Is herd immunity impossible?
Community immunity does not require perfect vaccines. About 93% immunity can slow measles spread, contrary to Brian Hooker’s claim.
We debunk the latest vaccine misinformation each week in our Just the Facts: Correcting this week’s disinformation newsletter. Browse the other Just the Facts Newsletter Topics by clicking the link below:
Community immunity does not require perfect vaccines. About 93% immunity can slow measles spread, contrary to Brian Hooker’s claim.
Measles is not a mild illness. About 1 in 5 people in the United States needs hospital care, and infection can cause pneumonia and immune amnesia.
Dr. Paul Offit says more evidence is needed before ruling out measles in a Pennsylvania newborn’s death from a ruptured spleen.
Measles can weaken the spleen.
MMR vaccines are not killing children. The Zenodo paper relies on VAERS data that cannot by itself show vaccines caused deaths.
Vaccines do not cause autism. Large studies, including a 2026 study of 2.5 million U.S. children after MMR vaccination, find no link.
Most measles cases are in unvaccinated or unknown-status people, not evidence of MMR waning. COVID vaccines protect children, studies confirm.
Vaccine benefits are not exaggerated. A CDC study projects lifetime illness and death prevented across millions of children born from 1994 onward.
Japan’s vaccine delay didn’t cause SIDS to drop. Rates rose until 1998, when a safe-sleep program launched. Vaccinated kids have lower SIDS risk.
Many vaccines have been tested with saline placebos, contrary to Del Bigtree’s claim. Active controls are also valid when a safe vaccine exists.
Measles is far deadlier than the MMR vaccine. Paul Thomas’s claim compares mismatched numbers; pre-vaccine measles killed about 1 in 6,000 cases.