Earlier this month, Jenny McCarthy, the anti-vaccine movement's loudest proponent, disavowed her earlier arguments. Instead, she claimed that she never told anyone not to vaccinate their children and that she simply opposes doctors giving children multiple immunization shots at once.

That McCarthy eventually took one small step toward the nearly universally agreed upon fact that vaccines save lives and don't cause autism is good news, but it may be too little too late: the anti-vaccination movement in the United States has helped to usher in outbreaks of preventable diseases in states coast to coast.

In New York and California, measles outbreaks are bigger than they've been in decades. A decrease of vaccinations across Europe brought with it 26,000 cases of measles in 2011. And one Australian survey found that 83% of Sydney homeopaths advised their clients against vaccinating.



Opting out of vaccines or insisting on a schedule for administering them, as McCarthy now suggests, that puts others at risk (because your own child could be protected by herd immunity) is unconscionably selfish. That the good that comes from vaccinating children against deadly diseases can be characterized as a "gray zone" – let alone subject to national debate – is the height of First World Problems.

And yes, as McCarthy asserted, every child is different – but the truly "different" children we should be worried about are the 22m children who overwhelmingly live in developing countries like India, Indonesia and Nigeria, who are denied even basic access to immunizations, let alone the right to choose their own unique vaccine schedule.

As much as McCarthy and others may want to believe that immunizations are an issue of personal choice, decisions not to vaccinate impact children outside of your own home and, increasingly, across borders and oceans.

I read McCarthy's Chicago Sun-Times editorial just a few days after visiting a small community healthcare clinic outside of Sao Paulo, where immunizations are part of the routine care its patients receive. Brazil's immunization program is one of the most impressive in the world. The government makes most of its own vaccines in the country and distributes them cheaply and universally, which led to a steep decline in infant mortality and deaths from infectious diseases after the national vaccination program started in the 1970s – one chart illustrating polio infection rates shows a complete drop-off a few years after national immunization campaigns. Now, though, Brazil is seeing small outbreaks of diseases like measles. But they aren't homegrown – they're reportedly coming in from Europe and the United States, thanks to anti-vaxxers.

In many ways, Brazil is a model for how national vaccination programs can work, and how vaccines can accelerate a country's development, health and growth. The country's implementation of widespread affordable vaccinations, coupled with an expanding public health system, caused infant mortality to plummet and contributed to a higher standard of living, a healthier populace and a more robust economy. But today, Brazilian public health officials are newly concerned that some of the richest, most developed nations on the planet threaten their success

According to Dr Homma, the World Cup is particularly troubling – the influx of tourists, he said, may bring with it unvaccinated Americans and Europeans, putting Brazilians at risk. Brazil hasn't experienced a measles outbreak in more than a decade and the Americas consider the disease eradicated – but with half a million new visitors coming into Brazil for the June sporting events, the Pan American Health Organization and the WHO approved an emergency plan to combat potential outbreaks.

The most frightening impact of vaccine denialism is the simple fact that when we are able to cross borders with ease and access information from around the globe, it's much easer to spread both deadly diseases and bad ideas.

The anti-vaccine contingent – whose most recent celebrity proponent is Alicia Silverstone – that argues vaccines can negatively affect children, and in some cases, even go so far as to say vaccines cause autism, largely has the privilege of living in places where many deadly communicable illnesses are rare. This means that even the unvaccinated children of anti-vaxxers have a pretty good chance of never contracting the diseases for which they eschew the shots – because of the herd immunity brought on by the same vaccines these adults oppose. That's a luxury not afforded to parents and children in much of the world.

According to the WHO, vaccination prevents between two and three million deaths every year. Vaccines protect those who are immunized, but also infants too little for vaccinations, immune-compromised folks such as those undergoing certain cancer treatments, and those who are resistant to immunizations. You can also help the 22 million kids who lack access to vaccinations worldwide get the basic shots they need by giving to the Gavi Alliance.

Plus, next week is World Immunization Week – so there's no better time to stick it to the Jenny McCarthys of the globe by making sure that your own stickings (and your kids') are up to date.