The Claim:
In a video, Dr. Suzanne Humphries claims that whooping cough vaccines are unnecessary and ineffective because deaths dropped before vaccines were introduced, the vaccines do not stop disease spread, they may cause stronger germs to develop, and natural infection protects communities better than vaccination.
The Facts:
Suzanne Humphries, a doctor of nephrology (kidney medicine), says she used to give vaccines to her patients, but during the 2008–2009 flu season, she was convinced that vaccines cause kidney failure and high blood pressure. She based this belief on personal experiences, not scientific evidence. Personal stories can be wrong because of mistakes or bias. In fact, the National Kidney Foundation still says vaccines are safe and recommends them.
The United States began vaccinating against pertussis, also called whooping cough, in the 1940s. Before vaccines were widely used, about 200,000 people got the disease each year, and around 9,000 people died from it. Today, far fewer people get pertussis each year, and fewer than 15 people die from it.
Some studies show that getting pertussis naturally may protect someone for a longer time than the vaccine does. However, before vaccines, thousands of people died from pertussis every year. Because of this, we do not agree that getting the disease naturally is better than getting vaccinated.