Vaccines and the failed textbook approach

MODERN medicine makes abundant use of discoveries in the biological sciences, but it remains perilously poised between science and ‘healing art’, based as much on superstition and fear as logic and reason.

The training of medical students still does not predispose to scepticism or an open mind in the face of textbook authority. The stance that doctors take on controversial issues commonly owes more to what they imbibed from their mentors than to a critical evaluation of the evidence.

A debate has raged over the vaccination issue with no real evidence to show a gain in health as determined on a WHO Disability Adjusted Life Expectancy (DALE) scale, which measures the length of a healthy life rather than longevity alone.