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Comment by acd | Hacker News Reader

An issue that there is alternative fear truths spreading on the internet as they are real facts when they are not.

With vaccines a majority of the population need to be vaccinated that prevents the disease from spreading.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herd_immunity

Here is a graph of Measeles in the United states. Before and after vaccine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herd_immunity#/media/File:Meas...

"Vaccine controversies have occurred since almost 80 years before the terms vaccine and vaccination were introduced. Despite overwhelming scientific consensus[1][2] that vaccines are safe and effective,[3] unsubstantiated scares regarding their safety still occur, resulting in outbreaks and deaths from vaccine-preventable diseases." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaccine_controversies

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disinformation

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The thing is, as a kid we got measles and we got time off school (Yay!), but we'd get a booster shot at the time and the wheels of society keep turning as we'd stay at home until we got well enough to go back. I got mumps, german measles and a variety of things kids nowdays get vaccinated for. I've had the chicken pox 3 times and it's relative, shingles, twice (somehow my immune system doesn't learn this one!).

So...why is there now all this fuss to be pre-vaccinated? To me it's like the tetanus shot, if you get pricked by a bit of rusty metal and it's been 10 years, you go and get a shot.

One of the main things that I can think of is that due to a modern society, both parents are working and absolutely need to send their kids to school. This of course can be a big problem without a mandatory, herd-immunity system in place.

> unsubstantiated scares regarding their safety still occur

This is probably because they're not exactly unsubstantiated:

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandemrix#Narcolepsy_investiga...

- https://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-11-23/the-fallout-from-a-ba...

What does "pre-vaccinated" mean in this context, exactly? Vaccinations only come in the "pre" variety; once you've caught the disease, vaccination is unlikely to do any good. Some diseases (e.g.: rabies) have a long enough incubation period that post-exposure prophylaxis is effective, but this is very much the exception.

Sure, kids can get measles, and they'll probably be just fine. Measles only has a 0.1%-0.2% mortality rate, after all... On the other hand, that means 1-2 of every 1,000 children who get the disease will die a completely pointless and preventable death.

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