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VACCINATION MYTH #3: "Vaccines are the main reason for low
disease rates in the U.S. today..." or are they?
According to the British Association for the Advancement of Science, childhood diseases
decreased 90% between 1850 and 1940, paralleling improved sanitation and hygienic
practices, well before mandatory vaccination programs. Infectious disease deaths in the
U.S. and England declined steadily by an average of about 80% during this century (measles
mortality declined over 97%) prior to vaccinations. [25] In Great Britain, the polio
epidemics peaked in 1950, and had declined 82% by the time the vaccine was introduced
there in 1956. Thus, at best, vaccinations can be credited with only a small percentage of
the overall decline in disease related deaths this century. Yet even this small portion is
questionable, as the rate of decline remained virtually the same after vaccines were
introduced. Furthermore, European countries that refused immunization for small pox and
polio saw the epidemics end along with those countries that mandated it. (In fact, both
small pox and polio immunization campaigns were followed initially by significant disease
incidence increases; during smallpox vaccination campaigns, other infectious diseases
continued their declines in the absence of vaccines. In England and Wales, smallpox
disease and vaccination rates eventually declined simultaneously over a period of several
decades.[26]) It is thus impossible to say whether or not vaccinations contributed to the
continuing decline in disease death rates, or if the same forces which brought about the
initial declines--improved sanitation, hygiene, improvements in diet, natural disease
cycles--were simply unaffected by the vaccination programs. Underscoring this conclusion
was a recent World Health Organization report which found that the disease and mortality
rates in third world countries have no direct correlation with immunization procedures or
medical treatment, but are closely related to the standard of hygiene and diet. [27]
Credit given to vaccinations for our current disease incidence has simply been grossly
exaggerated, if not outright misplaced.
Vaccine advocates point to incidence statistics rather than mortality as proof of
vaccine effectiveness. However, statisticians tell us that mortality statistics can be a
better measure of incidence than the incidence figures themselves, for the simple reason
that the quality of reporting and record-keeping is much higher on fatalities.[28] For
instance, a recent survey in New York City revealed that only 3.2% of pediatricians were
actually reporting measles cases to the health department. In 1974, the CDC determined
that there were 36 cases of measles in Georgia, while the Georgia State Surveillance
System reported 660 cases.[29] In 1982, Maryland state health officials blamed a pertussis
epidemic on a television program, "D.P.T.--Vaccine Roulette," which warned of
the dangers of DPT; however, when former top virologist for the U.S. Division of
Biological Standards, Dr. J. Anthony Morris, analyzed the 41 cases, only 5 were confirmed,
and all had been vaccinated. [30] Such instances as these demonstrate the fallacy of
incidence figures, yet vaccine advocates tend to rely on them indiscriminately.
VACCINATION TRUTH #3:
"It is unclear what impact vaccines had on the infectious disease declines that
occurred throughout this century."
INTRODUCTION
MYTH #1: "Vaccines are completely safe..."
MYTH #2: "Vaccines are very effective..."
MYTH #4: "Vaccination is based on sound immunization theory
and practice..."
MYTH #5: "Childhood diseases are extremely
dangerous..."
MYTH #6: "Polio was one of the clearly great vaccination
success stories..."
MYTH #7: "My child had no short-term reaction to
vaccination, so there is nothing to worry about..."
MYTH #8: "Vaccines are the only disease prevention option
available..."
MYTH #9: "Vaccinations are legally mandated, and thus
unavoidable..."
MYTH #10: "Public health officials always place health above
all other concerns..."
SUMMARY and About the Author...
(25) See Note 23 pp 18-40.
(26) See Note 23 pp 45,46 [NVIC News, April 92, p12].
(27) S. Curtis, A Handbook of Homeopathic Alternatives to Immunization.
(28) Darrell Huff, How to Lie With Statistics, p 84.
(29) quoted from the internet, credited to Keith Block, M.D., a family physician
from Evanston, Illinois, who has spent years collecting data in the medical literature on
immunizations.
(30) See Note 20, p 15.
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