Vaccine Wars

The Vaccine War was played on SBS2 last night:

Public health scientists and clinicians tout vaccines as one of the greatest achievements of modern medicine. But for many, vaccines have become controversial. Young parents in America are concerned at the sheer number of shots, while others are choosing not to vaccinate their kids at all. This is the vaccine war: on one side sits scientific medicine and the public health establishment; on the other a populist coalition of parents, celebrities, politicians and activists.

Unfortunately vaccines are one of the great achievements of modern medicine, saving more lives than even antibiotics – more lives than every advance besides clean water.

So what do we make of the “other side” of the “vaccine war”?

Not much, I’m afraid. We have some parents: understandably fearful of unknown risks but with little scientific knowledge and even less understanding of risk assessment: one of the many failures of modern education. We have celebrities: as if their celebrity gives them either knowledge or wisdom. We have politicians: always happy to exploit ignorance to get power. And as for anti-vaccination activists: they are the worst. There is no objective doubt of the life-saving benefits of vaccination, so I fear these people are like Lord Byron: “Mad, bad and dangerous to know.”