bevismusson:

sciencebelongstoallofus:

Maki Naro @ The Nib

I would hope that noone following me is an anti-vax idiot, but just in case this is a really good explanation of why vaccines are an immeasurably good thing.

For various reasons I missed getting a whopping cough vaccination when I was young and then caught it when I was six (maybe seven, I forget). I don’t remember much beyond being sick every time I coughed to the point where I couldn’t eat or drink. Even with good care in a rich, developed country (this was early 80s, but the treatment remains much the same now) I was still very, very ill. These diseases aren’t just a bit annoying, they are lethal. Vaccines have taken us to the point where we don’t see that, and in a way that’s good, but complacency coupled with outright lies and scaremongering about vaccines put us at major risk of a huge number of deaths from easily preventable diseases.