The Problem With Vaccines?

Paul Stieger writes movingly about his childhood experiences with polio. He notes that, the 1954 development of vaccines, produced a 'sea change' in his family's fear of the disease (https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/sep/13/polio-comeback-autism-vaccination). Stieger goes on, to write about the use to vaccines to globally eradicate Smallpox. He also describes how vaccines were used to control Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR). The MMR vaccine was, of course, later bogusly linked to autism. This continues to undermine faith in vaccines. Vaccines can (and do) have side-effects. One can, however, only seriously limit the spread of diseases if all individuals have antibodies against that agent. This means that all members of the population have been a) infected or b) vaccinated. Stieger notes that populations appear to be no longer willing (for a variety of 'reasons') to be collectively vaccinated. This has been especially notable in the Covid19 pandemic. Such 'vaccination hesitancy' effectively means that infective agents can no longer be globally eradicated in humans. Vaccines have never been safer but human attitudes now limit their effectiveness.