Is it time to consider compulsory vaccinations?

Same here.Still, I find it hard to understand the objection to vaccination. Parents should be wanting their children to be vaccinated.Maybe we can persuade the kids to work on this.It's not that long from the time when people held chicken pox parties. You go to the party so that you get the chicken pox out of the way. But there were never measles parties, because measles is a far more serious disease.Maybe we need the kids to hold vaccination parties. You are not welcome unless you have had the shots. That would put peer pressure to work for the common good.

You can probably skip the smallpox. But add measles. Some of those diseases are particularly deadly to infants. Pertussis is an example of that. Measles is the most dangerous of those. It should not be taken lightly.I had a severe case of chicken pox as a child, but even so it was mild compared to measles. I seem to have avoided mumps.

Yes, I'm aware of that.

I can and will. They're wrong.And yes, you could know. It just takes a little study.

You are basing the measles infection rate on a mostly vaccinated population. Shouldn't you be looking at the infection rate among the unvaccinated in your comparison?

Not really.You are trying to evaluate having a child in the unvaccinated subpopulation. So you need to use the statistics relevant to that subpopulation.

Good drinking water, personal hygiene and nutrition did not prevent me from getting measles and chicken pox. My children escaped measles because of vaccine, but the vaccine was a bit late to protect her from chicken pox. Likewise, it was vaccines that stopped polio in its tracks.Good drinking water and hygiene work with cholera, but not with measles.As I see it, the two most important advances in public health were vaccination and indoor plumbing. But you need both of those. Neither one alone does the job.

No, of course not. You are welcome to live in the jungles and fight it out with the lions.This is the basic contradiction of libertarianism. The libertarians like to sound righteous about their beliefs. But, in reality, they are parasites, leeching of the benefits provided by a complex society, yet refusing to pay their fair share of the costs.

If you want to be able to enjoy the ice cream, you first have to eat some spinach.

Yes, you are right. That's exactly what we need -- a bunch of Typhoid Marys on the loose among us.[/sarcasm]

You get one shot for DPT (Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus) . Why is that being called three doses? Similarly for some of the others. It seems to me that the list is deliberately exaggerating, and attempting go generate unwarranted fear.And I probably get more sodium bicarbonate in my blood stream from brushing my teeth than from one of these vaccines.

It was recognized. But it is a very weak point.Sure, as a parent, I was aware that bad reactions to vaccination are possible. But the risk of that is miniscule, compared to the risk of the disease that the vaccination protects one against. Yes, but it was at a low level that was not a health concern.I am continuously exposed to mercury that is in the silver-mercury amalgam fillings in my teeth. But that's also at a low enough level to not concern me. The mercury in the atmosphere, from burning coal by electrical utilities, is probably a greater risk.Some sort of balanced perspective is needed. Just about anything is toxic at high enough levels.