This is taken from a little (maybe a lot) rambly discussion I had with someone on facebook this morning.
They had posted something from a "real scientist" about how the anti-vaccine movement was "killing kids", and by not vaccinating, they are "just begging for once-deadly diseases in the US to make a big comeback". Vaccines are safe, effective, and readily available, so why even take the risk of getting the disease?
When people challenge my vaccine stance, using their own logic, I ask them about smallpox, rabies, and TB. There's an anti-vaccine movement in the US, for you.
"If everyone stops getting vaccines, we run the risk of once-deadly diseases returning" they tell us.
Ok, if vaccines are so safe and effective, why would we *ever* stop getting these (or any) vaccines?
TB is the most deadly infection in the world.
So why aren't we giving those shots to kids today? There's no way we have herd immunity to it, and TB is highly contagious.
Because TB no longer exist in the US? Well, wouldn't international travel risk it being brought in, the way Disney measles and Amish measles were? We should all still safeguard against the most deadly infection in the world, right?
Besides-
A total of 9,582 TB cases were reported in the United States in 2013.
There were 536 US deaths from TB in 2011, the most recent year for which these data are available.
Compare that to the average of 100 cases of measles in the US, with zero deaths.
Both diseases are highly contagious. Why are you so afraid of measles, but not of TB?
I repeat, TB is the most deadly infection in the world. 9 million cases a year, 1.5 million deaths, yet the entire US is an anti-vaccine movement against TB.
The US does not routinely vaccinate, and has never routinely vaccinated, against TB.
The US stopped vaccination against smallpox. Why? Even if it is eliminated from the planet (which it is not), why stop vaccination? Aren't we afraid that by not vaccinating against these diseases we risk losing our herd immunity if it ever comes back? I want my herd immunity!
Rabies. Diagnosis of rabies is almost always a death sentence. It can be easily contracted from the playful nip of an infected puppy, the fearful bite of a stray kitten, the painless bite from a bat that enters through a breezy open window... By the time symptoms present themselves, it's too late to help you.
Vaccines are so safe and effective, why don't we routinely vaccinate against rabies? If your child is not vaccinated against rabies and shares a sippy cup with my child, my child could get sick. Deathly sick. Why risk it?
Why risk almost certain death, when a safe, effective vaccine exists and is readily available? Because your children are never going to be exposed to dogs or cats, sippy cups, or sleep with the windows open, or go camping?
The US has been anti-vaccine in three very deadly, highly contagious diseases, yet we are not walking around constantly fearful of these diseases, and we are not dropping over dead from these diseases. Why not? Because the propaganda has not told us to be fearful of these diseases, and to get vaccinated against them for the Greater Good and Herd Immunity.
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