Keith Roach To Your Health Published 5:49 PM EDT Aug 25, 2019 Dear Dr. Roach: I read your column on vaccinations and was bothered about one issue that has not been addressed. Who are “anti-vaxxers” — those who oppose scheduled vaccinations — putting at risk by not having their kids vaccinated? Primarily others of like minds, it seems to me. Those who are vaccinated are not at risk, right? The only others I think might be at risk are future generations if we could ever fully eradicate such diseases, but that is a small probability. I generally support people’s right to deny entering programs they disagree with, even if they are ignorant conclusions. — T.R. Dear T.R.: You would be correct if vaccines were 100% effective and if everyone could get them, but neither of those are true. Two doses of measles vaccine are about 99% effective, but that still means that with widespread measles transmission, one person in a hundred could still get measles even if vaccinated. The reason that hasn’t happened in the past few decades is that there has been enough vaccine coverage that there has not been widespread transmission, so even people who are potentially susceptible are never exposed. This is called herd immunity, and is the major reason that people seldom die from measles now. The success of vaccines has led to a situation where people no longer know how serious measles can be. Once vaccine coverage drops below 95% or so, then sporadic cases… [Read full story]
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