a look at the DTaP numbers and tell me that vaccines are 100% safe.
        http://vaxtruth.org/2015/01/pertussis/

  108. Mama Eps at 3:58 pm

    while people do shed virus after receiving the vaccine, they are not NEARLY as contagious as the people who have the real infection.

    Chicken pox wild type is associated with more zoster which is debilitating and the rates of zoster are much lower with the vaccine. I felt the same way about chicken pox vaccine until I saw kids die from it and children born deformed and damaged from mothers having it while pregnant.

    Get your advice from TRAINED experts as a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing.

    • Kristen at 4:02 pm

      Prior to the release of the vaccine most would contract the disease in childhood. The Herpes-Zoster virus would then remain dormant in the central nervous system through adulthood. Being exposed to children with Chicken Pox through various means would act as a natural booster to the disease and it would stay at bay. As we aged and were in less contact with the wild Chicken Pox virus it would sometimes be reactivated in the form of Shingles. This is why the Shingles vaccine is recommended for those that are 60+ years of age. Well now that the vaccine has been in circulation we have seen an increase in Shingles in those in their 20’s and 30’s, as well as some in their teens. This is because we are no longer being regularly exposed to the virus which acted as it’s own booster. This is why you see them now adding Varicella boosters to the recommended schedule. Its getting ridiculous. Everyone over 30 in entire family has had chicken pox along with everyone over 50 having had both mumps and measles- nothing damaging or debilitating here.

  109. mommy of 2 at 4:05 pm

    thank you for this! i totally agree i work with a little girl that has down syndrome and it effects her to yes she can have vaccinations but her immune system still is bad so she gets every little sickness and is sick a lot and its bullshit that others don’t think of children who can’t have a vaccine or can easily get sick from children who don’t get vaccinated i feel a lot of people who don’t vaccinate are actually not reading credible sources about it i think they are being led on by false accusations because most of my friends who don’t its because they think the CDC is lying or that they don’t want there kids to get autism! PEOPLE NEED TO LEARN THAT EVERYTHING ONLINE ISN’T TRUE!!

  110. Ron lechelt at 4:29 pm

    Being an 85 year old retired pediatrician I know the value of immunizations. During my life time I saw a boy die nearby from diphtheria and later in practice saw people die with a myriad of diseases. Several with measles and others with brain damage who did survive. Also saw children die with polio, meningitis, encephalitis, meningeal coccus sepsis, and even with chicken pox and mumps which we usually think are quite benign diseases. It is too bad that so many charlatans continue to spread false material about the risks
    of immunizations. Nothing In life is completely safe and yet we are willing to ride in cars and airplanes without thinking much about it. Then when some crackpot makes up lies such as happened in England we are only too happy to use it as support for putting out lies. Yes, there are some occasional adverse reactions but the immunizations are so much safer than letting your child go through life brain damaged from having experienced some easily preventable disease. Ron Lechelt, MD

  111. ING at 4:37 pm

    And I suppose you all believe in the “Big Band Theory” as well?