Better immunization is one reason why the number of children who die has gone down by so much, from almost 10 million in 2000 to 5 million last year.
What a staggering scale to be dealing with. Two of my grandparents lost siblings, as children. Both mourned the loss for their entire (long) lives. Enough so that I was affected by the stories. Years of tears, stories, missing. Those are just two children, who died 80 years ago. 5 million...
The foundation is quite good at aubstantiating statistical claims. Moreso than most, imo. Have you looked?
In any case, what are the large and rising numbers of vaccine injuries? Could it be growing proportionally to increased vaccination, or perhaps better cause of death attribution? It's hard for me to imagine that (1) the scale is comparable to the 5m figure or (2) that vaccines have gotten more dangerous.
> Also have to consider the large (and rising) number of vaccine injury cases in third world
You toss out entirely empty statements like that ("large" and "rising" and "injuries"; how large? rising at what rate? what kind of injuries?), while demanding solid studies and proof that vaccinations save millions of lives. What more could need to be said?
A whole lot of people study vaccination, and have been for 109 years. Everything is up for dispute from specifics to generalities, from medical studies to policy ones. Yours is a minority position. But, it has advocates. They just haven't convinced the majority.
The Gates Foundation is trying to influence indian policy and practice, and other places. This is based on the idea that immunization (also diet, sanitation, and deworming) significantly lowers childhood mortality, especially in areas of high prevalence.
You're implying this is all a big mistake (or conspiracy). Immunization is dangerous, and hurts more than it helps. I don't know of any convincing studies that have reached this conclusion. Certainly not the the policy level. The closest I've seen to a reliable refutation is at the individual level, in low prevelance places.
Do you want the 99.99% effective vaccine or the far lower chance of not getting a deadly desease?
In the areas where herd immunity is a thing because everyone is vaccinated you might be fine, but if that's not the case.. just look at the way Polio devastated lives before the vaccination.
Loss of young children is considered and handled differently in different cultures though. Where it is more normal, the impact on the parent's lifes will not be as heavy.
They were from different places, but childhood mortality was common everywhere then.
My grandmother was a teenager, in 1930s Poland. My great grandmother had 3 children. All three died the same winter, from dysentery. My great grandmother was near catatonic in her depression. Later she had three more children. The youngest (my grandmother's baby brother) died of infection. These were common stories, and I was witness to that suffering even though I saw only the shade of that loss decades later. His older sister (my great aunt) is alive today, 97 years old. She still misses him.
The Grandfather was Irish. He lost a 7 year old sister to a farming accident, when he was 18. The girl was with him, and he felt that his own carelessness caused her death. I witnessed his mourning too. I even saw him cry at her grave, unusual for a man of his time and place.
Every one of those stories is a tremendous tragedy, scars on the souls of many.
What a staggering scale to be dealing with. Two of my grandparents lost siblings, as children. Both mourned the loss for their entire (long) lives. Enough so that I was affected by the stories. Years of tears, stories, missing. Those are just two children, who died 80 years ago. 5 million...