Anti-Vaccine Points Refuted A Thousand Times

Every anti-vaccine argument is essentially a PRATT, a point refuted a thousand times.

“My statement I like to make on vaccines and autism, is that vaccines don’t cause autism, except when they do.”

Bob Sears

How many times has the idea that vaccines are associated with autism been refuted? More than a thousand times. We’ll still call it a PRATT though…

Want another example?

Johns Hopkins Medicine, which includes the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System went out of their way to correct this anti-vaccine argument.

Not surprisingly, anti-vax folks continued to bring it up.

Anti-Vaccine Points Refuted A Thousand Times

What are some other anti-vaccine points that have been refuted a thousand times?

There are probably a thousand of them, but I’ll just include some of the most common ones:

Anti-Vaccine Lies	Vaccine Truths
Since your kids are vaccinated, it shouldn’t matter that I don’t vaccinate mine.	One last time – some kids are at risk because they are too young to be vaccinated, have a true medical contraindication to getting vaccinated, or perhaps their vaccine didn’t work, and so your unvaccinated kid can put them at risk.
Herd immunity is a myth.	Anti-vaccine folks simply do not understand herd immunity.
Doctors don’t learn anything about vaccines in medical school.	Most doctors learn a lot about vaccines in school, but it is easy to see that some doctors don’t learn anything about vaccines in medical school – they are the ones who create their own immunization schedules and warn parents that vaccines are dangerous.
Vaccines didn’t save us – it was improved living conditions, better nutrition, indoor plumbing, and sanitation.	If this were true, then how come these factors didn’t also stop RSV, norovirus, HIV, and other non-vaccine-preventable diseases?
Vaccine free kids are healthier than those who get vaccines.	They aren’t. They just get more vaccine-preventable diseases. Did you know that there are unvaccinated kids with autism?
Vaccine ingredients are toxic.	The ingredients in vaccines are not toxic. Remember, the wise words of Paracelsus, the father of toxicology, “Solely the dose determines that a thing is not a poison”
Vaccines aren’t tested.	Vaccines are well tested before being approved and continue to be tested for safety and efficacy after we begin using them. They are even tested together.
Vaccine makers have immunity from any liability.	If vaccine manufacturers are free of any liability, then why is there a vaccine lawsuit against Merck about the mumps vaccine? Vaccine manufacturers have liability for their vaccines and can still be sued by parents, although they do typically have to go through Vaccine Court first.
SIDS was made up to cover up for vaccine deaths.	Except that infants died of SIDS before we had vaccines.
The anti-vaccine movement is based on science.	The anti-vaccine movement is based on fear, conspiracy theories, and pseudoscience.
If a wound bleeds, you don’t need a tetanus shot.	Whether or not a wound bleeds, you may need a tetanus shot and tetanus immune immunoglobulin if it has been more than five years since your last vaccine.
Shedding from vaccinated kids start most outbreaks.	Few vaccines shed and even those that do are rarely the cause of outbreaks, which can typically be traced to an unvaccinated children or adult.
Kids get too many vaccines and it can overwhelm their immune system.	Infants do have an immature immune system, which is one reason why they need protection from vaccines, but it is mature enough to respond to those vaccines as maternal protection quickly fades.
“DTP scream” is caused by encephalitis.	Prolonged crying after getting a DTP or DTaP vaccine is a painful local reaction and is not caused by encephalitis.
Package inserts prove that vaccines cause SIDS, autism, and meningitis.	Folks who use the package insert argument just don’t understand how package inserts are written.
Kids are still getting exposed to just as mercury in vaccines as ever.	Since most flu vaccines are now thimerosal free, few if any kids are exposed to thimerosal in vaccines.
Aluminum in vaccines is toxic.	Aluminum in vaccines is not toxic.
Vaccines contain aborted fetal tissue.	Some vaccines are made with descendant cells from two electively terminated pregnancies (abortions) in the 1960s, so those vaccines have a distant association with abortion, but there is no fetal tissue or aborted baby parts in any vaccine.
No one believed Ignaz Semmelweis and he was later proven to be right.	Yes, but just because we think you are wrong, that doesn’t make you Semmelweis. It is more likely that you are just wrong.
Andrew Wakefield is not a fraud.	Uh, yeah he is.
Vaccines aren’t safe and cause cancer because the package insert says that they aren’t evaluated for mutagenicity, carcinogenicity and impairment of fertility.	The section of the package insert that talks about mutagenicity, carcinogenicity and impairment of fertility is talking about long term studies. All vaccines have preclinical toxicology studies to see if those long term studies need to be done. Typically they are not, so aren’t evaluated because it isn’t necessary to do so, not because this testing was just skipped.
Higher infant mortality rates in the United States prove that vaccines aren’t safe.	Infant mortality rates have nothing to do with vaccines and vaccine-preventable diseases. And they have been decreasing to ever lower levels.
Vaccine side effects are underreported to VAERS.	While that is likely true, they aren’t underreported by as much as folks think, and serious side effects are likely reported much more commonly.
Pediatricians get vaccine bonuses.	Pediatricians don’t routinely get vaccine bonuses. And they certainly don’t get millions of dollars in bonus money.
Infants get too high a dose of vaccines, because they get the same dose as adults.	Vaccines are not typically calibrated by age or weight, because they work locally, stimulating an immune response where they are given, unlike antibiotics and other medicines that have travel throughout your whole body.
Kids are all different, so we shouldn’t use a one-size-fits-all immunization schedule.	The immunization schedule has a lot of flexibility built into it, and with its list of precautions and contraindications, it it clearly not one-size-fits-all.
Andrew Wakefield was right.	Andrew Wakefield has never been proven to be right. If anything, more and more studies show that he was wrong.
I have a religious exemption to getting my kids vaccinated.	Which religion do you belong to? Most religions support getting kids vaccinated and protected. In fact, some consider it immoral to skip your child’s vaccines and leave them unprotected.
The Leicester Method proves that good sanitation and quarantines – not the smallpox vaccine – eradicated smallpox.	While this is a nice theory, a booklet written by the medical officer from the time clearly shows that The Leicester Method included the use of the smallpox vaccine.
Vaccines aren’t safe because they are unavoidably unsafe.	The term “unavoidably unsafe” relates to liability and doesn’t mean that vaccines are dangerous.
Polio was caused by DDT.	There is no connection between DDT and polio.
Vaccine-preventable diseases are easily treated.	They are easily treated in the sense that most don’t have any treatments, so there is not much to do, but not that you can provide treatment and make these folks better.
There are 300 new vaccines in the pipeline.	Unfortunately, very few new vaccines are being developed for infectious diseases in children, at least not any vaccines that will be available any time soon.
Breastfeeding is better than vaccines at preventing infections.	While breastfeeding has many benefits, it will not protect your kids from most vaccine-preventable diseases.
Ingredients in vaccines are toxic because they are injected directly into a child’s bloodstream and aren’t ingested and filtered by the body’s natural defenses.	Vaccine ingredients are not toxic.
The media should give equal time to doctors and parents who are against vaccines.	The media has gotten better at avoiding that type of false balance.
Vaccines don’t cover outbreak strains that cause measles and pertussis outbreaks.	DTaP and measles vaccines cover all wild strains of pertussis and measles.
Kids get sick from vaccines in hot lots.	Reports of hot lots come from misuse of VAERS reports. There are no true hot lots of vaccines.
People never regret not vaccinating their kids.	Many parents do regret not vaccinating their kids when they get sick and catch a vaccine-preventable disease.
You have to quarantine your kids after they are vaccinated because of shedding.	If you can get vaccines if you are a household contact of someone with compromised immunity, do you really need to worry about your neighbor vaccinating their kids during back-to-school “shedding season?”
Everything is a vaccine injury.	While vaccines have some risks, most of what anti-vaccine folks thinks of as vaccine-induced diseases are not caused by vaccines.
The Brady Bunch measles episode proves that folks were never worried about measles.	If Mr. and Mrs. Brady weren’t worried when all six Brady Bunch kids got measles at the same time, then why did they each call a pediatrician and have them come to the house to check all of the kids?
Polio disappeared because we changed the diagnostic criteria.	Vaccines helped eliminate polio in the United States and is helping us get close to the final goal of eradication.
Vaccines cause Autoimmune/Inflammatory Syndrome Induced by Adjuvants.	Most experts consider ASIA a made up syndrome.
Natural immunity is better than immunity from a vaccine.	While natural immunity is great, it often comes at a price. You have to survive the disease and its complications. Most folks prefer a safer route – getting vaccinated.
Graphs prove that vaccines don’t work.	Graphs are misused by folks as propaganda to make them think that vaccines don’t work. #VaccinesWork
Ex-vaxxers never change their mind.	Reasonable people change their minds when presented with evidence. Many anti-vaccine parents change their minds and begin vaccinating their kids again.
Homeopathic vaccines are just as good as vaccines.	Homeopathic vaccines, which are diluted to nothing, with just a memory of the original ingredient, don’t work.
Vaccines made in China are used in the United States.	While vaccines are made in China, they are used in China and in some other countries – not in the United States.
Vaccine strain measles causes outbreaks.	In every measles outbreak, there is always someone who asks – is it the vaccine strain? It never is…
Vaccine-preventable diseases are mild.	Vaccine-preventable diseases often cause life-threatening infections with serious complications.
We are only afraid of diseases once they make a vaccine for it.	If this were true, then why are parents so afraid of RSV? And why was there so much panic about Ebola? And why were folks put into Leper colonies?
Kids get 72 doses of vaccines.	The idea of 72 doses is an inflated number that is meant to scare parents.
Vaccines aren’t necessary anymore.	Know why you don’t hear about a lot of kids getting tetanus, rabies and other vaccine-preventable diseases anymore? Because most folks get vaccinated and protected. What happens when you don’t? Vaccines are necessary.
Vaccine deaths are common.	Vaccine deaths are rare. They only seem common when folks misuse VAERS reports.
Folks who choose to skip or delay vaccines are smarter than everyone else.	Parents who choose to skip or delay their child’s vaccines are not making smart decisions about vaccines.
Vaccines don’t prevent the spread of disease.	Almost all vaccines do prevent the spread of disease.
Andrew Wakefield never said anything about autism.	Except he did, at the press conference for his 1998 Lancet study, which was later retracted.
The US Government lost a landmark lawsuit that proves they haven’t done any safety studies on vaccines in over 30 years.	While a settled lawsuit showed that they may have not filed the necessary reports, all safety studies and other things necessary to ensure that vaccines are safe have been done over the past 30 years.
Tetanus only lives in farm animal manure.	Every anti-vaccine person thinks that they are an expert on tetanus. Are you going to bet your child’s life that they are right? Don’t. They are typically wrong… Tetanus spores can be found in dust, soil, feces, and in the mouths of some animals.
Hand,Foot and Mouth Disease is vaccine-induced and is caused by shedding from the polio vaccine.	The study anti-vaccine folks used to come up with this theory actually said that the polio vaccine might be protective against hand, foot, and mouth disease.
You should detox after vaccines.	You don’t need to detox after getting vaccines, but even if you did, the stuff folks tell you to do is a waste of time and money and is sometimes dangerous.
Alternative vaccine schedules are safe.	Alternative vaccine schedules are made up and have no evidence that they are safe or effective? How could they be dangerous? Your child might get a vaccine-preventable disease on your delayed schedule…
You shouldn’t vaccinate your kids if they have signs of a MTHFR mutation.	The so-called MTHFR signs you read about are made up and are certainly not a reason to skip or delay your child’s vaccines.
Vaccines contain heavy metals.	Vaccines do not contain any heavy metals. The closest that you might find would be a flu vaccine with thimerosal, as mercury is indeed a heavy metal and thimerosal breaks down to ethylmercury. But then, the great majority of flu vaccines are now thimerosal-free.
Aluminum replaced thimerosal in vaccines.	Aluminum is an adjuvant, while thimerosal was a preservative. Aluminum didn’t replace thimerosal in vaccines, although anti-vaccine folks did go out of their way to make aluminum the new thing for parents to worry about.
Amish people don’t get autism.	There are autistic Amish, and no, it’s not because they vaccinate.
The CDC is hiding data on vaccines, mercury, and autism.	This is just another conspiracy theory.
I’m not anti-vaccine, I’m pro-safe vaccine.	You can call yourself pro-safe vaccine or whatever else you want, but if you push anti-vaccine myths and propaganda, then you are anti-vaccine.
We are more careful about introducing baby food to kids than giving them vaccines.	Wait. This is really an argument now? Baby food?
Vaccine Court has compensated over 70 families for autism.	They have not.
You can’t get rabies from dog or cat bites anymore.	You are unlikely to get rabies from a dog or cat these days in the United States, but only because most folks vaccinate their pets and people get rabies treatments if they are possibly exposed to an animal with rabies.
Pediatricians are just vaccine pushers.	Then why don’t pediatricians push all available vaccines to everyone, like the adenovirus vaccine, BCG vaccine, Pneumovax, typhoid vaccine, and yellow fever vaccine, etc., instead of only using them in high risk situations?
The CDC owns vaccine patents and sells billions of dollars in vaccines each year.	While the CDC does own some vaccine patents, they don’t sell vaccines.
Sweden banned mandatory vaccination	Sweden has never had mandatory vaccination, so there was nothing to ban.
Utah banned the HPV vaccine.	One local health department in Utah has decided to not offer the HPV vaccine, but it isn’t banned. You just have to get it at private clinics.
It’s dangerous to give kids Tylenol after they have had a vaccine.	While there is some concern that giving Tylenol before your child’s vaccines might decrease the immune response, it isn’t dangerous.
There are hidden ingredients in vaccines.	There are no hidden ingredients in vaccines.
More people are dying of viral hepatitis since the hepatitis A and hepatitis B vaccines were introduced.	Nope. More people are dying of hepatitis C, but that isn’t vaccine preventable yet.
Anti-vaccine experts know a lot about autism.	Anti-vaccine folks don’t seem to know anything about autism, except how to hurt autistic families.
The latest autism prevalence reports prove that there is an autism epidemic and that it is caused by vaccines.	The latest report on autism prevalence from the CDC shows a rate that has increased to 1 in 59 children. And as county level trends in vaccination coverage show no correlation to those autism prevalence rates, folks will hopefully stop trying to associate vaccines with autism.
Vaccine mandates take away a parents choice to vaccinate their kids.	Vaccine mandates don’t force anyone to get vaccinated. Some parents just don’t like their vaccine choices though.
Everyone should have died at the 1980 vaccination rates.	This is  a silly argument. Vaccine-preventable diseases don’t kill everyone who gets them. Many children did die of what are now vaccine-preventable diseases in the 1980s though.
Vaccines cause cancer.	Not only do vaccines not cause cancer, several vaccines can prevent you from getting cancer.
The unvaccinated can’t spread diseases they don’t have.	While that is true, if they are unvaccinated, they are at increased to get these diseases and they can then spread them.
Peanut oil adjuvants in vaccines have caused a peanut allergy epidemic.	No vaccines contain peanut oil adjuvants.
If there is a RISK, there must be a CHOICE.	Parents nearly always have a choice on whether or not to vaccinate their kids, even if they live in a state without non-medical exceptions. Folks who get exposed to unvaccinated kids who get a vaccinate preventable disease don’t have that same vaccine choice though.
No one has died of measles in the United States in 15 years.	Except for the women who died in 2015. She was exposed to an outbreak in Clallam County, Washington, which included four unvaccinated children and adults.
Vaccine injury denialism is a big problem.	Vaccine injury denialism isn’t the problem, it is that some folks think that everything is a vaccine injury, from eczema and peanut allergies to multiple sclerosis and every sudden unexplained death.
Shaken baby syndrome is a vaccine injury.	Although the NVIC offers advice to parents who have been accused of shaken baby syndrome, it should be clear that vaccines do not cause shaken baby syndrome.
Most adults aren’t vaccinated, so there can’t be any herd immunity.	If you understand herd immunity, then you understand why this anti-vaccine argument is so silly.
Doctors have been wrong before.	But when they are, doctors kept working on these issues, came up with new ways to think about them, confirmed them using the scientific method, and put things right. This is unlike when anti-vax folks are wrong.
Vaccines are made with antifreeze.	There is no antifreeze in any vaccine.
Measles and other diseases are spread by undocumented immigrants and refugees.	Nope. It isn’t immigrants and refugees, but instead our own citizens who aren’t vaccinated and who travel out of the country, getting exposed, and bringing back vaccine-preventable diseases and sometimes starting big outbreaks.
We didn’t have any of these vaccines when we were kids and we ended up fine.	This argument is called survivorship bias. Those who died of a vaccine-preventable disease aren’t around to post about vaccines on Facebook or Twitter.
The flu vaccine can give you the flu.	The flu shot is inactivated, so can’t give you the flu. Even the live flu vaccine, FluMist, is attenuated and cold-adapted, so won’t give you the flu.
You can always vaccinate, but can never unvaccinate your kids.	You can’t vaccinate your child if they have already gotten a vaccine preventable disease. It is sometimes too late.
Bill Gates wants to depopulate the world with vaccines.	This is a silly conspiracy theory.
The vitamin K shot is dangerous.	Vitamin K is not a vaccine, but it is only dangerous to skip it, as we have seen with the increase in brain bleeds in newborns and infants who’s parents listen to bad advice about vitamin K and vaccines.
Vaccines have never been studied on pregnant women.	Except that the Vaccine Safety Datalink has published 14 studies “related to pregnancy and vaccination during pregnancy” and is “also able to use data to study the health of children born to women who were vaccinated during pregnancy.”
Encephalitis is autism.	Crying after getting vaccines is not encephalitis and encephalitis is not autism, although some anti-vaccine folks try to make this jump in logic (?) to convince themselves that vaccines are associated with autism.
Vegans don’t vaccinate their kids.	Many vegans vaccinate their kids.
If you drop a vaccine vial and it breaks, you have to call in a HAZMAT team to clean it up.	This isn’t true.
Vaccines are not Halal or Kosher.	As a general rule, neither Muslims nor Jews are against vaccines.
Vaccine Court has paid out almost $4 billion.	Yes, almost $4 billion since 1988 (30 years), during which time over 286 million doses of vaccines were given each year.
Other countries don’t give as many vaccines as the US.	Many countries have very similar immunization schedules as the United States. Some even give more dosages of vaccines at an earlier age than we do.
Parents can skip the hepatitis B shot because babies don’t use drugs or have sex.	Since babies can get hepatitis B from their mothers, the most effective strategy to prevent these infections is to vaccinate all newborns. And keep in mind that some older children and adults have gotten infected without risk factors. Since the vaccine is safe and effective, there is no good reason to skip it.
Doctors don’t provide informed consent about vaccines.	In addition to the fact that health care providers do indeed provide informed consent, anti-vaccine folks don’t, as they overstate the side effects and risks of vaccines, minimize the risks of vaccine-preventable diseases, and make you think that vaccines don’t work.
There are no such things as coincidences.	There are. Correlation does not imply causation.
Glyphosate, including the glyphosate that they think is in vaccines, will make half of all children autistic by 2025.	Only seven more years to go…
There are ZERO double blind vaccine studies based on an inert placebo.	Except for the these..
Johnny Gruelle developed the Raggedy Ann doll after his daughter died of a smallpox vaccine injury.	Johnny Gruelle’s daughter played with the Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy dolls he created. She tragically did die later of a probable reaction to a smallpox vaccine.
There are almost no studies that compare vaccinated versus unvaccinated kids.	Except for the one that showed unvaccinated kids weren’t any healthier than vaccinated kids and that they just got more vaccine-preventable diseases.
In the time that the number of vaccines have grown from 2 to over 50 in the childhood schedule, that the rates of chronic illness has grown to over 50%.	Kids today are actually a very healthy generation, being born with the lowest child and infant mortality rates ever, low rates of hospitalizations, and one of the highest life expectancies in history.
Anecdotes are evidence.	While technically anecdotes are a type of evidence, they are among the weakest forms of evidence. That’s why most people don’t put a lot of faith in vaccine injury stories.
China is still having measles outbreaks, even though 99% of folks there are vaccinated.	Nope. China is not having big measles outbreaks among highly vaccinated people.
Simpsonwood	Simpsonwood? Really?
No one has ever died after getting a vaccine preventable disease from an unvaccinated child.	Tragically, this has happened – more than once.
The CDC wants the FDA to approve adult doses of the flu vaccine for babies.	Many infants already get the same dose of flu vaccine as adults, because it has been found to be safe and more effective and vaccines aren’t calibrated by weight or age.
Getting a flu vaccine increases your risk of spreading the flu.	No, it doesn’t.
A recently leaked vaccine bombshell about Infanrix Hexa exposes infant deaths.	The Latest Anti-Vaccine Bombshell on Infanrix Hexa is Just Another Dud
Vaccines are contaminated with retroviruses.	Vaccines are not contaminated with infectious retroviruses.
More vaccinated kids get pertussis.	The attack rate among unvaccinated kids with pertussis is much higher than vaccinated kids.
The risks are greater than the benefits for all vaccines.	The risks aren’t greater than benefits for any vaccine that we routinely use.
Flu deaths are exaggerated.	A lot of people, including kids, die with the flu.
Better hygiene and sanitation got rid of vaccine preventable diseases.	Better hygiene and sanitation did actually help control and eliminate many infectious diseases, but it was vaccines that eliminated smallpox and helped to control polio, etc.
Vaccines aren’t regulated like drugs.	Vaccines are even more strictly regulated than other drugs.
You have to sign a consent form before getting a vaccine.	While you have to get informed consent, no one has to actually sign a consent form before getting vaccinated,
Trump is laying the groundwork to ban mandatory vaccinations.	Vaccine mandates are set by state law, so no, he isn’t.
The meningococcal vaccine is more dangerous than meningococcal disease.	Meningococcal vaccines are safe and meningococcal disease is horrible, so no.
There are new allegations of fraud in the Vaccine Court Omnibus Proceedings.	No fraud, just anti-vaccine folks looking for attention.
Vaccines aren’t mentioned in the Bible.	Yeah, so?
Japan has the lowest infant mortality rate following a ban on mandatory vaccinations.	Japan never banned any vaccines and infant mortality rates aren’t correlated with vaccines.
They just guess which flu virus strains to put into the flu vaccine each year.	Although they don’t have a crystal ball and so can’t know exactly which flu strains will be making us sick each flu season, it is hardly a wild guess.
Shedding season is a thing.	No, it’s not.

Have you seen any other anti-vaccine talking points that need refuting?

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Updated on January 9, 2019

Last Updated on January 9, 2019