The vaccine wars

Well, I have done something that I know I never should have done.  I entered the abyss that is online discussions.  More specifically, I waded into the "to vaccinate or not vaccinate" debate.  Katie and I are both staunch pro-vaccination.  I think even more so now that we have a child.  We want her vaccinated, and we expect everyone around her to be, too (which reminds me, I'm supposed to remind my parents to get their flu shots before coming out here in October, since Penelope is both too young to be vaccinated for the flu and most at risk for complications).  Anyway, I digress (as usual).  So, I'm on Amazon.com, looking at diapers, and down at the bottom, I see a discussion thread titled "To vaccinate, or not, that is the question."  This thread already had 2000 posts on it, so, against my better judgment, I started reading some of the most recent posts.  In general, people were being civil, and trying to make rational arguments, but it was clear that the anti-vaccination side was "winning," and by that I mean that they were sticking around while the pro-vaccine folks got frustrated with them and left the discussion.  I think this is the general problem with the debate.  Those in favor of vaccination frequently give up and call the other side "crazy" and move on.  The result is that such message boards get filled with nonsense and make it seem like everyone believes that vaccines are bad and, the pro-vaccination side ends up sounding like whiners.  So, at 10:30pm (not the best time to make rational decisions), I decided to enter the fray and take a stand in the name of pro-vaccination.  The only problem is that while I know that most of the anti-vaccine research is bubkus, I'm not deep enough in the field to know which studies to cite, or what the real rates of this and that are.  So, I tried to actually stay away too much from the science, and focus more on why I believe folks should vaccinate their children even if their are risks (which, of course, there are).  Anyway, you can read my first post here, and then scroll down to see all the continuing discussion (warning, it's getting long).  For better or worse (probably worse), my post sparked some interesting responses.  This morning, I then tried to address some of them, but now the responses are greater than I can keep up with.  So, tonight, I'm planning to wade in one more time and see what happens.  This could really become a full time job.  But, I would also invite any of you out there who agree (or disagree) to share your views, and stick around to fight for them!  One thing I'll point out, though, is if you do decide to post, you may want to go to your Amazon account, scroll down to where it says "Community" and then "Your Public Profile".  From there, on the upper right, you can edit your profile and change your name to a "PenName" so that your posts don't have your full name associated with them.  I don't mind people knowing my first name, but I don't like the idea of someone on the web trying to find out who I am in real life.

So, anyway, yeah, I'm in waaayyy too deep.  Damn Internet!