Anti-vaxxers upset me. Like really upset me. Like my blood actually boils. But they seem to have taken the nation and media by storm in recent years. Why would you intentionally put your child and countless other children in danger? Well for a few reasons that don’t really add up. It’s actually quite scary to think that parents are endangering not only their children, but hundreds of thousands of other children as well by not vaccinating their children.

Parents are worried over “safety concerns.” Yes they’ve taken the truth of vaccines into their own hands and done their research (albeit very simple-minded research and not thoroughly done). Many anti-vaxxers are cripplingly worried their children will get autism if they vaccinate their children with the MMR vaccine (Measles, Mumps, and Rubella). This is a reasonable concern from the surface, but their reasoning is a proven bogus study. This British study on supposed correlations between autism and vaccines was found to be completely unfounded. It was was even retracted with the author being stripped of his medical license for falsifying results and information.

Vaccines have been proven to be safe time and time again. In the world of science, it’s very important for practitioners and scientists to be as specific and truthful as they can be. In the world of science, there’s often going to be a small percentage of uncertainty. Some people may have reactions to vaccinations and there may be side effects. But what’s most important is that vaccines are primarily very effective and protect your children more than they could ever harm. People fear what they don’t understand. You’re probably not a scientist and I’m definitely not one either. So, medical terminology and the uncertainty can be frightening, but that presents fear in place of logical reasoning, which is wrong and unfounded.

I’m not here to judge you because I don’t know you, but I’m being honest when I say not vaccinating your children is dumb. It’s ridiculous and unsafe and you are putting your children at risk. If you need proof, this measles study illustrates just how dangerous it is to not vaccinate children.

Vaccines are not only safe, (proven time and again!) but they’re really important. So next time you think you’re looking out for your children by not vaccinating them, think again. You could very well be starting the next epidemic of a disease and could actually be putting your child in harm’s way.