No, really. Please do. #ddtb
Reshared post from +Vineet KewalRamani
Vaccination as altruism
There are people in society (the immunocompromised, newborns, elderly) vulnerable to deadly viral infections that the rest of us can easily prevent through vaccination.But if 75 percent to 95 percent of the population around us is vaccinated for a particular disease, the rest are protected through what is called herd immunity. In other words, your measles vaccine protects me [the immunocompromised NY Times Op-Ed writer] against the measles.
Obviously people will first act in their own interests, but if there are no scientifically credible data showing harm by particular vaccination, and benefits are clear to the vaccinated and also to society at large, why not do it to help protect another?
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For the Herd’s Sake, Vaccinate
Being a mom with 2 small kids I used to frequent the "mom communities" and there are a LOT of people that believe that all these diseases (measles, rubella, etc.) are eradicated or "not that bad". Take Chicken Pox, they say it isn't that bad but there are people that die from it every year not to mention that horrible effects of Shingles. Of course, many people think that the CP Vac causes shingles and think that the two conditions are unrelated.
I have also had many a mom argue with me that measles is no longer around…yet how many contract it and die a year in the United States? My kids are vaccinated. The % chance of something happening to my kid is lower than the %chance of my kid getting one of these diseases and having something go terribly wrong. I don't want to watch my kids suffer/die from something that could easily be prevented.
Agreed.
But worse, vaccination immunity is only ever partial. Your kids could still get measles. But they are much less likely to get it, and (through herd immunity, so long as the rest of the population is immunized), much less likely to be exposed to it.
Unfortunately, given the current social and legal climate, I suspect it will take some minor epidemics, and a lot of deaths, to force some action on this.