Story in the New York Times: A new book defending vaccines, written by a doctor infuriated at the claim that they cause autism, is galvanizing a backlash against the antivaccine movement in the United States.
But there will be no book tour for the doctor, Paul A. Offit, author of “Autism’s False Prophets.” He has had too many death threats.
“I’ll speak at a conference, say, to nurses,” he said. “But I wouldn’t go into a bookstore and sign books. It can get nasty. There are parents who really believe that vaccines hurt their children, and to them, I’m incredibly evil. They hate me.”
Natural Selection
Those who don’t vaccinate their children will help bring them out of the gene pool by having them die off early. In a couple of generations, this controversy will all blow over.
R. Lee Hadden (These are my own opinions!)
Herd Immunity
Except due to herd immunity they’re putting every else’s children at risk also. It’s not a problem if only a few kids aren’t vaccinated but the trend to not vaccinate has become fairly widespread in some areas.
To control a disease you need not vaccinate everyone
To control a disease ~90 of a population must be vaccinated.
More information on Herd Immunity is available from the UC Berkeley School of Public Health (slide 31).
However to best prevent a disease in a specific member of the herd that specific member must be vaccinated.