[Antoninus]

The agents still get there, it’s in a different manner.

True. But take the chicken pox vaccination as an example. If a child gets chicken pox naturally, he's got lifetime immunity, almost guaranteed. With the vaccine, he will need to get regular boosters or his immunity may wear off. In this case, at least, the immunity conferred by a natural infection ends up being better than that from the vaccine. One wonders if that's the case for some other vaccines as well.

That said, I do agree that for illnesses that have higher rates of death and disabilities associated with them, it's better to get the shot. No one would suggest it's better to get something like polio naturally.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Older methods of warding off smallpox involved inducing a mild chicken pox infection.

A major tenet of modern medicine is that it’s better to control something than not to control it. Controlling something automatically implies a science. But the option to get so much chicken pox “inoculation” that one comes down with a mild case, is ruled out by modern medicine as unethical. What to do, what to do. It’s a conundrum. Universal vaccination opponents have some great points to make. But I could also hope to be heard when I ask them please don’t take their natural chicken pox cases to me.