Rahul Parikh : Before vaccines , polio , tuberculosis , whooping cough , meningitis afflicted children . Parikh : Diseases virtually wiped out , but an anti - vaccine trend threatens to bring them back . Five children have died . Anyone who linked vaccine with autism has been discredited , barred from practice , he writes . As whooping cough cases mount in California , he writes , it 's clear children need shots .
Rahul Parikh : Before vaccines , polio , tuberculosis , whooping cough , meningitis afflicted children . Parikh : Diseases virtually wiped out , but an anti - vaccine trend threatens to bring them back . Anyone who linked vaccine with autism has been discredited , barred from practice , he writes . As whooping cough cases mount in California , he writes , it 's clear children need shots .