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accountability as well. That is quite different from the tendency of some immunization opponents to a sort of neo-Luddite rejection of all products from "Big Pharma" which is uncritically demonized.

To put it all in perspective, a simple disease like chicken pox makes a good case study. For most children, chicken pox is more annoying than anything else, with the major problem being the itch. Vaccine opponents jump on this as reason not to vaccinate and even to have parties to deliberately infect children with the disease. But the sobering truth about this "mild" disease paints a different picture.

Even with a good vaccine, each year in the United States more than 14,000 people are hospitalized with serious complications of this "mild" disease. Complications most commonly are infections with staph and strep and other bacteria, and can even produce the dreaded "flesh eating" type of infections, as well as the possibility of bacteremia when infections seed into the blood stream.

Other serious problems are respiratory complications, neurological damage that may be irreversible, and liver problems. About 100 people in the US die from their "mild" chicken pox each year. These are preventable deaths and complications with adequate vaccination levels. And we should not forget that life long shingles risk that comes with each case that seems mild now but can cause hospitalization and morbidity decades later.

Vaccines are necessary until diseases have been eradicated, and so far in the history of mankind, only small pox has been defeated. Without consistent programs for vaccination and high levels of compliance, we are all at risk from preventable illness and not likely to see another disease defeated. The first step is to eliminate any thought to even ask if vaccination is still appropriate. It needs to be public knowledge that vaccination is needed as much as ever in our highly mobile society and that the small risks are gigantically outweighed by the benefits. Just ask those mourning the hundred dead from chicken pox.

Learn more about this author, Patricia Fox.
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