JOANNA ALLHANDS

Why are musicians giving vaccination advice - and why is the Internet listening?

Moms Ginger Rough and Joanna Allhands debate the latest celebrity claim that avoiding vaccines makes kids smarter.

Ginger Rough, and Joanna Allhands
The Arizona Republic

To vaccinate or not?

Maricopa County nurse Diane Dickinson administers a measles vaccine to Jose Nix, 6, of Phoenix as mom Rosaura and brother Ada, 4, watch in this January 2015 file photo.

The debate just. Won't. Go. Away.

And that really peeves Republic entertainment news director Ginger Rough and digital opinions editor Joanna Allhands, two moms who aren't buying rapper Kevin Gates' argument against vaccination.

What do you think?

Jeez, Kevin, I missed your medical degrees

Rough: Most days, I love the power of social media, and how it allows us to share stories, both inspirational and informative.

But then there are days like today, when I want to throttle someone and the inevitable masses of stupidity that just blindly follow in the original poster's wake like a bunch of lobotomized lemmings.

The cause of my rant? This week, a celebrity decided to go all anti-vaxer in an interview with Rolling Stone.

Kevin Gates, a rapper and musician, is sure (no doubt because he has rows of medical degrees lining his walls) that his daughter is “accelerated” because she’s never been vaccinated.

If you were just hurting yourself, fine. But ...

Allhands: Sadly, Facebook is rife with ridiculous claims. From dieting to parenting, it’s like there’s nothing people won’t believe (and share on their timelines). As long as it’s compiled in a listicle or published in a blog, it must be true.

Scientists like Neil deGrasse Tyson have tried to engage other celebs who say ignorant things (did you see his response to rapper B.o.B., who claims the earth is flat? Classic!) But that’s what’s so maddening. Even when you have the facts on your side, people still choose to believe what they want.

That’s all well and good if, say, you’re binge-eating tuna or scrubbing your toilet with volcanic mud. That’s your life. But leaving your kid exposed to disease weakens the herd – and hurts other kids.

Gates: 'She doesn't have mercury in her body'

Rough: In the interview, Gates claims his 3-year-old is scholastically advanced because she's never gotten shots that would provide her with much needed immunity against a host of terrible diseases.

"That’s why she’s so accelerated, she doesn’t have mercury in her body or things to that nature,” Gates says.

So, wait, does she skip tuna, too?

Allhands: Argh. The amount of mercury in vaccines is infinitesimal. There’s five times the amount of mercury in a tuna sandwich than in a dose of vaccine. Does our intrepid rapper friend also keep his kid away from the Starkist, too?

How quickly we forget the consequences

Rough: I hope she’s sheltered to the point that he never allows her to leave the house.

That’s the problem with anti-vaxxers.

They act like they live in a bubble — immune to disease and incapable of being the vessel that endangers others. For a celebrity with no medical background to perpetuate such a myth is beyond irresponsible. I have two kids. My youngest is 3 and my oldest is 5. They've gotten their vaccinations on time, every year. And for the record, I think they are "accelerated" too.

Are our memories that short? Lest anyone forget, it was just one year ago that Arizona found itself in the midst of a widespread measles outbreak.

Arizona's first case was reported on Jan. 22, 2015. The state had seven confirmed cases in all, stemming from five unvaccinated residents who became infected after visiting Disneyland. Upon returning to Arizona, one of the five infected two other people, one in Maricopa County and one in Pinal County.

Health officials estimated 1,000 people in the state were exposed by the seven who were infected. One. Thousand. People.

Remember this Gilbert doctor's words

Allhands: Two of them were the children of Gilbert pediatrician Tim Jacks. Remember when he wrote an open letter to the anti-vaxxers who exposed his children?

“My son, Eli, is 10 months old,” he wrote. “He is too young to receive the MMR vaccine and thus has no protection. Whether by refusal or because they are too young, exposed unvaccinated children have a 90 percent chance of getting measles.”

Bingo. 90 percent chance.

Measles expert explains vaccine safety, virus risks

Darn you, Jenny. You started this mess

Rough: Jenny McCarthy, another celebrity who bestowed a medical degree upon herself, erroneously linked the measles-mumps-rubella (commonly known as MMR) and other vaccines to autism nearly a decade ago. Scientific study after scientific study has proven that vaccines are not linked to autism spectrum disorder. Yet the myth persists.

But there is a way to end it

Allhands: My son is 10 months old, and let me tell you: Hell hath no fury like a mother whose perfectly healthy, completely innocent kid is sickened by the irresponsibility of others.

That’s part of the reason we chose our pediatrician. The office requires every child to be vaccinated. No opting out.

Yep: Ignore the celebrities (and Facebook)

Rough: Bottom line: I don't expect my physician to rap, act, or write a sonnet. Don't get your medical advice from a musician, celebrity or charlatan on Facebook.