[HM2Viking]

IN BRIEF

• Vaccinations are among the most important health advances in history
• Death rates for 13 diseases that can be prevented by childhood vaccinations were at all-time lows in the United States in 2007
• Rumors persist that some immunizations, or the vaccine preservative thimerosal, cause autism

Public health experts generally agree that after clean water and flush toilets, the most important health advances in history have been vaccinations.
Shots against measles, diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio, mumps, rubella, chicken pox, flu, hepatitis and some causes of childhood meningitis, pneumonia and diarrhea have saved more lives than all the “miracle drugs” of the latter half of the 20th century — antibiotics like penicillin, antivirals like drugs to fight AIDS and flu, and so on. In addition, vaccination is one of the leading reasons that many families in the West now feel comfortable having only two or three children: they can be reasonably certain that the children will survive childhood.

http://health.nytimes.com/ref/health...tions-ess.html

[Quickbeam]

I'm gung-ho vaccination and spend a whole lot of my time dispelling myths amongst my family and co-workers. My cousin thought: "well, everyone else will get their kid vaccinated so I won't have to have them poked!". That line of reasoning resulted in 2 kids with whooping cough. Her words: "wow, I didn't think that existed any more!". The diseases are still here.

[dawngloves]

A few members question even whether bacteria and viruses cause disease

You have got to be kidding me!

[BlueRidgeHomeRN]

Originally Posted by dawngloves

You have got to be kidding me!

No--you see, the CIA and aliens beam super-lasar rays into pre-school classrooms, and the resulting anti-matter ions cause all these childhood diseases......

Oh..and the earth is flat!