Mom Talk Q&A: Vaccines are Not a Shot in the Dark

It seems that no amount of scientific evidence will satisfy the anti-vaccination crowd, so more drastic measures may be necessary to protect public health.

Even exposing the original study linking vaccines to autism as a fraud has done little to quiet spokespeople of autism like former comedienne Jenny McCarthy, who speaks openly about her views of the risks of vaccination.

The fact is that vaccines have controlled many infectious diseases that were once common in the U.S., including polio, measles, diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), rubella (German measles), mumps and tetanus.

Public health experts are concerned about the growing number of parents who refuse to vaccinate their children, exposes their own children to serious disease and pose a health threat to the public at large. There has been a resurgence of once-rare diseases such as pertussis in California, Michigan and Ohio, and outbreaks of measles in San Diego and Vancouver.

Some doctors refuse to care for families if they won't vaccinate their children in order to protect their other patients. Vaccination is already required for school. Does that go far enough?