Plug your ears and stick your tongues out, ladies and gentlemen. Today the topic is vaccines and the anti-vaxxers (people who support the anti-vaccine movement) are not going to be happy about the facts I’m going to lay out. Now, these facts are going to be coming from real, credible studies and not some Internet guru that went to Homeopathy University and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in herbal medicine, so he puts a doctor in front of his name on Facebook. These are real doctors and real scientists from accredited schools like Harvard, Princeton and Berkeley. Have I already offended you? Then you might not want to keep reading…
First off, you know it’s bad when the Center for Disease Control and Prevention has to have a link on their website that says: “Should I believe what I read on the Internet?” That link then leads you to more links which give you awesome, credible information from awesome, credible sources. The information from the World Health Organization should be credible, no? What about “The American Academy of Pediatrics? I’d say they should know their stuff pretty well. Actor and Academy Award winner Robert DeNiro? NO. NO. NO. He is an actor, not a doctor. Remember people, there is a healthy difference between a certified, Harvard graduated doctor and a Hollywood actor. Do not let fame fool you. Instead of listening to Mr. DeNiro, here are some real studies done on vaccines and autism.
In 2011, the Institute of Medicine conducted a study coming to the conclusion that “…convincingly supports no causal relationship…” between vaccines and autism (I’ll include links of these studies to the bottom of this page, have a look for yourself if you don’t believe me). Since 2003, the CDC has conducted nine studies and found nothing to connect vaccines and autism. Where did this “vaccines cause autism” rumor start? A Mr. Andrew Wakefield and a fraudulent study are to blame. The journal that had originally published Mr. Wakefield’s work retracted it after having tried to duplicate it many, many times saying “…it was utterly clear, without any ambiguity at all, that the statements in the paper were utterly false.” Notice how I never called him Dr. Wakefield? It’s because the General Medical Council in the U.K. retracted his medical license. If you still believe him after that, stop reading, because nothing else could possibly change your mind.
My next point kind of comes to this. Even if in some possible way vaccines can cause autism, is autism worse than death? There are so many diseases that can kill your child that we have pretty much eliminated until the ignorant anti-vaccine movement. Herd immunity no longer exists due to so many unvaccinated children and I have seen horrendous things on the internet being said by anti-vaxxers regarding autistic children. As the great Temple Grandin once said (if you don’t know her, look her up), “Different, not less.” Autism is nowhere near a death sentence, but being unvaccinated is almost a death sentence. The inability to see science instead of fear mongering lies is something that today’s society has been conditioned to. Starting to kill the anti-vaccine movement can only improve society. So, choose science over fear today, and vaccinate.
