Zuckerberg Posts An Important Vaccination Photo

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently came under fire for simply doing what a good parent should — taking his newborn baby to her doctor's appointment. But by posting about the visit on Facebook, which included a photo of the baby waiting for her immunization shots, Zuckerberg committed a heinous act in the eyes of the few but very vocal anti-vaccination advocates that came across his post. Despite repeated scientific studies that debunk myths that vaccinations cause autism and other diseases, these rumors still circulate and cause fear among parents. Here is why Zuckerberg was right to share his daughter's vaccination photo, regardless of these myths.

Diseases that were once part of the medical history books have made an unnecessary comeback in recent years thanks to anti-vaccination advocates, who purport that these live-saving shots cause a whole host of diseases. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, however, have scientifically denied this. They also urge that vaccinations don't just protect the individual, but instead create a foundation based in a mutual standard of health. The CDC site goes on to say:

Most vaccine-preventable diseases are spread from person to person. If one person in a community gets an infectious disease, he can spread it to others who are not immune. But a person who is immune to a disease because she has been vaccinated can't get that disease and can't spread it to others. The more people who are vaccinated, the fewer opportunities a disease has to spread.

Because of this rising inclination to not vaccinate children, certain diseases that had previously been preventable are now resurfacing in multiple parts of the United States. A report conducted by TIME indicates illnesses such as the whooping cough, measles, chicken pox, and mumps have had multiple outbreaks since 2008. This can be particularly damaging for the reemergence of measles. According to CDC spokesperson Jason McDonald, there is a 90 percent chance that if an unvaccinated person comes in contact with measles, they will contract the disease.

But to the anti-vaxxer, these risks evidently outweigh the ones allegedly caused by vaccines. According to the Healthy Home Economist, a site that advocates against shots, vaccinating your child puts them at a higher risk for ADHD, autism, and asthma. Again, a 2013 CDC study disproved this, finding no link between the two.

But despite medical professionals' claims about the importance of vaccinations, there may be no better advocate than Zuckerberg himself. He's one of the most influential people in the world, with a website that trumps most others in terms of receiving and sharing information. With a simple photo, he's able to spark a conversation that, despite its obvious solution, can't seem to happen enough.