Sadly, due to her high profile, there is a boatload of bad information propagated and entrenched across the net. And so when new parents start researching vaccinations for their budding bundle of baby, it’s impossible not to run up against it.

McCarthy’s vaccination-causes-autism bullshit is largely based on Andrew Wakefield‘s 1998 research paper in The Lancet medical journal that linked the MMR vaccine (measles, mumps and rubella vaccine) to autism. McCarthy and Wakefield, using their status and professional clout, have caused vaccination rates on both sides of the Atlantic to drop significantly. Unsurprisingly, children getting sick and dying of diseases that had virtually been eliminated in developed countries is on the rise.

Back in May, not long after Casey was born, Wakefield was removed from the medical register in the UK by the General Medical Council because “he acted in a way that was dishonest, misleading and irresponsible while carrying out research into a possible link between the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, bowel disease and autism. He had ‘abused his position of trust’ and ‘brought the medical profession into disrepute’ in studies he carried out on children.”

Even unable to practice medicine in the UK, I’m sure he still had (has?) supporters that believe he’s been wrongfully removed. Thankfully, the final nail in this fiasco has come by way of the Telegraph today:

The British Medical Journal has reviewed the six million word transcript of the General Medical Council hearings, comparing them with the findings of investigative journalist Brian Deer and the research paper in the Lancet.

Huge discrepancies have been found between what was in the children’s medical notes and what was published about them in the Lancet.

As a result, Dr Fiona Godlee, Editor of the BMJ, has accused Dr Wakefield of deliberate fraud and said the scare was a hoax on the scale of the Pildown man, which was for 40 years believed to have been the missing evolutionary link between ape and man.

She said: “The MMR scare was based not on bad science but on a deliberate fraud.” She added that such “clear evidence of falsification of data should now close the door on this damaging vaccine scare.”

In case this isn’t clear: vaccinating your child does NOT cause autism. It was a total and complete fraud!

I can totally understand why parents bought into the whole thing. Most of us grew up never knowing these diseases first-hand, thanks almost completely to the vaccines that were called into question. But many of us have met someone suffering from some degree of Austism, and that scares the shit out of us. It’s the devil we know and as new parents, the one that’s easier to guard against — just do nothing.

Coupling that with the truckload of new responsibilities, and the endless number of opinions everyone and their mother has on child-rearing, it’s easy to see vaccination as just a “choice”. But it’s really not. It’s a civil responsibility.

Of course, every parent should have the right to decide what is best for their child, and I don’t at all mean to suggest that the liberty of doing so should be taken away from them. However, when you refuse vaccinations, but then take part in the rest of society (schools, malls, public pools, etc.) you are leeching off the benefits of herd immunization that the rest of us have helped with. If enough people stop vaccinating, that herd immunization drops below its threshold and we all suffer.

And Jenny, my heart goes out to her and her kid. It’s tough, and I’ve no doubt that finding pet projects to feel like she’s still in control of something allows her to get out of bed in the morning. But shame on her for using her fame to disseminate bad advice, shame on Oprah and Larry King for assisting her, and shame on the parents who blindly listened to a Playboy Playthingmate over peer reviewed and well-tested science.

Essentially the article talks about how pockets of populations in the US have had large increases in the number of parents that are getting immunization exemptions. Their argument is that there are known and unknown side-effects to the immunizations – things ranging from allergic reactions and permanent brain damage to possibly causing things like asthma, attention deficit disorder, or autism.

Alright – I’m not a parent, but I can understand that being a parent means being entrusted with millions of important decisions in hopes of keeping your child healthy and safe. And I 100% agree that parents should educate themselves on the pros and cons of the decisions they need to make – ignorance is not bliss when it comes to the care of a child.

However, when you start Google-medicating your kid with a renewable prescription of Wikipedia – ya need to take a step back and recognize that there are people that have spent the better portion of their lives (and likely most of yours) studying this stuff – and most of them are too busy to check and make sure everything posted on the Internet stands up to the scientific method.

Vaccinations, along with sterilization and antibiotics, are responsible for the largely disease-free lives we live in the West. Should the medical industry rest on its laurals with a pat on the back for a job well done? No, of course not. Should links between immunization and other illnesses be investigated? Absolutely.

But to NOT get your child vaccinated against things like polio, tetanus, and pertussis – you’re being an ignorant selfish twat. Sure, you may be side-stepping a risk your child will get ADD, or maybe not, but you are most certainly increasing the risk that they’ll get polio, tetanus and/or pertussis.

Ah but (and this is where the “ignorant selfish twat” bit comes in) those diseases are tough to get. They’re tough to get BECAUSE everyone’s been vaccinated. If everyone starts declining childhood immunizations, it wont be long before diseases that have been virtually non-existent in developed nations for more than 50 years start buying condos and holding block parties.

Add to this that you’re killing any benefits brought by Herd Immunity and how it protects those that don’t and can’t be immunized, and well… you ignorant selfish twat, you.

Now, this isn’t to say I’m not sympathetic to parents who have kids that are inflicted with autism, aspergers, or any of a plethora of other syndromes plaguing the people of our world. I am, I really am.

It is also not to say that we don’t need to continue to invest serious mind-power and funding into discovering if these syndromes are linked to immunization – or genetics, or allergies, or preservatives, or prenatal drug/alcohol abuse, or, or, or…

But to throw back 50 to 100 years of medical advancement because those advancements aren’t absolutely 100% perfect and guaranteed not to have adverse effects in absolutely 100% of the population… well… that’s somewhat equivalent to choosing not to send your kid to school because the teacher might turn out to be a pedophile.

In the idea pool, this is right up there with banning lawn darts.