Another young victim of vaccine-preventable disease

Another family falls victim to anti-vaccination hysteria, another young child pays the ultimate price:

Orange County health officials said a baby died from whooping cough last week.

This is the first whooping cough death the county has seen in decades. Officials said it's been at least 20 years or more since someone died of the disease.

[…]

Officials said the family chose not to vaccinate their child. Some parents are choosing not to fully vaccinate their children because they worry there is a link between the vaccinations and autism.

Vaccines are safe, they’re usually cheap (when not free), and they work. This is scientific fact. The only people pretending otherwise are dingbats who don’t know any better and frauds focusing on their bottom line, both at the expense of an easily misled public.

Get your damn kids vaccinated, people.

(via @mistressmousey; RT: @BadAstronomer)