I have readers who think I am just plain wrong about vaccines. They say there is no such thing as herd immunity, and that vaccines are dangerous. I do not deny that there can be side-effects. And I’m certainly no expert. But I don’t see how you can argue against the evidence of how vaccines beat so many diseases down to insignificance in the 20th century. And then, as resistance to vaccination has grown in recent years, the coming back of of those diseases into the school populations and the even the general population.
So I reiterate the thesis struck last week, in more detail, on Townhall. Pace my critics. (You will have to do a lot more explaining to do.) Click on over to Townhall for the full column, and then back here to give me grief, or (better yet!) support!
Oh, and some more viewing and reading:
- Greg Gutfeld and The Five, “Why ‘gun-free zones’ is liberal for ‘sitting duck’’ — The Fox News show segment that anchors my comments.
- John Lott, Jr., “Take a gun to the mall”
- John Lott, Jr., “The Cruelty of Gun-Free Zones”
- Merriam-Webster, “celerity” (defined)
- Anthony J. Draper, “Cesare Beccaria’s influence on English discussions
of punishment, 1764–1789” (PDF) - Paul Jacob, “The Herd That Has the Immunity” — about herd immunity per vaccination, and the nation’s issues with disease and fighting it.
What is called the Progress of Civilization has been marked and conditioned at every step by an extension of the opportunities, a greater facility in the use of the means, a more eager searching for proper experdients, and a higher certainty in the securing of the returns, of mutual exchanges among men.