Tell Anti-Vaccine Advocates to Stop Endangering Children's Health

Polio, measles, whooping cough, smallpox -- they're all nasty diseases, and they're all preventable with vaccines. But, thanks to anti-vaccine advocates, these illnesses may be making a comeback. In the case of whooping cough, for example, incidences have been increasing in recent years because of a reduction in vaccines, according to the Mayo Clinic Staff.

Groups like the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), frighten parents into believing that they would actually harm their children by vaccinating them, when the truth is that parents who don't inoculate their own kids put all children at risk. The NVIC's claims are: that mercury in vaccines contributes to rising autism levels, and that vaccines suppress the immune system. The allegation of mercury has been disproved by the medical community at large. The Immunization Safety Office at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has found no link between childhood vaccines and any type of autism spectrum disorder. The second claim, about immunosuppression, is actually the opposite of the truth, too. Children who aren't vaccinated are protected by a "wall of immunity" of children who are. But the more kids are left vulnerable to infectious diseases, the more they are likely to spread infection to their peers.

Tell Barbara Loe Fisher, NVIC co-founder and president, that her claims are wrong and put America's kids in danger of life-threatening illnesses. Even one child left unvaccinated puts all of his friends and classmates at risk of disease.

Recent Signatures