No one claims that vaccines are completely safe.  Instead, the claim is that the risk of vaccinated is less than the risk of catching the disease while unvaccinated.  

Consider smallpox.  About one person in one thousand has a reaction to the vaccine.  About two people in one million die.  On the other hand, the death rate of smallpox victims is about thirty in one hundred --- thirty percent.  Vaccine was common when the disease was common.  Now the risk of infection is negligible so the vaccine is almost never used.  The rate of vaccination varied with the risk.

The irony is that anti-vaccination activists and their children benefit every day from the vaccinations they oppose.  Because most people are vaccinated the few who are not seldom come in contact with someone sick.  The unvaccinated few are surrounded by a "wall of vaccination" that protects them from contagion.  But the anti-vaccination activists are trying to tear the wall down.  If the vaccination rate drops too far, then unvaccinated people will come into contact with sick people, and the disease will spread through the entire unvaccinated population.  Polio, which is almost eradicated, again may become common, along with measles, rubella, diptheria, shingles, influenza, and others.

If people really oppose vaccinations, then let them put their children where their mouths are.  Let them sign a pledge that, in the event of an epidemic, such as might arise from SARS or bird flu, they will not seek vaccination for their families until all others have been vaccinated.  This will not only demonstrate adherence to principle, it will also allow those who didn't object to vaccination to have first call on the available vaccine.  Taking the pledge will be an act of shining principle, and we shall honor their memory for it.

by pcolsen on Sun Nov 18, 2012 at 11:12:56 PM EST