The weight of current scientific evidence strongly suggests that vaccination is the best route to protecting children. There are no scientific studies showing that non-vaccinated children enjoy any advantages in their physical or mental development when compared to vaccinated children.
Childhood immunisation programmes target around a dozen of the most dangerous pathogens which pose the greatest threat to children’s health. Meanwhile, the immune system has to deal in a natural way with hundreds of other pathogens every day.
Vaccination actually stimulates the immune system, training it to respond to ‘foreign’ material such as viruses and bacteria. So, rather than putting the immune system out of business, vaccination supports and strengthens it.
Perhaps the most important point is that natural infections can have a negative influence on childhood development, causing complications and even death. The overwhelming majority of doctors and scientists are confident that preventing the most serious infectious diseases if the best option. Statistically, vaccinated children fare better.
For more information, see ‘Vaccination – 20 Objections & Responses’, produced by the Robert Koch Institute and Paul Ehrlich Institute
