http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=4601"There have been, in the last 20 years, natural, or perhaps unnatural, experiments that have helped shed light on the efficacy of vaccines. Many societies, for reason of political unrest, religion, or a lack of understanding of science and medicine have seen the rates of vaccination decline and with that decline, an increase in the cases of vaccine preventable diseases. Infectious disease spread in populations is not simple. Hygiene, nutrition, access to health care, and education all play a role in the spread of communicable diseases. Vaccines have been critical in driving the rates of vaccine preventable illnesses to almost zero, but they are not the only intervention in our armamentarium.
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When the Soviet Union fell apart in the 1980’s, its medical system followed. Some totalitarian states have been especially good at getting their populations vaccinated. However, after the fall of Communism, the vaccination rates declined and the diseases they prevented surged.
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Polio was almost eradicated in Africa. So close you almost wanted to close down the crutch factories. Then, in the 2003, religious leaders in Northern Nigeria banned the polio vaccine under the belief that the vaccine was being used as a vector by the West to spread both HIV and sterility, specifically targeting Muslims. And you thought formaldehyde in the vaccine was bad.
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So vaccines work. They prevent disease in those who get the vaccine and they can prevent disease those that do not or can not get vaccinated. Unfortunately, fear of vaccines is increasing in the US .
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The piece summarizes a number of studies on the increase in disease in the wake of declines in vaccination rates in particular areas, for various reasons. It's well worth reading, IMO.
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