/r/AskScience Vaccines Megathread

Credible sources listed doesn't mean actually using them in the right way. All data can be twisted.

when you mention the fact that nobody is dying from measles in the U.S., they are quick to turn around and claim vaccines have eliminated measles deaths (even though they cannot eliminate the disease itself apparently.)

The US did eliminate measles in 2000, which is literally defined as no endemic circulating cases. All outbreaks since then were caused by incoming cases brought in by travelers or immigrants from developing countries who may not have had immunization policies.

  • This is the measles incidence rate throughout the US history where you can see the true effect of vaccination. Mortality rate decreased without the help of vaccination simply due to increasing healthcare standards and disease understanding.

The search result contained 108 deaths over this period, resulting from four different measles vaccines sold in the United States during the past 10 years.

VAERS, as many others have stated in this thread and otherwise, is a completely open reporting system where literally anybody can report events regardless of whether or not the adverse event is actually related to the vaccine or not. It's a method of surveillance for the national health organizations to monitor, but it is by no means actual evidence showing causal relationships between vaccines and death.

manufacturers of vaccines have been given legal immunity from being prosecuted in civil court for vaccine injuries and deaths, since 1986

Yes, vaccine compensation is given by the Department of HHS because the government regulates the distribution and licensure of vaccines, so it also takes the responsibility if things go wrong. Is this news?

As search here for “measles” returns a result of 111 claims settled for the MMR vaccine since 2004. As search here for “measles” returns a result of 111 claims settled for the MMR vaccine since 2004.

Convenient. If they actually went to the HHS website, they would find the exact numbers right there. Since 1988 until March 2014, there were only 57 claims of death from MMR. That's 57 claims over 26 years.

tl;dr - that website is bullshit. Do your own research.

/r/askscience Thread