I think @mattbrowne‘s sums it up best:
Being against vaccinations kills many, many people.
Being for vaccinations kills a tiny amount of people.
My only exception would be that it’s not always a dichotomous argument. There’s a spectrum of choices in between.
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The folks I know that are concerned about vaccines are worried that the risk they’re taking with their own child’s health is greater than the risk to the “herd” if they don’t. Think of it this way: would you risk giving your child autism if it meant he wouldn’t be a carrier for measles in your neighborhood? Do you know anyone who ever has actually gotten measles? The cases are so few and far between (but still occurring) that it might as well not exist.
I make that example because there’s still a lot of people worried that MMR vaccines cause autism, even though it’s been categorically proven there is zero causation or even correlation between the two.
Others worry that the chemical makeup of the various vaccines is cause for concern. Or they worry that intentionally exposing their young child with undeveloped immune systems to major (yet attenuated) illnesses is a bad idea. Or that the vaccines themselves are of questionable efficacy.
That very last one (questionable efficacy) is where I fall in. My kids are vaccinated against most things (yes, including MMR) except for hepatitis b, the flu and chicken pox.
Not hep b because, as newborn infants only minutes old – when the vaccine would typically be introduced – they’re not sexually active nor intravenous drug users. Not the flu because the vaccine that’s issued each year usually has little effect against the actual strains that make their way around. Nor have any of us ever contracted the flu; and every year I hear of people who actually get sick from the flu vaccine. Plus the chicken pox vaccine isn’t nearly as effective as actually getting the chicken pox.
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My wife and I might be wrong in our stance on the selected vaccines we choose. She has her masters degree in micro biology and her thesis work was on a cancer vaccine. I obviously regard her opinion highly. But we constantly review our choices and we try to err on the side of having least impact if we’re wrong. Point is, measles is a killer. Get that vaccine. Chicken pox, not so much.