In the last few years, there have been larger numbers of children coming down with illnesses that have been rarely seen in recent history in the United States. Illnesses like measles, mumps,and even whooping cough are among the most frequently seen. The cause of the resurgence of these illnesses is people refusing to get their children vaccinated. Now, there have always been a few families that did not vaccinate their children, usually for religious reasons, but there was never a large outbreak because of this. The reason is that since all of the other children had been vaccinated, the non-vaccinated children had herd-immunity, meaning that because the vaccinated children were protected, they could not infect the children who had not been protected with vaccine.
The main reason that people have stopped vaccinating their children is because of fear. There are a number of celebrities that go on television programs , and tell people not to vaccinate their children, because the vaccines cause autism. The truth is, there has never been any credible evidence that proves any of these vaccines causes autism. There was one small study published in the Lancet in 1998 that has now been discredited, even 10 of the 13 writers have spoken out against this study. Since that one study, there have been dozens of other, more thorough studies conducted. Not even one of these more recent and rigorous studies has found any link between the vaccines and the development of autism.
Even an unvaccinated child can get autism. The actual cause of autism is still under investigation, but not vaccinating your children can lead to their deaths through diseases, like measles or whooping cough, that are extremely preventable.
If you have questions about the safety of a vaccine, it is best to consult your physician or pediatrician. Getting your facts from outspoken celebrities, that are not scientifically or medically qualified in any way, is extremely dangerous. Although they may feel strongly about their opinions and want the best for people, they are typically speaking from emotion and not fact, which could actually end up killing perfectly healthy children and adults, because they did not use vaccines for prevention.