- The farmer who sold their holiday house to my grandparents in the 60's died of lockjaw/tetanus at age 50. - My sister contracted tuberculosis as a toddler and had to undergo a pneumothorax. - I've known 3 people who had polio as kids. One was in a wheelchair for life, one was severely crippled, and one could get around with only one crutch on his good days. - My 8-year old brother had to be sent away for months shortly after my birth because he got whooping cough, which can be deadly for infants.
For tetanus, your kids are still at risk. For the rest, they're more or less protected because everybody else is vaccinated.
As to the flu vaccine... here in France, it's free for people "at risk": mostly people over 65. Before that, in the 70's, there were 25.000 deaths a year due to the flu. Today, it's less than 300 a year. QED.
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Date: 2008-05-17 10:04 am (UTC)- The farmer who sold their holiday house to my grandparents in the 60's died of lockjaw/tetanus at age 50.
- My sister contracted tuberculosis as a toddler and had to undergo a pneumothorax.
- I've known 3 people who had polio as kids. One was in a wheelchair for life, one was severely crippled, and one could get around with only one crutch on his good days.
- My 8-year old brother had to be sent away for months shortly after my birth because he got whooping cough, which can be deadly for infants.
For tetanus, your kids are still at risk. For the rest, they're more or less protected because everybody else is vaccinated.
As to the flu vaccine... here in France, it's free for people "at risk": mostly people over 65. Before that, in the 70's, there were 25.000 deaths a year due to the flu. Today, it's less than 300 a year. QED.