Before measles immunization was available, nearly everyone in the U.S. got measles. An average of 450 measles-associated deaths were reported each year between 1953 and 1963.

Before Hib vaccine became available, Hib was the most common cause of bacterial meningitis in U.S. infants and children. Before the vaccine was developed, there were approximately 20,000 invasive Hib cases annually. Approximately two-thirds of the 20,000 cases were meningitis, and one-third were other life-threatening invasive Hib diseases such as bacteria in the blood, pneumonia, or inflammation of the epiglottis. About one of every 200 U.S. children under 5 years of age got an invasive Hib disease. Hib meningitis once killed 600 children each year and left many survivors with deafness, seizures, or mental retardation.

Before pertussis immunizations were available, nearly all children developed whooping cough. In the U.S., prior to pertussis immunization, between 150,000 and 260,000 cases of pertussis were reported each year, with up to 9,000 pertussis-related deaths.

Before pneumococcal conjugate vaccine became available for children, pneumococcus caused 63,000 cases of invasive pneumococcal disease and 6,100 deaths in the U.S. each year.

In 1964-1965, before rubella immunization was used routinely in the U.S., there was an epidemic of rubella that resulted in an estimated 20,000 infants born with CRS, with 2,100 neonatal deaths and 11,250 miscarriages. Of the 20,000 infants born with CRS, 11,600 were deaf, 3,580 were blind, and 1,800 were mentally retarded.

Prior to the licensing of the chickenpox vaccine in 1995, almost all persons in the United States had suffered from chickenpox by adulthood. Each year, the virus caused an estimated 4 million cases of chickenpox, 11,000 hospitalizations, and 100-150 deaths.

More than 2 billion persons worldwide have been infected with the hepatitis B virus at some time in their lives. Of these, 350 million are life-long carriers of the disease and can transmit the virus to others. One million of these people die each year from liver disease and liver cancer.

In the 1920’s, diphtheria was a major cause of illness and death for children in the U.S. In 1921, a total of 206,000 cases and 15,520 deaths were reported. With vaccine development in 1923, new cases of diphtheria began to fall in the U.S., until in 2001 only two cases were reported.

http://www.cdc.gov

My four month old is being fully vaccinated. My husband and myself did get the H1N1 vax to protect her. I find it ironic that you blast mainstream media panic, yet pull out the vax conspiracy panic.

The study that this panic is based on is 10 years old. Since then, many studies have tried to replicate it’s findings and have been unable to do so, making it invalid. Also, it was found that the records of twelve of the children do not match up with their hospital records and their symptoms were basically made up by “Dr” Wakefield.

I don’t vaccinate for herd immunity. I don’t vaccinate because it’s what I’m told I should do. I don’t belief that the government is trying to cover up some huge vaccine/autism link. I vaccine because I KNOW that the diseases she’s being vaccinated against are much more dangerous than the imaginary, minute possibility that the vaccines could cause autism. I respect your decision not to, but I certainly don’t agree with you.

Would you prefer a 1 in 10 chance that your child dies, or would you prefer a 1 in 100 chance that your child gets autism… That’s sort of the decision that one has to make with vaccines.

All that said, the “regular” flu does kill quite a few people — far more than are affected by the side-effects of vaccines — and every once in a while, a “regular” flu outbreak kills millions of people (think the 1918 flu outbreak — an H1N1 variant — that killed 50 million people. H1N1 in the form of the 1918 pandemic had a mortality rate of 10-20%, which is hugely higher than the complication rate of the vaccine).

In the US alone, 200,000 people are HOSPITALIZED every year with the flu, and 36,000 DIE every year from the flu. For comparison there are about 3,000 new cases of autism per year in the US — and of course these are not conclusively all linked to the vaccine, whereas all the deaths I just mentioned are linked to the flu. And of course the flu vaccines are not 100% effective either. Still, if one goes by logic and numbers alone, then it seems like vaccines are the significantly safer alternative.

It is 100% true that the vaccines have complications (whether they are linked to autism or not). However, NOT taking the vaccine comes with a different set of complications and risks, given the right circumstances and exposures. The relevant question is which of the two options — each with pros and cons — is safer, and it seems to me that taking the vaccine is a lot safer. That doesn’t mean it’s 100% safe. It just means it’s significantly safer than the alternative.

How you can say in one paragraph that “the media is controlling your minds” and in every other paragraph, quote only media sources (and one website that is essentially quoting internet-only sources) is disturbing to me.

I don’t espouse a particular side, simply plead that you get better sources for your information.

As someone who has had research studies published in scientific literature and subsequently watched them be horrifically misquoted and poorly described in the mass media, I no longer trust that popular media can accurately describe it to the public. Certainly this is true about H1N1, just as much as it is true about the autism/vaccine thing. If you’ve ever seen Al Gore’s film An Inconvenient Truth, you’ve seen a great demonstration of how “debate” is manufactured by the popular press, who feel an onus to represent even the most fringe opinion, when in fact there is no real debate at all.

A good way to get access to scientific research from peer-reviewed publications (this is where all research published must be first reviewed by an anonymous panel of experts in the field to check for veracity, poor method, plagiarism, etc.) is to go to http://www.pubmed.gov and type in your search terms. Keep in mind these abstracts are written for other scientists, so don’t expect that you’ll understand everything – but if you don’t, bring it to your doctor, or look up the individual terms. This is the way to find out information if you want to know what researchers have been able to find out doing long, painstaking, careful experiments starting with theories going all the way up to animal and human trials.

Scientists are held to a very strict standard – they are not allowed, by the rigors of the scientific method – to “prove something.” They can only significantly disprove – which means they can test a theory and repeat it to the point that they know, statistically, whether their theory has been disproven. The statistical standard is so vanishingly small that this is a very strong safety against making erroneous conclusions.

In contrast, the media only has to hold up to the “I got it from XYZ source and someone else verified it” standard – even worse, the sources they quote don’t have to have any standard at all. The vast majority of the internet doesnt’ require you to have any special credentials to post online, and thus you need to always, always, always consider the source.

To previous posters who refuse to buy the autism/vaccination link – I’m the mother of a severely autistic child. The vaccinations did not CAUSE his autism, but overnight, he went from a happy, quirky baby (yes, a few autistic traits were there) to a shrieking, physically aggressive child.

I have HFA, or high-functioning autism. Yes, I agree that there’s usually, although not always, a genetic link. I can tell you how horribly messed up my brain feels after vaccinations, and other medications that most of the population ingests without thinking twice, but it’s not a pretty picture to paint for anyone.

There IS crap in vaccines that can seriously damage a person. There IS a lot of ass-covering going on, and a lot of seriously ill children out there. There are many sources that prove the link between vaccinations and the onset of autism, and other autoimmune disorders. Some autoimmune disorders are turning out to be things we never thought of as such – forms of heart disease, for example, and certain types of diabetes, and many others that would shock anyone.

Vaccination is such a personal choice, but people really need to stop assuming it’s all good after they read a few scary stories about the flu, or a few positive reports about the vaccination.

as to the vaccine causing autism; would you not considr the Chief of the CDC a good source to quote?

or perhaps the US Assistant Attorney General Peter Keisler and other Justice Department officials, on behalf of the Department of Health and Human Services:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kirby/government-concedes-vacci_b_88323.html

Seems to me that even though fo years it was argued by the very drug companies that created the “safe vaccines” to use on our children that they were NOT the cause of autism, the tide is slowly beginning to turn. Why would the government allow this to go on for so very long? Simply put, drug companies have the best funded lobbyists out there.

I refuse to allow myself or my child to have the vaccine for H1N1, it’s not properly tested, it has dangerous chemicals in it and lastly, its just a bloody flu, you get it, you get ovr it with a stronger immune system then you originally started out with.
and to the one who used he ridiculous threat of “I think you might change your mind if you contracted it and you or your son ended up in the hospital.” Don’t follow the same propaganda and fear mongering tactics that the press sink to, chances are even if Gillian or her son cach it, they will be ill fo 3-9 days, and be over it. And I have personally known many moms and 3 little oes that have had H1N1 and gotten over it quite nicely.

Geez people, the whole concept of herd innoculation is what has caused many viruses to mutate and grow stronger. You would think we had learned our lesson after the whole issue with “trusted” doctors giving antibiotics to everyone for every litle sniffle, now we have antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria that can kill. And babies born that are highly allergic to antibiotics. C’mon people, we have an immune system for a reason, let it do it’s job

One thing that I will say is that I do thank most people for vaxing their kids- it’s kind of what I rely on to keep my own kid safe.