Four drafts later I finally had the nerve to submit it to the editorial board.
Excellent letter, and I must get your book.
Congratulations. The NSL is the big local paper back where Pepper Mill and I grew up.
Excellent article, already being hijacked by some doofus in the comments section.
Thank you. I’m just waiting for Ann Dashel (aka the Dashelbot) of the Age of Autism and Lowell Hubbs of Vax Facts to show up. I’ve yet to see a pro-vaccine article online unmarked by their idiotic rants.
Excellent article, very readable. Please, continue to fight the good fight.
Very well written, thank you.
This is fantastic and I’m sharing it on Facebook.
Nothing pisses me off more than getting an e-mail from the sprog’s school that a child has a confirmed case of pertussis. Most of the time, it’s because some noodle-brained parent refuses to get their kids their shots.
When I’m Queen of the World, all kids will have to get their shots. There will be no religious or philosophical exemptions, just documented medical ones. Your “philosophy” does not trump public safety.
Sorry
Thank you. I am inclined to agree with you about exemptions. They should be reserved for those who really need them, not for those who should be vaccinated.
As I predicted the Dashel-bot has shown up with her usual parade of inane and inaccurate comments.
The Habakas book is nothing but a pack of lies. Andrew Wakefield is quoted lovingly while the dangers of vaccine preventable diseases are utterly downplayed or ignored altogether. NJ does have a high rate of autism but NJ also has vast resources that tend to push kids for help as well as a highly educated population that exerts pressure for such services.
When I have time I will get online and go after the comments as much as I can. Feel free to join in if you can!
Lot of whackos out there, isn’t there.
That kind of attitude contributes to the problem. Ignorance and miseducation are not the same thing as mental illness.
Very nice op-ed piece.
The only part I’d quibble with (slightly) is the comment about how there aren’t really two “sides” to this issue that deserve equal footing in public discussions, which cites the example of presenting a vegetarian perspective that doesn’t require getting someone from the Cattlemen’s Association for rebuttal).
A more apt example would be a public forum presentation on countering racism in society - which doesn’t require giving equal time to the Aryan Nation.
A bit confrontational, I know, but accurate. 
Holy Crap. The comments are filled with Whirling Derpishes.
Actually, for many hardcore antivaxers there is a marked component of disordered thinking, which embraces conspiratorial paranoia and outlandish beliefs that go well beyond antivaccine ideology.
Recently I’ve contributed to forum discussions on vaccines whose participants have included HIV and germ theory denialists, a devotee of New German Medicine* (which argues that cancer and other diseases are due entirely to emotional/psychic disturbances) and a whacko who believes that government troops have secretly taken over St. Louis. I find it difficult to believe these people are shining examples of mental health.
*the guru of this movement, a nice, sane fellow by the name of Ryke Hamer, thinks that vaccines implant “death chips” in people as part of a depopulation conspiracy by The Jews. :smack:
Excellent…and very well written… Just shared it with all of my friends… Keep up the good fight!! This is positively scary…
Thank you.
I ran Nazi analogy by my husband. He told me that, while well deserved, it was just a little over the top. He suggested the vegetarian comparison instead so I went with it.
Yeah.
The following comment (typical of the sort I see all the time) does imply someone who really does believe that government is engaged in a giant conspiracy with pharmaceutical companies and pediatricians to cover up the facts about vaccines.
There is quite an element of seriously disordered thinking here that is obvious even if you’ve never had a psychology class.
You know you’ve hit the big time when the major loons flood your comment section with nonsense. I wondered how long it would take for the Dashel-bot to show up.
I’m uber-busy today so I don’t know if I’ll be able to jump in there, but the FB groups are on it.
I am SO TOTALLY stealing this for future use.
Good job. No, great job. It blows my mind that modern parents reject one of the most amazing achievements that humans have come up with. I get angry at at the possible loss of herd immunity, where people who haven’t had any say in the bad decisions are affected by it. Not cool, man. Not cool.