Dr. Martin Hash Podcast

Vaccines rely on the person’s natural immune system, and that’s different from person to person. Different vaccines have varying methods of action; for example, the most famous, polio, has both an active and inert versions. The active works almost exactly like exposure, but inert only gives the recipient immunity and can still be contagious. Europe uses active but the U.S. won’t accept the side effects so uses inert. The alternative to vaccination is to intentionally contract diseases to get immunity, after which you are not contagious. This is a perfectly acceptable strategy if it could be organized properly: go live with your friends in a commune for 3 weeks, get sick, get immune and come back to public life.

The only legitimate claim that Anti-vaxxers make is that a tiny fraction of children will respond antithetically to the vaccine. It’s a terrible price to pay but so are many trade-offs in life, and it's a 1 in 10 million chance; less than the danger of taking a bath. In comparison, the death rate from Chicken pox is significantly higher than the death rate from vaccination, and Chicken pox causes Shingles later in life if you are exposed to unvaccinated people. It's the in-between vaccines that most people don't seem to need, like MMR, Measles, Mumps & Rubella, that anti-vaxxers most object to: Measles may be harmless to kids but it's deadly to fetuses; the death rate from Mumps is certainly higher than the death rate from vaccination; and Rubella is a real killer, way, way more than from vaccination.