Herd immunity protects people with “many medical conditions, especially those which compromise the immune system” because “in a population of vaccinated people, infectious but preventable diseases have trouble spreading even to the immunocompromised” (“The Anti-Vaccine Movement”). While herd immunity is of critical importance to those with weakened immune systems, many Anti-Vax parents fail to realize that the health of their children is also dependent on herd immunity. A recent study estimates that “if current vaccination rates were to dip to just 98 percent of where they are now, one child in seven would be vulnerable to measles” (“Anti-Vaxxers Are Destroying”). With the estimated rate of measles increasing that significantly, there comes a point where one wonders how far Anti-Vax parents will go before they begin to see the trail of destruction they are leaving. Recently, in America, “whooping cough… hit its highest rate of infection in 50 years,” and “over 100,000 illnesses and over 1,000 deaths” were “associated with the anti-vaccine movement” (“The Anti-Vaccine Movement”). When more and more parents stop vaccinating, they endanger not only the health of their child but also the health of those who cannot be
Herd immunity protects people with “many medical conditions, especially those which compromise the immune system” because “in a population of vaccinated people, infectious but preventable diseases have trouble spreading even to the immunocompromised” (“The Anti-Vaccine Movement”). While herd immunity is of critical importance to those with weakened immune systems, many Anti-Vax parents fail to realize that the health of their children is also dependent on herd immunity. A recent study estimates that “if current vaccination rates were to dip to just 98 percent of where they are now, one child in seven would be vulnerable to measles” (“Anti-Vaxxers Are Destroying”). With the estimated rate of measles increasing that significantly, there comes a point where one wonders how far Anti-Vax parents will go before they begin to see the trail of destruction they are leaving. Recently, in America, “whooping cough… hit its highest rate of infection in 50 years,” and “over 100,000 illnesses and over 1,000 deaths” were “associated with the anti-vaccine movement” (“The Anti-Vaccine Movement”). When more and more parents stop vaccinating, they endanger not only the health of their child but also the health of those who cannot be