One thing I try not to forget is that there are parents out there struggling with the decision to vaccinate their kids or not. They are inundated with information about vaccines, and a lot of the information they see says that vaccines cause autism. Here on this blog I have copious links to many sources that show that vaccines absolutely do not cause autism.
But how many parents wrestling with this issue see my blog? Or Orac’s? Or Steve Novella’s?
You can bet that millions of these parents see Oprah, and Larry King, and hear the propaganda said by the antivaccination movement. But to those parents, anecdotes make sense, and anecdotes are scary.
And those anecdotes are coming from parents. I’m a parent – my daughter is fully vaccinated – but I’m not known as one on the web. I’m known as a skeptic and a scientist… and antiscience movements are themselves well-known for making science look evil.
That’s why I’m very happy to see this video at Dooce.com. These are moms talking about the issue. They’re doing so calmly and rationally, but the important thing is they’re moms.
I hope that a lot of people watch that video (and the one made by actress and mom Amanda Peet). If you know someone who is confused on this issue, who is questioning what they should do, show them this video. Maybe then they’ll do the right thing, and vaccinate their children. It may literally save their lives.
