Question seems genuine, so at the risk of getting all the Reddit vitriol about this issue I will answer the question.

I will preface by saying that I have vaccinated my kid, reluctantly. Before having the child I too thought that anti vaxxers were just tinfoiled people who followed someone agenda, then I had a kid that I vaccinated. Every. Single. Time he got sick. Really sick. ER kind of sick so I started to read. A funny thing happens when you are forced to have an open mind, you question your convictions.

Through reading you find that there is no such thing as a vaccine without risk. You also find that while most studies do stay it is unlikely that vaccines cause autism, they do not exclude it either. It is a possibility, and the possibility is so real, apparently vaccines themselves tell you "this vaccine may cause autism". Now I am supposed to ignore that? It is easy to say ignore the label on the vaccine , it is just there so they can protect themselves, but you were talking about doing your best not to harm your kid. I can not understand how there isn't a little voice in your head that tells you"wait a minute" if they are so sure it is not dangerous why would they even bother with this.

I do not want to break down the type of preventive illnesses we vaccinate for, but a very good portion are almost entirely eradicated. Cost vs reward of vaccination to me personally is very high.

Which brings us to the next point"me personally". We often hear this herd immunity thrown out there. What this translates to me is I should put other kids before my own. To you vaccines are worth the risk, great you should get them. But when I don't, you want to enforce your beliefs (and since no research can exclude risk, it is a belief albeit a well supported one ) with the Herd immunity telling me it is ok to risk my kid so yours can be safe. Why are some more valuable than others. It seems more like a gimmick to force people to vaccinate. After all if these vaccines work then you should not need herd immunity. You are fine, my kid is the one at risk.

I will continue to vaccinate because even though I do not think they are safe, i feel I have made an educated decision but I wish it was as easy of a decision as people make it to be. Vaccinating should not be enforced, and people should not be pushed to make decisions they do not want to make. That's how you breed anger, no one will listen to reason if you push them. every parent, even those questioning vaccines, are doing so because they want their best for their kid. They have that right. You can repeat all you want vaccines are safe, but many court decisions and vaccines labels themselves tell you differently.

Here is an unlikely (but possible) scenario, what if 10 years from now we Do find out that vaccines indeed cause autism, and you intentionally exposed your kid to them and you never questioned it?