Friday, August 28, 2015

Dangers of Vaccine Refusal- Illness Onset at Later Age and with Greater Severity

With the move toward mandatory influenza vaccination in my place of employment, this article seemed timely, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases

What are some of the potential dangers of vaccine refusal? In this modeling study, the impact of modern vaccination practices on infection risk is explored.

Although vaccination makes preventable diseases rarer, it also increases the expected severity of the disease, particularly at an older age, in the unvaccinated.This is particularly true for illnesses such as rubella, mumps and varicella.

We should understand that remaining unvaccinated in a predominantly vaccine-protected world exposes children to the most severe possible outcomes for many preventable diseases. 

Risky.