 I'm Craig Wagner, and I want to talk to you a bit about immunizing your cakey. Should you do it? Well, in a word, yes. Now, this doesn't seem like it should be a real issue or question anymore. A no-brainer, right? I mean, should I drink half my weight in beer? No. Should I wear a thong bathing suit to the beach? No. Should I expose my child to life-threatening illnesses that are completely preventable? No. But it still is an issue. And despite the fact that the primary reasons proffered by anti-vaccinators have been disproven time and again, people are still telling their pediatricians in schools that they don't want to vaccinate their children. Now, look, for many of you, this is not an issue, because over 90% of the population has been vaccinated for most of the primary diseases for which vaccinations are available. Those include polio, DTP, diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis, chickenpox, and MMR, measles, mumps, and rubella. That still leaves a large number of people that are not vaccinated, increasing the likelihood of an outbreak of serious illness. In fact, we're seeing an outbreak of mumps in Hawaii right now. You know who's not contracting mumps? That's right, the people who are immunized. We do so many things for our children that it seems almost unfathomable that someone would intentionally refuse to have their child protected from these preventable diseases. Those that do are adamant to the point of being combative about their position, and they must have strong reasons for doing this. So let's look at the top three reasons anti-vaccinators cite for refusing to inoculate their kids. And we'll start with the biggest one first. The first reason is, I heard it causes autism. This is absolutely false. Well, okay, not absolutely. You did hear that. It was said by someone and passed around for a while as fact. That someone was Andrew Wakefield. He published a study many years back claiming a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. The problem was it was only based on a sampling of eight kids and didn't follow any of the methodology or protocols generally required for anyone to even consider it science. But it was picked up and put in a medical journal at that time, and that gave it the air of fact. Since that time Andrew Wakefield's study was completely debunked and disproven by numerous other studies on large segments of the population. Those studies time and time again demonstrated that there is absolutely no link between the MMR vaccine and autism. And if you're wondering why I'm not referring to him as Dr. Wakefield, well that's because as a result of his pseudoscience and the debacle that followed, the medical journal that printed his article was forced to print a retraction, and Andrew Wakefield was stripped of his medical license. Yet the damage was done because nowadays people citing autism as a reason for refusing the MMR vaccine for their kids just say, I heard it caused autism with no idea where it came from or whether there's any real science behind that statement. And I've heard something really should not be a reason for doing or not doing anything, at least not something as important as immunizing your kids. Now the second reason that we often hear is it's just a money making propaganda for doctors in big pharmaceutical companies. Okay, here's why I have to give a bit of a disclaimer. My wife is a pediatrician. Oh and my father is a doctor and so is my sister and her husband. I'm not a doctor, although at this point I'd certainly be willing to play one on TV. What I can tell you is that these kind of vaccinations for kids are no money maker, which is why my wife's still driving her 10 year old minivan with a dent inside. Now don't get me wrong, pharmaceuticals make a lot of money. Absurd amounts of money. But they primarily get that from selling drugs that make things hard or soft. The MMR vaccine and others like it are not money makers and actually cause pediatricians more than they're able to get reimbursed by insurance. Given the choice doctors and pharmaceutical companies would concentrate on other things and drop these vaccinations in a heartbeat. The last reason that people cite is that famous people have said that the MMR vaccine causes autism. This is by far the stupidest reason I have ever heard of refusing to vaccinate your child. But people like Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey have been publicly trying to persuade people that these vaccinations are bad and may cause autism. Now as an initial matter I don't think you should ever take medical advice from a guy who started dumb and dumber. But more importantly, these people haven't added anything to the debate other than repeating false science and being famous. I mean for goodness sakes, Donald Trump has taken a stand as an anti-vaccinator and if that isn't a reason for getting your kid to the pediatrician and getting them vaccinated, I don't know what is. Now look, and I'm talking to those of you on the fence or to consider yourself anti-vaccination. There are a lot of things out there that are dangerous to your kids and your family. You have the right and responsibility to be on the lookout and to look into everything. But the MMR vaccine and other standard vaccinations are not one of those dangerous things. In this day and age, the reason the leading causes of death in America are things like heart disease, cancer and accidents is that we are not having mass epidemics of disease that wipe out thousands and even millions of people. And the reason for that is vaccines. So do the right thing. Don't use your child's health as a testing ground for propaganda and your right to take a stand. Have your child immunized. Thanks for watching. I'm Craig Wagner.