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Vaccination Health Science Topic Index

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Do the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks?

A vaccine is a weakened form of a pathogen that our body can use to train its immune system without having to suffer negative health effects. Vaccination programs have radically reduced the number of deaths from infectious diseases, including diphtheria, measles, mumps, and rubella. Nonetheless, some skeptics avoid vaccinating themselves and their children, concerned with the potential risks of vaccines.

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If you believe A then possibly you believe not B

Does homeopathy work?

Experts and Influencers

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Agree

Experts In Science

Peter McIntyre Professor of Infectious Diseases

Agree

Opposition to mass childhood vaccination is a world-wide phenomenon, particularly in industrialised countries. Unfounded claims about vaccination are perpetuated by parental lobby groups and individual spokespeople, some of whom have a medical or scientific background. This article focuses on one such spokesperson who has achieved particular notoriety. Dr. Viera Scheibner is a retired micropalaeontologist, without any formal training in health-related sciences...

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26 Jun 2003 Source

Ian Frazer Inventor of Cervical Cancer Vaccine

Agree

A quarter of all cancers are caused by infections, including hepatitis B and C andthe Epstein Barr virus. If we could prevent these infections, we could think about getting rid of these cancers... We, on average, live 25 years longer than we did 100 years ago and most of that extra 25 years is due to the control of infectious diseases and most of that control is due to vaccinations.

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17 Aug 2006 Source

Experts In Health

US Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Government Department

Agree

Vaccines have been so successful in preventing disease in the US that in recent years, the annual number of reports to VAERS have exceeded the total number of reports of routine childhood vaccine-preventable disease. This may lead some people to believe that the vaccines are dangerous. [In reality] the risk of a serious adverse reaction to an immunization is extremely small. The risk of the disease itself is substantially more serious than the risk of the immunization.

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23 Apr 2007 Source

Patti Neighmond Medical Journalist

Agree

Much of this refusal [to vaccinate] has to do with perceived vaccine safety issues, such as purported associations between vaccines and autism, attention deficit disorder, seizures and epilepsy. None of these concerns have been upheld in research. In fact, all scientific studies show vaccines to be highly effective and safe, with only rare, moderate, adverse side effects.

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26 May 2009 Source

Experts In Business

Bill Gates Microsoft Cofounder, Philanthropist

Agree

Providing greater access to existing vaccines and making new vaccines available quickly could save 8 million lives by 2020. ... I’ve given kids the polio vaccine myself – it’s just a couple drops in the mouth. It’s quite magical knowing you are helping prevent a terrible, disfiguring disease. As a parent, I have a choice to provide my children with something that has the potential to prevent illness or even death. I want parents everywhere to have that same chance.

The Family Pitch

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09 Feb 2010 Source

Disagree

Experts In Science

Viera Scheibner Geology Professor; Prominent Modern Medicine Skeptic

Disagree

I did not find it difficult to conclude that there is no evidence whatsoever that vaccines or any kind are effective in preventing the infectious diseases they are supposed to prevent. Further, adverse effects are amply documented and are far more significant to public health than any adverse effects of infectious diseases. Immunizations not only [were ineffective], they caused more suffering and more deaths than has any other human activity in the entire history of medical intervention.

The Tenuous Evidence Pitch

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01 Nov 1993 Source

Experts In Health

Sherri Tenpenny Homeopathist, Osteopath

Disagree

A benchmark in a civilized society is the absence of infectious diseases, a doctrine that emerged during the pre-antibiotic era. Public health officials attribute low infection rates to mandatory vaccination policies rather than giving credit to improved personal hygiene and modern conveniences such as indoor plumbing. It is time for the truth about vaccines to be widely known. Vaccine safety has not been proven. Vaccines provide false security about protection. Vaccines can cause harm.

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10 Jul 2009 Source

Experts In Media

Jenny McCarthy Actress

Mostly Disagree

I do believe sadly it's going to take some diseases coming back to realize that we need to change and develop vaccines that are safe. If the vaccine companies are not listening to us, it's their f___ing fault that the diseases are coming back. They're making a product that's s___. If you give us a safe vaccine, we'll use it. It shouldn't be polio versus autism.

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01 Apr 2009 Source

Experts In Homeopathy

Rudolf Verspoor Homeopathist

Disagree

What emerges is a consensus that vaccination is not consistent with the principles of homeopathy, even if it is a crude application of the law of similars. Clinical evidence further suggests that vaccination holds serious short and long-term consequences both because of its effect upon the miasms, and because some constitutional types are particularly susceptible to vaccination shock.

The Consensus Pitch The Equivalence Pitch

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14 Feb 1998 Source

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Does homeopathy work?
Agree

Patty Smith-Verspoor Homeopathist

Disagree

There is a belief generally that the usual flu vaccine is still worth it despite the obvious drawbacks. However, there is little or no acknowledgement of a safer and more effective alternative, mainly because of ignorance, prejudice and the power of drug companies (in terms of advertising and control over expensive research). There IS an alternative. Homeopathy - the safe, effective medicine.

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01 Jan 2000 Source

Neutral

Experts In Health

Ron Paul U.S. Politician, Libertarian

Neutral

A controversy over vaccines, specifically the smallpox vaccine, is brewing in Washington. The administration is considering ordering mass inoculations for more than one million military personnel and civilian medical workers, ostensibly to thwart a smallpox outbreak before it occurs. Yet dangerous side-effects from the vaccine – ranging from mild flu symptoms to gangrene, encephalitis, and even death – cause many to question the wisdom and need for such inoculations.

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10 Dec 2002 Source

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0 Points edc 02 Jun 2009 Stance on Question: Agree

I believe vaccination is a valid and significant way of preventing the spread of disease. However, i am constantly confronted by people who believe the risks of vaccination are too great. So great they refuse to treat their own children. I believe this is an ignorant and selfish practice, which not only endangers the child but puts a community at risk. To me the theory makes sense, expose the body to a weakened form of the disease and let the body "practice" fighting it.