The Vaccine Controversy

I ran across this post that quotes a very lengthy anti-vaccine email. The argument is that too many vaccines are given and that they are harming our children.

Let's review. Remember polio? Tuberculosis? Smallpox? Today, do we even know anyone who has had these diseases? Here are some links to articles discussing these public health issues. The last article mentions that smallpox has been totally wiped out--except of course for the really nasty strains being kept in various military arsenals for just the right moment ... but I digress.

I have a smallpox vaccine. I was vaccinated for tuberculosis when I was in high school. I remember getting a polio vaccine (Salk or Sabine--I don't remember) when I was a small child. I remember hundreds of people lining up to drink a little paper cup of water with some polio "bugs" in it.

Polio in particular was really serious prior to commercially viable vaccines being made available. The public health cost was enormous. Tuberculosis, too. There used to be huge sanitariums where the infected went to die. The cost in lives and lost productivity was monstrous.

What's my point? A few people contracted polio after being given the vaccine. Same for TB. I can't say that for smallpox, but it's possible. But it's a question of the cost (yes, the cost in lives and productivity) of giving the vaccine versus letting the diseases run their course in the population. Who would ever argue that getting a disease was preferable to preventing it? Especially since we are very well aware of what these things cost us.

Yes, there is a small risk that some children might get sick. Personally, I'd hate to think a child in my family (like my one-year-old grandson) would get a nasty disease from one of his vaccinations. But do I think vaccines should be stopped? Why would I want him exposed to the risks of any of these dangerous diseases when they can be prevented, and when the risks of him actually getting sick from the vaccines is so small?

Let's keep our eyes on the bigger picture here, folks. It sucks to have a sick child, and if your child got sick because of the 0.1% chance (or whatever it is) as a result of a vaccination, know that I am sympathetic to your pain. But better that one child than the 1,000 other children (and perhaps yours, as well!) that would have contracted the disease "in the wild."