http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/321/7253/108#resp1

“

The data presented by Bedford and Elliman do not conclusively show that vaccination caused the decline of infectious diseases.

Diphtheria, tuberculosis, and pertussis were virtually extinct before vaccines were introduced. American and British data show similar patterns. More likely causes are improved water supply, sanitation, adequate food supply, and birth control. Many were declining before the immunisation programmes began.4 I therefore remain unconvinced and agree with Stacey’s assessment that the decline of many infectious diseases is or was as much due to improved sanitation as to anything else including immunisations.5

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Is vaccination cause célèbre or bête noire?

EDITOR Bedford and Elliman discuss some of the concerns about immunisation.1 The Faculty of Homoeopathy speaks for a medically qualified minority. The more numerous medically unqualified homoeopaths belong to the Society of Homoeopaths, the Institute of Complementary Medicine, or the Homoeopathic Medical Association, totalling some 2000 practitioners. None of these bodies supports vaccination. The Society of Homoeopaths, in a leaflet, encouraged parents to seek advice about it.  Currently the Homoeopathic Medical Association has no policy on vaccination. The Institute of Complementary Medicine, which has a register of “classical homoeopaths,” opposes vaccination.

Homoeopaths’ views derive more from leading writers than professional bodies. James Compton Burnett discovered vaccine damage in the 1880s, and Stuart Close denounces all mass treatments as fundamentally unholistic. Harris Coulter, a historian, blames vaccination for mental illness, crime, and social deviance. A prominent Dutch homoeopath describes “post vaccination syndrome,” and he claims that potentised vaccines can cure this syndrome and act prophylactically against many infections. This

claim was confirmed by Margery Grace Blackie, the Queen’s former physician.2

Martin Miles, a London homoeopath, extends Coulter’s views, claiming that vaccination causes cancer, meningitis, arthritis, constitutional weaknesses and neurological damage, and increases the level of mucus in the body. A leading homoeopath, George Vithoulkas, thinks that vaccination ignores the susceptibility of individual patients, is fundamentally unhomoeopathic, and leads to the degeneration of whole populations’ health. None of them supports vaccination: the original article and the faculty stand alone. From about 1903 until the 1970s, even the faculty endorsed an approach that regarded bacteria as harmless scavengers and opposed vaccination. 2 3

The data presented by Bedford and Elliman do not conclusively show that vaccination caused the decline of infectious diseases.  Diphtheria, tuberculosis, and pertussis were virtually extinct before vaccines were introduced. American and British data show similar patterns. More likely causes are improved water supply, sanitation, adequate food supply, and birth control. Many were declining before the immunisation programmes began.4 I therefore remain unconvinced and agree with Stacey’s assessment that the decline of many infectious diseases is or was as much due to improved sanitation as to anything else including immunisations.5

Peter Morrell, honorary research associate, history of medicine. 

Department of Sociology, Staffordshire University, Stoke-on-Trent ST4 2DE

peter.morrell@tesco.net

1.     

Bedford H, Elliman D. Concerns about immunisation. BMJ 2000; 320:

240-243[Full Text]. (22 January.)

2.     

Winston J. The faces of homeopathy: a history of the first 200 years.

Wellington, New Zealand: Great Auk Publishing,

1999.

3.     

Miles M. Homeopathy and human evolution. London: Winter Press, 1992.

4.     

Leavitt J, Numbers R. Sickness and health in America. Madison, WI:

University of Wisconsin, 1978.

5.     

Stacey M. The sociology of health and healing. London: Unwin, 1988.

Competing interests: None declared.

ALL INFORMATION, DATA, AND MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDED HERE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS REFLECTING THE KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR LEGAL ADVICE.  THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.