Despite what doctors say, the mother I spoke with stands by her decision, believing vaccines could do more harm than good.

“Adverse reactions, now known side effects to vaccines are seizures, hydrocephaly, rashes, all kinds of things,” she said.

She also believes many doctors are not telling the full truth about the harmful side effects.

“Anytime you have a procedure done they have to tell you every possible adverse reaction and that’s not being done when it comes to vaccines,” she said. “People are told very little, you may have a little swelling or redness at the area and that’s it.”

Dr. Read directed me to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website  where a study shows a small increased risk for febrile seizures--those caused by fevers--after a child gets the flu vaccine at the same time as the PCV13 and DTaP vaccines....

 “There are absolutely no studies that prove there is a relationship between autism and vaccination,” Read said. “What actually happens is for patients who are at risk or have certain conditions, that have predisposed them to autism, and  those types of conditions start to develop around that time. That’s when parents start to notice those symptoms that are related to autism.”...

“If we don’t do something to address this and get people to understand the risks that they are putting their children through and other people’s children through, it’s just going to spiral out of control and we are going to be in a situation that we were before vaccines,” Essman said.

That is why Read believes setting firm boundaries is necessary.

“Really no longer allow religious exemptions or exemptions for very mild vaccine reactions because those really haven’t shown to be valid reasons not to vaccinate,” Read said....

“A doctor tells all”?

Seriously, I can’t imagine a less applicable title than that one. Dr. Andrea Read  did nothing but parrot the tired dictate of our medical community: Vaccines are safe, vaccines save lives, every child must be vaccinated.

I’m still waiting for just ONE of these local pediatricians who are so adamant that there is no risk from vaccination to actually state that they’ve read the science for themselves. I’m also waiting for any doctor to openly admit that they’re vouching for a product for which they have absolutely no liability.

Read makes it clear that as far as she's concerned, serious reactions like regression into autism following vaccination are merely coincidence. She furthermore said nothing in response to the mother in the story (whose identity had to be concealed) who listed serious vaccine side effects that recognized reactions.

This doctor wants to “start some hard boundaries” when it comes to parents who won’t vaccinate. She’s out to get rid of ANY exemption—religious, personal, and even medical, (because “those really haven’t been shown to be valid reasons”).

And of course all this is made possible because of the ignorance and do nothingness on the part of the media. Reporter Jordan Howington had no idea what the vaccine controversy is about.

Howington: “It’s definitely a debate.”

IF she’d even done even a cursory look into arguments on both sides, she should have had lots of questions for Dr. Read.

Just for starters, she should have asked...

“Doctor, it is true that, as a physician, you have no liability for injuries from the vaccines you give, and neither does the manufacturer of those vaccines?”

“Do you inform the parents of the patients you vaccinate about the recognized side effects associated with individual vaccines?”

“Do you do any pretesting to determine which child might be at risk for a vaccine reaction?”

“Are you concerned about reports that a senior scientist at the CDC has admitted that his agency knowingly covered up study results that showed a link between the MMR vaccine and autism, but so far, no one in Congress is willing to have him testify about this fraud?”

Of course the list of questions could go on to include one about the poor testing of vaccines with no long term follow-up, the billions paid out in damages for serious injuries and even death resulting from vaccination, and the briefly publicized and quickly forgotten story of Hannah Poling whose claim of vaccine-induced autism was conceded by the federal government.

I’m sure Dr. Read wouldn’t have been able to respond to specific arguments from the other side. Most doctors know almost nothing about the mechanics of vaccination. The free pass they received in 1986 from Congress with the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act turned vaccines into an ever-expanding revenue source and necessitated all those “well baby visits” every couple of months.

The future for Dr. Read and others looks rosy with dozens of new additions to the childhood schedule in the testing stages—if only they can close the loopholes that allow parents to opt out.   

In the words of the dad cited in the story: “Every child should be up-to-date on vaccines.”

Every time I watch news clips like this--crummy coverage from reporters who have no idea what they're talking about--I get furious.

No other topic is covered by the media in the sloppy manner that vaccine safety is. No one ever has any background information, no one ever does investigative reporting.

Once I talked to a reporter who wrote like this and I politely asked why he seemed to know nothing about subject. He was rather annoyed and informed me that he only had 20 minutes to prepare for his interview. To him, it was a no-brainer: Doctors know everything, parents are stupid.

I'm sure his assignment was something like: "Listen, we're doing a story on parents who don't want to vaccinate their kids. Go over to the clinic and interview the doctor about why vaccines are important, and then talk to this mom who thinks vaccines cause autism."

After several conversations with reporters who write like this, I stopped calling or posting comments on their stories. My favorite response from reporters to whatever evidence I might have was "I stand by what I wrote."

Nothing like being proud of being a failure as a news person.

Anne Dachel is Media Editor for Age of Autism.