11 Vaccine Myths That Just Refuse To Die: Debunked
11. Myth: Diseases Are Less Harmful Than Vaccines
One of the more common justifications for their opposition to vaccines heard from anti-vaxxers is that the diseases being vaccinated against are less harmful than the actual vaccination itself. This idea is an idea based in privilege; it could only come at a time where highly infectious disease is no longer part of everyday life. In 2004 the Journal of Infectious Diseases, published “Measles Elimination in the United States,” citing the morbidity and mortality of the measles epidemic in America prior to the licensure of the first measles vaccine.
On average, 5300 measles-related deaths occurred during 1912–1916 (26 deaths/ 1000 reported cases) with even more going unreported. An average of 542,000 cases were reported annually from 1956 – 1960, with a decrease to around 450 measles-related deaths reported each year. While this decrease in deaths during this time had been attributed to improvements in health care and nutrition, serious complications due to measles remained a burden on healthcare and families with many patients at high risk of death from the complications of the diseases.
In an effort to eliminate measles and ease the burden of the health care system and families, a country-wide vaccination program was implemented which has seen a steady decline in the average cases of measles per year. Comparing the data from 1956 – 1960 (313 measles cases per 100,000) to the data collected during 1982- 1988, which reported an average of 1.3 cases per 100,000 population, we can see a downward trend towards contracting the diseases.
Finally, in the year 2000, the Centre for Disease Control declared Measles “eliminated” from the United States, meaning any measles outbreaks that occurred in the country would be the result of an outside source. As a result of vaccination technology and successful disease eradication programs, infectious diseases like polio, measles and smallpox are no longer something that is expected to occur in a person’s life.