Most people think the debate over the possible dangers of child vaccinations are a matter of science. Most people are wrong.

Like so much else, the crux of the issue involves knowledge of history. Every disease children get vaccinated against in the name of protection has a record of death rates predating the development of vaccines.

Take diphtheria, for example. In 1900, the mortality rate was 40.3 deaths per 100,000 individuals. Before the first vaccine for diphtheria was introduced in 1926 (a vaccine that proved ineffective), the death rate had already declined 81 percent. By the time the DTP (diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis) vaccine was developed in 1948, it had experienced a 97.8 percent decline.

Similar pre-vaccine declines in the 90 percent range occurred for tetanus and pertussis as well.

Different people can have differing opinions on what saved hundreds of thousands of lives between 1900 and 1948--was it modern advancements and improvements around sanitation, water quality, living conditions, hygiene, nutrition and medical acute care? Maybe all of the preceding.

But the fact is the DTP vaccine had nothing to do with the steep decline in deaths, because it hadn't been invented.

It's the same story for many mandated vaccines today: By the time the vaccine arrived, the diseases........

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