And if one doesn't get vaccinated, one helps act as a reservoir and can spread the disease even if one is asymptomatic.
That is true in the case of some vaccines, but not with vaccines for viruses like flu.
The problem is due to the high mutation rate of viruses - if you vaccinate everyone to make them immune to the initial strain, you just create a selection pressure for mutated viral strains not covered by the vaccine. So actually vaccinating everybody is a bad thing.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-04-29 04:59 pm (UTC)That is true in the case of some vaccines, but not with vaccines for viruses like flu.
The problem is due to the high mutation rate of viruses - if you vaccinate everyone to make them immune to the initial strain, you just create a selection pressure for mutated viral strains not covered by the vaccine. So actually vaccinating everybody is a bad thing.