The article said that we have a health concern now- only if it became a crisis- THEN- " I think that is when individual liberties have to be curtailed in order to ensure health safety for all". In a crisis it is completely reasonable to curtail individual liberties to ensure safety for the majority. The guy isn't saying that needs to happen now- only in event of a crisis.
Also, as the parent of a child with autism- I see no link between autism and vaccines. My child had no reactions ever to any vaccines he received. His development was always slow- and not suddenly brought on by a shot. Jenny McCarthy argues vaccines caused her son's Autism- then states symptoms he had BEFORE he was vaccinated! Numerous studeis have shown NO link. Thermisol is now out of vaccines- yet the rate of Autism is on the rise- that, to me, pretty much rules out the connection.
I'm all for parents doing what they want to for thier kids- as long as the kids don't suffer and a health crisis isn't created.

When someone is talking about taking away our rights as citizens of a free country, it is important to listen very carefully to what possible justification they could have for this, what extreme and imminent emergency. When they talk about the permanent removal of our freedoms, and not temporary due to some emergency, that is even more serious. And when they talk about removing our right to practice our religion, that needs to be scrutinized even more closely.

Ms. Skelton is correct that, like all illnesses, measles also has a risk of complications, around 20%. And like nearly all illnesses, death is indeed one of those possible complications. Certainly bringing up the possibility of death makes people feel that something urgent and scary is being discussed.

What she intentionally failed to mention, but a fact which she is no doubt very aware, is that the most common complication from measles is not death, it is mild diarrhea. Another, less common complication from measles is severe diarrhea.

At the very bottom of the list is death, which occurs in 1/10 of 1% of cases.

This is the same rate at which death occurs in people who get the flu. But because MANY more people get the flu, there are many more deaths per year. Yet we don't hear about loss of rights for those who chose not to get the flu vaccine for religious or other reasons (many of which contain both thimerosol and, like the MMR vaccine we are discussing, contain human diploid cells taken from aborted human fetuses).

Of ALL the 131 cases of measles in the US last year (which this article paints as some sort of imminent epidemic), there were ZERO deaths. This is in a country with a population of 300 million people.

There is another disease though called AIDS which will eventually kill 100% of the people infected with it. It infects far far more than 131 people per year in the United States, and it is not only contagious but many people deliberately spread it. Yet no public health officials will state that freedoms should be restricted to stop this much more dangerous disease.

Why is it exactly? Is it that the right to spread AIDS is more important than the right to practice one's faith and refuse to inject one's children with diploid cells from of aborted human fetuses in order to protect against an illness that is no more harmful than the flu?

I agree with Dr. Combs who is a fine pediatrician. I also am a pediatrician and work in public health. There is a lot on the web about vaccines but people need to be sure of their sources. This link to the CDC states "Extensive reviews of the scientific and medical evidence have concluded that recommended childhood vaccines do not cause autism or autism spectrum disorders." http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vac-gen/tv-show.htm. Again quoted from CDC, complications of measles include "Diarrhea, ear infections, pneumonia, encephalitis, seizures, and death. Approximately 20% of reported measles cases experience one or more complications. These complications are more common among children under 5 years of age and adults over 20 years old." That is 1 in 5 people who get it and are more common in all those except the ages of 6-19 years old. That is the vast majority of our population. "The features of atism spectrum disorder" mentioned in a previous comment can also be found in disorders other than autism. It did not say, she had autism. There are times that those in public health must compromise an individual's rights to protect the population. TB is a good example. If someone with TB doesn't conform to treatment or quarentine, they can spread a disease that can and does kill. The Health Dept can get a court order to require that person not to expose others. I have seen Measles. Fortunatly, it is not common in the US due to the immunizations that we offer. In other contries where they have stopped requiring the measles vaccine, the rate of disease, morbidity, and mortality have all risen. All medicine is a balance. Not everyone will react the same way. The challenge of medicine it to do the greatest good you can.

" I think that is when individual liberties have to be curtailed in order to ensure health safety for all"

This is a terrifying statement. Someone like this has no business being a public health official.

Like flu and colds, measles and chicken pox are only a risk at all for very old people and the extremely sick. 100 cases a year nationwide is no big deal. We don't need fascists like Mr. Rudd flipping out over how we "liberties have to be curtailed" and other smug Nazi like proclamations.

As far as the claims that there is no link between autism and mercury that is utter nonsense.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/03/22/u-s-government-concedes-that-mercury-causes-autism.aspx

"The U.S. government has concluded that childhood vaccines contributed to symptoms of autism in 9-year-old Hannah Poling. The unprecedented concession was in response to one of three test cases that allege the mercury-containing vaccine preservative thimerosal caused autism in children.

According to the case, the child was healthy and developing normally until her 18-month well-baby visit, where she received vaccinations for nine diseases, two of which contained thimerosal. Within 48 hours of the shots, Hannah become ill, refused to walk and could not sleep through the night. Within three months, she began showing signs of autism.

According to U.S. Division of Vaccine Injury Compensation, the shots "significantly aggravated an underlying mitochondrial disorder" and resulted in a brain disorder "with features of autism spectrum disorder."