As a South African Medical Practitioner who has seen the devastation of infectious diseases like measles, tuberculosis, tetanus, and even rabies (one of the most horrible ways to die). I remember the last polio epidemic. I am fully supportive of vaccination.
BUT
They have to be shown to be needed (if you live in a civilised country there may be little risk from these epidemic diseases).
They have to be shown that they are safe (small risk of the disease means the vaccine must be shown by scientific studies to have very low risk).
They must be shown to be effective (a very high probability of preventing the disease or decreasing the severity by a huge amount).
This takes a lot of time and money, and cannot be rushed or short cuts taken. They do not supersede more basic epidemiological measures.
Most of all they are not a legitimate mechanism to make profits at the expense of the individual recipients.
As a South African Medical Practitioner who has seen the devastation of infectious diseases like measles, tuberculosis, tetanus, and even rabies (one of the most horrible ways to die). I remember the last polio epidemic. I am fully supportive of vaccination.
BUT
They have to be shown to be needed (if you live in a civilised country there may be little risk from these epidemic diseases). They have to be shown that they are safe (small risk of the disease means the vaccine must be shown by scientific studies to have very low risk). They must be shown to be effective (a very high probability of preventing the disease or decreasing the severity by a huge amount).
This takes a lot of time and money, and cannot be rushed or short cuts taken. They do not supersede more basic epidemiological measures. Most of all they are not a legitimate mechanism to make profits at the expense of the individual recipients.