Vaccines don’t cause autism. End of story. I’m just some dumb blogger though, so if you don’t believe me, that’s fine.However, I should point out that a certain organization with a particular interest in autism examined a number of studies involving 1.2 million kids and came to the same conclusion. That organization? Autism Speaks.Or better yet—and I know this is a crazy idea—let’s see what the scientists and doctors have to say about it. The American Academy of Pediatrics likes vaccines. So does the Centers for Disease Control.Do you know who doesn’t like vaccines? People who are wrong. And people who worry about falling off the edge of the earth into an abyss where dragons roam.I’m sure you’ll remember that just about six months ago the world was wrapped up in Ebola Fever. I don’t mean a literal fever, I mean a figurative fever. Everyone was concerned about ebola. In fact, a majority of Americans supported banning flights from countries with ebola.No word yet if people in Africa are supporting a ban of flights from the U.S. because of the recent measles outbreak here. And since ebola is only spread by coming in direct contact with bodily fluids, while measles is perhaps the most contagious virus known to man, a travel ban only makes sense using the “OMG Ebola!” line of thinking so prevalent here a few months ago.Anyway, one of the challenges to containing ebola in Africa was that many villagers refused to believe that it existed. Or if it did exist then they suspected that outsiders spread it intentionally. In the village of Wabengou, in Guinea, a New York Times article quoted the village chief as saying, “We don’t want them in there at all. They are the transporters of the virus in these communities.”The “them” that the village chief referred to? Doctors without Borders. They thought the very people who were there to help them were actually there to make them sick.In another village, the president of the local youth league resisted Doctors without Borders because, “Wherever those people have passed, the communities have been hit by illness.”Eventually, the villagers changed their minds though as they watched hundreds of their friends and family die. They began listening to the doctors and health workers and did what they told them to do, and the epidemic slowed and came under control.Before we laugh at those “backward” Africans and marvel at how they could possibly be so wrong about how the disease was transmitted, we should realize that a certain segment of the U.S. population has rejected science in a similar manner.Over the past twenty years the number of parents who have chosen not to have their children vaccinated has risen. They rely on junk science, anecdotal evidence, or opinions from people who are just plain wrong.And that’s how a disease like measles—which infected about three or four million Americans every year before vaccines practically eradicated it—has begun a comeback. The CDC reported 644 cases of measles in 27 states last year. There's currently an outbreak that has been associated with Disneyland. Want an e-mail every time I write something new? Type your email address in the box and click the "create subscription" button. I'm not going to send you a bunch of junk, and you can ditch me any time you want.
The irony is that while we think of ebola deniers in Africa as being backward, poor and ignorant, the vaccine deniers in the United States are often affluent, which we like to assume means they’ll make good decisions.Not so.Unfortunately, politicians don’t help bring reason to the debate. One political party in this country has consistently waged a war against science on issues ranging from climate change, to evolution, to the ebola response, and now to vaccines. Rand Paul, who’s anxious to be president, proclaimed, “The state doesn’t own your children” and that vaccines are a question of “freedom” when discussing the idea of mandatory vaccinations.Someone might want to point out to Mr. Paul that the Supreme Court ruled on the question of mandatory vaccinations 110 years ago. The Court ruled that the freedom of the individual is limited by a fundamental social compact that’s necessary for the common good, and that the state can encroach on personal liberties when the “safety of the general public may demand.”In other words, schools have every right to tell a parent that their kid can’t go to school if he or she isn’t vaccinated. Yet politicians in almost every state bend over backward to grant exemptions to vaccination rules for almost no reason at all. That’s obviously not helpful.And some of the same politicians listen to arguments about the potential toxicity of vaccines. However, mention eliminating toxic compounds from the atmosphere by curbing industrial factory emissions and see how quickly they change their mind about toxicity.It's time to stop treating science as opinion before more people die.PREVIOUS POST: How I (Don't) WriteIF YOU LIKED THIS POST I BET YOU'LL ALSO LIKE: The President's Immigration Actions, and Our Response to Them+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Hey, how 'bout you Share this post on Facebook and Like my page Brett Baker Writes.