I am a firm believer in recognizing others beliefs and cultures. However, when a mother just lies to avoid vaccinating her children out of ignorance, I have a problem. In a recent news article that I just posted it appears that many parents are lying about religious preferences to avoid having their children vaccinated because of fears. It is our job to educate the public about vaccinations. People still believe that vaccinations cause Autism and that Flu vaccines cause the flu. I am dumbfounded by how many nurses believe this. Three has been no link found between vaccines and autism. However, there are many organized groups out there who continue to promote this false idea. It does not help when we have shock jocks such as Don Imus promoting this. In addition, even when it is the parent’s belief, what about the child? The child is not born with a religious belief and the child is not a property. How do we overcome this?

Everyone should read cdnurse's news article "Parents Lie and Use Religion to Avoid Vaccines"

Don Imus is not the only personadvocating this vaccination and autism link. I was watching a show where Jenny McCarthy and a couple other known celebs were talking about this. Saying there IS a link and so on. I think more research needs to be done before people can make statements of this nature. It does only hurt the children when parents are listening to celebrities and not the professional healthcare workers. It just makes our job harder to protect and promote wellness.