Consequences--in the language of the courts

Sometimes reading stories about the consequences of forgoing vaccines for one's children can leave a reader feeling like she's not getting the whole story, or is getting one with a "point of view." Sometimes anti-vax activists call these true stories "scare tactics." 

Today, just a short post. A mother in Australia chose not to give her newborn a Vitamin K shot or the recommended hepatitis B vaccine. The baby died from the very blood clotting disorder the Vitamin K shot was designed to prevent. The Office of the State Coroner conducted an investigation into the baby's death. Its report is a fact-based narrative that every parent should read. If you wish to read a completely unbiased account of the consequences of rejecting a vaccine for your child, you will find it in this report, which is heartbreaking in its very matter-of-fact tone.

I will mention one more thing that I found deeply troubling. Some of you may know of Dr. Joseph Mercola, one of the most infamous purveyors of anti-vaccine nonsense. Unfortunately, when a new parent or parent-to-be Googles "Vitamin K newborn" the first link is a video from Mercola touting the "dangers" of the Vitamin K shot. I wish the first link that came up under "Vitamin K" and "newborn" was the coroner's investigation I just read.