NJ to require all children attending preschool or daycare to get annual flu shots

[kerewin21 2]

I also believe in questioning just about everything.

I agree with that.

In terms of the autism thing, several HUGE studies have debunked that theory, one of them looking at practically all the kids who were vaccinated in England over the course of several years. The problem is that autism signs show up at the same time as the vaccinations are given, so it's easy to infer a connection between the two. Also, although mercury hasn't been shown to cause autism, it used to be in some of the shots that kids got, so that added to the concern. Almost none of today's vaccines have thimerosol (the product with mercury); those that do have only trace amounts. I think the reason you find parents entirely convinced that the vaccines caused their childrens' autism is that people really want to know why something happened. Just like if you ask people who have some cancer about their exposure to certain things, they're more likely to remember exposures they had than people who don't have cancer, because we always want to know what the cause is in ourselves.

I do agree that plagues are cyclical, that is clear from millenia of human history, but plagues generally cycle from endemic (a constant, low level of cases) to epidemic (affecting large numbers of people). However, polio went down to almost nothing with vaccinations. It used to be endemic throughout the world. Now it's only endemic in 4 countries and epidemic nowhere. If it were simply cyclical, why would there be absolutely no polio cases reported for years in most countries? If the vaccine were ineffective, why would we see the persistence of the disease only in those countries where immunization rates are low?

The classic example of the triumph of public health is the eradication of smallpox. It used to kill thousands of people, now not a single case has occurred in decades other than those associated with lab accidents. Absolute eradication isn't simply a cycle...it's gone for good.