Does the "We travel to to the Third World" argument stand up?

[PM]

And if it does, why wouldn't everyone vaccinate anyway due to the possibility of running into a resident of a third world country (airports, new downstairs neighbor, etc.)?

Explain to me, theoretically, why I - or anyone - should vaccinate to travel to underdeveloped countries.

Hope this doesn't sound aggressive. I've always been curious.

[zealsmom]

Well, I guess I am not going to give you the theoretical answer you are looking for, but as you know we were in a few "third world" countries with a baby and selectively vaccinated. We got a bit (yes, only a bit) of grief from the Embassy doctors for not wanting to vaccinate and some support from the Embassy nurse practitioner for our choices. That 'bit' of grief was what probably led to our decision to get the few vac's we did, and if we had it to do again, we wouldn't have had any.

IMHO, I think it comes down to fear of the unknown.
In our experience, many of the people that get all bent out of shape about us traveling with a baby, don't really have any experience in the given countries.

Sorry if that wasn't what you were looking for, but I felt compelled to respond.

BTW, we are going back to India in November, and ds still isn't vaccinated and more than he was when we left.

[PM]

Ok, that's what I thought.

And Zealsmom - I was expecting you to answer, and I'm interested in what you have to say.

[Els' 3 Ones]

I think it is a very valid theory.

One that most ppl don't even consider.

If one doesn't *know* these diseases, don't understand them, how to prevent them or how to treat them, then one should not be travelling with or without children. Vax is not a guarantee and, imo, can make ppl behave recklessly with regard to exposure.

If these diseases are to wipe out mankind, why hasn't it
happened? Especially in these third world,unvaccinated countries?

If vaxes are to rid the world of diseases, why hasn't it happened? Especially in developed, heavily vaccinated countries?

What has happened to the population of both these countries?

One continues to survive with abject poverty and starvation.

The other is scrambling to provide competent medical care for millions of children with asthma, adhd, autism and a myriad of medical conditions not previously found in abundance.


El

[Ivanhoe]

I actually live in a third world country. I stopped vaccinating ds at 8 months. The provax propaganda here is huge, though I doubt the thousandsd of children that are born in villas miserias get vaccinated (or maybe they do?) I've been researching a little bit and measles seems to be the only desease which sometimes appears in this region against the low frequency of measles of ÚS At least that is what the pro vax propagnada says... I haven't met anybody with measles in the last 10 years. But all the people of my generation -myself included- did get measles, mumps, roseola, varicella... There were some meningitis cases last winter, but there's not vax (yet) for that type of virus.

I'm afraid I'm not answering your question, but paraphrasing zealsmoms: "I felt compelled to answer"