One of the most discouraging aspects of researching vaccine information is the abundance of anti-vaccination websites on the internet. I say discouraging because many anti-vax sites provide information that seems to serve a few purposes:
Those who would like to really research vaccination should keep in mind some basic guidelines when evaluating vaccination information on the internet. Please refer to the NNii's "Tips on Evaluating Immunization Information on the Internet"
A few examples that highlight the pitfalls of some anti-vaccination websites/resources:
"Content and Design Attributes of Anti-vaccination Websites"
"Opposition to Immunization: Patterns of Deception"
"The Anti-Immunization Activists: A Pattern of Deception"
"Anti-immunisation scare: The inconvenient facts"
"Understanding Those Who Do Not Understand: a brief overview of the anti-vaccine movement
It can be argued that both sides of the vaccination debate use a scare technique in support of their views. Those who support vaccination use VPD morbidity and mortality as examples to support vaccination. VPD morbidity and mortality are WELL documented in the scientific literature. On the other hand, scaring a parent with stories written by other parents who feel that symptoms or problems were a result of vaccination based on temporal relationships rather than based on scientific evidence is, unfortunately, very persuasive. It is also, unfortunately, only a collection of anecdotes . In the scientific community, the pleural of anecdote is not data and does not establish a causal role.
Whale.to
Mercola
Hancock/Scheibner
Coulter
Case of Alan Yurko (Buttram/Yazbak)
Misleading graphs/Mintz
PAVE (Parents Advocating Vaccine Education)