Despite their widespread beneficial effects, some people deny
that vaccines work, or accuse them of causing various side-
effects. This link contains reports of many people who have been
harmed by vaccine denial. "The new figures estimate that,
altogether, measles vaccinations have prevented 7.5 million
deaths between 1999 and 2005, and 2.3 million of these were
attributable to the intensified programme [the international
Measles Initiative launched in 2000 by the World Health
Organization and UNICEF]…. Ironically, measles deaths are
climbing again in some rich countries, such as the UK, because
of lingering but unfounded fears that a combined triple vaccine,
which protects against measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) causes
childhood autism. Chan [Margaret Chan, WHO director-general]
stressed that these autism-link fears are groundless, and
repeated the WHO's support for the safety of MMR. Prior to the
1960s, before measles vaccines were available, the disease
killed an estimated 6 million people each year, globa