[quote=Hansa]Hey guys, it's funny to find a thread like this! Not that I wanna ruin the thread or anything, but I'm actually a medical student almost done with my second year. In Norway that pretty much means I've gone through all the pre-clinical subjects. I had immunology earlier this year, so I have a lot to say on this matter. Sorry, just had to get that out there. You see, what a vaccine does is introduce an inactive version of a microbe into your bloodstream. This is often a fragment of the microbe, like a part of their membrane. This activates your immune system and triggers it to produce special white blood cells called 'memory cells'. Your immune system being activated after the vaccine is the reason why people often get a bit ill the day after a vaccine. When your body has stored memory cells in your blood, you are immunized against a specific microbe. This means that if you ever get exposed to that microbe again, you are very likely to be able to have a fast, effective immune response in your body, killing off the infection. Now you know how vaccines work. I do not see how the above mechanism can lead to autism. You probably don't either.[/quote]

As a disclaimer before I start, I agree with you. I believe the anti-vaccine movement is a load of bullshit (I may sympathize with them in one or two ways, and agree that vaccines should be under more strict testing, but vaccines have more than proven themselves to be very safe and effective save for one or two cases). But the main argument I've heard from those who say vaccine's cause autism wasn't really addressed here. The common claim I hear from them is mercury, that the mercury causes brain damage and causes autism.

[quote=Hansa]If we vaccinate all children against a disease, it simply stops existing! So when you vaccinate your child, you are protecting them from a really bad disease, and you're protecting all other kids and future generations. This is the big reward i mentioned.[/quote]

Not quite... 
There are some cases such as the flu virus where it never dies, it simply evolves/adapts. Basically view humans as the prey and the flu was the predator. Humanity's 'evolution' was the vaccine, it gained a defense mechanism against their predator, so now the predator either goes extinct or is forced to adapt, and becomes a virus better able to bypass the vaccine. It's why flu shots become a yearly thing for many people.