7. Modern sanitation and better hygiene are responsible for less disease, not vaccines
The facts: While the importance of hygiene and good sanitation practices can’t be denied in improving the overall health of US citizens, the part that vaccines have played in this cannot be discounted, either. In 1970, nearly a decade after the measles immunization was introduced, measles cases dropped from 400,000 to 25,000. If people stop receiving their vaccinations, diseases such as polio will return, no matter how clean we are.
Children with polio before regular vaccination became the norm. Source: Carrington.edu
8. The fact that a Vaccine Injury Compensation Program exists proves vaccines are dangerous
The facts: The main reason that this program exists is to keep vaccine manufacturers in business: in the ’70s and ’80s, many manufacturers feared that they would be the subjects of a rash of expensive lawsuits, which might force them to shutter their operations. If this happened, the United States could very well experience a vaccine shortage, which is why former California representative Henry Waxman helped launch the injury compensation program in 1986.
The program provides a no-fault system for either party: “If people could prove they suffered an injury that has been known to be caused by vaccine,” NBC News wrote in a vaccine myth-debunking piece, “they could be compensated without having to prove the vaccine caused the problem. It’s paid for by a tax on vaccines.”
9. We wouldn’t have any cases of measles in the US if it weren’t for illegal immigrants
The facts: In 2014, the worst year for measles in the U.S. since 1994, 635 out of 644 cases of measles were in U.S. citizens. Of these, 77% were un-vaccinated. Likewise, the issue isn’t that “illegal” immigrants are bringing disease to the US (the measles have been all but eradicated in the Americas); it’s that non-immunized Americans are traveling overseas to places where measles are more prevalent, and then bringing the disease back with them.
