Anti-vaccine moms discuss their thinking amid backlash

Associated Press

LAKE OSWEGO, Ore.

One is a businesswoman and an MBA graduate. Another is a corporate vice president.

These mothers — educated, middle-class professionals — are among the vaccine skeptics who have been widely ridiculed since more than 100 people fell ill in a measles outbreak traced to Disneyland. Critics question their intelligence, their parenting, even their sanity. Some have been called criminals for forgoing shots for their children that are overwhelmingly shown to be safe and effective.

“Contrary to the common sentiment, we are not anti- science,” said Michelle Moore, a businesswoman who lives in the affluent Portland suburb of Lake Oswego with her 21/2-year-old twin girls. “I’m not opposed to medicine, and I think vaccines have a place. We think it’s a medical choice, and it should be researched carefully.”

The backlash, much of it from people who fear unvaccinated children could infect their own kids, has been so severe that many anti-vaccine parents contacted by The Associated Press were afraid to speak out.

Moore, an MBA graduate who runs an agriculture-related business, traces her feelings to the time she took Lariam, a supposedly safe anti-malaria medication. Instead, she said, the drug saddled her with multiple health complications. She questions whether the government knew about the risks at the time. Health officials now acknowledge Lariam can cause severe side effects, some of which can be permanent.

Nancy Babcock of Spokane, Wash., says people who share her opinions “are being vilified and ostracized.” Babcock, a vice president at a bank, told her daughter about her doubts. Then her daughter and her husband looked into the issue, and they decided not to immunize their two children.

Nationwide, parents who seek an exemption from vaccine requirements are still in a tiny minority.