Thursday, October 23, 2008

OK, Listen Up!

I've read and listened to one too many pieces about people who refuse to have their children vaccinated because they might get autism. So, if you happen to read this, ONE MORE TIME:

[rant on]

The idea that vaccines, or the preservatives in vaccines, cause autism, or ringworm, or fallen arches, is completely UNPROVEN. Studies done in both the U.S. and Europe have failed to find any significant correlation between vaccination and autism. The hysteria engendered in a world of missing information is just a harbinger of the coming Dark Age. We have become Super Barbarians, who channel surf with the latest technology, the world passes by our faces in a blur, of information about anything there is only a smattering, information incomplete, understanding illusory, enlightenment increasingly in the shadows.

The view that the only risk is measles (as my most recent piece argues) conveniently leaves out all those things that may be prevented by vaccines: diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), etc. And how about polio? Willing to give that a pass? Can you REALLY do that and look in the mirror and call yourself a fit parent?

[rant off]

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