What About Autism? 

It's a mistake, most of the time — most of the people who say it are probably sincere, they're just wrong. But it began as a greedy lie.

Big accusation. Let's look at it. 

Autism and vaccines goes back to a British doctor named Andrew Wakefield. Mr Wakefield was a surgeon and medical researcher who wrote a paper, published in the reputable Lancet journal in 1998, that showed a possible link between autism and bowel diseases like Crohns, and one specific vaccine: the British MMR (Measles,Mumps and Rubella) vaccine. It was a small study, the effect was slight and it implicated only one, specific vaccine. Even if it had been true, there would be an argument to make about whether the risks were worth it. After all, chemotherapy for cancer has some horrifying effects, surgery is scary, painful and dangerous, and lots of useful drugs, from painkillers to antibiotics, have side-effects. Maybe, compared with measles — which can kill, deafen, blind, cause neurological disorders and more — the risk would have been worth it, though it would be an uncomfortable choice for a parent to make.

Fortunately no parent will ever have to make it. Other researchers were unable to replicate Mr Wakefield's findings. The reason? He made them up. Why would a doctor lie about something that important, putting the health of so many kids at risk? A 2004 investigation by journalist Brian Deer found that Mr Wakefield had "undisclosed financial conflicts of interest". In other words, he did it for the money. In 2010, the General Medical Council of Britain struck Mr Wakefield off their list of doctors permanently, for "four counts of dishonesty and 12 counts involving the abuse of developmentally challenged children".

That is the case for vaccines causing autism. 

Flu Vaccines

Let's move on to our last point: by now, we all know that this year's flu shot isn't working very well.

So I probably shouldn't bother getting it, right?

No. For two reasons.

First, there's usually a couple of different strains of flu going around at once. If the flu vaccine doesn't stop the one that's making everyone sick, that doesn't mean it's ineffective against the strain that isn't making everyone sick — because no-one has it, thanks to the flu vaccine. You're protecting yourself against a threat in the same way that you're curing yourself of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease by not smoking. You're doing the right thing, and that's why there isn't a problem.

The other reason is more complex and has to do with herd immunity and disease reservoirs.

Herd immunity works like this: if I have the flu and give it to you, each of us can then give it to dozens more people. It's being communicated, just like a rumour. But if I'm immune, and you give me the flu I can still carry it around on my skin and give it to someone else. If you and I and everyone we know are all immune, we won't just not get the flu: chances are, we'll never be exposed to it, because there's no-one to pass it on to us. A couple of people get infected, their immune systems kill the virus and we're done: it happens all the time and we never know.

Reservoirs are places where diseases live, breed and change. Many of our drug-resistant TB strains come from the great disease reservoir of the Russian (and American!) prison systems. Flu tends to come out of Asia, where pigs, chickens and people, all of which can infect each other with flu, live close to each other. 

See Also: Why Parents Should Still Say Yes To Childhood Vaccines

Once we lose herd immunity, we'll be a reservoir. That makes it more likely that a new strain of flu that's even more virulent will develop over here.

If you think I've really nailed it, or there's something in this article you want to pick me up on, please get in touch with me in the comments section below!