Oy, it stops me dead in my tracks because it's like the health equivalent of hacking into the Diebold voting machines.  If you don't believe it, you've been duped by the man or something.  

I have all these great counter-arguments and facts but I am reduced to stupefied sputtering when actually talking to someone who thinks that.

is a funny thing. I think our fear of needles is part of it too.

For example, the anecdote frequently goes something like "kid felt lousy after the vaccine and shortly thereafter I noticed problems."

But:

1. If kid felt lousy, he probably got some tylenol. No one jumps on tylenol as the 'obvious cause'.

2. 18 months is a common vaccination time and a common first autism diagnosis. It's also a common age for the first fast-food french fry. Coincidence?

to think that, though I still feel that vaccinating your kids is a personal decision for every family.  More research has come to light to show that there may not be the link to vaccines and autism that we thought existed.  

So, by the time Madeline hits kindergarten, she'll be caught up except for varicella and the flu shot, as we are opting out of those.  I have a friend who has a child with PDD, and she is getting her child caught up too.  I think I would have gone a different route and done the shots on schedule if my child was in daycare, but since both my kids were home with me, we have done it on our own schedule.  On the upside, we won't need as many shots.  On the downside, waiting makes your kid hate the doctor's office LOL.