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Let me play devil's advocate here. The article says nothing about how many people died of measles, it just gave an estimate of how dangerous some doctors think

Let me play devil's advocate here. The article says nothing about how many people died of measles, it just gave an estimate of how dangerous some doctors think measles is. Maybe none died and that's why they don't give a solid number? If so, the danger of measles was overstated in that estimate. Meanwhile, there's nothing in the article mentioning the danger of the vaccine, which nobody claims is nonzero. Maybe the vaccine's danger is 1 in a million. So with several million refusers 1 or 2 kids' lives were saved. At the expense of how many kids dying of measles? Zero? We need more information here.

noonespecial 13y ago
All we really need to know is how dangerous measles was and then count the cost of losing our herd immunity. Vaccines are not 100% effective (on an individual basis). Vaccines are a group effort that greatly diminishes in effectiveness if a large majority doesn't participate.
grannyg00se 13y ago
Pre-vaccine, measles would kill or seriously mess up about 1500 people yearly in the U.S. I think the vaccination rate now is in the 70% range and deaths from vaccination are hard to find. So it seems like vaccination is a win there. http://www.cdc.gov/measles/vaccination.html http://www.cdc.gov/measles/vaccination.html On the other hand, 1500 serious cases out of 300+ million people every year is a pretty low percentage. Seems like the entire threat is highly overstated.
- davidw 13y ago
  > 1500 serious cases out of 300+ million people every year is a pretty low percentage You're using the number of cases then with the population now if I'm not mistaken.
  - grannyg00se 13y ago
    I didn't realize it started in the 70s. Still, 1500 serious cases out of 200+ million is low.
- ars 13y ago
  That's not just pre vaccine, but pre modern medical techniques. With modern medicine the death rate is at 0.3% (compared to 30% in the past).
  - grannyg00se 13y ago
    It's the decade before the vaccination program began, which is the 70s. Even then, according to the link the death rate is not 30% or 0.3% but 0.0125% which really seems miniscule for such a huge program to be rolled out.

noonespecial 13y ago

All we really need to know is how dangerous measles was and then count the cost of losing our herd immunity. Vaccines are not 100% effective (on an individual basis). Vaccines are a group effort that greatly diminishes in effectiveness if a large majority doesn't participate.

grannyg00se 13y ago

Pre-vaccine, measles would kill or seriously mess up about 1500 people yearly in the U.S. I think the vaccination rate now is in the 70% range and deaths from vaccination are hard to find. So it seems like vaccination is a win there. http://www.cdc.gov/measles/vaccination.html http://www.cdc.gov/measles/vaccination.html On the other hand, 1500 serious cases out of 300+ million people every year is a pretty low percentage. Seems like the entire threat is highly overstated.

davidw 13y ago
> 1500 serious cases out of 300+ million people every year is a pretty low percentage You're using the number of cases then with the population now if I'm not mistaken.
- grannyg00se 13y ago
  I didn't realize it started in the 70s. Still, 1500 serious cases out of 200+ million is low.
ars 13y ago
That's not just pre vaccine, but pre modern medical techniques. With modern medicine the death rate is at 0.3% (compared to 30% in the past).
- grannyg00se 13y ago
  It's the decade before the vaccination program began, which is the 70s. Even then, according to the link the death rate is not 30% or 0.3% but 0.0125% which really seems miniscule for such a huge program to be rolled out.