Saturday, January 14, 2006

The Social Dangers of Not Vaccinating Kids

Judith Warner, a guest columnist/blogger for the New York Times' website, has an entry about childhood vaccinations. Since it's part of TimesSelect and you have to pay for it, I'll quote two paragraphs:


"Over and over again, the link between mercury — in the form of thimerosal, a preservative once routinely used in vaccines — and autism has been disproved. Or, better put, (who knows what the future will bring?) it has not been confirmed. (The Times had an excellent history of the autism/vaccine controversy last year.)

Meanwhile, formerly all-but-eradicated deadly childhood diseases are making a comeback, as Sanghavi acknowledges: In Britain, where vaccination is optional and immunization rates in recent years for the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine have fallen to as low as 62 percent in parts of London, measles is on the rise. Ditto in Japan, where parental choice on the matter of vaccinations has resulted in a yearly rate now of more than 100,000 cases of measles, leading to an estimated 50 to 100 deaths."



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1 comment:

  1. 100 measles deaths out of 100,000 infections = .1% chance of fatality from measles

    Current rate of Autism 1 in 150 = .7%

    So it's more probable that you will get Autism than it is that you will die from measles. This is also assuming that the folks actually died from the measles - and not other circumstances, right?

    So if that is the case then doesn't it make more sense to take your chances if you have a healthy child with the measles than it does the vaccine?

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