Dispelling Vaccination Myths

A good website offering information on vaccination and the myths promoted by antivaxers.

It's an interesting and well-documented read, which relies on fact rather than scaremongering. From the author's conclusions:

"The burning question is whether you are better off accepting immunization against polio, measles, Hib, hepatitis B, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis. There is a level of consensus, rare in either Science or politics, that ordinary folks and ordinary communities are better off accepting the standard immunizations. I think you can skip smallpox.

It is also the responsible thing to do, since by immunizing yourself and your children, you diminish your own chances of transmitting disease to those for whom the vaccine fails. This seems painfully clear from the small epidemics that have resulted from activism. You're being asked to assume some risk, for your own good and for the good of the community. Your neighbors have already taken the risk on YOUR behalf.

Read carefully. Despite some reasonable concerns, much of the rhetoric from anti-immunization parents boils down to, "I DON'T CARE if my kid infects YOUR kid." It's a harsh thing to say -- but it's the truth.

This would all seem totally obvious. But people often simply choose to believe lies that make them feel intellectually and morally superior. A "cause" lets you find friends and meaning. A certain percentage of people will decide to believe the radical anti-immunization activists for emotional reasons. That's human nature. But it makes for bad decisions, both public and private. And activists who leave movements that they learn are founded on lies are often tremendously saddened.

I am not an attorney, and I cannot advise you on what to do if you, or a family member, has been harmed as a result of these misinformation campaigns. I would be angry if my child was a non-responder, and then caught an infection from a child whose parents had refused immunization. I would be more than angry if my child became sick or died because I read something that the author knew to be untrue.

If you visit some (not all) anti-immunization sites, the links to organized, big-money health quackery are obvious. It is also easy to recognize other signs of pseudoscience -- beautiful rhetoric, claims of being spiritual and humanitarian, mud-slinging, lack of internal criticism, lack of original experimentation, lack of any real support from genuine scientists working in the areas, wild charges of massive corporate and government Conspiracy (no specifics), and occasional outright lying.

If you are a responsible critic of today's immunization policies, you should start demanding that others withdraw their clearly false allegations.

If you are an ordinary citizen, and you still want to believe these people, then that is your business.

But don't let your concern for your health, and the health of others, allow you to be deceived by disinformation artists."


http://pathguy.com/antiimmu.htm