Not having the polio vaccine PLUS exposure to polio virus PLUS infection, leads to polio and then some percentage of patients exhibit consequences like nerve damage and paralysis. Perhaps that is splitting hairs but the absence of the vaccine does not CAUSE polio. Other factors have to be combined as well.
We also KNOW that exposure to polio vaccine CAUSES a certain percentage of people to suffer complications up to and including death. That is why Congress has created the vaccine fund and given protection from lawsuits to the manufactures.
From a public policy perspective, reducing the number of people who can get and thus transmit polio is a good thing. However there is a point where further using is harming more patients that the threat of the disease. This is the current state of affairs within the United States.
From an individual perspective, it sucks being on the wrong side of the percentages. So if your child just happens to be in that small percentage ... well, your child is still damaged by the choice that you made. Some parents believe that the risk for getting polio is now so low in the United States that the risk of side effects from the vaccine are greater than the risks of getting the disease.
As in all choices, it is a trade off and a risk comparison. I and my kids are vaccinated. Alot of that has to do with the fact that I travel all over the world and to some pretty exotic places ... well did, not so much any more. To my view, the chance of exposure to polio is higher because I did travel to 3rd world countries. Thus to me, the risk of my kids getting polio was higher than the norm in the US. We are also vaccinated against some other rather nasty less common diseases as well.
What I fear greater than the disease itself is a government that takes over so much of the health care industry that what was once my choice and between me and my doctor, becomes a forced program where the government controls what goes into your body, the last truely "private" property.
“....that what was once my choice and between me and my doctor, becomes a forced program where the government controls what goes into your body, the last truely “private” property.”
THis is actually the only valid argument against vaccinations - freedom of choice in a free country. Of course nobody makes this argument in practice because it’s insane.
The vaccine opponents choose to say “vaccines are bad” or “I won’t poison my kids” or some other such ridiculous argument - where they create huge risks for their kids and other peoples kids.
I absolutely agree that it should be voluntary, but the stupidity of not getting your kids vaccinated cannot be overstated, in my opinion.