For many years now, the model Jenny McCarthy
has been one of the leading voices against vaccinations for kids.
And you can see online everywhere she is dubbed an anti-vaxxer.
There's a website called JennyMcCarthyBodyCount that documents how many people have died from preventable diseases,
because they didn't get the proper vaccinations.
In fact, not too long ago on Twitter,
she asked a general question. You know, what are you all looking for in a mate?
And people started responding back: "Someone who vaccinates their kids."
She's basically been
one of the main proponents of this false idea
that there's a link between vaccines and autism.
And she's been hammered for it, in the media, anywhere she goes, really.
So, over the weekend, she wrote an op-ed for the Chicago Sun Times newspaper, where she's an occasional columnist,
and she said: "I'm not an anti-vaxxer.
So, stop calling me that. Look, I'm in this gray area.'"
Which is weird for her to say, because there's no scientifically proven gray area to be in.
You're either for vaccines or you don't understand science.
And the thing is, in this op-ed piece,
she tried to defend her views that all the things people say about her are just not true.
And in the process of explaining all that,
she showed exactly why she's an anti-vaxxer.
She didn't even mention
that there's no link between vaccines and autism. She just ignored that piece altogether.
She also went on to say that vaccines are just over prescribed and she wants people to take less of them at a time,
without any reason for doing that, other than your own paranoia.
She also said she's never told any other families not to vaccinate their kids,
but that's not how herd immunity works. You know, when she doesn't vaccinate her own kids,
she's putting other families in danger.
And not only that, even though she says, you know, "I've never told other families not to vaccinate their kids",
when you go around spreading misinformation and lies,
it's possible other people are going to listen to what you have to say.
And unfortunately, there are a lot of parents out there
who think: "If Jenny McCarthy says it, then it must be as credible as if a doctor says it."
And so, they believe it. So, even if she didn't directly tell them not to vaccinate their kids,
she indirectly has been doing it for many, many years.
Jenny McCarthy also stressed that she just wants the amount of toxins and vaccines to be reduced,
but, as Phil Plait so brilliantly said in a Slate column,
the amount of toxins and vaccines is negligible. There's no way those toxins can do anything
to the level that she's claiming.
And furthermore,
botulinum, which is the thing that we use in Botox, which Jenny McCarthy loves to promote,
is one of the most lethal toxins out there.
It's not that Jenny McCarthy has a problem with toxins going into her body. She loves it.
But only when it's Botox. Not when it's a vaccine that could actually save someone's life.
What she's been promoting for many years
is anti-vaccination, whether she likes the label, or not.
If she wants to do something good, she can actually look into the science and find out why she's been wrong all these years.
But that would take research, and that would take some studying, and she doesn't want to do that.
She'd rather just promote this false information that's been discredited
many, many times over through research journals, through credible medical professionals.
And it's unfortunate that she still hasn't been able to see the light.
So, I guess JennyMcCarthyBodyCount is still going to be up for a long time and, unfortunately,
the numbers on there are going to continue to rise until she either
uses her soapbox to explain why she's been honestly wrong all of this time,
or until parents stop being so gullible that they listen to what she has to say
for advice on what to do with their kids.
Don't listen to Jenny McCarthy; listen to your doctor. I promise you the doctor knows more.
My name is Hemant Mehta and I write for FriendlyAtheist.com
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