Hippity, Hoppity, stupid’s on her way.

Let’s get this straight right here, and right now.  Vaccinations do not cause autism! Parents with autistic children deserve all the respect and empathy we can give.  I pray to God there will be treatments, cures and causes found for this disorder.  But please throw out anecdotal stories.  Real science is the only way to find the causes and cures.

So where does the playboy bunny come in?  It comes in via the “let’s bring Measles back” mouth of none other than actress Jenny McCarthy.  I came across a fantastic post from Respectful Insolence that discusses Jenny’s recent interview on Time magazine online.  Ms. McCarthy spews nonsense and anecdotal stories on autism.  She very professionally throws a lot of F-bombs in the conversation  (you kiss your son  with that mouth?) which really adds to her credibility.  To be fair, Jenny does not just blame vaccinations, she also blames other ideas floating in the ether, such as nutrition and the environment.  Below are some of the Jenny quotes I find most appalling and ignorant:

“But children are given so many shots from the moment they’re born. Evan was handed to me pre-vaccinated with a Band-Aid on his foot.” No Jenny, your son was not vaccinated the moment he was born, in his foot.  The foot is not an injection site.  Your son most likely had a heelstick glucose screen taken in his foot, which is often done immediately after birth.

“I do believe sadly it’s going to take some diseases coming back to realize that we need to change and develop vaccines that are safe.” WTF?  Vaccines are safe lady.  You are willing to sacrifice the public health of all children because of your agenda.  Because your child has autism, you selfishly want to threaten other families children by urging them not to vaccinate.

“If the vaccine companies are not listening to us, it’s their f___ing fault that the diseases are coming back. They’re making a product that’s s___.” Wrong!  It will be your  f—ing fault.  Take responsibility for the crap you are spewing.  Blaming the vaccine companies, which all scientific evidence has been shown creates safe vaccines, is ludicrous.  You are blame shifting.

“If you ask a parent of an autistic child if they want the measles or the autism, we will stand in line for the f___ing measles.” Seriously?  Measles is one of the top 5 killers of children in the world.  Measles can cause also cause encephalitis, or inflammation of the brain that can lead to brain damage.  Because measles is essentially eradicated in the US, thanks to immunizations, we tend to forget how severe it is.  Jenny, you really do not want to stand in line for Measles.

I may sound overly harsh on poor Jenny.  In her words too “f—ing” bad.  She threatens the health of other children with her un-scientific diatribes.  It is not enough to use anecdotal stories that pull on the heart strings in order to prove a point.  As a nurse who works with newborns, I am tired of seeing the unjustified fear in the eyes of new parents who are anguished over the decision to vaccinate.  As a parent, I do not want my two young children exposed to  preventable infectious diseases because of other children’s  irrational parents.

RR