Should You Get Vaccinated? Check This Chart

Impact

America is in the middle of a brand new debate over vaccines. At least 107 people in eight states have been diagnosed with measles, all linked to an outbreak at Disneyland in California. Now Arizona health officials say that a family exposed to the disease on vacation could infect up to 1,000 residents

Most doctors and epidemiologists place the blame for the outbreak squarely on the anti-vaccination movement. Pediatric infectious disease specialist Dr. James Cherry told the New York Times that the outbreak was "100% connected" to the anti-vaccine movement. "It wouldn't have happened otherwise; it wouldn't have gone anywhere," he said.  

The most forceful rejection of this link came from a meta-analysis of 1.3 million subjects in the medical journal Vaccines in June 2014. A team of researchers from the University of Sydney analyzed a collection of all available evidence from studies that assessed the relationship between vaccine administration and the subsequent development of autism,  according to the paper's abstract. The results? There is no statistically significant link between vaccines and autism.

Make sense? Great! Now say it together, folks: Vaccinations aren't about me. Vaccinations aren't about me. Vaccinations aren't about me.