Originally Posted by TokenKingsFan
As the author of the blog (and a Kings' fan, which I hope doesn't diminish the quality of my reply) that mentioned how vaccines ended many diseases, and as someone who has a Ph.D. in biochemistry, and as someone who has spent years in medical research and development, improved sanitation is vastly overrated. There were 400 million smallpox deaths during the 20th century spread almost evenly, per capita, between all countries. It was eradicated because of vaccines. It is possible that better sanitation cut the deaths from 800 million down to 400 million, but it was vaccinations that eliminated it. The fallacy of better sanitation is that it only works if its near perfect, and that's impossible. One piece of fecal matter on a hand can be spread to thousands of people in a day. And each of them spread it accidentally. And before you know it, people are dead.
But there are infectious diseases that spread without the quality of sanitation. The Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918 killed vast swaths of health young men. Twenty million dead. Even with today's medicine, I doubt we have tools or facilities to reduce the death rate from such an epidemic.
Simply put vaccines save lives. Whooping cough kills. Measles can cause encephalitis that kills. Polio paralyzes, even if it doesn't kill. The flu in the US during 2012-13 killed 105 children, 90% of whom were not vaccinated.
There is no rational reason to not vaccinate. The side-effects are modest at best, and this is known through clinical research that costs millions of dollars to complete. The anti-vaxxers have NO VALID AND PEER-REVIEWED EVIDENCE SUPPORTING THEIR CLAIMS. None.
By the way, we discussed this thread on a vaccine science forum. Because the comments were so intelligent and rational here, someone asked me if it is because you all are Canadian, hockey fans or both. Because if someone asked this question in the USA, all of the crazy anti-vaxxers would have come out.
To the OP, I don't know what Canadian law is, but in the USA, many states block enrollment even in pre-school unless the student has completed all of the necessary vaccines for his or her age. There are exemptions for religious belief, but even courts today are throwing out those exemptions because no valid mainstream religion is against vaccinations. Even Jehovah's Witnesses who are opposed to all medical procedures, allow vaccines.
I don't know your motivation for not vaccinating your kids, but if you're willing to discuss your reasoning with experts, as long as you're willing to come with an open mind, I can PM you a link to the group. They're mostly women, very civil, and maybe able to gently provide you with information about vaccines. Don't risk your children's lives to myth, junk medicine and pseudoscience.
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