A few weeks ago, a child who had completed the meningoccal B vaccine program, died of meningitis. Whaleoil implies that the $200m spent vaccinately children was wasted.

I think that this is rather naive. It has never been claimed that the vaccine was 100% effective. In fact, the effectiveness rating has only been claimed at about 80%.

But that means that four out of five children who would have previously been susceptable to it, are now immune. If you've had the vaccine, your chances of survival have increased massively.

It is simply unrealistic to have a vaccine that is 100% effective. But one that is $200m to to provide 80% effectiveness against such a nasty and potentially fatal illness sounds like a good investment to me.

Posted by Dave Bryant at 5:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)