It may surprise you to know that most physicians know very little about vaccines. They don’t really know what’s in them or understand how they work, the complications associated with their use, their efficacy (do vaccines actually work?) or most importantly, their effects on the nervous system.

When I was in medical school, we were not taught about these aspects of vaccines.

Rather, like most of our professors we just assumed they worked, that they were safe, and that they were necessary.

We were also taught that vaccines played the primary role in combating infectious diseases and preventing death from common infections.

Most medical professionals and virtually all of the lay public assume that smallpox and polio were eradicated by vaccines. In fact, that theory forms the basis of most people’s faith in vaccines.

But a number of studies have shown that the occurrence of major infectious diseases was dropping drastically before vaccines were being administered.

For example, both the incidence and death rates from measles, mumps, smallpox, and polio fell 80 percent to 90 percent even before vaccines were developed.

In fact, death from measles fell continuously from 1912 until 1960, and didn’t fall significantly further when the vaccine was introduced. Today, death from measles in the United States is extremely rare.

What the fearmongers do is cite measles death rates in impoverished Third World countries to frighten parents in developed countries into getting their children vaccinated.

Two primary factors accounted for the decreased incidence and death rates from diseases: drastic improvement in public health measures (better nutrition, sanitation, and healthcare); and increased immunity (over time) as people contracted the diseases and produced antibodies.

The result was that the diseases gradually and naturally subsided.

The proof behind that process is demonstrated by looking at various infectious diseases — such as yellow fever, cholera, tuberculosis, and plague — that killed millions of people in premodern societies.

Vaccines had nothing to do with conquering these diseases. The most important factor was improvement in public health, mainly sanitation.

It was only later that vaccine proponents took credit for conquering infectious diseases — that is, after the infections had already been controlled.