I'm really glad we don't know what epidemics are like in the sense that they used to exist before vaccinations. Although, my great-grandmother is reported to have said to people on numerous occasions, "thank God for the epidemics: I don't know how we would have survived!" But then, she had like 15 children so I guess that 5 survived was pretty good. Though, that was like, late 1800's. Just imagine the kind of impact those kinds of epidemics could have in a world that is more urbanized and populated than ever. This is absolutely unacceptable.
Actually, that sort of epidemic is needed in order to maintain any sort of normal population. The ecosystem cant maintain exponential growth forever, and eventually we'll hit a tipping point. Either we control our numbers, through smarter breeding habits and birth control, or nature will do it for us.
Yeah, thus the wisdom of my great-granny. Did you happen to see the Gates Foundation letter that came out recently? It's got some compelling arguments for vaccination and ideas about how education can work in conjunction to help curb overpopulation.
The Gates letter was great. Post: http://hubski.com/pub?id=129849