what's the harm?

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2,996 people killed, 222,414 injured and over $259,801,000 in economic damages


What's the harm in vaccine denial?

Despite their widespread beneficial effects, some people deny that vaccines work, or accuse them of causing various side-effects.  Read more about vaccine denial

Here are 2,405 people who were harmed by someone not thinking critically.


Katie McCarron

Age: 3
Morton, Illinois

Murdered by her mother
May 13, 2006

Influenced by those who believe childhood vaccines might cause autism, Katie's mother felt extreme guilt over vaccinating the autistic child. This led to a depression, and the death of the child at her mother's hands. Read More & More

137 Blackfeet reservation residents

Blackfeet Indian Reservation, Browning, Montana

Measles
1985

One child whose parents claimed a religious exemption from vaccination was the source of a measles outbreak that affected 137 people. Read More

6 children

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Died (untreated measles)
1991

Religion (Faith Tabernacle) Read More

9 children + 250 other people

Age: 3 weeks - 7 years
Jerusalem, Israel

9 Dead, 250 Measles cases
2002 - 2007

Refusal to vaccinate children has been growing in Israel, resulting in many preventable deaths from illnesses such as whooping cough and measles. In 2007 an ultra-orthodox community in Jerusalem had 250 cases of measles. Read More

thousands of children

northern Nigeria

Polio
February 26, 2004

Muslim clerics have spread the conspiracy theory that the polio vaccine is a western plot to sterilize or murder Africans. This has result in a boycott in some areas of Nigeria. This is just as the WHO was on the verge of wiping out polio entirely. Read More & More

 
 
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