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( Vaccine controversy)
A vaccine controversy is a dispute over the morality, ethics, effectiveness, or safety of vaccination. The mainstream medical opinion is that the benefits of preventing suffering and death from serious infectious diseases greatly outweigh the risks of rare adverse effects following immunization.[1][2] Vaccination critics say that vaccines are ineffective against disease[3] and that vaccine safety studies are inadequate.[2][3] Some religious groups oppose vaccination as a matter of doctrine,[4] and some political groups oppose mandatory vaccination on the grounds of individual liberty.[5] A number of arguments regarding the benefits of mass vaccination have been advanced Mass vaccination campaigns were essential components of strategies that led to the eradication of smallpox, which once killed as many as every seventh child in Europe,[6] and the near-eradication of polio.[7] As a more modest example, incidence of invasive disease with Haemophilus influenzae, a major cause of bacterial meningitis and other serious disease in children, has decreased by over 99% in the U.S. since the introduction of a vaccine in 1988.[8] Vaccines are a cost-effective and preventive way of promoting health, compared to treatment of manifest disease. In the U.S. during the year 2001, routine childhood immunizations against seven diseases were estimated to save over $40 billion per birth-year cohort in overall health care and social costs, and the societal benefit-cost ratio for these vaccinations was estimated to be 16.5.[9]
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