California Gov. Jerry Brown recently authorized one of the strictest vaccination rules in America, signing a bill that makes vaccinations mandatory for almost every school-age child in the state. Only children with certain medical conditions will now be allowed to sidestep the requirement; parents who refuse to get their children vaccinated will have to arrange home schooling for them. Ouch!
Naturally, this has been greeted with cries of “fascism!”. But the fact is that the anti- vaccination attitude owes its prevalence to the 1998 publication of a fraudulent research paper in the The Lancet that lent support to the later discredited claim that colitis and autism spectrum disorders are linked to the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine. Thanks to the mass media people believed the British doctor who wrote the Lancet article, even when he was exposed.
Prevention of easily avoided illness benefits and protects the community and is consonant with the Epicurean ethos. Good work, Jerry!
I can’t stand these hordes of Hollywood celebrities and ignorant rich people, lining up to voice their opposition to vaccinations- which has no scientific basis at all. These people ought to be out in their place, well done to Jerry Brown for doing so!