I have seen what happens to somebody who gets tetanus.  You know "lock-jaw"?
 That is really what happens first and then they get uncontrolled spasms all
over their body.  This was an older man who didn't have a booster for over 20
years.  ( Fortunately he survived after 2 weeks on a ventilator and is now
fully recovered.  My partner who trained in Africa-(Rhodesia) said he saw
many infants die there with the disease and there was nothing they could do
for them.

I agree rare side effects are tragic but that is not a reason to throw the
baby out with the bath water.  People have died from automobiles, airplanes,
aspirin, penicillin, talking on the telephone during lightening storms, but
that does not mean that most of us have given up on any of the above items.
 Immunizations are in the same category and you have to "play the odds".  The
small chance of a plane crash does not keep me from flying and the small
chance of an serious adverses reaction to vaccines doesn't keep me from
immunizing MY children.

Jon Ahrendsen, M.D., FAAFP, LLL Medical Associate, &
Father to breastfed: Andrea 8, Elizabeth 7, and Karl 4