By now, you’ve probably heard about the measles outbreak going on at the moment. Some people have been bringing this awful disease into America and Japan, and been causing countless people, mostly unvaccinated children, to fall sick. Despite us having an effective measles vaccine that can stop the outbreak, there are still a number of parents who go so far as to protest their right to not vaccinate.

Let’s make one thing clear; vaccines are not harmful. Remember the one study from 20 years ago discussing their dangers? The man who wrote it got his medical license taken away. Yet, people continue to trust him over all the actual licensed professionals who say to get vaccinated.

First, let’s get the facts about measles. It is one of the most contagious diseases this side of tuberculosis; 9 out of 10 unvaccinated people in a room with someone with measles will catch it. Some people may think that measles is just rashes, and that too big a deal is being made of it. This is completely wrong. If you actually research measles, you’ll find that it can cause deafness, pneumonia, brain damage, and even death when left untreated. And remember, this is from a disease that we have a way to prevent.

Also note how vaccines exist for diseases far more serious than measles, such as whooping cough, polio, diphtheria, and hepatitis. None of these are diseases you would want yourself, or your loved ones getting, are they?

Many people have claimed over the years that vaccines are a leading cause of autism, which is simply not true. Autism is something a person is born with that changes the way an individual’s brain develops; it cannot be caught through any means. Plus, there are way more healthy people with autism than there are healthy people with measles. If you are that concerned with the concept of autism, remember that 1 in 59 kids are known to be on the spectrum, and that number may be even higher. The person sitting next to you could be autistic, and you may not even know.

Another argument used against vaccines is the idea that vaccines contain toxic ingredients like aluminum and thimerosal. Aluminum is used, but only in non-toxic salts, and in very small quantities. Thimerosal is rarely used in vaccines to prevent harmful microbes from growing, and when it is, it quickly leaves the body.

And how harmful could vaccines really be? If they are as ineffective as people claim, then why has smallpox been completely eradicated? Why are diphtheria and polio not the pandemics that they once were? Why does every credible source say that vaccines can, at most, only cause a mild fever or joint pain in a very small minority of people?

In the end, you should stop trusting the subjective emotional arguments and start trusting the cold hard facts- vaccines are safe. So get vaccinated, get your relatives vaccinated, get you pets vaccinated, before it’s too late.