Because polio is a better option.

The state of Washington has made me glad I moved. Today I learned that Washington leads the nation in parents opting out of vaccines for their children. So basically the state I used to reside in is full of selfish, ill-informed folks who will gladly put the public at risk of serious illness.

Dr Andrew Wakefield's 1998 study that tries to link vaccines to autism has been discredited many times over, but the damage has been done. Jenny McCarthy now leads a movement in the US trying to spread misinformation as she believes Wakefield is correct. Many find the former Playmate to be correct in her findings for reasons I can't understand nor explain, so in turn those parents decide not to vaccinate their children.

Since then McCarthy and her followers have contributed to numerous outbreaks of preventable diseases in Europe and the US. Some of have paid the ultimate price for the negligence of parents and the stupidity of our celebrity culture.

Any parent not willing to vaccinate their child can die in a fire. I know it's courteous to respect the wishes of parents, but why? If I see a parent driving down the freeway at 100 mph in a Yugo with no doors with their child in their lap and a cigarette in one hand I would gladly report that behavior to the authorities. Choosing not to vaccinate your own children is worse as it not only helps prevent the spread of curable diseases, it puts infants and seniors at risk.

People who believe in Wakefield think that correlation is equal to causation, which any middle school pupil could tell you is ridiculous. There's been no scientific evidence that any vaccine causes autism. None. People who claim they're 100% certain that vaccines are bad claim to have done their research, a mantra they beat into the skeptics. If they were honest they'd tell you that the only amount of research they've done is believing the information that backs up their world view and passing off the evidence that states otherwise as part of some conspiracy, something they can't prove at all. Parents like them have abandoned critical thinking and are acting like Truthers, but claim they feel empowered by thinking for themselves. In reality all they can do is quote Dr Mercola and his quack ilk.

I really want to punch people who think it's OK to not vaccinate their child and put my yet to be born infant at risk. We ask our community to step in whenever a parent puts a child at risk, so why not do the same when it comes to deadly diseases?

"Some people feel we're the enemy because we're not vaccinating," - Maria Rippo.

WA leads nation in parents opting out of vaccines