Vaccination & epidemic

[lumberjim]

SIDS is not a specific cause of death. Who are you to say that the two events were unrelated? Also, using that rooster and sun analogy is like calling me stupid.

And you don't need 100% herd immunity to eradicate a disease. All you need is perimeter immunity. My kids are unlikely to come into contact with either disease. They are definitely not going to spontaneously generate them.
I don't disagree with the concept of immunization. I do disagree with giving kids 20+ shots before age 2.

Neither of us is going to convince the other about this. I don't care if you give them to your kid, just don't tell me I have to do the same.

[orthodoc]

Originally Posted by lumberjim

SIDS is not a specific cause of death. Who are you to say that the two events were unrelated? Also, using that rooster and sun analogy is like calling me stupid.

And you don't need 100% herd immunity to eradicate a disease. All you need is perimeter immunity. My kids are unlikely to come into contact with either disease. They are definitely not going to spontaneously generate them.
I don't disagree with the concept of immunization. I do disagree with giving kids 20+ shots before age 2.

Neither of us is going to convince the other about this. I don't care if you give them to your kid, just don't tell me I have to do the same.

LJ, I was not calling you stupid. I was pointing out that association is not the same as causation.

This is the difficulty that epidemiologists live with. They report associations. Sometimes the increased risk that they report is associated with the exposure in a causal relationship, and sometimes not. When they report an increased risk, smart people don't ignore it; they investigate it.

No, you don't need 100% herd immunity, but you need more than perimeter immunity. You need more than 95% immunity, so that the chain of transmission breaks at every possible point. When more than 5% decide that they or their children don't need immune protection, the herd becomes vulnerable. Given the rise in vaccine refusal in the US, chances are very good that at some point your children will come into contact with one or more of the diseases to which they have no immunity, and most likely at the most vulnerable time of their lives - as adults.

If you disagree with many 'shots' before age 2, would you be willing to immunize your children against the major killers of the 20th century? Meaning: Diphtheria, polio, tetanus, pertussis, measles, mumps, rubella. Quite a few more immunizations have been recommended, and all recommendations are backed up with clinical evidence.

Conventional doctors have no dog in the fight about immunization, except that they are aware that the more people who believe charlatans and refuse vaccination, the more vulnerable the population becomes. Charlatans are the ones preaching doom and reporting anecdotes, rather than controlled, reproducible studies.