Immunizations at Wander Medicine and the Rise of Preventable Infectious Diseases
Immunizations represent the greatest medical therapy advancement ever achieved by humans. They allow us to cure and eradicate diseases that have formerly killed billions of people. Smallpox was eradicated in 1977 due to a unified global vaccination effort. In the hundred years prior to eradication, smallpox is believed to have killed approximately 500 million people worldwide. Beyond death, the disfigurement and overall morbidity caused by smallpox was tremendous.
Young girl with smallpox rash. If she survives, her face will never look the same!
Since smallpox, we have systematically eradicated or nearly eradicated multiple other very serious diseases from the United States and other countries. The list includes measles, mumps, rubella, polio, and multiple other diseases. Sadly, due to unsupported claims about the harms of immunization (“vaccination” and “immunization” are used interchangeable) as well as anti-vaccination campaigns, the number of children receiving appropriate vaccinations is on the decline.
Measles is a very contagious airborne viral disease that is entirely preventable through vaccination. However, this disease is on the rise! Measles is so infectious that 95% of people need immunity in order to prevent the spread of infection within a population. So, if just 5 to 10% of the population does not receive vaccination, measles returns!
In 2019, the US reported 1,249 cases of measles, the highest since 1992. Worldwide cases and fatalities are also increasing. In the United states measles kills about 3 per 1000 kids infected. In developing nations, fatality rates can be 100 per 1000 kids. We are moving in the wrong direction regarding immunizations. As a direct result, many children will die from fully preventable diseases in the next decade!
Boy with measles rash. Measles kills 3 per 1,000 children infected. Without a vaccines, thousands of children would die every year, just in the United States.
In the last few years I have noticed more and more apprehension regarding vaccinations in my medical practice. Many smart and educated people are declining vaccination, sometimes even for their children. It is crazy how quickly society can forget! The deaths, disability, fear, economic, and societal impact caused by diseases like measles, mumps, rubella, polio, pertussis, and others were tremendous just a generation ago. Now it is as if we have forgotten these age-old enemies.
Our society has and will continue to pay for unsubstantiated anti-vaccination campaigns. Quite frankly, those who attack basic childhood vaccinations without scientific basis are effectively killing children.
The vaccines currently recommended by the CDC and the advisory committee on immunization practices (ACIP), have all been studied extensively. Their benefits greatly outweigh the risk. This does not mean that all vaccines are safe. We need to scrutinize any new vaccinations tremendously. We also need to use real science to continually validate the safety of already approved vaccines. However, we do not need fake information from people who make claims about vaccinations that have no basis in reality.
It is time for the United States and the world to stop attacking vaccines without factual basis. If we do not, many more children will die from fully preventable infections!
Wander Medicine is proud to be a part of the global eradication of preventable infectious diseases. To this end, Wander offers adult, occupational and travel vaccinations. These include:
Wander Medicine Travel, Occupational, and Adult Vaccines
Yellow Fever (coming 2021)
Tetanus, diphtheria, and acellular pertussis
Measles, mumps, and rubella
Meningitis A, C, W, Y
SARs CoV-2 (coming 2021)
Please call us ahead of time, so we can make sure we have what you need in stock. Other vaccines may also be available upon request. For more details visit our website linked here.
If you are in need of vaccines for your children, these can be obtained, often at no charge depending on financial need, from local health departments. In Boise, this is central district health, linked here.
Think about vaccinations as training. They educate our immune system and teach us how to fight infection. Just like our minds need education, so does our immune system. Training our immune system with vaccines has eradicated several diseases that formerly plagued humanity.
If you want a clinic that combines the best parts of western medicine with a holistic approach focused on prevention, check out Wander Medicine! Schedule your vaccine visit today!
Bill Brandenburg, MD
- Roush SW, Murphy TV; Vaccine-Preventable Disease Table Working Group. Historical comparisons of morbidity and mortality for vaccine-preventable diseases in the United States. JAMA. 2007 Nov 14;298(18):2155-63. doi: 10.1001/jama.298.18.2155. PMID: 18000199.
- Ellner PD. Smallpox: gone but not forgotten. Infection. 1998 Sep-Oct;26(5):263-9. doi: 10.1007/BF02962244. PMID: 9795781.
- CDC. Immunization Schedules. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/schedules/index.html
- Wikipedia: smallpox, measles
- Tanne Janice Hopkins. Measles cases and deaths are increasing worldwide, warn health agencies BMJ 2020; 371 :m4450
- CDC. Measles. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/measles/cases-outbreaks.html