Refusing to vaccinate: Child abuse by omission

In an interview on the Fox Business channel on Thursday, former reality TV show star Kristin Cavallari said that she and her husband, Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler, won’t vaccinate their children over fears that vaccines may cause autism. Cavallari, who is pregnant with her second child, told host Lisa Kennedy Montgomery that she and Cutler hadn’t vaccinated their first son and would not vaccinate their second one once he is born. When Montgomery challenged her by arguing that there is no real evidence showing that vaccines are harmful, Cavallari responded that she had “read too many books about autism” and cited the fact that one in 88 boys are diagnosed with autism today. Cavallari also said that contemporary vaccines have higher levels of mercury than those in the past did — a common talking point among vaccine truthers — and that one anti-vaccine organization whose members refuse to vaccinate children had seen zero instances of an autism diagnosis.

I never cease to marvel at the ability of some folks to delude themselves into believing something that’s been thoroughly debunked. That so many have convinced themselves vaccines cause autism simply defies rational understanding. There’s no scientific evidence- zero- to support a link between vaccinations and autism…and yet there are those willing to discount any evidence that doesn’t dovetail with their preconceived notions. That numerous public figures- Jenny McCarthy comes immediately to mind- have embraced this conspiracy theory only compounds the potential damage to children. With Jay Cutler and Kristin Cavallari coming out and saying they’ll refuse to vaccinate their children, a reasonable person would have to wonder why two successful, intelligent people who put their children- and others they may come into contact with- at risk. It’s the very definition of irresponsible, not only for the potential impact on their children, but also for what could happen to society as a whole.

This is not just an intellectual/philosophical debate. This sort of irresponsible behavior poses a clear and present danger to public health. Refusal to vaccinate has led to an alarming uptick in contagious diseases like measles, mumps, and whooping cough. These diseases had once had been considered to be practically eradicated…by large-scale vaccination programs.

CDC officials point out that in America, 80 percent of measles cases in 2013 presented among people who were never vaccinated, and 80 percent of those people cited “philosophical differences” for forgoing vaccination. Most recently, California health officials had to issue a public warning to Bay-area residents after just one unvaccinated man potentially exposed thousands of commuters to measles that he had contracted in Asia.

There’s no credible evidence that links vaccines to autism or other adverse health effects. Every major world-wide health organization refutes the notion that vaccinating children places them at higher risk for autism. In fact, NOT vaccinating places children- and the general public- at significantly greater risk for contagious diseases a vaccine could easily protect against.

I find myself wondering about parents who refuse to vaccinate their children. If they’re not willing to take very simple steps to protect their progeny from contagious diseases, should we be discussing their fitness to be parents? There’s an argument to be made that refusing to vaccinate your children is in fact child abuse. How else could you define refusing to vaccinate a child against contagious diseases? If you loved your children, and had any respect at all for the general public, vaccinating your children should be a no-brainer.

Or are you really so prone to embracing conspiracy theories that you’d embrace a theory with no- none, zip, zero- scientific evidence to support it? Who needs science and facts when you smell a conspiracy?