Study finds vaccines *are* safe for kids

I can't tell you how sick to death I am of hearing parents whine about their rights not to have their kids vaccinated against all kinds of childhood uglies. They have an arsenal of reasoning (that only makes sense to them) behind their asinine protests, the majority of which hinge on the inclusion of mercury in some vaccines and its perceived connection to causing autism.

Not so, folks. Not so, for the Nth time, as per yet *another* conclusive study.


CHICAGO — A new study from Italy adds to a mountain of evidence that a mercury-based preservative once used in many vaccines doesn’t hurt children.

In the early 1990s, thousands of healthy Italian babies in a study of whooping cough vaccines got two different amounts of the preservative thimerosal from all their routine shots.

Ten years later, 1,403 of those children took a battery of brain function tests. Researchers found small differences in only two of 24 measurements and those “might be attributable to chance,” they wrote in the February issue of the journal Pediatrics.

Only one case of autism was found, and that was in the group that got the lower level of thimerosal.

“Put together with the evidence of all the other studies, this tells us there is no reason to worry about the effect of thimerosal in vaccines,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. Alberto Tozzi of Bambino Gesu Hospital in Rome.

The debate over thimerosal and autism has been much stronger in the U.S. than in Italy, Tozzi said. The researchers recognized a chance to examine the issue by going back to the children in the whooping cough research.

Thimerosal, used in some vaccines to prevent the growth of bacteria and fungus, hasn’t been in U.S. childhood vaccines since 2001, except for certain flu shots. U.S. health officials recommended the removal of thimerosal as a precaution and to reduce the overall exposure of children to mercury.

“It’s yet another well done, peer-reviewed research study that has demonstrated there is no risk of any neurodevelopmental outcomes associated with thimerosal in vaccines,” said epidemiologist Jennifer Pinto-Martin of the University of Pennsylvania.

Come off it already. How many times do these studies have to be done and reported until these parents wake up and smell the reality?

Yes, I'm aware that it's the parents' right to choose how to raise and rear their children as they see fit and that this includes refusing vaccines. Of the same token, I, as a parent, also have the right to choose when it comes to my children. And I would prefer them not to be exposed to unvaccinated children who have the potential to become carriers of new, mutant strains of diseases that have been all, but erradicated - which may or may not respond to treatments availble now or in the future.

Vaccinate your kids, folks. And if you won't, the next study that needs to be done is for a vaccination for our children against yours.