Dear Jenny, Please Don't Kill My Big Bro!

Listen to smart people!

Yes, this message is to Jenny McCarthy and all the other famous Non-Vaxxers, Anti-Vaxxers and negligent parents out there who have single handedly helped to bring back measles, a disease that we thought we had eradicated. I have compassion for the few of them who face the challenge of being a parent to an autistic child, but I lack compassion for their misguided belief in bad statistics and adherence to fraudulent studies. I have even less compassion for those parents who choose not to vaccinate their kids for fear that it "might" cause autism. It doesn't. And that's a fact. Look, I am not a fan of pharmaceutical companies and don't trust them, but I do my research. Google the studies and you will find enough supporting facts. Or just read this article by Sanjay Gupta which sums it up neatly for you. There are plenty of autistic kids who weren't vaccinated, and even more non-autistic kids who were vaccinated. You might wonder why I'm on my high horse about this issue. Well, you see, my Big Bro has been lucky enough like me to hit the rare disease lottery which means due to a few chemo treatments for his disease, he has a severely compromised immune deficiency. He relies on weekly treatments that he injects into himself to fight off things you and I don't even worry about. No treatments, no immunity. No selfless donors of blood products used to create the treatments, no immunity. He also relies on the assumption that intelligent members of our society will not do things to enhance his chances of biting the dust. Which brings me to the Anti-Vaxxers. They only have the luxury of even having a choice not to vaccinate because of all of the responsible people who have vaccinated over the years. The responsible people created the measles free world which now allows these self-absorbed parents to "choose" to protect their children at the risk of killing babies and cancer patients and immune suppressed folks like Big Bro. How nice of them. I am sure they will change their tune when their kids are getting measles at an alarmingly high rate. Oh, and thanks for the impending unnecessary costs to our already challenged healthcare system. I'll end my rant with one question to all of you Non-Vaxxers. What are you going to do when they come out with a vaccine for autism? I suppose you won't vaccinate for fear that it might cause measles :-)