Vaccines, Herd Immunity, and the Flu

Ever since Andrew Wakefield's fraudulent medical research paper showing "evidence" that the MMR vaccine was linked to autism, people have been refusing to vaccinate their children.  In light of the measles outbreak, here are a few good articles to read:

Measles Are Back: Key Questions and Answers on Disease, Vaccinations
The Scariest Fact About the Disneyland Measles Outbreak
Forever Young: 14 Reasons Why People 100 Years Ago Died So Much Younger Than We Do Now
5 Reasons You Should Worry Way More About Flu than Ebola
To Protect His Son, A Father Asks School To Bar Unvaccinated Children
Pen and Teller Destroy Anti Vaxxer's Arguments in 90 Seconds
Demand for Measles Vaccine Sends Crowds Even to Anti-Vax Docs

And out of those articles, the one that caught my eye was the second one: The Scariest Fact About the Disneyland Measles Outbreak, in which the author explains, that six infants died not because their parents necessarily chose to not vaccinate them, but because they were too young to be vaccinated.  And it suddenly hit me: there are a lot of infants, and those infants are all unvaccinated.  So, this means, as soon as they stop being inside of momma, and as soon as they stop drinking her breast milk, these little mewling things are susceptible to all of these things that can kill it.  And then I started thinking: what vaccines, exactly, are their little bodies unable to incorporate yet?  So I researched and compiled a list of vaccinations that cannot be administered to infants at birth, and the age at which they are administered:

-Rotavirus @ 2 mos.

-Diphtheria, tetanus, acellular pertussis (DTaP) @ 2 mos.

-H. influenzae type b (Hib) @ 2 mos.

-Pneumococcal conjugate (PCV13) 2 mos.

-Pneumococcal polysaccharide (PPSV23) @2 years.

-Polio @ 2 mos.

-Annual Influenza @6 mos.

-Measles Mumps and Rubella (MMR) @ 12 mos.

-Varicella (VAR) @ 12 mos.

-Hep A @ 12 mos.

-HPV @ 11 years.

-Meningococcal @ 2 mos.

-P. polysaccharide.  Given at 2 years.

These vaccination dates are taken from the CDC, and can be seen at this location: http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/schedules/downloads/child/0-18yrs-schedule-bw.pdf

You might wonder to yourself, "It's not like babies have ever been able to be completely vaccinated at birth, so how is it possible that people in the Millennial Generation didn't hear about babies dying from measles before this latest outbreak?"  The answer is herd immunity.  If you've never heard of it, click here to watch a very short, but very clear video on how herd immunity works.  I had to make it a link because, for some reason, Blogger seems to be blind to this particular YouTube video.  Also, enjoy this selection of great teaching videos:

"Vaccines and Herd Immunity" by Healthcare Triage

"Should You Get Vaccinated?" by PHD Comics

"Penn and Teller on Vaccinations" by UltraMiraculous