Quote:
Originally Posted by Pammy
I think we should probably end this discussion :-)
It started off so well! Just for the record, I actually also believe that vaccinations should be compulsory - but I disagreed with the style of the arguments - I don't see why from "the MMR study was wrong" (for whatever reasons) it follows that "vaccines should be compulsory". Also, there is no reason why even if it's compulsory there shouldn't be a few exceptions, if they are clearly laid out. I presume there would have to be exceptions for, for example, immunocompromised individuals, and I don't see why there couldn't be other exceptions, if clear links (e.g. genetic) could be proven. So the key should be to improve vaccine testing, and the procedures for reporting adverse incidents, so these types of reactions can be quickly established...
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Herd immunity is the goal of the MMR vaccination program. If you have loads of people vaccinated against measles, the chances of someone with measles coming into contact with an unvaccinated person and passing it on gets smaller. There is a vaccination threshold at which transmission of the disease effectively stops. At that point you can pretty much wipe out the disease. We've already wiped out Smallpox and Polio has almost dissapeared (although there are still some remote places where vaccination did not happen as it should have).
We need around 90% of people to become immune to achieve herd immunity to measles. Around 5% of people vaccinated will not become fully immune, so we really need a 95% uptake. In 1995-6 we hit 92%... almost there! Then we had the Wakefield paper and uptake fell dramatically. We hit a low of 80% in 2003-4. In parts of London uptake rates fell into the low 60s...
Suprisingly we've had big outbreaks in the past few years...