Vaccines Didn't Save Us - It was Better Hygiene and Sanitation?

A common argument of those who believe that vaccines are dangerous is that they aren't even necessary anyway. Vaccines didn't save us they say, it was the invention of indoor plumbing.

Better hygiene, sanitation, and nutrition supposedly helped eradicate small pox.

Better hygiene, they claim, not vaccines, also helped get measles, diphtheria, mumps, Hib, pneumococcal disease, polio, chicken pox, and pertussis under control. For some reason, better hygiene didn't work to eradicate RSV, West Nile Virus, AIDS, or other non-vaccine preventable diseases though.

Better hygiene didn't, for some reason, eliminate any of those vaccine-preventable diseases at the same time either. Polio, measles, Hib, etc., all got under control decades apart, right after the introduction of a vaccine, and when most of the US had access to good hygiene, sanitation, and nutrition.

For more information:


 * The intellectual dishonesty of the “vaccines didn't save us” gambit
 * Why do we need vaccines if we have better hygiene and sanitation to help prevent disease?
 * Vaccines are Effective
 * Myth#5 - Anti-Vaccine Myths and Misinformation
 * Pre-Vaccine Declines in Measles Mortality
 * Didn't diseases decline before vaccinations began due to better sanitation and clean water?
 * Myth#5 - Better hygiene and sanitation are actually responsible for decreased infections, not vaccines
 * The “Hygiene and Better Nutrition Are Responsible for the Reduction in Disease Rates, Not Vaccination” Misconception
 * Yep, measles is still a killing disease