Autism, 1 in 68 children! FLU SHOTS???

(Elver: Instead of patently believing that vaccines are great and wonderful, you should do some research on the subject, but you can only do this if you keep an open mind and I'm doubtful that you can do that. )

Oh, I'm pretty open-minded about most things. However, my mind is not so open as to believe every kooky, unsupported conspiracy theory being floated by others.

Vaccines have saved untold numbers of people from horrible and potentially fatal diseases. Do all vaccines work 100% of the time? Of course not. However, precedent has been set over the decades that proves to sensible people that vaccines do more good than harm.
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Vaccine Effectiveness--

Do vaccines work?

Yes. Vaccination is one of the greatest achievements of medicine and has spared millions of people the effects of devastating diseases.

As a result of the high level of immunization in the United States these diseases have declined to near zero.

Is it better to be naturally infected rather than vaccinated?

No. Diseases cause suffering and, in some cases, permanent disability or death. Vaccines allow a person to be protected from the disease without experiencing the serious adverse effects of that illness.
•It is much better to gain immunity from a vaccine. Vaccine-preventable diseases can kill; they can cause permanent disabilities such as paralysis from polio, liver damage or liver cancer from hepatitis B infection, and deafness from meningitis caused by several bacteria (Hib, pneumococci, and meningococci). In addition, brain damage can result from measles, Hib meningitis, or pertussis. If a woman gets rubella while pregnant, her baby could have serious birth defects.
•Immunity from a vaccine offers protection against future disease that is similar to immunity acquired from a natural infection, although several doses of a vaccine may have to be given for a child to have a full immune response.
•For some vaccines (e.g. tetanus and Hib) the vaccine is sometimes better at creating immunity than a natural infection would be.2

Because of better hygiene and sanitation, hadn’t diseases already begun to disappear before vaccines were introduced?

No, they had not begun to disappear. In the 20th century, infectious diseases began to be better controlled because of improvements in hygiene and sanitation (clean water and pest control). However, the incidence of vaccine-preventable diseases only began to drop dramatically after the vaccines for those diseases were licensed and began to be used in large numbers of children.
•For example, there were about 500,000 reported cases and 500 deaths from measles each year before the measles vaccine was licensed in 1963.2 In 2002, only 44 cases were reported in the United States.3
•Since the Hib vaccine was introduced in 1985, serious Hib disease has declined from about 20,000 cases per year to 34 cases in 2002.14

During an outbreak, aren’t the majority of people who catch a disease those who have been vaccinated?

Although vaccines have very high effectiveness rates, they are not completely effective for 100% of the people who receive them. For example, a full series of measles vaccine will protect 99 of 100 children from measles, and polio vaccine will protect 99 of 100 children from polio.2 This means that when there is a disease outbreak, the very small number of people for whom the vaccine did not work may still be able to catch the disease. Because almost all of our children are immunized, and only few are not, it can be the case that during an epidemic the majority of cases occur among children who were immunized. However, the fact remains that those who have not received the vaccine are much more likely to catch the disease.
•By way of example, consider an actual measles outbreak in Colorado in December 1994.5 Out of 625 children exposed to the disease, 17 got measles. Of those 609 who had previously been vaccinated, only 10 (or 1.6%) developed measles. Of the 16 children who were not immunized, 7 (or 44%) developed measles. Thus, the risk for immunized children was less than 2% while the risk for unimmunized children was 44%.

If vaccine-preventable diseases have been virtually eliminated from the United States, why do American children need to be vaccinated?

Although many of these diseases have the potential to be eliminated, outbreaks of diphtheria, measles, and other vaccine-preventable diseases still occur.
•Children who are not vaccinated against measles are 35 times more likely than immunized children to catch the disease.6 Ten years ago (during the 1989 to 1991 measles epidemic), state health departments in the United States reported 55,622 measles cases, 11,251 hospitalizations, and 125 deaths.27 Research has shown that these epidemic numbers are due to the fact that in some areas only 50% of preschool-aged children had received the vaccine.2
•Without vaccines, the diseases we are now protected from will return. Thousands of children will become sick, some will have long-lasting health problems, and some will die.
•Other countries do not have the same levels of immunization that we benefit from in the United States. Therefore, we must all remain protected with vaccines because dangerous diseases largely under control in the United States are only a plane ride away.

Source: http://www.immunizationinfo.org/parents/why-immunize
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Measles Cases Surge in U.S., Fueled By Unvaccinated Travelers

Measles cases in the U.S. are surging at the fastest pace in nearly two decades, fueled mostly by unvaccinated travelers sparking outbreaks from California to New York — and, now, in Ohio, where 13 members of an Amish community may have fallen ill.

The travelers are contracting the highly contagious virus in places like the Philippines — where a measles outbreak has sickened more than 20,000 people and killed at least 50 — and then infecting communities of unvaccinated children and adults back home.

"Current outbreaks of measles in the U.S. serve as a reminder that these diseases are only a plane ride away," CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden said Thursday. "Borders can't stop measles, but vaccination can."

Most of the California cases were in people who were unvaccinated or had no vaccination documentation. Of the 25 who weren’t vaccinated, 19 had philosophical objections to the vaccine.

Three of those cases were in kids too young to get the vaccine, a situation similar to current outbreaks in New York, where 26 cases have been identified, including at least four in babies younger than 12 months, health officials said.

Measles is highly contagious; about 90 percent of people who aren't immune will catch the disease if they're exposed.

Immunizations for measles and other childhood diseases provided through the national Vaccines for Children program have prevented more than 21 million hospitalizations and saved 732,000 lives since the program was implemented in 1994, the CDC said in a report Thursday. The VFC program was launched in direct response to a measles resurgence that caused more than 100 deaths.

More than 90 percent of U.S. parents choose to vaccinate their kids against measles and other childhood infections on schedule, but in certain parts of the country — particularly 20 states that allow philosophical exemptions to vaccination — opt-out rates for the are much higher, research shows.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/measles-cases-surge-u-s-fueled-unvaccinated-travelers-n88196
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Parents Not Vaccinating Kids Contributed to Whooping Cough Outbreaks

California’s worst episode of whooping cough, or pertussis, in 2010, likely spread among unvaccinated children to infect 9,210 youngsters.

At first, the outbreak was blamed on waning immunity to the whooping cough vaccine, but new research published in the journal Pediatrics reports that the high number of children who were intentionally unvaccinated also contributed to the rapid spread of the infection.

In recent years, a small but vocal group of parents have decided to either limit the number of vaccines their children receive, or to not immunize their children at all according to recommended national guidelines. Some are concerned about ‘vaccine load,’ and believe that their infants’ still-developing immune systems can get overwhelmed by multiple shots that they receive during one visit to the pediatrician.

Others continue to doubt the safety of the immunizations themselves, worried about a connection between the vaccines and a higher risk of autism. But none of these reasons are supported by solid scientific evidence; recent studies showed that receiving several vaccines on a single day was not associated with a higher risk of autism, and the researcher responsible for raising the alarm about shots and autism was discredited.

Source: http://healthland.time.com/2013/09/30/parents-not-vaccinating-kids-contributed-to-whooping-cough-outbreaks/
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4 Diseases Making a Comeback Thanks to Anti-Vaxxers

Below are some preventable diseases making a vicious return thanks to people not getting their vaccinations.

Measles
According to the CDC, for every 1,000 children who get the measles, one or two will die. Currently, public-health workers are worried about the situation in New York, but just in the past three months, there have been reported cases of the disease in Massachusetts, Illinois and California. The CDC reports that from Jan. 1 to Feb. 28, 2014, 54 people in the U.S. have reported being infected with measles. On average, there are about 60 cases reported in the U.S. every year. Most people in the U.S. are vaccinated against the measles, but since measles is still around in other countries, those who travel outside of the U.S. can contract it if they are not vaccinated. New York City has not been able to confirm the source of the disease.

Mumps
As recently as Monday, health officials confirmed 23 cases of mumps at Ohio State University. In 2011, there was a mumps outbreak on the University of California at Berkeley campus, with 29 reported cases confirmed by the CDC. The source of the outbreak was thought to be an unvaccinated student who had spent time traveling in Western Europe where there is still a presence of mumps. In 2013, a slightly smaller outbreak of the disease broke out among students at Loyola University in Maryland. The last major occurrence was in 2006, when there was a multistate outbreak of 6,584 reported cases. Less than 20 cases a year was considered usual at the time.

Whooping Cough
Whooping-cough outbreaks are thought to be spurred by waning immunity from the vaccine. However, a 2013 study published in the journal Pediatrics reports that California’s worst whooping-cough outbreak, which infected more than 9,000 people, was also encouraged by a large number of kids who were unvaccinated.

Chicken Pox
In 2012, a county in Indiana experienced a major chicken-pox outbreak of more than 80 cases, which was thought to start from an unvaccinated child. The vaccine is 90% effective, so it’s possible for people who have been vaccinated to contract the disease.

Source: http://time.com/27308/4-diseases-making-a-comeback-thanks-to-anti-vaxxers/
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I could post many more articles documenting the rise in preventable diseases and the anti-vaxxers who are the primary reason for the resurgence of these diseases.