"In Ashland, OR, nearly 30% of kindergartners are exempt from immunizations because their parents object."
Read the article which got me fired up: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26291109/
WHAT? 30% of parents have an illogical brain??
"At its peak in 1958, before a vaccine was introduced, measles caused more than 763,000 infections and 552 deaths in the U.S. in single year, the CDC said."
This phenomenon makes no sense to me. First of all, why would you NOT immunize your child against the terrible diseases that killed millions of kids over the first part of the last century. Did the parents FORGET why families had 10 kids in the early 1900s - epidemics spread so fast and hit so hard that in order to keep the farm work under control, parents had to ensure enough kids would survive outbreaks.
Secondly, I have seen no scientific evidence where the risks are greater than the benefits of vaccinations. There is unproven anecdotal evidence that vaccines could be linked to autism, asthma, learning disabilities, etc. Until these links can be scientifically proven, an unvaccinated child is putting other people at risk. People are forgetting how terrible and destructive the actual disease can be, and focusing only on the risks.
A vaccine not only protects the individual, but a group that is vaccinated is more protected at fighting off the disease as well - the 'herd effect'. When a number approaches 30% unvaccinated, some of that herd immunity is lost and puts everyone at risk.
GRRRR. Just wait till I have my own kids.
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