I had to do a biennial physical today. The nurse said that I was due for [something I don’t remember]. My quizzical look was answered with, “It includes, among other things, pertussis. That’s whooping cough.” It took me a moment to recall that I had not yet had a pertussis booster, which I only learned about via a number of skeptical podcasts. Well, I took one for the team. The day after I heard of another preventable infant death in Australia from that terrible disease, I am no longer a part of the problem. I was very pleased when the nurse started rattling on about the dangers of voluntary immunization, given the amount of misinformation available. He was quite vocal in addressing the necessity of a solid foundation of vaccination to help reduce the general susceptibility to this and other easily preventable diseases.

So as of today, for all my other faults, I am not longer passively contributing the the virulent diseases of the 1950s as they attempt a resurgence aided by Jenny McCarthy, Andrew Wakefield, Meryl Dorey, and numerous other uneducated, fraudulent, or profit-motivated purveyors of anti-vaccination quackery.