Anti-Vaccine Mothers Discuss Their Thinking Amid Backlash

One is a businesswoman and an MBA graduate. Another is a corporate vice president. The third is a registered nurse. These three mothers — all of them educated, middle-class professionals — are among the vaccine skeptics who have been widely ridiculed since more than 100 people fell ill in a measles outbreak traced to Disneyland. Critics question their intelligence, their parenting, even their sanity. Some have been called criminals for foregoing shots for their children that are overwhelmingly shown to be safe and effective.

Anti-vaccination parents include a mix of views — from religious communities to families practicing alternative medicine and libertarians who shun government interference. But many are Americans with college degrees living in liberal communities such as Santa Monica or Marin County in California and Portland, said Gary Freed, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Michigan.