Do you think that every child should be vaccinated?
Uh, yes I do.
When I was a young boy, that was in 1954, and polio was the issue.
There was no question. They walked into the schools and they vaccinated
everybody, and that’s the way it worked.
In the 1940s and 50s, tens of thousands ofpeople in the US died from Polio.
Thanks to the polio vaccine, by 1979, the country was polio free. And vaccines have also helped us solve
smallpox, measles, mumps, and rubella.
But for some reason, today, we still have to ask this question…
INTERVIEWER: Are you opposed to vaccines? CAVALLARI: We didn’t vaccinate.
INTERVIEWER: Really? You’re one of those communists?
CAVALLARI: You know what? I’ve read too many books about autism, and studies.
INTERVIEWER: No. No. There’s no link.
There's no real scientific evidence showing that vaccines are dangerous. But anti-vaxxers are
relentless. They're literally screaming from the hills.
ANCHOR: “Former ‘Hills’ star Kristin Cavallari says she is not vaccinating her
kids because she is afraid it could cause autism.”
CAVALLARI: It’s our personal choice, and if you’re really concerned about your kid,
get them vaccinated and it shouldn’t be a problem.”
It may seem simple: if it’s your child, it’s your choice. But what if we applied
this logic to other dangerous situations…?
We’re a group called Moms For Texting While Driving. So we’re for texting while driving.
Fazeelat Aslam is a journalist and filmmaker from Pakistan. She’s seen what can happen
in a society without access to vaccines.
So, when I was in Pakistan I was covering all sorts of different human rights issues,
and really trying to cover the most vulnerable sects of society.
And polio’s on the rise. And I was like, ‘Oh God, no.”
You know, that was it. Now it’s there and I’m not sure how they’re
going to stop it.
When you hear what’s being said by politicians about the dangers of vaccines, linking it
to autism, how do you feel?
I find it shocking. The country where I come from and where I’ve
worked, Pakistan, people are still so surrounded by diseases
that have been eliminated in the US, that they would never think--
someone who is educated and exposed would never think
to not vaccinate their child.
The anti-vaxxer movement is essentially a symptom of privilege: those with easy access
to vaccines have the luxury to develop these conspiracy theories. Some people see this
choice as a civil liberty, but is endangering your child really your God-given right?
Today, we’re here to see how people react to parents endangering their kids in other ways.
Texting while driving: is it really that bad? Is it really that bad?
It’s pretty bad, yeah. That’s pretty bad.
I’m with a group called Moms For Texting While Driving,
and we’re actually trying to gauge support.
A group, like, texting while you are driving?
No!
I don’t know if I want the government intruding, and legislating and adding laws to restrict
my ability to be a good parent.
OK.
Well it doesn’t have much to do with your parenting skills, does it?
Do we really know that texting while driving is dangerous?
Like, we don’t know.
OK, like kind of a ‘find out the hard way?’
Are we sure that it’s dangerous to text and drive?
Yes, of course!
It’s kind of common sense, right?
It’s common sense.
What about parents who are like, ‘It’s my child, it should be my choice.’
Oh, those parents are just the worst.
But it’s my children. Shouldn’t it be my choice?
No. It shouldn’t.
That’s irresponsible. Not only toward their own children and themselves,
but toward the lives of other people.
So, it’s common sense to protect kids from dangerous situations, and yet, so many
well-off parents choose to ignore science when it comes to vaccines. The number of under-vaccinated
students in private schools is more than double that of students in public schools. But privilege
doesn’t have to result in ignorance. Take it from Melinda Gates, a billionaire.
So, what has been the benefit or effect of vaccines in the US?
The effect has been that we don’t have millions of sick children.
We don’t even have to think, as parents, about polio.
We’ve eradicated a disease called smallpox because of vaccine.
That’s unbelievably lucky.
Why has that myth persisted for so long?
Well, I think because any time you’re dealing with medicine,
you wanna know that whatever we’re putting in our bodies,
and particularly our children’s bodies, is gonna help with their health and their
immune system. So people always have wonders or fears,
and we just need to dispel those fears with real data.
And we need to look out for bad data, too. In 1998, former surgeon Andrew Wakefield
began the vaccine controversy in a high-profile paper linking the MMR vaccine and autism.
The paper was later found to be fraudulent, and Wakefield is barred from practicing medicine now.
But it’s already had an unfortunate effect.
In its retraction of the original paper, The Lancet said, “in this paper no causal
link was established between MMR vaccine and autism, as the data were insufficient. However,
the possibility of such a link was raised, and consequent events have had major implications
for public health.”
It’s the most-cited retracted scientific paper on PubMed. Bad information has taken
hold, and that could be costing lives.
Do you believe that there’s a moral obligation to get your child vaccinated?
I do believe there’s a moral obligation. If you believe in all children being healthy,
and surviving and thriving, then we have a moral obligation as a society
to do the right thing for all children.
Denying access to vaccines is both dangerous and selfish, and could even slow down global progress.
So next time someone asks you if you support vaccines, think about who else your decision affects.