Amanda Peet's Pro-Vaccination Stance

Amanda Peet cuddles her daughter Frankie on the cover of Cookie magazine's August issue. Matthew Hranek/Cookie Last week, new mom Jessica Alba revealed that she was seriously questioning whether or not childhood vaccinations were safe. And so did Amanda Peet ... until she did her research. In the August issue of Cookie magazine, the 36-year-old actress speaks out on the importance of infant vaccinations. As the mother of 18-month-old daughter Frances (a.k.a. Frankie), it's an issue she doesn't take lightly.

"As soon as I was pregnant, the neuroses kicked in," Amanda tells Cookie's Jennifer Tung. Peet started calling her older sister's husband, a Philadelphia pediatrician, "every five minutes" with all kinds of questions, especially about shots. "I asked him, 'Why are all of these necessary? Why are some people staggering them?'" Eventually Amanda's brother-in-law put her in touch with Dr. Paul Offit, who is Chief of Infectious Diseases at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine.

"Once we had spoken, I was shocked at the amount of misinformation floating around, particularly in Hollywood," shares Amanda, who quickly got herself up to speed on the controversies surrounding child vaccinations, including the unproven link between certain vaccines and autism, the safety of preservatives like mercury-based thimerosal, and the fear that the relatively high number of shots kids receive today can overwhelm young immune systems. Her conclusion: vaccines are the only way to go.

The "X-Files: I Want to Believe" star feels so strongly about the issue that she will appear in public service announcements for Every Child by Two, a pro-vaccine organization co-founded in 1991 by former first lady Rosalynn Carter.

"Frankly, I feel that parents who do not vaccinate their children are parasites," asserts Amanda. "I have a lazy, fluffy, actor-y side that's instinctive. And I have a side that's practical and into statistical evidence. I'm not a casual person."

You can read Amanda's complete interview at Cookie.com, or pick up the August issue of Cookie on newsstands now.