Should we shame anti-vaxxers?

Matt Novak over at Gizmodo has a provocative piece up today that essentially argues society should publicly shame anti-vaxxers for their stance on vaccination safety.

He writes:

Vaccines are safe, though I’m not here to convince you of that. Countless scientists and doctors have already presented evidence for over a century that vaccines work. They save the lives of kids, families, and whole communities. At this point no amount of logical argument or proof will convince [actress Jenny] McCarthy and her ilk that vaccines are safe. Studies show that confronting anti-vaxxers or climate change deniers with logic only makes them more defensive and thus more deeply entrenched in their positions. So why do we continue to use logic with the anti-vaccination movement? After all, the movement’s modern founding text, a 1998 paper by British doctor Andrew Wakefield, was retracted and deemed fraudulent. Wakefield was even stripped of his medical license. But this has only strengthened the resolve of the anti-vaxxers in their belief that the medical establishment doesn’t want people to know “the truth.”

I’m here to convince you that the best way to deal with anti-vaxxers is to ridicule their position so much that it’s no longer acceptable to say in polite company that vaccines cause autism. Ridicule is our best option to help stem the tide of dangerous superstition washing over this beautiful, measles-infested country of ours. Because shaming works.

Do you agree that we should shame anti-vaxxers? There are some significant implications to adopting this kind of tactic. Leave your comments below and let’s have a dialogue!