[extropy-chat] Are vaccinations useless?

[Rafal Smigrodzki]

On 3/13/06, Robin Hanson <rhanson at gmu.edu> wrote:

> You never say what claim it is that you think is "just silly."   If
> it is the claim in the subject line, that is not a claim that I ever
> made - Rafal Smigrodzki created that subject line.  As I keep
> repeating, the main claim that this thread has been discussing is as
> Hal Finney says " whether advances in health and longevity are
> largely due or are not due to medicine".   You may have heard many
> claims made about that topic over the years, but take an intro class
> in public health (or health econ, or health sociology) if you want to
> learn the non-doctor academic consensus on this subject.
>
### I created the subject line to address a very specific question
that you first alluded to in the original thread. In this thread you
made very clear, quantitative statements regarding the impact of
vaccination on the lifetime prevalence of smallpox in rich countries.
Whatever other claims you make, you also did say that vaccinations
produced no more than 1 to 10% of the reduction in lifetime prevalence
of smallpox, which would make them nearly useless (since the gains in
survival attributable to them would be measured in days).

You cannot reasonably say that it is a claim you never made.

Rafal