What do you make of this? A question for scientific types, who know about astronomy!

[Drake]

Well, considering the fact that I am in Chiropractic school, I go to school with kids who have never been vaccinated themselves.

This leads us to whether or not these vaccines are needed or is it just a result of herd immunity?

It's all fun and games until they are exposed to the virus. Smallpox never hurt a single native american for centuries. Then it was brought over from Europe and killed 3/4 of the population.

[sanjuro_ronin]

Well, considering the fact that I am in Chiropractic school, I go to school with kids who have never been vaccinated themselves.

This leads us to whether or not these vaccines are needed or is it just a result of herd immunity?

Like I say, we can debate them here and now.
Not so sure about here and 30 years from now, know what I mean?

[sanjuro_ronin]

It's all fun and games until they are exposed to the virus. Smallpox never hurt a single native american for centuries. Then it was brought over from Europe and killed 3/4 of the population.

Indeed:

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5733a1.htm

the CDC released an update to its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) that demonstrates very clearly that the antivaccination movement is having an effect. Let’s put it this way. A mere eight years ago, measles was considered, in effect, eradicated from the U.S., thanks to a vigorous vaccination program and a very high vaccine uptake. All that remained were a handful, usually less than 100, cases of measles from outside the U.S. That’s all changing now:

The number of measles cases in the U.S. is at its highest level since 1997, and nearly half of those involve children whose parents rejected vaccination, government health officials reported Thursday.

The number of cases is still small, just 131, but that’s just for the first seven months of the year and doctors are troubled by the trend. There were only 42 cases for all of last year.

“We’re seeing a lot more spread. That is concerning to us,” said Dr. Jane Seward, of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Pediatricians are frustrated, saying they are having to spend more time convincing parents the shot is safe.

“This year, we certainly have had parents asking more questions,” said Dr. Ari Brown, an Austin, Texas, physician who is a spokeswoman for the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The CDC’s review found that a number of cases involved home-schooled children not required to have the vaccines.

[...]

It is no longer endemic to the United States, but every year some Americans pick it up while traveling abroad and bring it home. Measles epidemics have exploded in Israel, Switzerland and some other countries. But high U.S. childhood vaccination rates have prevented major outbreaks here.

In a typical year, only one outbreak occurs in the United States, infecting perhaps 10 to 20 people. So far this year through July 30 the country has seen seven outbreaks, including one in Illinois with 30 cases, said Seward, deputy director of the CDC’s Division of Viral Diseases.

None of the 131 patients died, but 15 were hospitalized.

[Fa Xing]

It's all fun and games until they are exposed to the virus. Smallpox never hurt a single native american for centuries. Then it was brought over from Europe and killed 3/4 of the population.

Which is why I fall on the side herd immunity unless there is further evidence to the contrary. I went through a phase where I was planning on not vaccinating kids but as I learned more, it became apparent that it might just percentage-wise be safer to vaccinate.

[Fa Xing]

Like I say, we can debate them here and now.
Not so sure about here and 30 years from now, know what I mean?

Yeah, absolutely, the recent pertussus (whooping cough) breakout here in California may actually demonstrate our immunity is a lot more fragile than we'd like to admit.

[Drake]

Which is why I fall on the side herd immunity unless there is further evidence to the contrary. I went through a phase where I was planning on not vaccinating kids but as I learned more, it became apparent that it might just percentage-wise be safer to vaccinate.

We've been witnessing resurgences of diseases as a result of the anti-vaccine movement. Check out the MMR fandango in the UK. It's on the rise in the US too, because of one fraudulent doctor who has already been called out for unethical and poor research, and disproven by nearly everyone, including a large number of those who don't have "special interests".

[David Jamieson]

Canada is seeing a resurgence in diseases we thought were gone decades ago.

This is due to an influx of immigrants carrying the diseases, a declining economic system (homeless shelters are breeding grounds for communicable diseases) and yes, ignorance and anti vaccination types who because the science is too much for their understanding, they reject outright as some cabal to cleanse the world.

Well that ain't working, since vaccinations, there has been a huge boom in human population and the mortality rate has dropped lower than ever.