Her statement that the unvaccinated are essentially parasites benefiting from the scores of vaccinated children may seem harsh, but does seem to be a statistically relevant comment.  Consider the recent outbreak of pertussis (whooping cough) that was brought to the United States from Europe.  Many people who choose not to vaccinate do not vaccinate against pertussis because it is so very rare in the US these days.

However, the disease is rare because of all of the vaccinations.  When you have these vaccination-fearing "islands" of population, you open the door to diseases like whooping cough and polio.  We think they are "gone" but the diseases continue to flourish in other countries.  Not vaccinating essentially invites these diseases to return.

Here's my anecdote, which makes it more personal.  My MIL was one of the last in the US to get polio and it has greatly affected her mobility all of her life.  She was one of the lucky ones.  Many of the girls she was hospitalized with had lung function affected and they died quickly.  It seems supremely selfish to open the door to a resurgence of these diseases.

Hurray for Amanda Peet!  

Thank you Amanda for standing up and saying what needs to be said!

this is great!  this subject needs more attention and of course it's always a celebrity that really gets people talking.  i thought i was the only one who thought the new trend of "measles parties" was appalling!

YAY for an actress who actually did the research and knows what she's talking about!!!

Seriously.  The wording's too harsh, but it's time to speak up for vaccination.

This debate does not have to be polarized into YES or NO. There is a middle way that makes the most sense and is completely available to every parent. LOOK at the risk factors - THINK about the impact of the risk factors in regard to you and your baby/lifestyle - then DECIDE for yourself. Pick the ones that are serious issues and may impact your life - skip the ones (LIKE ROTOVIRUS) that are insulting efforts by the pharmaceutical co. to rake in the bucks FOR THE MAJORITY OF INFANTS IN THIS COUNTRY.

Parents do NOT have to choose Vaccinate or NOT Vaccinate. A staggared schedule acknowledges the importance of SOME of the vaccines - not every illness is Polio, nor should it be treated as if it were, JUST because the corporation that produces it will be rolling in the dough if it becomes required. There is CLEARLY a conflict of interest between the creation of vaccines for DEADLY and or serious illnesses and the cash-cow reward of scaring legislatures into requiring vaccinations for low risk diseases.

You can do it Moms & Dads!!!! Look at the actual risk factors per vaccine as listed at the CDC website - and then look at your life - are those factors present, is it a real risk? What are the odds of getting this illness and is it readily treatable for a child with your health history(as ROTOVIRUS is for almost all kids)

I would have been much more impressed if the 'mentor' hadn't been a cheerleader for one of the most pointless US vaccines - it is a lifesaver in other countries and an insult in the US.

Her comment was really made on distorted information. The person she talked to runs a pro-vaccines organization! If she has done all the research she would know her statement is beyond stupid. Vaccinated children don't act a shield for the unvaccinated because children who are vaccinated are not guaranteed to be immune; the reason why outbreaks of disease are still occurring in our country despite forced vaccination. She also clearly did not do research the side effects of vaccines or read a recent article in Mothering magazine on a child whose family won a court case that the child developed autism from a series of vaccines. She clearly has not read The Vaccine Book, by Dr.Sears that explains why many of the vaccines we give our children are not needed because they are for diseases that rarely kill or cause complications. If she had done her research she would know that if every child in America was breastfed for the WHO recommendation of 2 years, they wouldn't need to be vaccinated before the age of 2. You know, she did her research. She feeds her child organic food and then lets a doctor inject her with vaccines that could cause seizures or sudden death. Sounds informed to me.

A tad harshly put but... I believe in general she is on the right track.... Even Dr Sears admits that not vaccinating your children in North America is relatively "safe" because most of "the herd" is vaccinated (his words! I was shocked!)

I don't believe that ALL of the vaccines are necessary and it worries me that we dump so many of them on our children's immune systems all at once. No one can really know what effect that has on them long term, if any.

There is SOOOOO much conflicting information out there and by and large it is all anecdotal and conjecture. Really all we can do as individuals is go with what feels "the least wrong" for each of us. There is no way to be actually, really, truthfully, scientifically informed :(

HURRAY! for someone who took the time and resources available to make an informed intelligent decision and will stand up to the hollywood hype! :)

There is a way to become "actually, really, truthfully, scientifically informed"; learn the science! I think the only reason some people are so confused by this debate is because they truy have no science education and believe that it's just a matter of what opinion to believe. The science behind vaccination is not based on opinion and rumor, people! Anecdotes are not science!

Winning a court case doesn't mean the vaccines *caused* their child's autism.  More likely it means that the jurors felt sorry for them, thought that the big corporations could afford it, and there probably was a coincidence of timing.  Part of the problem with autism is that the common time it's diagnosed (whether the child gets vaccines or not) is right around the time when vaccines are given.  Just due to that chance there always will be a percentage of children who get diagnosed shortly after they get their vaccines.

For example, a lot of anti-vaccine people blame thimerosal for autism (and I'll bet that played into the court case).  However, it was removed from vaccines in most countries a number of years ago (mostly due to perception issues and risk-averse corporate lawyers).  If it was the cause, you should have seen a noticeable to dramatic reduction in autism rates.  Instead, there was no change - the rate keeps going up, but a lot of that is simply better diagnosis - mildly-autistic children used to just be called "slow" (or delayed or even "dumb").  Also, with increasing ages of parents in recent years, you can hit a *male* biological clock issue - older fathers have more autistic children than younger ones.

The risks of significant numbers not vaccinating is quite real, especially for highly-contagious and dangerous diseases like polio.  Yes, there's a small (real, and very small) risk from some vaccines.  An individual can avoid that very small risk, and if everyone else is vaccinated, then their risk of being exposed (and severely harmed) by the disease is still low.  Once too many people do that, each trying to reduce their personal risk very slightly (or simply out of paranoia), the overall risk of being exposed and devastated by the disease shoots up.  It's like fire control in the west - if you let fuel build up, then one spark can set off a wildfire.  Go and cut the brush (or have small, controlled burns) and the overall risk goes way down.  That's what she's speaking to.  It doesn't mean that *all* vaccines are *required* - but you should think long and hard before skipping or even delaying them.

Breastfeeding is great - but it doesn't defend against a most of these diseases, or only provides a small or temporary defense.

My wife's Uncle is a polio survivor, and now a priest.  He suffers from post-polio disease, as do most survivors eventually.  He wears braces on his legs, and if wasn't for another health issue (cancer) it would likely have forced him to retire soon.  He has heart-rending stories of his time in the polio wards, where he spent a year or two of his childhood, regaining the ability to walk, and of the other children there who didn't survive.

One thing that everyone seems to forget is that we live in a very mobile, global society now.  My children were born outside the US and almost every vaccine possible due to our moving to different countries and each having different diseases as threats.  They stagger them though and my children have never had any ill effects.

Parents can´t pick and chose what they think will be important because it only takes one global traveler in a supermarket or at a movie to change your life.  You can´t control your children exposure to germs or disease...at least give them some protection.

I did my research on all the vaccines (medical journals and drug studies-most vaccines are not new and well researched for long term effects) and it is wonderful to distrust and ask questions but do not dismiss entire diseases because you think the pharma industry is greedy.  Your picking and choosing is more dangerous than the vaccines

Good for her!

I always wonder what an anti-vaccination person would think about everyone immediately stopping all vaccinations. Is that what they want, or do they want to be able to stop vaccinating their own child because they know they will be relatively safe only because "the herd" does vaccinate? It seems incredibly selfish to me.

There are many instances around us of people, not just adults but children, with high viral loads of infectious diseases that you would never be aware of yet you wouldn't necessarily want your children playing contact sports together if you were aware.  Let's face it , nobody is going to put up their hand and declare their status at the risk of being stigmatised or denied entry to a particular school.  It makes sense to protect ourselves and our children when we can, of course, going into it with our eyes wide open.  The benefits and risks must be weighed up and we each make our own decisions based on that.  

Good for Amanda Peet on doing her research and speaking up.  If nothing else it should stimulate healthy skepticism and some learning of the science of immunology so that more people understand how these vaccines work, rather than be afraid of 'autism' claims and the like that to this date do not have evidence to back up (that in particular was a fudged trial).  

Ignorance is bliss right?  I feel sorry that she herself had access to such biased information. I mean of course the creator of the Rotavirus is going to say that inoculating is neccesary.  Forget about the viruses and pres. how about you take your infant/toddler in for a heavy metal blood test like mine just happened to have after recieving a "routine" combo-shot.  Her doctors at the children's hospital about hit the floor.  She was admitted immediately for that reason ALONE.  So "high-five" her all you want, but there should be concern over vacc's for more than the reason's listed.  Not sure what elevated heavy-metals do in a child's system? Look it up where ever you'd like.  That information is about as solid, black and white, crystal clear as it's going to get.  Staggering shots is THE LEAST that should be done.  

As the parent of an autistic child who blogs regularly about teh science behind autism and vaccinations, I can assure you that vaccines do not cause autism. There is no decent science that shows a causative link between any vaccine, any vaccine component or any vaccine schedule and autism.

Thank goodness for Amanda Peet. Hopefully she can help undo some of the real damage done so far by McCarthy.

There may be "fierce" debates going on in some online forums, which are a *political* controversy, but as far as the vast majority of doctors and scientists are concerned, there is a *scientific consensus* that vaccines do NOT cause autism.

Most young parents today have never seen devastating epidemics of diseases we now prevent with vaccines -- because of vaccines -- and are apt to take the importance of vaccines for granted. This, combined with the proliferation of misinformation about vaccines on the Internet could potentially lead to a public health disaster.

But such a tragedy can be averted by education, and Ms. Peet's upcoming  public-service announcements for Every Child by Two will very likely be in important contribution toward that effort. Kudos to her!

Jules, I'm sorry your child was ill, but it's a basic scientific and logic rule that correlation does not equal causation.  It's one of the most pernicious problems in this debate since many of the signs of autism occur roughly around the same time as some scheduled vaccines.  

As another commenter above came close to one of my favorite sayings in regard to this sort of thing, "the plural of anecdote is not data."

Amanda Peet is an uneducated person.  She derived her info from a drug manufacturer, Paul Offit.  Below is a letter that I recently sent to a school nurse who recent spoke out about the benefits of vaccinating and herd immunity.

Dear Ms. Lovell:

I am the mother of 2 boys, ages 14 and 1 year.  I am emailing you with the hope of educating you on vaccine damage.  My hearing was damaged by one vaccine last year - the rubella.  Imagine my surprise when I learned that the CDC reported 14 cases of Congenital Rubella Syndrome in 1968 - one year before the vaccine came on the market in 1969.  There were even less cases in the previous years, again before the vaccine came out.  (This is true with every vaccine/disease).  Bogus, over-inflated claims set forth to scare parents into vaccinating their precious babies with harmful vaccines.

My infant last year suffered from high-pitched screaming, convulsions, developmental delays, and regression in milestones from his HIB, IPV, and DTaP vaccines.  According to Easter Seals (who evaluated him), no child should lose any acquired skills (despite what my ignorant pediatrician states), and developmental delays are usually an indicator of future problems - learning disabilties.  

I have since learned that my baby was given roughly 600 micrograms of aluminum each time he was vaccinated.  The FDA feels that aluminum is toxic, humans are roughly exposed to 4-5 micrograms per day through the environment as it is, and they went as far as to put a limit on daily aluminum received through a patient's IV - 25 micrograms per day!!  If an infant receives all of their vaccines at 2 months old, they would receive roughly 1,200 micrograms of it.

He was also given an ingredient called phenoxyethanol, which according to the FDA is not fit for consumption.  In May 2008, the FDA reportedly removed a nursing mother's nipple cream from the market that contained this ingredient.  According to this government agency, it may cause convulsions, respiratory distress, and depression of the central nervous system.  Was it this ingredient that caused my infant's reactions or was it the 300 micrograms of formaldehyde that he was given in his DTaP vaccine alone (three rounds of vaccinations)?  Could this ingredient be to blame for SIDS?

After thoroughly researching vaccine ingredients, I have learned that many ingredients are not safe for consumption according to the FDA, yet this same agency has never set limits that are placed in vaccines.  In fact, it is not the FDA's job to test anything!  Who's job is it then?  The drug companies.  These same companies that have been in recent news for covering up the deaths of tens of thousands of people with Vioxx, Paxil, and Heparin.  I really don't care what "studies" you have viewed involving vaccines/Autism - they were all conducted by individuals with ties to the drug companies.

Are you even aware of Julie Gerberding's recent admission in front of the House of Appropriations Committee in June of 2008?  She stated that all of the previous studies done on Autism were "useless".  Are you aware of Bernadine Healy's recent statement (former director of NIH)?  She blasted our government agencies for not studying vaccines in regard to the group of children who later regressed into Autism following their vaccines.  In other words....all of the studies that you have viewed were either flawed or not conclusive for many reasons.

Are you aware that according to the U.S. Dept of Education in 2007, 1 in 67 children nation-wide now have Autism in elementary school?  1 in 150 was in 1994 according to this same agency!  Are you aware that schools receive funds for every fully immunized child?  This would explain why they have kept their mouths shut about this alarming issue.  What will the numbers be 5 years from now as more vaccines are added?

My 14 year old's right eye sustained nerve damage after one dose of Hep B.  I have pictures before/after for proof.  Eye nerve damage is one of the side effects to this vaccine (among many other things).  He also suffers from a math disability, a visual processing disorder, and ADHD.  You can bet I blame the vaccines for those too.

Would you like to know why so many children are suffering from food allergies?  Maybe it is because eggs are in many vaccines, peanut oil is an ingredient in the HIB vaccine, and so on.  I'm sorry, but aren't we told never to give our children eggs until 1 yr of age?  Or peanut butter until 2 years of age?

Please do your homework on the subject before you speak about something you know nothing about.  Please purchase any books on the subject by Neil Z. Miller or Dr. Stephanie Cave.  

I am done vaccinating my family.  By the way, if you knew anything about vaccines you would know that herd immunity does not exist.  In fact, if you read the vaccine literature (package inserts) for every live-virus vaccine you would see that vaccinated persons pose a threat to pregnant persons, infants, and people with compromised immune systems for up to 6 weeks after vaccination.  Not only that, but there is a "small risk" of catching a blood born virus through the vaccine itself.  How small is up for debate.  Everything is underreported and grossly overinflated.  I urge you to research stealth viruses/vaccines - particularly the SV40 virus/Polio contaminate.  When you do learn the truth regarding vaccines, please make it your mission to educate others.

Sincerely,

Dawn Crim

Dr. Sears is a nut case.  His platform is for money; you shouldn't listen to him.

It is too bad that Amanda Peet said this. I think everybody is entitled to their opinion. I personally am against vaccination. I represent a growing number of people because more and more people are becoming informed and not just listening to what their doctors say. For anybody who wants to really balance the debate and read why you should not vaccinate your child or yourself read Dr. Tenpenny's book Saying No to Vaccines. There is a lot of good information in there and all of her facts are backed up by reputable references. I saw Amanda Peet on a morning news show this morning and she said that vaccinations are not a medical debate. This is simply not true; it is not just "nervous little mothers" that are concerned about the safety of vaccines. There is also a growing number of scientists and doctors who are concerned and speaking out. Vaccine efficiency is based on epidemiology studies which are studies based on the pattern of epidemics. All of the vaccines were introduced at the end of the high disease incidences. This is their evidence that vaccines work?! It is far more likely that sanitation, less people being malnourished and the introduction of clean water systems that led to the decline of these diseases. If vaccinations are the only thing that can be responsible for the falling incidence of these diseases then how can we explain how diseases that were not routinely vaccinated against declined too such as yellow fever and TB? Furthermore the people who decide how many, how often etc your child and you receive vaccines are a board of 15 people who make up the ACIP. Every last one of these physicians are either working directly or making dividends to the tune of millions via stock from vaccination manufacturers. Are these really the people you want to trust with your child's best interest? There is major corruption in the CDC as well so if that is where you are getting your indisputable facts from then I'm sorry for you; you more than anybody need to get informed. Children and adults do in fact get permanently damaged and die from vaccines. The FDA admits that only about 10% of adverse reactions to vaccines are reported. This 10% is then grossly understated. If you read the facts on both sides which I have and you still believe that vaccinations are safe and effective then I have a lot of respect for that but to the people that don't even know what most of the diseases that we are vaccinating against are (which would really shock you since most have very little chance of harming a normal person permanently), get informed. Also, I'd like to shed some light on why she does not put sunscreen on her child... because the overuse of sunscreen is leading to a chronic deficiency in vitamin D (uvb rays are the main source) which leads to cancer and a whole other host of problems in addition to the chemicals. Dr. Mercola has several good articles on his website on both of these subjects (vaccines and sunscreen use). Vaccinations may become the biggest debate of our time and right now we dirty parasites are outnumbered however; the number of us hippies is growing rapidly. Think of it this way, why would we choose to do something that makes us outcasts and makes people call us parasites and not want their children to play with ours if there were not a really good reason? Just something to think about. Mrs. Peet and I agree on one thing…. we should not be getting advice on huge life affecting things like this from celebrities!