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“There is a sucker born every minute.” — P. T. Barnum Scientific studies are not easy to read or understand. You cannot read them the way you read a news story or a novel. Science is difficult. The scientific process has given us answers, destroyed myths, and often made things more complex for the average person. Or so we are told. But the truth is this: you can learn to read and understand these things. If you take the time to learn how, you can look at studies that claim vaccines cause autism and, without too much difficulty, identify the holes in the reasoning, the flawed methodology, and the broken logic in the process. Ignorance is what allows misinformation to spread. Fortunately, ignorance is curable. It can be cured by reading, by asking questions, by thinking critically, and by keeping an open mind. “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” — Mark Twain Numbers can be manipulated to say almost anything if you do not understand how they work. But again, the good news is this: you can learn how to read, interpret, and recognize when statistics are being twisted. And while I think Jenny McCarthy seems like a caring mother and a well-meaning person, taking your science from her — or from RFK jr. or even a “study group” built on a single data point — is not science. It is poor science. Do vaccines have risks? Yes. Do we want to return to a world where children die or live permanently disabled from diseases that vaccines can prevent? I certainly do not.