Why vaccinate?

I spent a lot of time playing with paper dolls while stuck in bed recovering from diseases that are no longer affecting (vaccinated) children.  

As soon as various vaccines were available, my parents made sure that we got them, because they knew people who were affected or died from the 'childhood ' diseases. (I remember playing with my cousins while I had measles because the theory was if you could get your child a mild case of measles , they'd be protected against most of the worst outcomes. That vaccination because available for me to make sure my children got vaccinated.  

Polio -- we were forbidden to gather in groups. Forbidden to go to the public swimming pool, all because those were areas where you could catch polio which is a horrible disease. death or life in a metal 'lung' machine and/ or deformity because it damaged bone growth, muscle growth, an lungs. As soon as that vaccine was available, my parents made sure we all got the vaccine.  

We also still have the scar on our arm or leg where we were vaccinated against the deadly smallpox. Was horrified when the dr. wouldn't vaccinate my children for smallpox. That's when the World Health Assembly declared smallpox eradicated in 1980.  

(small portions of it are kept in various country's secret vaults, in case they want to use it as a weapon against another country.)