There are those who cannot take vaccinations due to medical conditions and there are those who opt-out from vaccinations due to beliefs. Guess who suffers damage for no fault of their own ( not blaming the children of the parents who are making the choice ).
> There are those who cannot take vaccinations due to medical conditions
Those folks are relatively rare though.
Seems to me that living surrounded by contagion is part of the human condition, and that all of us have the right to take action to protect ourselves (and our children) from that contagion, but no-one has the right to violently force someone else to protect himself.
There's always a little chance of getting infected even with the vaccine.
Herd immunity makes that chance orders of magnitude smaller.
It's not about forcing people to protect themselves. It is about forcing people to not increase the chances of my kids dying of a completely avoidable issue, just because these other people believe in fairies.
No, this is the first I've heard that, but sounds like another myth made up to deal with the first one:
>"Since transplacental immunity and waning of maternally derived measles specific antibodies play an important role in determining the optimum age for vaccination of infants against measles..."https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10829850
EDIT:
It looks like you may have heard about IgA maternal antibodies, which are not the relevant type here:
>"The vast majority of maternal antibodies are of the IgG isotype. In humans, maternal antibodies are preferentially transferred before birth transplacentally, and in animals of veterinary importance, preferentially through uptake of IgG in the intestine from colostrum within the first 24 h after birth. These passively acquired antibodies enter the bloodstream of offspring and act as a protective shield throughout the body in the same way as actively produced antibodies. Sometimes IgA antibodies contained in breast milk are also referred to as maternal antibodies. However, there are important differences in the action of passively transferred IgG and IgA antibodies. Upon transfer after birth, IgG antibodies are present in the bloodstream of the neonate in a finite amount that declines over time. These IgG antibodies suppress vaccine-induced immune responses. In contrast, IgA antibodies are continuously supplied through breast milk from the mother and protect the gastro-intestinal tract against pathogens without having an effect on the immune response. For the purpose of this review, the term “maternal antibodies” will be used for passively transferred IgG antibodies."https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4165321/
Some people are unable to get a vaccine, largely if you are immunocompromised (new born, AIDS, extreme other sickness, immunosuppressors etc). By having a large portion of the population not able to transmit the disease you have herd immunity that protects those that can't get it.
You also reduce the load & cost to our healthcare system.
>"Some people are unable to get a vaccine, largely if you are immunocompromised (new born, ...)"
This is wrong. In the case of newborns they do not give the vaccine because the baby is already immune (which interferes with the vaccine):
>"The most important factor affecting the success of measles immunization is the disappearance of maternal anti-measles antibodies."https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14604165
Yes, it seems that vaccination of the mother leads to less protection of the infant. That is why some argue the vaccination age needs to be lowered:
>"An increasing proportion of children in the United States will respond to the measles vaccine at younger ages because of lower levels of passively acquired maternal measles antibodies.
[...]
Our data indicate that, in the future, when virtually all women of child-bearing age will have vaccine-induced immunity, the recommended age for vaccination may be able to be lowered further without diminishing vaccine efficacy"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8545224
This isn't politically acceptable because people harbor a myth about the reason newborns are not vaccinated.
You're missing the "herd effect". There are cases where children are too young or have another health issue that prevents them from being vaccinated. These children rely on the greater population to be vaccinated and to help decrease their chances of becoming infected.
Some who are vaccinated will still contract the disease. Some cannot be safely vaccinated because of preexisting medical conditions. For both groups, herd immunity provides additional protection; herd immunity is frustrated by those who choose to not vaccinate.
vaccines are not perfect. Thus, some people who have the vaccine could get the illness. We rely on "herd immunity" to protect those people.
Also, some people are unable to take the vaccine, and again we rely on herd immunity to protect those people.
By not vaccinating their children anti-vaxxers are not just risking the health of their own children but are risking the health of the wider community.