I am not a mother. I do not have a child of my own and don't plan on changing that anytime soon, I do, however, work with children. My entire career will be based on a large percentage of the adolescent population. Despite the fact that I don't have a child, I'm not a sheep to things that should and should not be done for children in this world. Let's take vaccinations, for example. Children need them.

My Facebook newsfeed has been blowing up with anti-vaccination articles, videos, and arguments lately, and I've had enough of it. The 'Vaccinations cause Autism' basis of your argument is weak and, frankly, invalid.

The basis that vaccinations cause autism was widely distributed to us by father of the anti-vaxx movement, Andrew Wakefield in 1998. This study has since been retracted, and Wakefield has lost his medical license.

The reason people often think there is a positive correlation between autism diagnosis and vaccinations is not that vaccines cause autism (because they don't), but because autism is more commonly diagnosed due to today's advanced education practices.

A 2013 Centers for Disease Control study contributed to research showing that vaccines do not cause Autism. In this study, scientists looked at the number of antigens (a substance in vaccines that causes the immune system to produce disease-fighting antibodies) from vaccines given during the first two years of life. Results of this study showed a number of antigens from those vaccinated was the same between children on the Autism Spectrum and those that weren't.

Oh, and in case you're concerned about the ingredients in these vaccines being toxic, the CDC has also confirmed that the mercury-based preservative thimerosal (used to prevent contamination of multidose vials of vaccines) and many other ingredients commonly found in other vaccines is not linked to autism. 9 CDC-conducted studieshave also found zero links between autism and vaccinations for measles, mumps, and the rubella virus.

Let's assume I humor an anti-vaxxer for a moment. I think the thing that bothers me those most about their argument is that they are more afraid of their child having autism than they are afraid of them being dead or in pain due to preventable diseases that have been practically remotely extinct until recently. In 2017 alone, more specifically January 1 to April 22, 61 people from 10 states were reported to have measles. 80% of this diagnosis were from unvaccinated children. There were only 70 cases total in all of 2016. Just think about that for a minute.

I get that it's your child and it's your choice, but by not vaccinating your kid, you are putting every other child yours comes in contact with at risk. It's not worth it.