One map sums up the damage caused by the anti-vaccination m...

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HEALTH AND MEDICINE

One map sums up the damage caused by the

anti-vaccination movement
January 24, 2014 | by Lisa Winter

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photo credit: Council on Foreign Relations

Vaccinations are one of the of most incredible aspects of modern medicine. They can make
previously lethal diseases disappear from society and save countless lives. There is,
however, a chance that the vaccines work a little too well and our collective memory is too
short to remember the devastating eects some of these diseases caused just a few short
decades ago. Recently, for reasons that are not based on science or logic, many parents
have outspokenly rejected vaccinating their children. Unfortunately, this has caused a
reemergence of easily managed diseases. The Council on Foreign Relations has released an
interactive map detailing the catastrophic outcome of these poor choices.
The interactive map gives a gut-wrenching tour of global outbreaks of measles, mumps,
rubella, polio, and whooping cough from 2008-2014. These diseases -- all of which are
easily prevented by vaccines -- can have dire consequences. The CDC estimates that
164,000 people around the world will die from measles each year, and it is experiencing
quite a resurgence in the UK. The United States has recently seen a drastic increase in
whooping cough, which causes around 195,000 deaths per year. The majority of these
deaths occur in impoverished regions with very little access to vaccines. In the case of
developed areas like the US or UK, they shouldnt be happening at all.
But how did it all begin?
In 1998, Andrew Wakefield released a paper claiming to have linked the measles, mumps,
and rubella (MMR) vaccine to the onset of autism. No other scientist was ever able to match
Wakefields findings, and in the coming years, it became known that Wakefield had a

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One map sums up the damage caused by the anti-vaccination m...

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financial conflict of interest. In 2010, an ethics review board found that he had falsified the
data in his report, causing an immediate retraction of his original paper and revocation of his
medical license. Despite the fact most scientists opposed Wakefields findings from the
start, some were all too eager to jump on the anti-MMR bandwagon.

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Among those leading the charge against vaccines is Jenny McCarthy, the Playboy Bunnyturned-pseudoscience advocate. McCarthy began speaking out against vaccines in 2007,
as she believed they caused her sons autism. Based on her sons symptoms, some believe
the boy actually has Landau-Klener syndrome. She has written a few books (including one
with a foreword by Wakefield himself) continually claiming that vaccines cause autism and
that she cured her sons disorder with alternative treatment, without a shred of credible
medical evidence. In the face of a possible misdiagnosis and absolutely no scientific
evidence to support the claim that vaccines cause autism, she remains unchanged in her
opinion. Unfortunately, her celebrity status has given her a platform to use anecdotal (not
scientific) evidence to urge parents against vaccines.

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Of course, absolutely nothing is without risk and there can be side eects from vaccines,
but those are incredibly rare. Some people are unable to be vaccinated due to allergies or
other medical conditions. This makes it altogether more important for those who can get
vaccinated to do so, creating a herd immunity for our most vulnerable members of society.
The full version of the map is available on CFRs website.

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unthwarted

3 months ago

Every
disease has a threshold of pathogenic particles needed to make a person
sick. What a vaccine does, is it increases this to a much higher level by
prepping your immune system to respond more quickly. This however works
best when everyone is immunized. Those who are not can produce so many
bacteria or viruses as to overwhelm even this higher threshold. This
is how smallpox was wiped out, and if not for the foolishness of some
people in the M.E. and Africa, polio could've been eradicated from the
world as well. Now diseases that shouldn't even occur like measles are
popping back up. I think people need to read history and understand how
horrible these diseases were and the life long damage they can cause.
Reply Share

643

Tyler Waltz > unthwarted

3 months ago

Vaccines actually allow your adaptive immune system to create memory

lymphocyte (T or B depending on the pathogenic organism). Then If you
get said pathogen that you vaccinated for there is already the
appropriate lymphocyte available. Proliferation of that lymphocyte
happens more quickly and more intensely, flooding the pathogen and
virtually preventing sickness. I suggest 'Janeway's Immunology' for
more information on this
Reply Share

184

L-dan > Tyler Waltz

3 months ago

He's still basically correct though, and explaining in a way that

answers the "but I know this dude who got vaccinated and got
sick anyway" anecdotes. You don't necessarily gain an iron clad
immunity. If someone shoves a syringe full of pathogen into you,
it may be able to run out of control before those memory
lymphoctyes get o an adequate response. i.e. you've got
pathogen levels above that threshold he talks about. Likewise, if
you have a crappy immune system, the vaccine is going to
protect you more than no vaccine, but you still may have such a
low 'threshold' that you get sick.
66

Reply Share

MDWalker > L-dan

3 months ago

That is not necessarily correct, vaccines are engineered,

modified versions of the pathogen. Trained scientists take
a live dose of the pathogen and modify it to where it only
presents its self as a pathogen but has no virulence or
characteristics to harm the host. It is merely showing the
body what it needs to see to mount an immune response
the next time it sees it. These trial vaccines are tested at
various dosages in lab and field trials and at all levels of
concentration to see the threshold it would take to have
an adverse response from the body. Those that even
have an adverse eect, (most won't) are at such high
dosage levels which will never be close to the
concentration presented in the vaccine.

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