“No publication or website says vaccines are 100 percent safe or effective,” Weiss concluded in his written presentation. “But ... the preponderance of evidence is that vaccines are safer than the diseases they are intended to protect children from and the link between vaccines and the host of other illnesses they have been associated with are not supported by science.”

He pointed out that international data show that herd immunity can “effectively stop the spread of disease.”

Weiss prefaced his presentation by assuring the commission that he was very thorough in putting together his report — gathering information in Fairfax, Blacksburg and Washington — and that he took into consideration everything he was told during the course of his fact finding.

“I thought that I treated it fairly. I came in with an open mind, and nobody called me and told me how to do this report,” he said.

Despite that introduction, opponents of mandatory vaccinations at one point called for him to sit down, claimed his facts were incorrect, and asked if another presenter would tell the other side of the story.