Refusing Healthy Communities via Vaccine Exemptions

A new review of the scientific literature confirms the truth about vaccine exemptions; they endanger everyone. On The Pump Handle, Kim Krisberg outlines the horrible realities of vaccine-preventable disease, and writes that vaccine refusal has "accelerated the resurgence of whooping cough and measles here in the U.S." On Respectful Insolence, Orac writes "the MMR [vaccine] is very effective against measles, over 90%, but not 100%." Meanwhile, with whooping cough, vaccine-induced immunity wears down over time.

These windows of opportunity for infection would be inconsequential in a fully vaccinated population, but with a certain percentage of kids running around unvaccinated due to the religious or 'philosophical' objections of their parents, an outbreak of these diseases can easily spread. As Orac writes, "Despite what antivaccine parents claim, their choice not to vaccinate does impact more than just their children and themselves. It impacts the entire community in which they live negatively." On Aetiology, Tara C Smith says: "this is, again, one of my biggest problems with those who refuse vaccines. They frame the issue as solely 'my child, my choice.' Which is fine, until you put that child in with the rest of society via school, or daycare, or even trips to McDonald’s."