Science-Based Medicine � Vaccines and infant mortality rates: A false relationship promoted by the anti-vaccine movement: Whenever I see a paper like this, I ask myself: What would I say about it if it had been sent to me as a peer reviewer?The fringe anti-vax crowd is at it again.
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Science-Based Medicine � Vaccines and infant mortality rates
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We recently had a case of measles swing through the I-5 corridor starting around Salem and up to Portland. That sparked a massive conversation about vaccines and their benefits; you know... stuff all of us know for the most part. Then one single idiot joined the conversation who started preaching the anti-vaccine dogma of autism, and infringing on rights and privacy, etc. What was a topical discussion turned into a bitch-fest because someone didn't pay attention in high school general science and algebra classes.
My argument towards vaccination was two fold... a: it is a good idea to protect yourself from potential harmful diseases. But B: I consider it almost a social obligation to protect our fellow humans. I'm not talking about flu vaccinations, but vaccinations against what would could be arguably labled 'the real killers'. Yes, influenza can kill but you usually have to be very very young, very old, or have a compromised immune system. Things like small pox or polio don't discriminate like influenza does.
While hyperbolic and dramatic in speech and presentation, the science and numbers is pretty well accurate in regards to this monologue by the character Josh Lyman of the West Wing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sQsVBolPNs
Go to about 1 minute, fifty seconds when he starts talking about how the end of the world won't be due to nuclear weapons but due to a broken test tube.
We have the ability to eradicate a lethal virus from known existence, but we still don't do it. Instead we keep it around in a test tube with a stopper on it that has a known safety time in regards to the lifespan of it's structural integrity.
If we are keeping shit like small pox around we should be obligated to vaccinate ourselves against it to prevent 1/3 of the worlds population from getting killed.
All solid points.
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