“I know vaccines are designed to protect children from infection," she said, "but they are pharmaceutical products made by the same companies that make opioids."

This logical double back summer-sault sums up the anti-vaxxers pretty well. Willfully stupid and not afraid to blare it.

@1 I know. That's some ironclad logic. I bet she doesn't drink water because there are sharks in the ocean.

Katie - you needed to see some credible proof of the so called "vaccine injury" before you even continue the interview of this dangerous twit. And, no. A note from her acupuncturist isn't proof.

"..but there remains no evidence that the vaccine comes with a risk of injury or death."
Once again, Katie is mis-informed. If you simply read the insert that is wrapped around the MMR vaccine, you will clearly read all the side effects that were documented to be associated with the product.

https://vaccines.procon.org/sourcefiles/MMRII_Package_Insert.pdf

@2 Will it get back-pats from Buthurt Broflakes? Does it take less than five seconds of thinking?
Well. Never fear. Hot Take Herzog is on the case!

@3 you must not be aware of the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. The fact that it has payed out over $4 billion in the last three decades proves that vaccines do indeed injure and kill some children.

https://www.hrsa.gov/vaccine-compensation/data/

@4 Oh for fuck sake. Ever read the the possible side effects of aspirin?

The risks associated with MMR vaccine is minuscule compared to the risk of contracting measles, mumps or rubella.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4599698/

"A study published in 2013 using electronic health record databases reviewed health information on over 13 million vaccinated persons and compared causes of death in the vaccinated study population to the general US population. The death rate 1 or 2 months following vaccination was lower than that in the general US population, and the causes of death were similar [28]. This study provides convincing evidence that vaccinations are not associated with an increased risk of death at the population level."

@4 & 6: You, like all anti-vaxxers, are a pernicious fool and a danger to yourself, any children you may have, and society at large.

@6 And you must not be aware of scientific fact.

CDC List of Vaccine Safety Publications:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4599698/

There are over a hundred per reviewed studies over twenty years from all over the world proving the safety and efficacy of vaccines.

@9 @8 so you're saying that the national vaccine court mistakenly compensated $4 billion to families of vaccine injured children? Or that families somehow duped the system and fraudulently won the settlements? Ok guys, good arguement there. I simply pointed out that there are indeed REAL stories of devestated families who've lost children to vaccines reactions. If you deny that, you have your head buried in the sand and are truely illogical. I dare you to search "vaccine injury" on youtube. #believemothers

@8 I know. Not only is basically biology not an area of study for these morons, neither is math.

His OWN link even disproves his case. He clearly never perused the site. It goes into great detail about the payouts and what and to they were for. You can read the damn tables.

There were a grand total of 2,946 cases of compensated claims over the last 10 years. The OVERWHELMING majority of the claims were for INFLUENZA vaccines (2,833 claims). Not MMR. And according to other searches most of that were rare allergies or improperly administered shots.

Since 1988 there have been a grand total of 20,332 claims filed. Most of those dismissed. Out of HUNDREDS of MILLIONS of vaccinations. Of the 6,358 payouts eventually made since 1988 — fucking 5,369 were to attorneys.

It's like literally BILLIONS of people have been vaccinated over the last thirty years. So, $4 billion paid out to a smattering of edge cases over thirty years? It's laughable. The odds are still less than being struck by lightening.

@10 90% Of them were not injured children. They were for influenza vaccines not MMR. You didn't even read your own link. Dumbfuck.

And over thirty years out of the hundreds of millions of vaccines administered? I'll take those odds any day.

@10: $4 billion over the 30 year span of the program.
https://www.hrsa.gov/vaccine-compensation/data/index.html
From the link:
How many petitions have been awarded compensation?
According to the CDC, from 2006 to 2017 over 3.4 billion doses of covered vaccines were distributed in the U.S. For petitions filed in this time period, 6,094 petitions were adjudicated by the Court, and of those 4,172 were compensated.

This means for every one million doses of vaccine that were distributed, one individual was compensated.

Since 1988, over 20,332 petitions have been filed with the VICP. Over that 30-year time period, 17,627 petitions have been adjudicated, with 6,358 of those determined to be compensable, while 11,269 were dismissed. Total compensation paid over the life of the program is approximately $4.0 billion.

So LITERALLY 1 in a MILLION.

Go back to Youtube you nutter.

Had to go line it up myself with the vote, but the party split here was:
54-55D and 2-3R Yes ( I only figured out the no's and there was one absent or something, hence the 1 vote uncertainty).
38R 2D No

Everytime an anti-vax person speaks up, I want just one thing: for their children to die a horrible, agonizing death from something that would have been prevented by a vaccine.

@15 that's a wee bit harsh.

Seems if someone that has survived most diseases growing up and is alive and kicking after actively interacting with people, then they themselves are proof that vaccines work because they were vaccinated or the majority were at a younger age but don't want the same life for their kids.
Time to stop calling these people anti vaccinators and call them what they actually are.
Child abusers

Whether or not you believe vaccines to be safe (they are) it's still your responsibility to get them. Shirking that responsibility makes you a horrible, selfish person. You can argue against the principle of being forced to but see the sentence above.

From the same crowd that brought us 56 genders.

@17 or call them Pro-Infectious Disease. Or Pro-Childhood death. Because they're that, too.

Reminder: Trump is anti-vax.

@19: Anti-vaxxers cross all party lines doll, but sure, clutch that straw if it makes you feel better.

Notice Katie didn't break down the vote in the House by party, I wonder why...

@19 Notice that it's the party that refuses to differentiate gender and sex that overwhelmingly opposed the bill... It's almost like you're the true cultural Marxists...

@22 Didn't it all start in the late 1940's with the rightwing John Birch Society (founded by Daddy Koch) though?

Like they were the kings of nutty conspiracy bullshit - like fluoride and vaccines being commie conspiracies? I swear I've seen old propaganda brochures from the time screaming nonsense about vaccines keeping poor worthless brown people alive or some such nonsense. I'll have to research.

@3 The Stranger needs to redeem itself and hire someone with a background in science. You know, instead of people who can't tell the difference between philosophy and empiricism.

@4 It has way more to do with lawyers than anything else. Fighting every case that could come up, every imaginary bullshit that idiots like you can exploit, would end up far too costly too those that make vaccines to stay in business. Therefore, it is significantly easier to give every reaction under the sun than actually defend it.

@6 See above. Unless you have information as to the "how" when it comes to the connection between vaccines and any sort of reaction, you have nothing. We know why cigarettes cause cancer, why high fat diets lead to heart disease, and why liquor leads to alzheimer's. Meanwhile, you idiots have no idea how vaccines cause autism. And do you know why? Because it doesn't.

Damnit, this is why I shouldn't comment until I've read all the posts. Prof is a welcome, intelligent individual. And Lissa knows how to get to the heart of it.

That said, Katie still isn't the right person to write about this. Her, "I'm the ideological right of Mudede" thing really doesn't work with real evidence. And that counts for both of them.

I hope all of the pro-vaccine commenters have taken 2 minutes to go to the legislative website to state that you are in favor of this bill. The anti-vax loons are certainly making their opinions known. Those of us who support this bill must do so as well.

I just want the parent of a kid who can't be vaccinated and tragically passes to sue the living sh!!t out of the anti-vax parents who infected their kid.

Also, tetanus, common name lock jaw, rare name "break bone fever" because it causes the muscles to seize such that the worst case can break your back. Literally the most painful disease known to man. If you don't immunize your kid against that.... you are a horrible human being.

Vaccinate your kids and stop ripping off their foreskins.

@10 Do you mean this "National Vaccine Court?" https://www.skepticalraptor.com/skepticalraptorblog.php/vaccine-court-myths-nvicp-facts/

Wilt chamberlain had a foreskin and never a shot in his life.
Why would anyone not want to be wilt the stilt?

"1 in a MILLION" doses. 72 doses per kid required = 1 in 13,888 chance of vaccine injury or death from vaccines. Also, considering the CDC says only 1-10% are ever reported via VAERS, the true injury number is between 1 in 1,388 or 1 in 139 kids. Considering measles has claimed the lives of 0 children in the past 13 years of "outbreaks", I think I'd prefer to be scratchy for a couple days - take vitamin A, and have lifelong immunity & a lower chance of heart attacks.