What Sort Of Protection Do Vaccines Really Offer?

1.	What Sort Of Protection Do Vaccines Really Offer?
Answer» No medicine in the world is 100% effective, but vaccines are more effective than many other medicines (up to 99.7% in the case of the measles VACCINE). It is true that not all vaccines give lifelong protection, and that some individuals may be better protected than others, but there are several things to bear in MIND: Catching a disease doesn’t always give you 100% immunity either. It is possible to CATCH tetanus, rubella, Hib disease, pertussis (whooping cough) and meningococcal disease more than once. If most of the population is VACCINATED, this raises protection for everyone to ALMOST 100%. See our page on herd immunity for more information. If someone who has been vaccinated in the past catches a disease, the symptoms are often milder than they would be for an unvaccinated person.

Answer»

No medicine in the world is 100% effective, but vaccines are more effective than many other medicines (up to 99.7% in the case of the measles VACCINE). It is true that not all vaccines give lifelong protection, and that some individuals may be better protected than others, but there are several things to bear in MIND:
Catching a disease doesn’t always give you 100% immunity either. It is possible to CATCH tetanus, rubella, Hib disease, pertussis (whooping cough) and meningococcal disease more than once.
If most of the population is VACCINATED, this raises protection for everyone to ALMOST 100%. See our page on herd immunity for more information.
If someone who has been vaccinated in the past catches a disease, the symptoms are often milder than they would be for an unvaccinated person.

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