We’ve all heard the rumors. “Vaccines cause autism” and “vaccines diminish your own natural immune system”; propaganda spread by the anti-vaccine movement happening among parents in the U.S. Unfortunately for these parents, and the children whose lives they orchestrate, these rumors are not true and believing them has caused the worst measles outbreak this country has seen in twenty years.

The outbreak stemmed from the heart of Disneyland, and now 84 children have contracted measles in 14 different states. This outbreak, experts say, was a result of the growing populous of unvaccinated children. There are a number of parents throughout the country, the most being in California, that believe all vaccines are harmful for one reason or another. The anti-vaccine movement can almost certainly be attributed to a 1998 report published in a medical journal that linked vaccines to autism. This statement was later proved false and retracted, but the damage was already done. The CDC fears that measles will turn endemic in the U.S., perpetually circulating due to the now large numbers of unvaccinated children.

While public schools require that their students get vaccinated, in 48 states parents have the option to refuse the vaccine for philosophical or religious reasons at no consequence to them or the child. While in some cases it may be a lack of education for the parents that results in their child going without a vaccine, but there is also a subculture of well-educated, wealthy families in Los Angeles and San Francisco that deprive their children of vaccines in the name of “all-natural” living. Hopefully, the fad ends soon and our children will be protected by vaccines again.