For most mothers, vaccinations become a matter of faith - faith in pharmaceutical companies, faith in public health officials - and I think there's been an erosion of faith.
Paul A. OffitWhen you're in the womb, you're in a sterile environment. When you enter the birth canal and the world, you're not. Very quickly, you have, living on the surface of your body, trillions of bacteria, literally trillion.
Paul A. OffitToday, however, anti-vaccine activists go out of their way to claim that they are not anti-vaccine; theyโre pro-vaccine. They just want vaccines to be safer. This is a much softer, less radical, more tolerable message, allowing them greater access to the media. However, because anti-vaccine activists today define safe as free from side effects such as autism, learning disabilities, attention deficit disorder, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, strokes, heart attacks, and blood clotsโconditions that arenโt caused by vaccinesโsafer vaccines, using their definition, can never be made.
Paul A. Offit