The press is all over the fact that measles is on the rise. And it's sad that after 100 years of success with vaccines, some people are ignoring the evidence and avoiding vaccines because they're afraid of autism.
Eight of the 10 greatest causes of death 100 years ago are no longer in the top ten, thanks to clean water and vaccines. There's not been mercury in vaccines for years now, and autism continues to increase. It's not the vaccines.
But I learned something new from the stories about measles. Mercury never was in the MMR (measles/mumps/rubella) vaccine. Never. So even people who feared the vaccines should have gotten their kids vaccinated with that one vaccine, just not the other ones. But they're not rational, they're running on fear.
I hope we figure out the cause of autism soon. And I'm really glad none of the kids who got measles this year died.
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