From David Rotherham.
I DO not think it is good to publish scaremongering based on junk science. I refer to the letter (JEP, 18 July) that introduced me to the novel concept of a lazy immune system caused by vaccinations.
Far from suppressing the activity of the immune system, vaccination facilitates it by enabling the body to immediately eliminate harmful germs before they have proliferated. ‘A stitch in time saves nine,’ as the proverb goes. The more vaccinations one has had, the more one’s immune system is ready for action.
On the other hand, influenza kills not by the direct effect of the virus, but by the side effects of an over-reacting immune system trying too hard to catch up with a massive infection. I suppose you could argue that doing enough at the right time is ‘lazier’ than doing too much too late, but the term I prefer for it is ‘wiser’.
