05/14/2026
Well, here’s the thing, Tom. Those of us who are vaccinated are NOT "afraid" of those who aren't. What we ARE afraid of, is that unvaccinated people will come in contact with children who are too young to receive the vaccine. Or people with cancer, who are receiving chemotherapy or radiation and therefore have suppressed immune systems. Or people with a genuine bad medical reaction to vaccines.
If you are one of the millions of Americans worried about health care costs, you should also worry about the fact that a pretty large percentage of people contracting measles have also needed hospitalization. That will raise YOUR insurance costs, or if the person is not insured, the taxpayer will be on the hook. That's in addition to the cost to the economy for people needing to take off work if they get sick, or to care for a sick child.
What we're also afraid of is the tendency of far too many supposedly well-educated people to reject science fact, in favor of a discredited and thoroughly debunked study that started all this garbage. Do a quick search for Andrew Wakefield. He faked a study, handpicked a dozen children for it, and made up his own data to "prove" that there was a relationship between vaccines and autism.
"Dr." Wakefield (whose medical degree has been revoked, in addition to the paper itself) had developed his own vaccine, which unsurprisingly was completely ineffective against any disease, including stupidity. His sole purpose for this "study" and the resultant paper was to discredit the effective MM vaccine and sell his own, thereby making a fortune. Before the study was withdrawn by the medical journal that had printed it, a D-list actress named Jenny McCarthy, who had a child with autism, fell for the garbage report and began publicizing it. And THAT is how this anti-vaccination hysteria began.
Andrew Wakefield's greed is directly responsible for the hundreds, maybe thousands, of people dead from preventable diseases, and possibly millions more worldwide who have suffered permanent medical damages. Yes, most people do recover from measles with no ill effects. Some don't, and are left with hearing or vision impairments or mental disabilities. About 1 in 1,000 die. I'm old enough to remember diseases such as polio, measles, mumps, chicken pox, and rubella. A diagnosis of cancer was tantamount to a death sentence some 60 or 70 years ago.
That's why my kids received immunizations. And my grandson does too.
My favorite T-shirt says, "Earth is not flat. Vaccines work. We've been to the moon. Chemtrails aren't a thing. Climate change is real. Stand up for science.
……….. from my inbox ✍️✍️✍️✍️
