Part One
Did Vaccines Save Us?
Special Note: Throughout the book we refer to government disease statistics. These statistics are rarely neatly organized in one cohesive place. We have to either spend countless hours pouring through old reports from different agencies and jurisdictions and collating on our own or rely on the work of those who have already done this.
One of the most thorough examinations and compilations of the relevant data was done recently by medical historian, Roman Bystrianyk and medical school professor, Dr. Suzanne Humphries. They published graphs of this data from the U.K. and the U.S. in the book they cowrote, “Dissolving Illusions.” While we have poured over a good deal of this data to confirm their findings, we rely heavily on their work in our end notes.
Others have also done pieces of this work and when possible or necessary we refer to their work, or to the original data sources. You can find the relevant graphs on the website for the book here. We recommend reading the entire book upon completion of this book. We all owe Mr. Bystrianyk, Dr. Humphries and the rest of their team a great debt of gratitude for this important work. http://www.dissolvingillusions.com/graphs/#1
Note on the use of the graphs on the website for the book, "Dissolving Illusions:" The graphs are on a slide presentation. Below each graph is a description of the graph and its sources. Below that are buttons to pause or play the slide show or to advance one by one. We recommend immediately clicking on the pause button in order to have more time to study each graph.
2 Here is a chart of statistics from the British government covering the years from 1838 to 1978. It shows deaths from infectious diseases nearing zero before most vaccines were introduced. This graph is from the book, “Dissolving Illusions,” by Roman Bystrianyk and Dr. Suzanne Humphries. http://www.dissolvingillusions.com/graphs/#11
There are far too many sources of government data to share them all in one end note. We will share a few more throughout the book and post as many as we can to the website for this book at http://vaccineprimer.weebly.com/
3 Scarlet fever, cholera, scurvy, typhoid, puerperal fever, tuberculosis and other diseases for which we either have no vaccine, or have never had a vaccination campaign are all rare diseases in the developed world. Many of them were big killers of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Here is a graph showing the decline in deaths from scarlet fever in England from a peak of almost 160/100,000 per year to near zero. Note that while many people credit the decline to antibiotics they were not in widespread use until the mid 1940s, by which time the death rate had already been near zero for two decades. http://www.dissolvingillusions.com/graphs/#10
Here is a time line of British cholera epidemics. The last ended in 1926. There are vaccines for cholera but they have never been widely used. http://www.dissolvingillusions.com/graphs/#1
Here is a graph showing the decline of scurvy, a nutritional deficiency for which no vaccine is possible. http://www.dissolvingillusions.com/graphs/#38
This graph shows the decline in deaths from typhoid in the U.S. from a high of around 10/100,000 per year in the early 1920s to near zero thirty years later. There is no widely used vaccine for typhoid. http://www.dissolvingillusions.com/graphs/#32
This is the story of Dr. Ignaz Semmelweiss, the Hungarian obstetrician who proved in the mid nineteenth century that hand washing could nearly eliminate childbirth deaths from puerperal fever. He was ignored despite proving his theory three times over. Puerperal fever killed an estimated one in four birthing mothers in the nineteenth century. It is now almost unheard of in the developed world. There is no vaccine for it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Semmelweis
Here is a graph showing the decline in deaths from many infectious diseases in the U.S. between 1900 and 1963. It shows a decline in deaths from tuberculosis from a rate of about 200/100,000 per year in 1900 to about 2/100,000 by 1960. This is a decline of 99%. There is a vaccine for tuberculosis but it has not been widely used. Note also the decline in deaths from the flu from around 200/100,000 to just over 30/100,000 by the time the flu vaccine was introduced in the late 1940s. This is a decline of about 85%. http://www.dissolvingillusions.com/graphs/#21
One of the most thorough examinations and compilations of the relevant data was done recently by medical historian, Roman Bystrianyk and medical school professor, Dr. Suzanne Humphries. They published graphs of this data from the U.K. and the U.S. in the book they cowrote, “Dissolving Illusions.” While we have poured over a good deal of this data to confirm their findings, we rely heavily on their work in our end notes.
Others have also done pieces of this work and when possible or necessary we refer to their work, or to the original data sources. You can find the relevant graphs on the website for the book here. We recommend reading the entire book upon completion of this book. We all owe Mr. Bystrianyk, Dr. Humphries and the rest of their team a great debt of gratitude for this important work. http://www.dissolvingillusions.com/graphs/#1
Note on the use of the graphs on the website for the book, "Dissolving Illusions:" The graphs are on a slide presentation. Below each graph is a description of the graph and its sources. Below that are buttons to pause or play the slide show or to advance one by one. We recommend immediately clicking on the pause button in order to have more time to study each graph.
2 Here is a chart of statistics from the British government covering the years from 1838 to 1978. It shows deaths from infectious diseases nearing zero before most vaccines were introduced. This graph is from the book, “Dissolving Illusions,” by Roman Bystrianyk and Dr. Suzanne Humphries. http://www.dissolvingillusions.com/graphs/#11
There are far too many sources of government data to share them all in one end note. We will share a few more throughout the book and post as many as we can to the website for this book at http://vaccineprimer.weebly.com/
3 Scarlet fever, cholera, scurvy, typhoid, puerperal fever, tuberculosis and other diseases for which we either have no vaccine, or have never had a vaccination campaign are all rare diseases in the developed world. Many of them were big killers of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Here is a graph showing the decline in deaths from scarlet fever in England from a peak of almost 160/100,000 per year to near zero. Note that while many people credit the decline to antibiotics they were not in widespread use until the mid 1940s, by which time the death rate had already been near zero for two decades. http://www.dissolvingillusions.com/graphs/#10
Here is a time line of British cholera epidemics. The last ended in 1926. There are vaccines for cholera but they have never been widely used. http://www.dissolvingillusions.com/graphs/#1
Here is a graph showing the decline of scurvy, a nutritional deficiency for which no vaccine is possible. http://www.dissolvingillusions.com/graphs/#38
This graph shows the decline in deaths from typhoid in the U.S. from a high of around 10/100,000 per year in the early 1920s to near zero thirty years later. There is no widely used vaccine for typhoid. http://www.dissolvingillusions.com/graphs/#32
This is the story of Dr. Ignaz Semmelweiss, the Hungarian obstetrician who proved in the mid nineteenth century that hand washing could nearly eliminate childbirth deaths from puerperal fever. He was ignored despite proving his theory three times over. Puerperal fever killed an estimated one in four birthing mothers in the nineteenth century. It is now almost unheard of in the developed world. There is no vaccine for it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Semmelweis
Here is a graph showing the decline in deaths from many infectious diseases in the U.S. between 1900 and 1963. It shows a decline in deaths from tuberculosis from a rate of about 200/100,000 per year in 1900 to about 2/100,000 by 1960. This is a decline of 99%. There is a vaccine for tuberculosis but it has not been widely used. Note also the decline in deaths from the flu from around 200/100,000 to just over 30/100,000 by the time the flu vaccine was introduced in the late 1940s. This is a decline of about 85%. http://www.dissolvingillusions.com/graphs/#21