As we just noted, California has finally eliminated its philosophical vaccine exemption. Until now it had been among the 20 states allowing parents to, in essence, evade getting their kids vaccinated against childhood contagions by simply signing a form. The recent measles epidemic, centered in Disneyland, finally convinced science-challenged legislators that mandating these vaccinations would prevent, to a great extent, future such episodes. They and Gov. Jerry Brown were also convinced via expert testimony that these vaccines are safe, and are not responsible for the neurological ailments that the anti-vaccine zealots have tried to link them to.
Along comes Jim: movie and media loudmouth Jim Carrey formerly paired up with the now-demure former Playboy model and anti-vaxxer Jenny McCarthy went on a Twitter rant to his multi-millions of followers condemning vaccines, Gov. Brown, medical science in general and the CDC in particular. There is no need to repeat his uncouth and defamatory comments here: suffice it to say (if you ll pardon us) that each of his assertions was dumber than the previous one.
ACSH s medical director, Dr. Gil Ross, had this comment: Why on gods green earth would so many millions of Americans want to tune in to this crackpot s Twitter feed? They can t all be anti-vaccine dupes, so mostly they are fans of his movies, I d suppose. We hope that only a small fraction of them swallow his rambling against vaccines because those who do listen are exposing their children to needless danger, and they can thank Mr. Carrey for that. He should shut up and stick to entertainment, not public health.
