Vaccine refusals

The NY Times reports:

Yet another panel of scientists has found no evidence that a popular vaccine causes autism. But despite the scientists’ best efforts, their report is unlikely to have any impact on the frustrating debate about the safety of these crucial medicines.

The report is Adverse Effects of Vaccines: Evidence and Causality, and NAP reports are now free downloads.

The Santa Cruz Sentinel reports:

Despite last year's record-setting whooping cough outbreak, thousands of California parents are choosing not to vaccinate their children. Over the past decade, "personal belief exemptions" in California have tripled. Signed by parents, PBEs allow children to enter school missing some or all vaccines. Statewide, more than two percent of kindergarteners have such exemptions.

And the number is growing, much to the alarm of pediatricians and state health officials.

With a 9.5 percent PBE rate - more than four times the state average - Santa Cruz County is close to ground zero in this often heated and emotional debate. In the county's northern region, the parents of approximately 17 percent of entering kindergarteners signed PBEs last fall - one of California's highest rates.

The paper also tells a horror story about an unvaccinated child that died decades ago, and pediatricians are still complaining about it.