The antivaccine movement is not the problem of Italy only but all Europe. I think one of the reasons is rising lack of trust in the society, with governments, establishments etc.. More and more pseudotheories are surfacing this decade due to lower stability of our civilisation. Is it also one of side-effects of democracy and stability we had in few dozens years? Look how hand in hand together with those pseudotheories and low trust in societies the autocratic regimes are on rise. Are we again in the fourth Century AD?
Well, that's worrying indeed. It's beyond stupid. Yes, most children shrug them off. I know, I had them all, although let me tell you, having chicken pox is no picnic, and I got the mumps at 14! I was really sick for weeks because the older you are the worse it is. For males, mumps can lead to sterility for God's sake, you can become deaf, or even get meningitis (20% of cases). As for whooping cough and diphtheria, babies can die from them. My father's baby brother died of diptheria. A grey scaley web forms across the throat preventing them from breathing.
How are these parents going to feel if one of their children dies of something like this?
Or what about German measles? In children it's a mild disease, but if a pregnant woman gets it, the babies can be severely deformed.
"Rubella infection during pregnancy can cause severe birth defects, miscarriage, or stillbirth. 85% of fetuses who are infected with rubella in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy will develop Congenital Rubella Syndrome (CRS). CRS may include deafness, eye problems, heart defects, liver, spleen, and brain damage."
Or, want your child to get rheumatic fever and heart complications because of scarlet fever?
How about we bring back polio????
http://www.bccdc.ca/resource-galler...Other/Epid_GF_childhood_quickguide_may_09.pdf
Have people been told that there are lots of indications that autism is genetic, or at least caused by mutations? If they want healthy children maybe they should stop doing so many drugs and not have children when they're too old.
Are these people mad?
You're right: there are some deeper causes at play here, or just the common stupidity of mankind, which forgets so easily and has to learn things over and over again.