Letter to the San Francisco Chronicle

“Measles Mania” in today’s SF Chronicle by Don Harte is so full of outrageous misrepresentations and errors of logic such that the anti-vaccination movement is nothing less than a cult! First of all, the fact that one child is vaccinated and thereby protected (which Mr. Harte acknowledges) doesn’t mean that those who are not vaccinated won’t infect others who are also not vaccinated. That’s why all children need to be vaccinated. Second, to call vaccinations “poisons” is not only to “poison” the issue, but to miss the mark completely. Vaccinations are “medical treatments;” by giving vaccinations, one does not “poison a child to health.” One is “protecting a child so that he or she can remain healthy.” Third, there is a legitimate field of “social marketing.” It uses the concepts and techniques of marketing to make people aware of what it is in their best interests to do. Fourth, “parental choice” is not an unqualified right. No parent is allowed to commit child abuse because it’s his or her “choice.” The anti-vaccination is not just junk science, but junk thinking. It is a cult!