An alarming new trend shows that a steady rise in exemption rates from childhood vaccinations in the Greater New York area is largely granted for religious reasons according to today s Wall Street Journal. The increase in the number of exemptions has grown eightfold since the 2005-06 school year and compromises the health of the child as well as other kids in the school.
A study in the New England Journal of Medicine reported last year that the chance of unvaccinated children getting measles is 22 to 35 times greater than that of vaccinated children, yet an unfounded fear of vaccination still persists among parents. We re very disheartened that despite the dismissal of all previous myths, people are still worried about risks that simply don t exist, says ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan. This trend is a sign of an anti-science society.