ISGP Podcast: No Debate: Vaccinate

The WHO estimates that immunization currently averts 2.5 million deaths every year in all age groups from diseases that once crippled and killed millions.  However, countries with ready access to vaccines have witnessed an "anti-vaccine movement" perpetuated by celebrities and popular media. What caused this phenomenon, and what can be done to stop it?  We recap the historical successes of vaccines, the origin of Western world skepticism, and ways to reverse the anti-vaccine trend in a discussion of  a policy position paper written by Dr. David Markovitz titled, “Vaccines: Very Successful, Strangely Controversial.”  Dr. Markovitz is a professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan, and he presented his paper at the 2011 ISGP conference “Emerging and Persistent Infectious Diseases: Focus on Prevention” held in San Diego, California. For more podcasts, visit ISGP’s The Forum.