stories from the anti-vaxxer websites, even if the post points to the Scopes debunking. I wouldn't give these bogus stories any publicity at all.

Here is some sobering information r/t measles around the globe. The anti vax nit-wits could lead the country back down this path

Unless you are suggesting that by rejecting vaccination we magically become a third world nation, even people rejecting vaccines are 100% successful in convincing everyone to reject vaccinations, they will not "lead the country back down this path."

... have equal access to "our first world" medical healthcare system.

The ACA has improved access for many (and I applaud Obama for that) ... however, there are significant short falls in the system and the most vulnerable members of our society will not receive or have access to the state of the art medical care. You may think it is a great stretch and exaggeration that 1/2 of the population in the poorest neighborhoods in urban areas will risk death and disability,; I do not.

Additionally, for those of us with access our access will be limited by a healthcare system that is overwhelmed ... a disease like measles is highly contagious and treating an un-vaccintated population would probably not have the high mortality rates within the more affluent members of our populace but I will guarantee the most fragile neighborhoods and areas will have 50% mortality rates.

We don't "magically" have to become a developing nation .... we simply have to experience the current inequities.

They have better access to health care than the lower middle class.

Second, even if you find isolated pockets where the death rate is 50%, they would be very small pockets - and are not going to drag the US death rate down to 50%.

http://jid.oxfordjournals.org/content/189/Supplement_1/S69.long

Yea. 2.3 deaths per thousand - at the peak - is really, really just a hairs-breadth away from 500/1000

Third, you are really, seriously, comparing the poorest individuals in the US where ERs are required to treat anyone who walks through the door - with third world nations where there is almost no medical care at all, and people get their drinking water downstream from locations others use as a toilet? That's really a very U.S.-centric view of the world.

That doesn't mean there is equal access in the U.S. - it just means that the most unequal access in the U.S. is exponentially better access in third world countries. And using a 50% death rate in third world countries to suggest that abandonment of vaccines in the U.S. will lead to a 50% death rate here is just as misleading a scare tact as the information in the OP.

Have you ever tried to find adequate care for those those on medicaid? Find adequate care for the working poor? You can't have any real life experience with this or you would realize how little quality healthcare is actually available. The poor (that includes medcaid recipients) die of treatable and preventable illnesses at an alarming rate. The US Ranks Last Among High-Income Nations on Preventable Deaths, Lagging Behind as Others Improve More Rapidly http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/press-releases/2011/sep/us-ranks-last-on-preventable-deaths

The "small pockets" you refer to include large urban areas .... 59 out of 100 children in the City of Detroit live below the poverty line.http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/wayne-county/2015/02/18/detroit-childhood-poverty-ranking-kids-count-report/23657355/ The infant mortality rates in the City of Detroit rival those of third world nations http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-06-11/babies-pay-for-detroit-s-fall-with-mortality-above-mexico.

Third, you are really, seriously, comparing the poorest individuals in the US where ERs are required to treat anyone who walks through the door - with third world nations where there is almost no medical care at all, and people get their drinking water downstream from locations others use as a toilet? That's really a very U.S.-centric view of the world.

YES I AM COMPARING THE CONDITIONS OF THE POOREST INDIVIDUALS IN THE US TO CONDITIONS IN MANY DEVELOPING NATIONS
Your optimism related to 'how well" the poor in the US fare is .... I am at a loss for what it is ... I am hoping it is simply naivete (vs something far less flattering)

I spent a decade providing health services largely to under served communities, the poor and disadvantage die of treatable and preventable diseases at alarming rates. Do you seriously believe that in areas where infant mortality rates rival developing nations that other aspects of care miraculously rise the developed nation levels? ER's are required to stabilize patients, not fully treat ... sadly, there are many times that stabilization may mean providing IV hydration and antipyretics to bring body temperature down .... and then release.

The OP highlights the absolute selfish ignorance of the "anti-vaxxers' ... I highlight what a possible (in poor areas probable) outcome would be if a generation of people were unvaccinated. mercifully governments (California, for one) are working to reduce risks caused by the WILLFULLY IGNORANT and the ignorant.

The only reason there were no deaths in the U.S. is because there have been so few cases to begin with, due to vaccination.

From 1956 to 1960, an average of 450 measles-related deaths were reported each year (?1 death/ 1000 reported cases), in the late 1950s, serious complications due to measles remained frequent and costly. As a result of measles virus infections, an average of 150,000 patients had respiratory complications and 4000 patients had encephalitis each year; the latter was associated with a high risk of neurological sequelae and death. These complications and others resulted in an estimated 48,000 persons with measles being hospitalized every year.

Then came the vaccine. Good lord.

the risk of measles to pregnant women. Their babies were born with severe disabilities, I know because I worked with this population. The MMR vaccine took away that risk, but with all the anti vax propaganda out there, it may be making a comeback and I find that profoundly sad.

By tiny I mean on the order of a million to one.

The true rationale for vaccinating for rare diseases like measles isn't that as an individual you are taking a great risk by not doing it. Because, for the average American, the risk is very low. Problem is, if as a society we don't keep vaccination rates high enough, then measles will come back, and then the risk will go way up.

The only thing I would note is that measles is currently rare in the US, that could change quickly if we had a generation of unvaccinated people (noting that the disease is not rare in other parts of the world). I do not think that most of the US population is willing to suddenly quit vaccinating .... mercifully we are collectively brighter than that.

The thing is, once that happens, then the individual selfish incentive to vaccinate goes way up, which in theory should push vaccination rates back up. And I think it would. I doubt there were many anti-vaxxers in the 60s. But as a society, we really don't want to be playing that game.

Saying the same thing you are, but not sure of a million to one.

VAERS data contains coincidental events and those truly caused by vaccines.
More than 10 million vaccines per year are given to children less than 1 year old, usually between 2 and 6 months of age. At this age, infants are at greatest risk for certain medical adverse events, including high fevers, seizures, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Some infants will experience these medical events shortly after a vaccination by coincidence.
These coincidences make it difficult to know whether a particular adverse event resulted from a medical condition or from a vaccination. Therefore, vaccine providers are encouraged to report all adverse events following vaccination, whether or not they believe the vaccination was the cause.

A report to VAERS generally does not prove that the identified vaccine(s) caused the adverse event described. It only confirms that the reported event occurred sometime after vaccine was given. No proof that the event was caused by the vaccine is required in order for VAERS to accept the report. VAERS accepts all reports without judging whether the event was caused by the vaccine.

It was virtually eradicated until the last year or so.

Duh.

stop ALL medications or anything that is science based and try something else. Maybe prayer or drink a lot of water or chant to a crystal etc.. See how well that works and get back with us.

I can't believe this is an issue in the US in 2015. Oh wait...yes I can I forgot what country I am talking about.