Vaccination & epidemic

[orthodoc]

Originally Posted by Lamplighter

We are in disagreement only when someone advocates ideas that are
contrary to what public health experience and/or scientific
investigation has shown to be valid, safe, and ...
the ways to proceed to yield the most good for the most people,
and especially for the most vulnerable.

Yes. Immunization precisely fits this description - it has been shown to be effective, safe, and yields demonstrable good for many people. Once the majority of a population has been immunized, the herd effect protects occasional individuals who are not immune. As soon as the number of unimmunized individuals rises to a critical level the herd effect is no longer operative and outbreaks occur. That's what we have seen in recent years. The choice to not immunize affects not only the individual, but many others.

We are all exposed to tens of thousands of agents that affect our immune systems - daily, over years, rather than a limited number of times (as with immunizations). Immunizations stimulate specific immune memory for a particular antigen. Immune disruptors in the environment have more general effects. It makes more sense to examine these when looking for possible reasons for the rise in autoimmune disease in recent decades than to point a finger at immunization. Even then it's important to remember that this sort of discussion is about association, not cause. Association is a place to start, but it doesn't prove causality.

I looked very carefully at the immunization issue when my children were small and my first son had a bad reaction to the pertussis vaccine. I reviewed all the literature I could find very, very carefully. From that, I came to a conclusion and had all of my children immunized according to the then-current schedule. In the past year I've had the chance to review the literature again while working on my MPH. I just mention that because it might be easy to assume that, having undergone a medical education, I must have been taught to accept immunization without thinking. In fact, I was taught not to accept anything without looking up the literature on it. While at times you find common practice that has been based on flimsy original papers or insufficient evidence, that's not the case with immunization.