Measles is spreading across the U.S.

Measles is spreading across the U.S. while politicians debate the scientific merit of vaccines for some reason

The U.S. is in the midst of a modest measles epidemic. Nationwide, 107 people in eight states have been diagnosed with the disease, all linked to an outbreak at Disneyland in California. Now Arizona health officials say that a family exposed to it on vacation could infect up to 1,000 residents. With the 2016 presidential campaign looming on the horizon like a ravenous vulture waiting to ruin our lives, politicians are jumping on the national debate (a term which deserves scare quotes for its facile treatment of the facts) by the likes of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who declared Monday that "it's more important what you think as a parent than what you think as a public official." + Yeah, that's... not accurate. A significant portion of the anti-vaccination movement bases its fear on the notion that vaccines cause autism — a fraudulent claim made in 1998 and long since debunked. + But who cares! Your acceptance of the science of vaccines is closely tied to your political philosophy, according to recent research. And it's stuff like this that leads to Sen. Rand Paul — a licensed doctor — to declare vaccination an issue of "government overreach." + That's too bad, because vaccines aren't about your personal beliefs and your freedom — they're about social responsibility. Vaccinated people aren't just individually protected, but act as barriers to outbreaks, since diseases can't pass through them and infect other people + Obama gets it! "The science is, you know, pretty indisputable," the president said Monday. "We've looked at this again and again. There is every reason to get vaccinated, but there aren't reasons to not." + Wow, this is getting complicated. If you have friends who don't buy the science, just show them this chart: