Immunity? Easy Peasy…. Lemon Squeezie

[hack89]

Excellent description of immunity for those times when you are talking to anti-vaxxers.

One of the major problems with the vaccination movement is that most people cannot understand how vaccines are meant to work. Many anti-vaccine advocates simply think that injecting someone with a disease is a good way to make someone sick rather than make someone immune to a disease.

There is an absolute hand grenade of question that I have found turns the vaccination debate into an utter rout. How does the Immune System Function?

This simple question (I learnt it in high school) when used turns even the most stalwart of anti-vax into a blithering mess. I have heard everything from a near perfect explanation of human immune systems (they stopped at explaining the specific immune system) to the retort that “The Immune system has nothing to do with vaccinations”. I have even heard such ridiculous claims as “I prefer the non-specific immune system to be boosted as that is more important” which doesn’t explain why HIV positive patients get sick so much more easily (Their specific immune system is shot. Their non-specific is still normal.). A lot of parents simply don’t know. They have been buying into the silliness of anti-vax because there is no equal on our side. There is no “idiot’s guide” to immunity.

With that in mind, I have produced this primer on immunity and how vaccination works. There are pretty pictures and analogies.

http://freethoughtblogs.com/amilliongods/2012/11/26/immunity-easy-peasy-lemon-squeezie/

[Warpy]

1. I love pointing out to antivax whiners who have moved the goal posts

to "the trouble is caused by exposure to too many antigens at one time!" that the kid is going to be exposed to at least ten times as many antigens every time he picks something up off the ground and sticks it into his mouth, something all kids do no matter how fussy their helicopter mamas are.

Mostly they stutter and stammer at that point and have to reboot.