In light of recent outbreaks of measles and other vaccine preventable illnesses, and the refusal of anti-vaccination advocates to acknowledge the problem, I thought it was past time for this post.
Dear parents,
You are being lied to. The people who claim to be acting in the best interests of your children are putting their health and even lives at risk.
They say that measles isn’t a deadly disease.
But it is.
They say that chickenpox isn’t that big of a deal.
But it can be.
They say that the flu isn’t dangerous.
But it is.
They say that whooping cough isn’t so bad for kids to get.
But it is.
They say that vaccines aren’t that effective at preventing disease.
But 3 million children’s lives are saved every year by vaccination, and 2 million die every year from vaccine-preventable illnesses.
They say that “natural infection” is better than vaccination.
But they’re wrong.
They say that vaccines haven’t been rigorously tested for safety.
But vaccines are subjected to a higher level of scrutiny than any other medicine. For example, this study tested the safety and effectiveness of the pneumococcal vaccine in more than 37,868 children.
They will say that doctors won’t admit there are any side effects to vaccines.
But the side effects are well known, and except in very rare cases quite mild.
They say that the MMR vaccine causes autism.
It doesn’t. (The question of whether vaccines cause autism has been investigated in study after study, and they all show overwhelming evidence that they don’t.)
They say that thimerosal in vaccines causes autism.
It doesn’t, and it hasn’t been in most vaccines since 2001 anyway.
They say that the aluminum in vaccines (an adjuvant, or component of the vaccine designed to enhance the body’s immune response) is harmful to children.
But children consume more aluminum in natural breast milk than they do in vaccines, and far higher levels of aluminum are needed to cause harm.
They say that the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (and/or the “vaccine court”) proves that vaccines are harmful.
It doesn’t.
They say that the normal vaccine schedule is too difficult for a child’s immune system to cope with.
It isn’t.
They say that if other people’s children are vaccinated, there’s no need for their children to get vaccinated.
This is one of the most despicable arguments I’ve ever heard. First of all, vaccines aren’t always 100% effective, so it is possible for a vaccinated child to still become infected if exposed to a disease. Worse, there are some people who can’t receive vaccinations, because they are immune deficient, or because they are allergic to some component. Those people depend upon herd immunity to protect them. People who choose not to vaccinate their children against infectious diseases are putting not only their own children at risk, but also other people’s children.
They say that ‘natural’, ‘alternative’ remedies are better than science-based medicine.
They aren’t.
The truth is that vaccines are one of our greatest public health achievements, and one of the most important things you can do to protect your child.
I can predict exactly the sort of response I will be getting from the anti-vaccine activists. Because they can’t argue effectively against the overwhelming scientific evidence about vaccines, they will say that I work for Big Pharma. (I don’t and never have). They will say that I’m not a scientist (I am), and that I’m an “Agent 666” (I don’t know what that is, but I’m pretty sure that I’m not one).
None of these things are true, but they are the reflexive response by the anti-vaccine activists because they have no facts to back up their position. On some level, deep down, they must understand this, and are afraid of the implications, so they attack the messenger.
Why are they lying to you? Some are doing it for profit, trying to sell their alternative remedies by making you afraid of science-based medicine. I’m sure that many others within the anti-vaccine movement have genuinely good intentions, and do honestly believe that vaccines are harmful. But as a certain astrophysicist recently said “The good thing about science is that it’s true whether or not you believe in it”. In the case of vaccine truthers, this is not a good thing. Good intentions will not prevent microbes from infecting and harming people, and the message that vaccines are dangerous is having dire consequences. There are outbreaks of vaccine-preventable illnesses now throughout the United States because of unvaccinated children.
In only one respect is my message the same as the anti-vaccine activists: Educate yourself. But while they mean “Read all these websites that support our position”, I suggest you should learn what the scientific community says. Learn how the immune system works. Go read about the history of disease before vaccines, and talk to older people who grew up when polio, measles, and other diseases couldn’t be prevented. Go read about how vaccines are developed, and how they work. Read about Andrew Wakefield, and how his paper that claimed a link between the MMR vaccine and autism has been withdrawn, and his medical license has been revoked. Read the numerous, huge studies that have explicitly examined whether autism is caused by the vaccine…and found nothing. (While you’re at it, read about the ongoing research to determine what IS the cause—or causes —of autism, which is not helped by people continuing to insist that vaccines cause it).
That may seem like a lot of work, and scientific papers can seem intimidating to read. But reading scientific articles is a skill that can be mastered. Here’s a great resource for evaluating medical information on the internet, and I wrote a guide for non-scientists on how to read and understand the scientific literature. You owe it to your children, and to yourself, to thoroughly investigate the issue. Don’t rely on what some stranger on the internet says (not even me!). Read the scientific studies that I linked to in this post for yourself, and talk to your pediatricians. Despite what the anti-vaccine community is telling you, you don’t need to be afraid of the vaccines. You should instead be afraid of what happens without them.
Edited to add: This video is an outstanding summary of many of these issues. I encourage you to watch it.
“Humans try to make sense of the world by seeing patterns. When they see a disease or condition that tends to appear around the time a child is a year or so old, as autism does, and that is also the age that kids get particular shots, they want to put those things together. Parents watch kids more carefully after they get shots. Sometimes they pick up on symptoms then. Just because two things happen at the same time doesn’t mean that one caused the other. This is why we need careful scientific studies.”
Note: For people coming via a direct link, please also feel free to participate in a follow-up discussion
here.
1/13/15: Edited to update broken hyperlinks. If you find any additional broken links, please don’t hesitate to let me know. –JR
4/19/16: Edited again to update more broken hyperlinks. If you find more, keep letting us know and we’ll keep fixing them. –CM
Violent metaphors 
So then why has vaccine court in the US settled and paid out millions of dollars to families whose children have suffered due to their vaccinations? This is a FACT. The payout itself is an admission of guilt.
Do you have a source for this?
Google “vaccine court” dozens of links to articles. From all over the world.
Here’s a link to something I wrote about the NVICP: https://violentmetaphors.com/2013/11/22/why-anti-vaxers-hate-the-nvicp-and-just-what-is-it-anyway-by-colin-mcroberts/
It exists to compensate people who were harmed by vaccines; its a rare but real problem. As has been pointed out repeatedly, though, virtually every safety precaution or medical treatment causes harm from time to time, from seatbelts to cribs to pacemakers. The question is whether the harms (when considering both the risk of harm occurring and the magnitude of potential harms) outweigh the benefits.
The NVICP compensatory program is strong evidence that vaccines are extraordinarily safe. It’s designed to with a bias in favor of plaintiffs (people claiming that they or their children were harmed by vaccines); in fact, most of them don’t even have to prove that vaccines caused their injury. They only have to prove that they suffered an injury after getting vaccinated. The result is that some margin of people almost certainly get compensated for injuries that weren’t caused by vaccines.
Despite that bias in favor of plaintiffs (which I don’t disagree with), there are typically less than a thousand NVICP claims filed every year. And there are *millions* of vaccines given just to infants in any given year!
The NVICP is a real thing, and it does compensate people who were harmed by vaccines. The numbers of claims filed, though, is good evidence that vaccines are a very safe product.
Vaccine Court is a scam. People see right through the B.S. As a pediatric nurse, I got in trouble by my superiors for trying to report an obvious vaccine injury. The needle was still in the kids arm when he collapsed and the paramedics showed up.
The federal government has granted the vaccine industry total immunity from ever having to face the legal system for its crimes against humanity. Nonsense!
On February 22, 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court shielded drug companies from ALL liability for harm caused by vaccines mandated by government.
Drug companies selling vaccines in America will not be held accountable by a jury of our peers in a court of law if those vaccines brain damage us. Yes, adults too. if you get paralyzed by a flu shot or your child has a serious reaction to a vaccine required for school and becomes learning disabled, epileptic, autistic, asthmatic, diabetic or mentally retarded, you are on your own. Essentially, you are screwed.
Would you get in a car where the brakes fail 10% of the time and you can’t sue the manufacturer to recoup your medical costs?
People are waking up!
You appear to have run across, or made up, some bad information. The things you’ve said here are simply factually false.
The case you’re referring to is Bruesewitz v. Wyeth. If you’re going to tell people what the case says, please give them the name as well so they can read it for themselves. It did not grant vaccine manufacturers “total immunity from ever having to face the legal system.” Congress passed a law, the NVICA, that gives people who claim they were injured by a vaccine a route to easier, faster, and larger compensation than they would get in normal trial courts. The Supreme Court essentially held that this law prevents bringing one type of products liability case against vaccine manufacturers. It did not preclude the other major types of products liability cases, where there is an alleged manufacturing defect or failure to warn. You can still sue under those theories, although it’s not clear yet whether anyone is doing so. (Those cases take so long to work through the system it can be hard to tell for a few years.)
The flip side of the law is that under the NVICA, people who claim they were injured by a vaccine get (a) free layers and (b) don’t have to jump through as many hoops as plaintiffs in a normal court. As I’ve written elsewhere, I’d rather be a plaintiff under that system than in normal court any day of the week.
It’s not all that uncommon for the government to foreclose liability in certain types of cases. This is how workers’ compensation works—the government forbids workers from bringing certain kinds of claims if they’re injured, in exchange for a compensatory system that makes it easier for them to recover money for their injuries. It’s intended to be a win-win situation, in which the plaintiffs get their money more easily, the defendants get more streamlined costs, and no one has to pay giant legal fees for claims falling under the regulatory umbrella. (So lawyers are the big losers in such situations.) Similarly, the post office is totally immune from lawsuits for lost packages. And yet, workplaces still have incentives to be safe and the post office still has incentives not to throw your packages away.
Danish-hate to burst your bubble, but the vaccine courts were set to compensate people who could have reasonably been expected to be harmed by a vaccine. This is a much lower standard than for trial courts where you must prove your case “beyond a reasonable doubt”, and in fact the standards of evidence are strongly biased to the plaintiff. Colin can comment on the standards far better than I. The courts were set up because pharmaceutical manufacturers were getting out of the vaccine business because the risks were too high and the payout too low, and it was in everybody’s best interest to set up a procedure where people could be quickly compensated for legitimate damages. Nobody in the scientific community says that they are without risk-just that the risk is much, much lower than the disease the prevent, and its reasonable to compensate people who can reasonably be thought to be harmed by vaccines.
The risk is lower but when it’s your child Scott, kinda hard to see it from such a detached dispassionate position, no? Ah, where humanity and science collide uncomfortably.
I keep hearing from the “vaccinate or you’re a terrorist” crowd (not all pro-vaccinators and not necessarily you, Scott, on here but definitely a healthy lump) “no one said vaccines didn’t have risks”. Exactly. They do. And that is exactly the reason YOU and your 2 cents on the comment section of a polarised evidence-supported OPINION piece does not have the right to judge a parent who is fearful of exposing his/her child(ren) to such risk.
I am gonna give all you polarised uni-lense people a hint to the ACTUAL FACTUAL TRUTH of this matter: there IS NO RIGHT ANSWER. Exposing any child to extreme risk is not ok. Vaccines come with risks. Disease comes with risk. Thousands exposed to vaccines are fine. HUNDREDS of thousands exposed to many viruses, after a short uncomfortable healthy immune response, are also fine – and much more adequately protected to that disease they were exposed to thereafter. I don’t want to expose my children to the risks that many diseases bring because I feel that decision carried less risk than not vaccinating. But I know my children are healthy, with good immune systems in a very fortunate part of the world, and have healthy parents. If I were in different circumstances, I may have decided differently. If I had known of a child close to me who died or almost died due to a vaccine (confirmed) I may also have chosen differently.
Absolutely NO ONE has the right to judge another person on here. That’s fact, folks. THAT is fact.
Thank you! It seems that everyone who doesn’t agree with those of us who are simply trying to defend our right to make choices for our children automatically assumes we’re trying to convince them not to vaccinate their children, then the name-calling starts (not all of them, but a large chunk do). It’s refreshing to see someone who chose differently from me actually defending my right to my choice. ❤
You have a right to choose.
And the community has a right to choose, through representative government, to limit how much those choices can affect others. Just like we choose to pass laws restricting what sort of vehicles you can drive on the road, whether you are permitted to keep certain types or amounts of explosives in your home, and what chemicals your company is permitted to release into the air, we can choose through that same representative government to pay attention to the developing and dynamic information from the sciences of immunology and epidemiology to limit unvaccinated childrens’ access to the places people gather.
There are no religious exemptions to whether your vehicle is safe for the road, or for having your garage filled with 4 tons of fireworks for sale in July, or for air pollution violations.
So why are there exemptions for vaccination?
There are religious exemptions because there are components in some of the vaccines that go against various religious beliefs (for starters). For example, any Christian who is against abortion should avoid the vaccines that were developed using aborted fetal tissue. Any Jew that keeps kosher, as well as any Muslim person, should be against any of the vaccines containing gelatin, since that gelatin comes from pigs. Any Hindu person who is against harming cows (sacred in the Hindu religion) should be against any of the vaccines that developed with any ingredient containing the word “bovine”. Then there are those who’s beliefs include not harming others. And if that’s not enough, some hold a “harm none” belief. If they, based on family history and the information in the vaccine inserts, as well as published studies, feel that the vaccines could harm their child, it is their right to choose not to vaccinate their child.
No one, not you, not Offit, not anyone, has the right to tell another person their beliefs.
Part of the problem is that parents aren’t automatically given the information. If parents were handed the inserts PRIOR to vaccination, I believe that more parents would choose not to vaccinate. We have to search it out on our own. When you get any prescription at the pharmacy, they automatically give you what amounts to a small book of information stapled to the bag. That information includes what the medication is for, how much to take, but also includes adverse reactions to look for, including the more serious ones. In some cases, they even give you the insert that came with it (usually in the case of pre-packaged drugs, not always in the case of things they have to measure out in the pharmacy).
You have to request information from the doctor when you or your children are vaccinated, and even then they’ll usually try to just give you the CDC’s one page of extremely dumbed-down information, which only includes the milder reactions. You have to specifically request the insert, and sometimes they won’t let you have that because they only get one copy in the box. They’ll say to look it up online.
Have you ever actually read the inserts? If you have children, did you read the complete insert BEFORE getting them vaccinated?
Really, a more accurate comparison would be that you don’t have to have a religious reason for choosing not to drive. Why would you need one for choosing not to vaccinate? Abortions are legal in this country, because a woman should have a right to choose what to do with her body. Why shouldn’t people have a right to choose what goes into their body? Why shouldn’t parents have a right to weigh options for their children, and choose based on family medical history and the information available?
You don’t need a religious (or any) exemption to avoid vaccinating.
You need one to send your unvaccinated child to school (that is the analogy to driving an unsafe vehicle which science has shown puts others at unnecessary risk).
Vaccine injuries, while very rare, do occur from time to time. But the vaccine court has never, not once EVER, paid out on a claim that vaccines cause autism. Never.
Scary chemicals are everywhere! I say we should ban DIHYDROGEN MONOXIDE!!! It’s everywhere… in our bodies, the atmosphere, our food… do you know what’s coming our of your faucet? Educate yourselves!
You should have entitled this article. “Why Dr. Bob is wrong.” You can’t just sit there and say that everything we’re hearing is wrong. And then the only evidence you post is constantly badgering the same guy’s opinions about vaccinations. None of the links provided in your article save for 1 actually take you to useful information that supports your claims.
Every time you say something is false, or wrong, or that something is a lie. You should back up your claim with actual information. Not a stupid article and the article target’s “made up” vaccination schedule.
The vaccine’s cause autism shit, was started by a satirical website. Like everything else floating around on Facebook these days, and unfortunately nobody takes their due diligence in weeding out the bullshit and will believe just about anything.
We’re not being lied to. We’re being taught to believe everything we read. Even if it’s complete non-sense. And no offense, but this article is right there with all the miracle cancer cures that cause neurodegenerative diseases and “like this and god will do you a favor posts”. There’s no intellectual value in this article, and should you choose any in the future, you may want to include some reference material that doesn’t make you sound like every other coocoo out there trying to get Likes.
Good subject. Bad Article.
Anybody can provide links to a blog. Or to a website with “.gov” in the URL. But the links you did provide that weren’t hating on Dr. Bob. Have no data in them !? They’re just another person talking about vaccine’s and “Saying” they’re important. They’re not PROVING they’re important. And this is where this article fails. You have to do more than say. And you have to provide information of actual, plottable, graphical data. Heresay is not proof. You could post Dr’s blogs all day, but without and actual data, it’s just tom foolery you put here to get noticed.
Agree – docotors have their own ‘opinions’. Reference FDA, CDC, NIMH, for starters
Which links in particular are you complaining about?
You are just about wrong in all of these. If they are right please provide the scientific evidence and stop being a talking head.
I will tell you first hand that 1 year ago, we were on vacation visiting a good friend in Tampa, her son brought home a letter saying there was an outbreak of whooping cough at his school. Her son who WAS vaccinated got very sick with Whooping cough, my son, who WAS not vaccinated did not. Vaccinations are a very complicated and EMOTIONAL subject. I know people whose children have had VERY severe reactions. I have done research. I am very good friends with a well respected Surgeon who is Anti-immunizations.
But I also know (as a former History professor) how many lives have been saved since the development of vaccines. There are facts that support both sides!! I wish these comments could stay respectful. To our health. ~T
Drew Wheelock Here’s the REAL problem…….The real problem lies in the fact that we, the American people, have allowed big corporations to control our gov. If you don’t think the FDA is bought and paid for, stop reading my response now. I won’t state my position on vaccinations, but as a health care professional, I will say it is damn near impossible for ANY of us to make an informed decision any longer on any subject that affects us, whether it be the environment, food/drug safety, the economy….Peer reviewed means nothing any longer. Double blinded studies are easily manipulated. If there is money in the game, then you are not getting unbiased, true information. And guess what, Pharma. is the largest industry in this country. They donate more money than ANY other industry into Gov. Good luck.
Well said – Johnson & Johnson is one of the largest companies – they dont’ just make your nice sweet smelling baby shampoo. Heck no. They make drugs for ADHD kids! Their have their hands in everyone’s pockets and many of the people on the FDA board are affiliate with big companies like Monsanto. There is money to be made when people are sick. You don’t think there’s a cure for cancer? Of course there is, but they won’t release it, think of the bajillions lost in dollars. Hemp oil is being studied as it’s been found to reduce/eliminate tumors but does the government allow it to be legal? No. Why not? Can it be any more dangerous than chemo or radiation? The powers that be are corrupt and don’t have the public as their #1 concern. That’s been obvious when there have been recalls (Brazillian Blowout for example) and the FDA said they didn’t have the authority to pull the items from the shelves. They could only ‘ask’ the companies to remove the products. How’s that for a company that is supposed to be monitoring for public safety? We depend on these jokers to ensure the products we are being sold are safe!
Please provide some sources about the cure for cancer, hemp oil, etc. I am curious to read these articles…
run from the cure…you tube
Oh, for the love of Pete. Hemp oil is perfectly legal and is just a nice source of omega fatty acids. It doesn’t cure cancer.
They’re not talking about hemp oil they’re talking about for lack of a better term Hash oil. Hemp oil is made from pressing the seeds (no THC), Hash oil is made from the budding plant.
I have known personally a few people with cancer who believed as you did and did those treatments. They are now dead. The people in our support group with the same severity and chances of survival with the disease that did chemo and/or radiation are, however, alive. Yes, companies are out to make money. That doesn’t change the fact that there are treatments that have been proven scientifically to work.
And I’ve known others to do those treatments and beat off cancer without going through the harshness of chemo and radiation – so it all boils down to statistics but also availability of these ingredients. Many of not available so those who want to try them either can not or the cost is so expensive they can’t do it so they stick with what’s covered. Yes chemo & radiation have proven to shrink/destroy tumors, so have other herbs and remedies.
Please post a scientific study showing that “other herbs and remedies” are remotely effective cancer treatments. I’ll wait.
I said I’ve known people who went the herbal route and beat cancer, I did not say that was based on any scientific study. The problem with herbal anything is there are very few studies largely due to lack of funding. There isn’t as much money in it and Big Pharma won’t back those types of studies. The studies you will find are likely down in small settings and not on a largescale. I have known others who fought cancer naturally, that’s all I need to know.
So your evidence is anecdotal that are unverified and unreliable with a sample size of one. cool good luck with that.
Family members and friends are certainly not ‘unverified’ as far as I’m concerned! They are the best proof that I have for my satisfaction! I’ll take those kinds of success stories over any published! 🙂
Except you have not verified them to the rest of the world. Gather them and their data together, write a paper about their results and then get an unbiased third party to verify it is all true. Otherwise you have nothing, and we don’t have to believe you.
Of course you don’t have to believe me – I’m not asking you to! I believe me and thus my reasons for my opinions – end of story! I haven’t met anyone yet that has shown me Gardasil has prevented their cancer but have seen the reports and media news on those who suffered adverse reactions.
At least you admit that all you have is opinion.
Opinion is meaningless is science and evidence based medicine.
And how exactly would one prove that they didn’t get cervical cancer because of the vaccine? It seems you are uninformed about the scientific method. You cannot prove a negative. However, there are studies showing that the number of people who get cervical cancer is higher in those who don’t get the vaccine. Guess what–cervical cancer is way worse than the vaccine.
So your friends and family are always right about their opinions? Just because they believe something and tell you their belief or experience doesn’t make it a scientific fact or true. You can choose to believe whatever you want to believe but without fact, proof, or evidence, you are selling nothing but snake oil.
I’m not selling anything to anyone, stating an opinion is all I am doing. Trying to convince me that vaccines are safe when there is evidence both ways won’t work. I agree they have stopped many outbreaks but am not 100% sold that they are the only reasons these illnesses have gone into remission and there’s not a study out there that proves otherwise.
My friends and family who suffered illnesses and choose alternative remedies to protect themselves are living testimonial to me, much better resources than ‘peer’ reviewed journals or reports that have been ‘worded’ to say what the pharmaceutical companies want it to say. But everyone has their own choice and opinion, you have yours, I have mine. That’s all there is too it.
tamaralaschinsky,
“I’m not selling anything to anyone, stating an opinion is all I am doing.”
So you admit that this statement was a flat out lie.
“I’m not selling anything to anyone, stating an opinion is all I am doing.”
Right….
From the “about” page of your link:
… and…
Even less reason to believe you. Though now we know the quality of your “research.”
So just because I own a store I can’t write about my opinions? I’ve been published on Livestrong and in other magazines in the past, all requiring research to come from reputable sources (NIMH, Cancer Care, FDA, CDC etc and etc)
If in my articles I spoke of non vaccinating but ‘here try this instead’ then yes, that is a a bias and I’d admit it’s ‘selling’ something. But it only makes sense that I own a store and have written books & articles on topics of natural health in nature because this is what I believe in. I’ve always made sure to keep this blog more article-based without putting in links to my store on every article unlike so many other blogs.
On the other hand, you are guilty as well, of ‘selling’ your product are you not? Trying to push the opinion of needed vaccinations based not only on your opinion but on your profession?
In any event, don’t try to discredit me just because I have an opinion and I write about it and I happen to own a natural product store. The research I have done pulls information from reputable sources and while I believe in many ‘other’ sources, unless they are highly scrutinized, I do not credit them in my articles.
tamaralaschinsky,
” don’t try to discredit me”
No need. You’ve accomplished that quite successfully
by lying about “I’m not selling anything,” then complaining that it is only logical that you sell snake oil in support of your wallet (sorry, I’m sure I meant “values”) and using this blog as a clear attempt to get more customers for demonstrably useless products.
So, no, nobody needs to try to discredit you.
“So just because I own a store I can’t write about my opinions?”
You are entitled to your own opinions, but not to your own facts. And you claimed you weren’t selling anything, but you are… books and herbal belly wraps. So we now know not to give any of your opinions any credence, since none of them are backed up with actual real verifiable evidence. Testimonials and anecdotes do not count.
Now if you have actual verifiable scientific evidence to counter the findings in Vaccine Safety: Examine the Evidence, we’d be happy to change our minds.
I have a larger family than yours (because they didn’t die of vaccine-preventable diseases) and they all say that you are “wronger than wrong.” (you can google that phrase) Therefore, by your own logic, that is better proof.
So if you have any integrity, you must agree that you are wrong, or else you were lying about what you accept as evidence and proof.
Well said!
What’s irritating is that when science does come up with a cure, or rather a proven prevention, for cancer, anti-vaxers ruin that too. HPV is the #1 cause if cervical cancer and guess what, “Pharma” produces a vaccine to prevent infection from the most virulent strains of HPV. However, I still have parents in my practice countinuously refuse to get their kids vaccinated because of the controversy surrounding the vaccine and the transmission of the virus itself. Then, by the time patients are old enough to make the decision for themselves, the efficacy of the vaccine goes down. Good parenting there…
Gardasil has not been proven to effectively prevent cervical cancer. That is just one more vaxx that was ‘rushed’ right through the process and mass injected into teenage girls across the board. Side effects, oh yeah – LOTS of them and you know it. If a vaccine is not proven to prevent an illness and not 100% positive to do so, you have to looks at the risks and what other ways you have to fight off the dreaded ‘cancer’ of today. Healthy living, diet and riding your body of toxins are the 3 top priorities yet no one seems to understand this. They pump their bodies full of chemicals in cosmetics and personal care products, eat foods full of junk and pesticides and wear clothing full of nasty chemicals that leech into our body. With all the toxins we are exposed to daily, is cancer a surprise? In any form? What about the toxicity of tampons? Any correlation there between cervical cancer and the junk in those cotton plugs that are full of chemicals and that are in direct contact with a very delicate membrane for a week? Think about it.
hi. i am a scientist who studies HPV. i just wanted to tell you that you are wrong and not very well-educated in molecular biology. to quickly summarize the last 20 years, HPV’s oncoproteins E6 and E7 can transform mortal cell lines and DNA isolated from cervical cancer has both E6 and E7 genes inserted into the host (basal keratinocytes) genome along with a promoter that has lost the control region. when i am not well-informed about a topic, i just remain quiet and listen. by all means, oil up vagina and maybe HPV won’t be able to gain access to your basal keratinocytes.
http://www.nvic.org/nvic-archives/pressrelease/gardasilgirls.aspx. Explain please. Believe me. I’d love to see cures or preventions that work but too many studies say otherwise
gardasil and cervarix are quite amazing vaccines for both HPV16 and HPV18 reaching an efficacy of up to 90% in some studies. there is a nice review by martin muller published in Clin Dermatol. 2014 Mar-Apr;32(2):235-47 that summarizes many of the studies up to this point. since HPV16 and 18 cause nearly all of cervical cancer and most of other anogential carcinomas, this is a very promising solution for developed nations. the problem is the cost to make these vaccines requires synthesis of the capsid proteins and this doesn’t come cheap. additionally, the patients need to complete their dosing regimen to maximize the immunogenicity. both of these are major problems for developing nations. i hate to tell you that you don’t understand the science behind it because all this usually does is usually frustrate people who preach from the computer about vaccines or alternative medicine, but it takes years of doing the research before you can really understand what the work behind it actually entails. unfortunately, you will not actually learning anything from quoting articles that misrepresent scientific literature to fit your personal anti-vaccine agenda. try starting with basic science courses at the college level and move up from there. best of good luck on your oil crusade.
I don’t expect to understand your scientific language as I don’t claim to be a scientist. I simply quoted a reference to a legit site thang does not believe in the safety if the vaccine for preteen girls. What I think you are saying ( correct me if I’m wrong) is that both vacs are good but not currently being dosed right therefore they have questionable outcomes that don’t prove they work. The study was flawed and did not explain how much aluminum is present in the vaccine. This it hadn’t been proven to be safe for young girls.
no–that would be an oversimplification. i just stated that dosing is difficult in developing nations because taking a series requires them to return to get the booster–also the series is pretty expensive for Africa standards despite the millions of subsidized doses that are shipped there. it is still very expensive to synthesize these particular vaccines. i am just mentioning some of the socioeconomic challenges associated with the HPV vaccine. i would not say the improper dosage has invalidated the data nor would i conclude that aluminum is anything more than the anti-vaccine crowd falling into a correlation without causation fallacy. aluminum is used in the placebo doses because it was a component of the vehicle. we always use the exact same vehicles as a negative control (minus the component we are testing like in this case HPV capsid proteins as immunogen) to account for non-specific stimulation from any of the vehicle components, therefore, making this the baseline measurement. this actually makes this study valid, not invalid. doing this tells the scientist that aluminum itself is not leading to the positive or negative effect it has on the samples or patients. i appreciate that you are not getting huffy about the science side. it is very complicated and takes many years of being thoroughly engrossed in it to hit the tip of the understanding iceberg. doctors are unfortunately not scientists nor experts in anything pertaining to the molecular biology. i am a huge skeptic myself of medical doctors, but trust me that the vast majority of scientists working at academic institutes are doing good science with the hope of making meaningful contributions. the heart of vaccine research stems from the humble beginnings of passionate researchers in academia. this is followed by big pharma expanding that research to larger trials and mass production at a global scale. all of the evils of big pharma that many anti-vaccine people speak of really undermines the actual good science behind the initial research that made each vaccine possible. scientists like salk and sabin should be praised as heroes not just in the scientific community, but also from the stay at home moms.
I appreciate your science and this is what I do. I research based on others clinical research- both sides. I’m not a scientist not a doctor but I can read medical papers and do know reputable sources. The main thing is that when a company gives reports they are accurate and include all information. Then there’s no doubt to its honesty and less confusion surrounding the issue.
btw. i do not disagree with your [anti-vaccine supporter’s] lifestyle choices on health. it is your body and i fully support your efforts to modulate your own personal nutrient intake. since i don’t care about you and your body, i also don’t care about your [anti-vaccine supporter’s] children either as there are too many children (specifically Africa and South America) that are unable to be vaccinated due to income, availability (some vaccines require storage conditions that are not very accommodating without electricity), and parents just being uninformed. you [anti-vaccine supporters] have the resources that others less fortunate do not. although i believe you may be doing an injustice to your children, i just cannot care enough about your privileged children. as i am sure you are aware, that is your [anti-vaccine supporter’s] job. since we are now internet friends, i hope your beliefs and philosophy on health are correct. the alternative is you and/or your kids may be one of the unlucky statistics that i get to report during my introductions to justify why the government should fund my [scientific community’s] research.
And for the record my children have received most vaccinations up to a certain age though they will not get certain ones and certainly not flu shots. I believe in allowing the immune system to stay strong and have the chance to fight infection naturally. But it is a hard choice sometimes. No one wants their child to die from a preventable disease but at the same time it’s hard to just “accept” everything without asking questions. Especially in today’s world.
I hope you ask questions about your mechanic more since statistically you are more likely to get into a car accident and be injured.
I don’t even know how to reply to this comment! 🙂 I can’t see my original post from the other blog so it’s hard to put your comment into context. But in any event, this comment doesn’t make much sense.
“I believe in allowing the immune system to stay strong and have the chance to fight infection naturally.” With the aid of a vaccine, discovered by Jenner, smallpox was eradicated from the planet. Smallpox is a horrific disease which is said to have caused “300–500 million deaths during the 20th century”. Do you think is a bad thing that now people can’t exercise our immune system with smallpox because it was un-naturally (what ever that means) eradicated?….Your statement is an appeal to nature and fails like your anecdotal evidence i your other post.
It’s sad that someone in 1806 could see the benefit of vaccines that is lost on “modern” people with access to the internet and links conveniently provided above this very comment section.
Here’s Thomas Jefferson’s letter to Dr. Edward Jenner 1806:
SIR, — I have received a copy of the evidence at large
respecting the discovery of the vaccine inoculation which you have
been pleased to send me, and for which I return you my thanks.
Having been among the early converts, in this part of the globe, to
its efficiency, I took an early part in recommending it to my
countrymen. I avail myself of this occasion of rendering you a
portion of the tribute of gratitude due to you from the whole human
family. Medicine has never before produced any single improvement of
such utility. Harvey’s discovery of the circulation of the blood was
a beautiful addition to our knowledge of the animal economy, but on a
review of the practice of medicine before and since that epoch, I do
not see any great amelioration which has been derived from that
discovery. You have erased from the calendar of human afflictions
one of its greatest. Yours is the comfortable reflection that
mankind can never forget that you have lived. Future nations will
know by history only that the loathsome small-pox has existed and by
you has been extirpated.
Accept my fervent wishes for your health and happiness and
assurances of the greatest respect and consideration.
If you think there is really ONE cure for cancer you have a fundamental misunderstanding of what cancer is. While just about all cancers follow a few key similar traits: uncontrolled cellular replication, inability to self-terminate (apoptosis), and inability or slowed ability for immune cells to terminate. They achieve these traits through dozens and dozens of different path ways. There are literally thousands of different mutations that make you more prone to getting a form of cancer and millions of combinations of these mutations that will lead to an actual cancer.
Cancer is such a general term it is is a disservice to the severity of these conditions. Two individuals with breast cancer could have violently different pathways for treatment, because their “cancer” could and often are violently different from eachother. Let alone after all of the treatments an individual whom has had “cancer” and is in remission is not cured. It is called in remission for a reason. Because the treatments may or may not have gotten all of the bad cells. If they missed even one cell the cycle will continue and it will resurface in some form again, and even if they did get all of the cancerous cells the first time that individual is highly likely for the same mutation to occur again and to have the cancer develop all over again.
Cancer is a condition whose likely hood increases with age. As the combination of inherited traits that make someone more prone at a younger age and the collection of mutations as cells natural age and divide accumulate. On a long enough time line everyone will get at least one form of cancer. There can be no Cure as it isn’t a disease. It is a condition and a disorder and there is only treatments for it. But those treatment will continue to get better as will detection as our understanding of these conditions increases over time. The only possible cure for such a this is to be able to identify every possible genetic defect that leads to these conditions and to rewrite it, while the individual is an adult and whether or not that will ever happen, be ethical or even safe is beyond our current understanding on how to implement is but that is a discussion for another time.
But there are known foods/herbs etc that have shown to be anti-carcinogenic and be able to stop/shrink tumors. Keeping the body in a nice balance (referring to acid vs alkaline) and avoiding the things that make cancer thrive (sugar, stress, chemical additives such as aspartame, food colorings, combinations between ingredients like sodium benzoate and citric acid that form nitrates etc.) can help us in minimizing risk.
But….but…but… THERE IS A FUCKING CURE FOR CANCER!!!!
What is it?
Not to mention that “sweet smelling baby shampoo” is loaded with poisons.
True. Very true.
You can buy hemp oil in the grocery store… Go nuts
Sorry my bad, was referring to the hash oil made from buds. That is the oil we can not legally get
Thank you.
Sure you can get reliable information on the environment, food and drug safety, and economics. That there are some issues with corporate dollars influencing research papers does not mean all research everywhere is therefore invalid. Furthermore, most publications now have strict disclosure clauses whereby potential conflicts of interest must be disclosed – and are printed in the journal when they are disclosed.
But all this is beside the point. The point is that the claims of the anti-vax crowd are bunk. That’s the only point that’s relevant.
Bravo!!
Love your comments!
You should leave a name and show your proof . Double blinds are not easily manipulated, but if you had performed any you would know that. Watching a child or adult for that matter die from a vaccine treatable disease is heart wrenching .
My name is kaleeking
Kaleeking forgot to add it
how does your response have anything to do with the actual topic… vaccines
…….BINGO….!
Dear anonymous – I am a PhD student who had a lot of suspicion about how vaccines are recommended. At my own expense, I went to an Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice meeting at the CDC. I watched the meeting and spoke with some committee members and CDC scientists. I found doctors and scientists who took their job of protecting public health very seriously. They were knowledgeable, and when necessary, tough. The main source of bias – and it is a big one – is that the data they had to work with came mostly from pharma-funded studies. Not sure how to combat this, other than to require more post-approval data collection and reporting, to ensure that what is predicted pre-approval is actually seen in the real world.
Thank you for your reply – and you hit the nail right on the head with your comment. My dad is a pharmacist and I know all to well how it works, as does he. There is big money in those drugs (any drugs at this point) and the sales reps visit doctors, feed them what they want doctors to know and then give perks (golf clubs, memberships etc) so that the doctors keep that drug, brand, in mind next time he/she needs to decide on what drug to use to treat a condition.
It’s not that doctors are ignorant and unknowing. They have, at their fingertips, a huge blue book that you’ve likely seen in every doctors office. But it’s timely to look through it and make diagnosis of the best drug to use so they rely heavily on what the pharm reps have told them. This is why pharmacists often have a better understand of the drugs that would best be suited for you, because that is their job 100% and they know their drugs inside out. Back on topic, yes, Big Pharma washes a lot of backs and feeds information so people don’t always get all the information they want, even if they ask for it.
“drugs (any drugs at this point) and the sales reps visit doctors, feed them what they want doctors to know and then give perks (golf clubs, memberships etc) so that the doctors keep that drug, brand, in mind next time he/she needs to decide on what drug to use to treat a condition.”
The “Alternative medicine” industry (and make no mistake, it most certainly IS an industry, with Washington lobbyists and everything) is worth $40 billion dollars per year in America alone. That’s ‘billion’, with a ‘B’.
Oh, and the “alternative medicine” industry has absolutely no oversight at all. None. Nada. Zip.
Now, what was that you were saying about money?
Alternative Medicine Industry – $34 billion a year vs Pharmaceutical Industry – $300 billion (expected to be $400 in next 3 years.)
Big difference in how deep those pockets are. The cost to actually run tests and get FDA’s approval That’s that problem. And there are SO many herbal remedies, how do you test them all? You can’t patent them. Take Elderberry syrup for example. Great for fighting off viruses and you’ll find that in notes by doctors from the early 1900s. (Back before Big Pharma was what it is today.) But you can’t patent Elderberry syrup because it’s just Elderberries boiled with some clove, ginger, cinnamon and add some honey later – done. But if you want it FDA approved with a NPN (Natural Products Number) you need to get it tested. Who is going to pay thousands upon thousands to do that? Especially when you can’t claim the profits to all of it.
Your comments are offensive. If these natural medicines are so powerful, how can you suggest that a patient take them without the advice of a doctor or pharmacist? You just made this huge point about your dad being so overwhelmingly knowledgeable and how you know “all too well” about everything under the sun – you’re a freaking expert. Why then would you recommend that sick people take unregulated “medication.”
I agree that it is powerful, and in the hands of well meaning, but ill advised patients, looking herbs up on google, you can end up with severe cocktails that send people to the ER with their organs shutting down.
Spending money on drug trials does not offend me; keeping the public safe, makes sense to me. Just shrugging my shoulders and saying “who would spend money on that?!” isn’t good enough. Regulation for protection.
Sorry it offended you. Read the book “are your drugs making you sick ” written by a pharmacist. All about how we overdose on regular prescription drugs and how their interactions with each other are often undetected. Why do you need a doctor to prescribe herbal remedies? Master herbalists do 6+ years of education. Are they not educated enough to help a patient out? I’m not saying alternative industry shouldn’t spend money to di tests it’s just that there are sooooo many herbs it would cost too much and no one company could patent that remedy. I don’t advise people to just google and self medicate with any drug natural or otherwise. Especially if taking both types of remedies. I believe in regulation.
The reason the studies are funded by pharma is not some sort of conspiracy or intent toward bias, it is because they are required by law to fund these studies. Vaccines are not big money-makers and have been heavily tested and regulated. Companies could make a lot more money on drugs to treat the very diseases that vaccinations prevent. But they don’t. Because people get vaccinations instead. Unless they are lulled in by “little pharma” where herbs, untested, unsafe, dangerous treatments are for sale and where they become almost a cult for those who start out with sincere concerns and end up thinking the entire world is some huge conspiracy and they can trust no one but their personal little pharma snake oil salesmen.
I am sorry, but as a scientist working in clinical trials involving experimental drugs I can say that that your suggestions regarding manipulation of data are utterly false. The health of the patient is always first and foremost in any clinical trial. I have seen drug studies abandoned after millions of dollars of investment when the drug in question had too many adverse events or did not perform as well as other drugs currently on the market.
Agreed. It’s difficult to discern what’s accurate anymore. A lot of “half truths” out there, too. While I believe vaccinations have been helpful in keeping illnesses at bay, I believe we are over-vaccinating. And there will be a price to pay, if we aren’t seeing it already. While I vaccinate my child, I use an alternative schedule, similar to what Dr. Sears recommends. I do this so that I don’t flood my daughter’s tiny immune system. But I do question, for example, the philosophy of vaccinating newborns against Hep B. Perhaps there is a small population that would be at risk for contracting this from a family member, but I just don’t see why we vaccinate ALL babies for something they would likely never get. Not when we’re already shooting them up with so many other things. Not to mention the chemicals we’re all exposed to, the crap in baby formula, baby food jar lids, etc. etc.
Vaccine injury IS real. I’ve personally seen it happen to my friends’ children. And it’s horrible and more often than not, permanent and terribly debilitating. On top of that, the parents are made out to be whackos by their communities for speaking out against what hurt or in some cases killed their children. That isn’t right, either.
You can always find data, examples, opinions to support both sides. As with so many things, the “truth” lies somewhere in between.
Dr. Sears made up that alternative vaccination off the top of his head with no research or science behind it. But if it makes people feel better and their kids actually do eventually get the vaccinations they need, no real harm done.
The HepB vaccine bothered me as well. Even more bothersome than that vaccine, was the practice of smearing the gel across all babies’ eyes supposedly to prevent them from blindness in case the mother has an STD. Except they do all your bloodwork before labor to see if you have any of those things. If my test results are clean, why are you using the preventative on my child anyway? It seems like the tests were completely unnecessary if the hospital was going to use the same procedure regardless. My baby’s eyes swelled up for hours. If I had known ahead of time they were going to do this despite my clean test results, I would have declined it – knowing that I have terrible skin allergies to chemicals and there was a chance my baby would have that as well. I would like to see data on that particular practice because no one at the hospital wanted to tell me any more about it. They couldn’t answer my questions and could only say, “Well, that’s procedure, we do it to all the babies.” Procedures are made to keep people safe, I understand that. But people shouldn’t think you’re crazy if you are the minority of the population that that is not the safest option for. Kudos to you, Amy, for understanding ‘two sides to every coin’ and ‘balance.’
Yes, Anakalian. As someone who has been there, we all generally go along with the “program”. I LOVED my OBGyn, but asked A LOT of questions about all the shots, tests and even the erythromycin eye ointment at birth. For what it’s worth, I requested they skip the erythromycin. I went along with the HepB, but now regret it. Pertussis and flu were non-negotiable, as it was 2009, the year of the Swine Flu pandemic. I reluctantly took the shots.
The whole “it’s procedure, it’s the way we do things around here” is so unacceptable. If they don’t have a better party line than that, then they shouldn’t be in the business of offering care. It has been my experience that many doctors, nurses, etc don’t like people who ask questions. My feeling is, it’s MY body, MY health, MY kid and I’m really not there to make friends. I’m respectful, but I ask questions. A LOT of questions. And sometimes I have to try out a few different doctors until I find someone who welcomes two-way communication. Try not to let people push you around. When something doesn’t sit right with your mommy intuition, stop and ask until you get enough information to feel confident about your decision-making.
I’d like to see more transparency and education, at least a sharing of the data with parents who are expecting and an opportunity for them to make some decisions prior to the birth–an extension of the birth plan around vaccinations, etc.
A lot of the comments on this thread seem to suggest there are two sides to this matter. But I actually think the majority of parents find themselves somewhere inbetween. It’s not a black and white issue to most of us. Beyond the science, data, etc, there is such a range of emotions–some rational, and some maybe not so rational. And that’s where medicine sort of fails. So many doctors, scientists, researchers are so bogged down in the data, in the “text book cases”, they fail to consider all of the other possibilities.
I would *love* to see more transparency in education!
As a physician, I completely agree with you that medical care and education needs to be a two-way street. Medicine is at its best when patients know about their conditions and treatment options. However, at the same time, patients get the best care when they trust their doctor’s advice. I enjoy educating my patients in whatever ways I can, but it can be frustrating when a patient or a mother won’t listen to what I have to say.
For example, if I recommend a treatment (be it an antibiotic, vaccine, etc.) I am more than happy to answer any questions as to why I’m recommending it. However, if I explain my reasoning and a patient or parent refuses the treatment because of a “bad feeling” or information they’ve received elsewhere, I get frustrated. I spent four years in medical school, three more in post-graduate training, and have a decade of experience and scientific knowledge backing up my recommendation. It is unbelievably insulting to then have my recommendation discarded in favor of something a parent has read on the internet written by someone with no medical background.
In this age of information, patients and parents simply have to remember that their doctor has devoted their entire life to the study and treatment of disease and are specifically trained to be able to treat and recommend treatments. We have to get back to a point where patients trust their doctors to make medical decisions and to answer medical questions that a layperson simply isn’t equipped to understand and decide upon.
The cream you’re referring to was probably erythromycin (although some places still use silver nitrate). You’re right that the cream is meant to prevent blindness in babies exposed to an STD during childbirth. The STDs that typically cause blindness in neonates (chlamydia and gonorrhea) are not detectable by bloodwork. Other illnesses such as HIV and Hepatitis can be checked by bloodwork as can your electrolytes, glucose, etc. Testing for gonorrhea or chlamydia requires a urine sample or a vaginal/cervical swab that then must be analyzed by the lab.
In short, the reason that your baby was prophylactically treated with the cream is because in any given delivery, the medical team won’t know the STD status of the mother. It is safer to go ahead and treat every baby than to wait for results to come back from the STD screen since irreparable damage can have already occurred. Most states mandate that the cream is a required part of neonatal treatment and do not allow parents to opt-out of the treatment since it is mandated by law. It is better to have a few newborns experience some mild eye irritation than have some end up blind.
Thank you! I do wish someone had been able to say this BEFORE hand though. And then not treat me like a moron when I asked why there was gel on my kid’s face and the swelling around her eyes wouldn’t go down. Granted, I went into labor uneducated on that particular topic, but I’m not in the medical field – I didn’t know what to ask in regards to something I didn’t know to do research on. Now I research everything before any visit to a doctor, just to know what my questions *might* be. In the case of my delivery, I remember doing bloodwork and urine tests the week prior because they “needed to screen for STDs before delivery” and then later being told that the procedure was the same regardless of my screens. It seemed inconsistent and pointless. Eyes are nothing to mess with, I’m glad they have a procedure in place to keep children from going blind – my sister is legally blind, it’s nothing to take lightly. But without informing parents of all the details, we spend hours post delivery wondering whether our baby is going to go blind from this mysterious swelling that won’t go away. (Apparently, my kiddo’s reaction to it was a little more intense than the typical irritation – or so the nurses said. But that is consistent with my own skin allergies as well.)
And us professionals who take care of children just give vaccines, ignore all of the terribly debilitating side effects that occur so frequently just to make some money. Because, as a nurse, I make tons of money on every immunization I give and also make a ton of money from caring for the sick children I just made sick (by giving them vaccines). Yes, I love that.. Heartless, ignorant, nurse I am.
I sometimes wonder why I read these blogs. They upset me more than I should allow. I am a nurse in a pediatric department who gives immunizations. TONS OF THEM!!! Why do I give them? Because I have seen children so sick I feared for their life from pertussis, from chicken pox, and meningitis. The parents fear that their child may have measles or mumps… I have talked with nurses who are grateful they do not have to fear a child coming in with Hib meningitis. That time may be coming to an end…. I am NOT a heartless nurse. I am not ignorant.
Yes, vaccine studies are funded by their pharmaceutical company, who else is going to fund them? There is no “vaccine study” fund. It is required that a vaccine be studied in order to get it approved. The government does not cover the expense for that, the company has to. Unless you anti-vaccers want to?!?!
No, physicians do not get paid “the big bucks” for vaccines, neither do nurses, neither do clinic/hospital corporations. Vaccines make very little money for any of them…. They do it to protect their patients. It is hard to believe the anti-vaccine reasoning when they have been proven wrong, It’s hard to overwhelm an infants immune system when the sum of todays vaccines are far less “potent” than a single vaccine did 20 years ago. I find it difficult to say that the toxins in vaccines are cause such detrimental harm on our children, yet those same parents will give their child processed food, or heaven forbid BREASTMILK (BTW, I’m a lactation counselor and very much FOR breastfeeding). But guess what, breast milk has many of the vary same toxins (aluminum, mercury, etc) at higher levels than the toxic vaccines I inject…..
So thank you for trusting me with your child…. I wonder, how do you even trust the medical professionals???? UGH! So frustrating and degrading…
no need to read your diatribe if you can’t even be bothered to provide your sources.
I’m not saying don’t vaccinate but there are risks and my son developed ITP after his MMR. I still vaccinate but use different options such as the Titers test and only get those shots he’s not already immune to.
Hi Chris, interesting comment, can you please tell me more about the Titers test? And does this mean you delayed your son’s vaccination? i.e Here in New Zealand, we start vaccinations at 6 weeks old, even if your baby is being breastfed. I’m interested to know your thoughts. Cheers.
A “titer test” is just a test done to see if there are an adequate amount of antibodies in your blood in order for you to be considered immune to a certain infection. The only way your body will have antibodies to the specific disease is if you either have a history of the infection, or you were vaccinated for that disease. For example, an adult who had chicken pox as a child would have enough antibodies to give that person immunity to the varicella virus. The same is true for an adult who received the varicella vaccine as a kid. A person who was exposed to someone infected with varicella but did not develop chicken pox may have antibodies to it in their blood, but not to a high enough degree to dictate immunity to varicella zoster.
That’s exactly the kind of thing that makes me think science is so cool! Thank you for discussing the titer test, I was uninformed.
Thanks for the info Jake. As far as I know this test is not available where I live.
This I agree with. Vaccines are necessary and save lives but they are not 100% safe or effective. Everyone’s immune system is unique and will respond differently to a vaccine, so why do all children automatically get put on the same vaccination schedule?. Titers are the safest way to reduce the number of vaccines a child gets. Why give anything to your child that could have a side effect if they don’t need it?
You know what’s sad? It’s easier for me to titer my dog than it is for me to titer my kid! The vets all seem fairly familiar and okay with it, even the non-holistic ones. But the pediatricians all look at me cross eyed when I ask about it. It’s not even offered at ours and I live smack dab in the middle of the Bay Area/Silicon Valley. Boggles my mind.
I wish I had had a titer test done for my dog – if I’m understanding how it works. My dog is of the small percentage of animals that actually contract parvo from the parvo vaccine. Parvo is a big deal around here and a terrible, terrible disease for dogs – so deadly. If your dog goes outside at all, or comes into any contact with strays, it is likely to need the vaccine. But my dog got parvo from the vaccine, and so did half of her puppies. We were able to save her, but later did not spend the money to save the pups that contracted the disease from their puppy shots. (Fighting parvo is about a $1500 vet bill.) Anyway. This is kind of a side rant that has very little to do with the conversation. But I’m enjoying your comments, Amy.
Reblogged this on Dragon Deliberations.
Love. Love. Love this. Get your children vaccinated. For goodness sake! Enough is enough. Thank you for posting this. Absolutely LOVE this! #Reblogging #SharingOnFBTwitter
Reblogged this on Love, Life & Lemonade and commented:
Love. Love. Love this. Get your children vaccinated. For goodness sake! Enough is enough. Absolutely LOVE this post! #Reblogging
Reblogged this on F.E. Feeley Jr. and commented:
With the recent outbreaks of Mumps and Measles, this should be required reading for mothers in hospitals. GET YOUR KIDS VACCINATED!!
Just an FYI, the majority of the people involved with several of the recent measles outbreaks WERE in fact vaccinated. This is also occuring in some the pertussis outbreaks and I have a good friend whose three sons came down with chicken pox, even though they were fully vaccinated.
Here’s a little info from a public health abstract regarding one of the recent measles outbreaks:
An outbreak of measles occurred in a high school with a documented vaccination level of 98 per cent. Nineteen (70 per cent) of the cases were students who had histories of measles vaccination at 12 months of age or older and are therefore considered vaccine failures. Persons who were unimmunized or immunized at less than 12 months of age had substantially higher attack rates compared to those immunized on or after 12 months of age. Vaccine failures among apparently adequately vaccinated individuals were sources of infection for at least 48 per cent of the cases in the outbreak. There was no evidence to suggest that waning immunity was a contributing factor among the vaccine failures. Close contact with cases of measles in the high school, source or provider of vaccine, sharing common activities or classes with cases, and verification of the vaccination history were not significant risk factors in the outbreak. The outbreak subsided spontaneously after four generations of illness in the school and demonstrates that when measles is introduced in a highly vaccinated population, vaccine failures may play some role in transmission but that such transmission is not usually sustained.
Yes. This. Thank you! This is an overwhelmingly supportive argument on why it is SO vitally important to vaccinate as many children as possible. This is what herd immunity prevents because there have been and will continue to be children who have in fact been vaccinated, but because vaccines for some are not 100% effective for various reasons, they still contract the disease. Also, can you post the link to this article? I’d love to keep this.
This article is a lesson in futility. You’re trying to persuade the anti-vax morons with facts and evidence. The whole reason they’re anti vax in the first place is because they are idiots who don’t believe in facts or evidence, unless of course those facts/evidence have been proven beyond any shadow of a doubt to have been completely fabricated by a corrupt former doctor for personal gain, they believe those facts 100%. You might as well try and explain evolution to a creationist.
You are a perfect example of someone who cant let others be entitled to there own feelings and opinions. Who are you to say that someone is a moron because they don’t believe in what you believe???
You’re talking about beliefs, I’m talking about facts, that’s the difference. When someone’s “belief” can and HAS resulted in the easily preventable death of innocent children, they’re a moron, plain and simple.
I love how you refer to the science of immunisation as fact. It just shows how much you’re willing to “believe” yourself. Science is an ever-changing game. We’re just starting to realize some of the long term side effects of many of our own creations, and you have the audacity to tell someone what they should be doing with their life because you can link to a bunch of articles on the internet. Ever see the movie 1984? Immunizations are a guessing game at best. Studies are bought and sold on a regular basis. Peer-reviewed means very little. You can take your science (that changes on a regular basis as it is far from complete) and keep poisoning yourself if you choose to. I however, do not.
I agree with you. There have been so many times that I’ve gone to the doctor, and despite all my explanations of how my body is telling me something, the doctor simply refuses to believe or understand me. I’ve learned that my health is up to me, only. Whatever I feel is right for me, is right for me. I personally think that putting external diseases directly into my bloodstream is bad for me, and bad for my kids. No study in the world will convince me because there are so many ways to interpret them.
I won’t call anyone a moron for putting things into their bodies, so why do that to me?
Because it threatens their sense of pride. It also gives them something to look down on other people for. Some people just need a reason to judge others.
A reason…like endangering my baby (who can’t be vaccinated yet) or my sister (with leukemia).
That kind of reason?
Lol, you think vaccines are poison? Your basis for the argument is the movie “1984”…. I feel like you have never been to a third world country. “It may surprise you to learn that over 50,000 adults die each year of diseases that are potentially vaccine preventable,” NFID president-elect William Schaffner, MD
I never said they were poison, but I believe they are not what we think they are. We have only gotten one side of the story – the corrupt, profit driven side.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/technology/Blinded+scientific+gobbledygook/9757736/story.html
“The good thing about science is that it’s true whether or not you believe in it.”
― Neil deGrasse Tyson
I’ll stick to believing science, you can stick to believing playboy playmates and disgraced doctors who are shills for slimy lawyers.
Oh, now that’s comedy! Science has become the new “God” and you seem to be one if it’s unyielding zealots.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/technology/Blinded+scientific+gobbledygook/9757736/story.html
I’ll believe the people I’ve seen have their lives changed because of damage done by vaccines.
I’m curious. How many people injured/maimed/killed by vaccine-preventable disease would you need to see to convince you otherwise? You must have a number in mind, right?
Is it the same # you’ve met who claim vaccine-injury, or would it be 2x more, 4x more, or 10,000x more?
Then I suppose we need to identify how you would know when someone was injured by vaccine-preventable illness, and how you would know if they are mistaken about that. How would you figure that out?
1984 is a book
Science is ever-changing, but “little pharma” and “anti vax” never changes. No evidence or study or research makes the slightest bit of difference. 30 studies in 5 countries: The incidence of autism in vaccinated vs non-vaccinated populations was the same. Science says, “Okay, that means something.” Anti-science says, “Nah. nothing will change our minds ever but we’ll be loud enough so that more funding that could be used to find a cure will be wasted on attempting to prove what has already been proven”
Spending money trying to find a cure is more irresponsible than trying to find out if we are actually causing the problem with vaccines. Chicken and egg. The only difference is that we know vaccines came before the problems started.
actually we do not know that vaccines came first. Both are fairly recent. Autism as a diagnosis, and vaccines as preventative medicine. Since the onset of the new “disease/illness” of autism we have increased the range, and types of behavior that defines it. During this same time line we have increased the amount of vaccines. This is correlation, to a causative link. during this same time line we’ve seen a increase use of petroleum, and computers.
no current accepted scientific study makes a causative, while dozens (over 100) fail to find any link.
“No current accepted study…” – you say “dozens” like they weren’t funded by the very people who sell them. Researchers, doctors and the rest of the world are waking up to the depth of corruption that exists in the realm of peer reviewed science. Science may be real and infallible, but research and studies are more art than science.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/technology/Blinded+scientific+gobbledygook/9757736/story.html
And here the medical community produces a scathing report on the conflic of interesst that exists: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22375842
There are more than 1.5 million results when you search for conflicts of interest in regards to vaccines.
And second, the vaccines DID come first. Autism, peanut and other food allergies, etc all showed up after vaccines hit the scene big time. And you’d think that if they were so good for us, big pharma wouldn’t have hid the ingredients that appear to be causing these issues – like peanut oil. Hit your immune system with a dose of measles vaccine with some peanut oil based carrier fluid and it makes complete sense that your body would start to make confusing autoimmune reactions – like a peanut allergy. Sadly, there are no studies about this, and as soon as accusations started flying, the FDA removed the requirement to disclose these ingredients. If they are acting in our best interest, why did they have to hide it?
My point? That someone has all the reason in the world to not want to use vaccinations, and should be able to do it without other people telling them they are being stupid when indeed they are being wise.
You really think that Autism is a new illness that has only arisen since the advent of vaccines? If this is truly the case then nothing anyone says will ever sway you. However there really are very few new illnesses, or disease processes that effect us. What we have is a better understanding of the human body than ever before, and a longer life span, which allows us to identify illnesses and diseases that we never accounted for in the past.
We blame our fatty foods, and chemicals for so much of what we suffer from, including heart disease. Yet recently they found evidence of Atherosclerosis in an Egyptian mummy. So a disease process that we have only recently (relatively) discovered, but also happens to be found in a mummy from 4000 years ago.
It’s a correlation, which seems to matter more to some people, but is it really that difficult to think that Autism existed, but was unable to be diagnosed prior to the 1900’s?
we know vaccinations work, because time after time we introduce them to a new location and the disease they work against begins to disappear. for example, Polio in India. Contrasted with measles in Vietnam. In case you are unaware there have been over 100 deaths to measles, and measles complications. Lack of vaccinations is listed as one of the primary causes. https://www.google.com/search?q=measles+outbreak+in+vietnam&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS583US583&oq=veitnam+measles&aqs=chrome.3.69i57j0l3.9304j0j7&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8
I work as a paramedic, I understand all too well the issues parents face when deciding to vaccinate or not. And there is no more helpless feeling than walking into someones home to vainly, and feverishly work against death for a child who is dying from a preventable disease. I would never tell a parent, “why the hell didn’t you get the flu whooping cough shots”. I’m not that callous. However at the end of the day, for that parent whose choice to not vaccinate came home to roost, the remote chance (per the anti-vaccination crowd) that their child would die, just became 100%. And the worse part, is that not only was it preventable, but there are other kids out there fighting the same fight, when they don’t have too.
Risks vs rewards. It’s a huge part of medicine, and yes it sucks for tiny percentage who suffer a negative consequence to it. For the vast majority though it works, and works well.
Or we could all go back to our organic ancestors life style, and die in job lots from multiple diseases, and have a live span roughly 2/3 of our today’s.
Indeed, sir. Welcome to the “Science is the NEW God” movement. Just as crazy as all previous religious zealots but even more dangerous because they actually believe everything they say is fact rather than faith.
Exactly. And peer reviewed science is so corrupt it isn’t even funny anymore. Anyone can have any study they like published. Poor researchers have their hands tied by the companies that are funding them. You don’t produce what they like, then you don’t get work.
If you have a belief that gravity doesn’t apply to you and that you can fly from the top of a 10 story building, don’t I have a reasonable moral obligation to intercede, should you try and test that belief? Remember, gravity is only a theory of science too.
Excellent point. Perhaps this individual does have the right to test their gravitational faith upon themselves, but if they pitch their kid off the building, it’s murder regardless of their beliefs. Similarly, if you refuse to vaccinate and your child dies or infects another who dies, you should be convicted of murder.
Using that logic, should the doctor who administers a vaccine that a child has a reaction to, or actually contracts the disease from, be convicted for murder as well? That’s extreme. Science is a tool. Vaccines are amazing tools. But a parent’s right to protect their children, utilize vaccinations as needed, and keep their children healthy to the best they know how – is still a parent’s right – or should be. My daughter has had some vaccinations and we have declined others. The vaccinations she has had have previously made her quite ill, still there are some I plan to get because of the immediate risks of the area we live in. What I find interesting about this whole argument is how many doctors will tell you outside the office that a delayed schedule is recommended. I know family physicians who delay the vaccinations of their own families. I find it interesting that some healthcare professionals will tell you there are unnecessary built in boosters. I also know physicians who would argue NOT to skip any. Because ultimately everyone – even the scientists – have slightly differing views (and world views) concerning this matter. I personally find it interesting that you’re going to judge parents who refuse to have a healthy breastfed infant be made ill for the sake of a vaccination schedule, when they are getting immunities from their mother, are not being institutionalized in any day care, and can just as safely get those shots later. People keep putting the vaccine argument in black and white – and it’s not. Science is amazing. It should be used as a tool. It makes sense for some people to get the full regimen. It makes sense for some people not to. A parent’s understanding of their child, their child’s body, and a knowledgeable assessment of their lifestyle is also pretty amazing. Not everyone who does not get vaccinated are morons. Not everyone who does are morons. Educate yourself, make a decision for your family, and let everyone else be.
Actually gravity is widely considered a law of science, not theory. It is the cause or source of gravity that is still theorized.
You have just shown your ignorance.
From wikipedia:
A scientific theory is a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world that is acquired through the scientific method, and repeatedly confirmed through observation and experimentation.[1][2] As with most (if not all) forms of scientific knowledge, scientific theories are inductive — that is, they seek to supply strong evidence for but not absolute proof of the truth of the conclusion—and they aim for predictive and explanatory force.[3][4]
———————-
From the same article:
Both scientific laws and scientific theories are produced from the scientific method through the formation and testing of hypotheses, and can predict the behavior of the natural world. Both are typically well-supported by observations and/or experimental evidence.[23] However, scientific laws are descriptive accounts of how nature will behave under certain conditions.[24] Scientific theories are broader in scope, and give overarching explanations of how nature works and why it exhibits certain characteristics. Theories are supported by evidence from many different sources, and may contain one or several laws.[25]
A common misconception is that scientific theories are rudimentary ideas that will eventually graduate into scientific laws when enough data and evidence has been accumulated. A theory does not change into a scientific law with the accumulation of new or better evidence. A theory will always remain a theory; a law will always remain a law.[23][26]A theory is valid as long as there is no evidence to dispute it. Therefore, theories can be disproven.[27]
Theories and laws are also distinct from hypotheses. Unlike hypotheses, theories and laws may be simply referred to as scientific fact.[28][29]
How about because only an idiot would subject their child to a preventable disease
There are FACTS not antivax nonsense. We have erradicated horrible diseases such as smallpox and polio, in this country and many others due to one reason only and that is VACCINATING kids. There is no proof that vaccines cause harm and every proof that they prevent our kids and ourselves from contracting horrible diseases. Antivaxers are morons because they don’t have the least understanding of how vaccines work. That’s shameful. And it endangers those of us who legitimately cannot get the vaccines such as pregnant mothers or those who are really allegic to the ingredients found in vaccines such as eggs or actually have a rare but very bad reaction to a vaccine as a dear friend’s son had once.
If you believe the antivax crap then you don’t don’t understand how vaccines work. Too many people claim a problem is a result of a vaccine when it was random with no relation. For instance, if I get a vaccine then go outside and do yardwork and get a rash I could cal the hotline and report it as due to the vaccine. It wasn’t because it happens I got into some poison ivy but tthe incident gets written up as being a vaccine related issue. A large number of such reports are not related to vaccines, like the many ridiculous reports of HPV vaccines causing problems are. There is no real proof but anti-vaxers cannot understand that. And please, stop with the ridiculous conspiracy theories – it’s nonesne and just an excuse to not do the responsible thing and GET YOUR KIDS VACCINATED! Before there was a polio vaccine many people, even young children died or were permanently crippled, even consigned to life inside an iron lung, a horrible prospect. No responsible parent would ever risk that.
Because there is scientific proof. Just because someone feels entitled to believe the exact opposite of what is true doesn’t make it okay. It makes them dangerous. They are endangering their children as well as other children.
Well, I would say the target audience here isn’t the hardcore antivaxxers. It’s more the parents who are currently on the fence with regards to vaccines. There are always folks who aren’t sure, who’ve seen the evidence but who don’t have the means to verify which stories are reliable and which aren’t. This kind of post helps greatly with that.
(it’s the same with creationism, of course – we really shouldn’t judge our efforts to be in vain just because we can’t convert the True Believers. If we can get some people off of the fence and onto our side, that’s a good thing!)
What facts were there all I read was because because because. You really don’t think everyone would love to protect their kids with vaccines? If so you are an idiot. We have all seen too many side effects and would prefer to take our chances building our little ones immune systems, as nature intended. Your vaccines aren’t safe.
Judy. Take your kid to Africa unvaccinated to “build it’s immune system” btw 5,000 people have died world wide from diphtheria alone. Only one of those deaths was in America: the most vaccinated country in America. Please tell me you believe it’s because of our “highly developed” immune systems.
Oh snap!
Yes, please bring your unvaccinated kid around my immunocompromised kid. If more people cared about other the world would be a better place…..s
Thank you. I feel the same way with my immuno-compromised kidlet. If you choose not to vaccinate your child, at least keep them away from mine to whom these diseases are not a joke. I support their right to make decisions for their children, but don’t pretend you know the right one for mine.
uggghhhhh…WHY would you prefer to “take our chances”? Seriously. Your choices are:
1) No vaccination, which means guaranteed no “side effects,” but a very real chance of developing a life-treatening disease.
2) Vaccination, and a very real chance of minor side effects (e.g. swelling/pain for a day), a negligible chance of a more serious side effect that is NOT life-threatening, and virtually no chance of developing the life-threatening disease.
You take a chance either way. The safe, less risky chance to take is the vaccination route. Why is this so hard to understand?!
Hello, Just jumping into the debate here. In third world countries I believe it is necessary to vaccinate children…they have no other means to defend themselves as we do. Very poor diets, parasites & low hygine. In the West we do have many means to build the strength of our children and there immune systems up. The main point here is you cant do nothing. If you concienciously choose not to immunise you need to do something ie: have a good naturopath to walk you through the diseses when they get sick, perhaps homeopathically immunise, be very knowlagable on these illnesses & have a great deal of knowledge up your sleave in regards to diet etc.
Over in the eastern states its possible to immunise your child at a slower rate but more offten supporting there liver with homeopathics either side of shot. Many choose this option trying to find the best middle ground. Here in Western Australia the only shot available has 24 differnt strains in one hit which limits people trying to make the right choice.
Judy – I am concerned that you may not understand hyperlinks. Click the blue words in the article for the author’s support.
Best comment of the day Captain!
I completely disagree with this article. I think the thing that bothers me the most in regards to this topic is that every parent has a right to choose what they do for there child and because some don’t vaccinate and some do means people have a difference of opinion BUT it doesn’t mean one is right and one is wrong, it means people disagree and that is ok!!!! When it becomes NOT OK is when people try to push there views on others and start calling people names because they choose something different and that is just plain bullshit! To each there own….Also if people who vaccinate are so convinced that vaccines work why do they care that others don’t??? If your child is “supposedly” protected then you shouldn’t worry about those around that aren’t should you??
When one opinion can and has resulted in the easily preventable deaths of children, it’s the wrong one.
You clearly didn’t read the article. The author states why it is important for all children to get vaccinated and not rely on herd immunity.
There are immunocomprimised children (cancer patients for example) that are unable to take vaccines. Those are the lives at risk due to those that refuse to vaccinate. These diseases were almost once irradicated and are now making a come back.
To each their own is right. But would you be able to live with yourself if your child contracted a deadly disease that could be prevented? If so, then feel free to continue not vaccinating.
I agree. My child is immunocompromised due to needed medications. She was vaccinated as a child for varicella. However, she is the rare person who didnt develop immunity. So, yes, all you hippies please dont vaccinate your child and put mine at risk. This is a very selfish world afterall…….
Just because they are vaccinated doesn’t mean they WONT get it. .. they are LESS likely to get it… but we wouldn’t have to worry about our kids being around other kids if people would vaccinate their kids!!
It becomes NOT OK when a child is vaccinated but has a low natural immune system, and your non-vaccinated child brings measles or ckn pox to the school, infecting others! If you aren’t going to vaccinate, you should be allowed in schools, day cares, etc.
You are part of the problem! It’s a nice idea that you can choose not to vaccinate, and I can choose to vaccinate, and it can all be ok and we can hold hands and sing happy songs. The problem is herd immunity. We depend on herd immunity to keep us safe. People who are immune compromised: cancer patients, Lupus, Multiple Sclerosis, etc do not hold titres properly. Many PREVENTABLE childhood diseases are DEADLY to these individuals. When your choice to not vaccinate your disease carrying child can cause my death, then yeah I have a problem with it, and yes I have the right to have a say in it too.
Before you can make this arrogant statement, I really hope that are up to date with ALL your boosters. The CDC came out with a report in February that Adult vaccination rates are DRASTICALLY LOW. The adults are just as responsible for the herd. Vaccines are amazing, but what drives me crazy among my provax colleagues is that most are not even following their own advice, Only 14.2% of adults are up to date with Tdap!
In 2012, only 64.2 percent of adults were up-to-date with their tetanus shots, and only 20 percent of adults at high risk for pneumonia had received the pneumococcal vaccine. Additionally, a mere 14.2 percent of adults had received the Tdap vaccination, which protects against tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis – also known as whooping cough.
Hepatitis A vaccination coverage was even lower, with only 12.2 percent of adults between the ages of 19 and 49 receiving immunization. Fortunately, vaccination for the human papilloma virus (HPV) increased from 29.5 percent in 2011 to 34.5 percent in 2012, and 20.1 percent of adults received the shingles-fighting herpes zoster vaccine in 2012 – up from 15.8 percent in 2011.
Given the report’s findings, CDC officials are urging American adults to get vaccinated, in order to reduce the spread of preventable diseases to the elderly and children.
Furthermore, many health experts believe that poor adherence to vaccination schedules may be to blame for the recent rise in vaccine-preventable diseases in the U.S. In 2012, 48,277 cases of whooping cough were reported by the CDC – the highest number of cases reported in the United States since 1955.
“Vaccination coverage levels among adults are low,” the CDC researchers wrote. “Improvement in adult vaccination is needed to reduce the health consequences of vaccine-preventable diseases among adults and to prevent pertussis morbidity and mortality in infants, who need the protection afforded by the Tdap vaccination during pregnancy recommendation.”
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2014/02/07/cdc-adult-vaccination-rates-are-drastically-low/
This is one of the most reasonable comments of the day. Thank you for this information.
Uh, I don’t think you actually read the article from the points you’re making and the question you asked. The answer is stated very clearly as to why you should care if other children aren’t vaccinated even though your child is. So what exactly are you disagreeing with? Maybe read it first.
This article is perfect proof of what type of person doesn’t vaccinate. If you are going to respond like this proof read before posting.
So, I guess you won’t judge me or mind when I tell my child he can hang out with your kid when he’s sick, and I tell him never to bother washing his hands, and I don’t teach him proper hygiene in terms of using the potty so he usually ends up getting poop on the seat and on his hands? It’s my parenting decision, afterall! What do you care? Your child is protected — your child washes his/her hands, so s/he won’t get sick.
no because as people have said MULTIPLE times on here, if a child is immunosuppressed due to cancer, receiving an organ transplant, or having an autoimmune condition, etc, they CANNOT make antibodies to diseases so even if they get a vaccination, they will not have protection against that illness. That’s why herd immunity is so important.
I believe Katherine was being sarcastic.
Look into the face of a mother that has lost their four week old baby to whooping cough because you didn’t vaccinate your child and her child was too young to receive and tell me again how your decision only affects your child.
exactly.
It becomes not ok when people start getting sick and dying. I’m pretty sure that has started. Soooo it’s not ok anymore. When was the last time you heard of a REAL epidemic in the US? Not in your lifetime? Vaccines are the reason for that. Go get yoself an edumication.
there is a reason why my workplace will not allow me to work with paediatrics or newborns if my vaccinations are not up to date…..if I am not vaccinated I am putting them at risk. Its quite simple really. It is a term of my employment, which I totally understand
Herd immunity. That’s why.
I assume you also believe parents have the right to have their children wear seat belts or not? You also totally missed the point that your unvaccinated child can infect your neighbor’s baby (too young for whooping cough vaccine) and the baby could die of that. And those who have compromised immune systems, for example a child undergoing chemotheraphy can catch that disease from your unvaccinated child. It is unwise and unkind to risk your own child’s health but you are also risking the lives of others around you, and apparently you don’t even know that or take it into consideration.
Once upon a time, our kids were not allowed to go to school without their immunizations. Terrible diseases like polio and small pox went away. I grew up in the ’50’s and 60’s. I still remember the newspaper stories of polio and the iron lungs that barely kept some polio victims alive with little quality of life at all.
I heard the stories of my own father (a small pox survivor before I was born). How that when he was younger and caught the deadly disease, his family moved him to an empty granary and set it up with a wood stove in the dead of an Idaho winter. We are talking -20 to -30 degrees F here. They brought him food, water and wood for a fire and placed it at the door. He had to get up care for himself and nurse himself back to health in those cold winter conditions. Because the disease was so contagious, that they had to assure that it not spread by quarantining him to that granary. He had to build his own fires and cook his own food over that wood stove while ill with small pox. He could not come out of the granary until the doctor lifted the quarantine.
Now, parents seem to think we need to go back to those days when deadly diseases were king. It is like the daycare employee who works in a preschool where parents refuse to take their children to see a doctor even though their kid has been coughing up a lung for months. Meanwhile, other kids of responsible parents who take their children to the doctor have been infected and re-infected etc., because of some who will not take the time or spend the money to get their own children treated. Other children become susceptible to such diseases as pink eye, when some parents do not take their own children to the doctor when they need to go.
The same scenario applies when parents do not get their children immunized. When I grew up, there was not one of my classmates that contracted any of the old deadly diseases because we were all immunized. At school they gave us those immunizations that left funny looking scars on our arms. We stood in line and got the shots, and we ate the sugar cubes. No one got small pox. None of us were quarantined to a granary. No one got polio. None of us had to spend the rest of our lives in an iron lung. The iron lung simply went away.
Now, it seems that some would have us return to those days when diseases like polio, small pox, and tuberculosis tolled so many lives. But this time around, the toll would be quite unnecessary. Believe me. These diseases are not a good thing to return to. It makes about as much sense as bringing back the bubonic plague.
Thank you. Common sense seems to be passing away with a wiser, older generation. We all should talk to someone who has lived long enough to know the “why” in what we do.
There aren’t any facts or statistics in this article! All it does is try to scare you into thinking you HAVE to get your children vaccinated. Give me facts, give me actual documents, studies, numbers and statistics showing the safety of vaccines. I want to be educated on the subject. But using fear tactics to scare people into believing your opinion is not professional and definitely does not make me believe you. Sorry, but give me actual facts, don’t just say “2 million children died from not being vaccinated” give me link to the study that was done to prove that. Don’t just say “a regular vaccine schedule is safe for all children” show me the proof that it is.
Your an idiot!! Reactions to any vaccine is like 1 in a million. There is always a reaction to anything for different people!! Why would you not want to protect your kids from deadly diseases?? You prob. Weren’t vaccinated and since your ok your kids will be too. It’s a shame something awful has to happen to people like you in order to believe it!
No your the idiot. For some reason the pro vaccine group seem to think that we who have decided not to are idiots, however, have you heard that its typically the affluent areas, hence higher educated areas that aren’t vaccinating. We talk we listen we share stories and guess what I know a lot of children who have had vaccine reactions. Most of whom the doctors refused to report as a vaccines reaction. Builds up a sense of confidence. NOT
Judy – “We talk we listen we share stories”. I’m surprised you can even understand each other in that echo chamber you’ve created. Your stories are just that: stories. Epidemiologists, statisticians, doctors, and other scientists make conclusions based on analysis of data and the pool of evidence that results from that process. However, I believe we’ve learned a lesson from all of that work done by those investigators: there are certain people within any population who will not respond to any amount of evidence, dismissing all of it as just another part of some vast, poorly defined conspiracy. We’ve also learned that science education in many parts of this country is piss poor, but I think we already knew that.
and for god sakes if you’re going to call someone an idiot and talk about how educated your community is learn the difference between “your and “you’re”.
Judy, I dont mean to be harsh, but you are the idiot. My child is immunocompromised. Your child puts my child at risk. While I support an individuals right to not vaccinate, with that comes responsibility and consequences. I dont think unvaccinated kids should be allowed in public schools….
My child died from vaccines at 4 months old. 30 hours after shots. This happens more than people see or hear and it’s kept quite for a reason. We sued the vaccine company and won. You wouldn’t be saying this of it was your child. J/S
yeah…don’t believe you
Sorry to hear about your loss.
Thank you for sharing.
I’m sorry for your loss. A number of people have claimed here, I think inaccurately, that it’s impossible to sue the vaccine companies because the law prohibits such suits. Would you share some more about your experience with us?
You’re**** both idiots.
You know that every spot in the article that is blue is a hyperlink to evidence that backs up the claim right?
Both of those things you ask for are linked to in the post. However, I will guess that you don’t have a subscription to any of Elsevier’s journals (I don’t blame you, they’re rather expensive). I can read the article, since I’m on a university campus and we have a subscription. However, looking at the text of the Bonnani (1999) article (where the “2 million deaths, 3 million lives saved” statistic comes from) shows me that that statistic is originally from the World Health Organization’s 1997 report, which is freely available! So, here you go: http://www.who.int/whr/1997/en/
The article regarding the vaccine schedule looks to me like it’s freely available. It’s also right there in the body of the original post.
Would that be that same World Health Organisation that put HCG in the tetanus shot and told women in 3rd world countries between the ages of 12 and 49 that they needed to get 3 shots that year. Look it up pretty easy to find if you know what your looking for. Just type in population control and world health organisation. That one was brushed under the carpet. Leads to me not having any faith in the WHO.
After every statement, there is a link to the study or publication that is the source of the information. You do have to go read it yourself though, which might be hard.
You do realize that the links are there in the blog post to all of the sources. You just have to be smart enough to click on that blue part of the text…
Apparently you didn’t read closely. Everything in blue is a link to an article with evidence and facts. The writer also states this towards the end of the article. Please read thoroughly before commenting, otherwise, your points are irrelevant and serve to make you appear uninformed.
Were you dropped on your head as a child? This article is full of nothing but facts and statistics all of which are sourced. Just because you don’t believe something, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
There are enough links for you to educate yourself which is basically what this article is urging people to do about vaccines.
Maybe your internet isn’t working. On my page, after each of the statements, there was a little link indicated by a change in text color to a study or article on the topic. If the article didn’t provide stats, it referenced peer-reviewed papers that did. Maybe the links weren’t showing up on your computer?
I would invite you to read The Great Influenza by John M. Berry. It is a book about the rise of the medical community in the late 1800’s through early 1900’s and it’s response to the Influenza outbreak of 1918. I hope you take the chance to read it and enjoy the book.
That sounds amazing! I’ll go check that book out, it sounds fascinating. Thank you for the recommendation.
Give me proof that it isn’t lol. I encourage you to please use facts and statistics. The in-text links and other replies should be adequate.
I hope the irony that so many of the anti-vaccine arguments rely so heavily on fear tactics is not lost here.
Anonymous – the author has linked to the evidence you requested. Click on the blue words.
#Totally True
http://www.getoptimistic.wordpress.com
Big pHARMa creates lifetime customers, not cures. The vaccine manufactures cannot be sued or held responsible for any injury or death that occurs while using their product. A little suspicious, don’t you think? Just something to think about.
Reblogged this on Ramblings By Kelly and commented:
This was very well written and needs to be read. Whatever your personal beliefs are about vaccines…you need to read this…
As one scientist to another- thank you! and I have to add a Bravo!
This is not a science based post; but it is a historical post. I’m 51 years old and have been given a story from my mother and grandmother of a brother who died of whooping cough, as the mother and doctor’s efforts were futile.This was not an uncommon story. My mother told of the sterilization of a young boy suffering from the Mumps. Parents today are not familiar with the stories of children suddenly paralyzed by Polio. Another story is the story of my grandfather’s family being brought food to the inside of the door as the one woman in the community who would bring the food was afraid of being exposed to the deadly flu of 1918. I myself was hospitalized as a one year old due to dehydration secondary to Chicken Pox. The physician stayed overnight with us. My mother tells of the suffering that I endured and how difficult it was for her to see my agony. This scenario would have been prevented today since my six year old brother would have been vaccinated. Unfortunately and fortunately parents have no personal experience or knowledge of the majority of these illnesses and their severity. I have read many articles and I understand the concerns and fears. However, diseases change quickly and become more difficult to treat. Why risk the health of not just your children, but other children as well.
If you are interested in following our Immunization initiative, please join our FB group, it is a place where you can obtain current information on measles, read personal stories of families in need of HERD IMMUNITY, and help us brainstorm ways to underscore the importance of vaccinating their children. You can also follow Riley’s story as it gains momentum throughout the country!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/429730813797160/
I havent had time to go through all the comments but I would like to say that although I do allow my children to get all the shots that I’m sure have been tested and proven to work on my aboriginal ancestors I refuse them to get any that are new e.g HPV,…one of the nurses in our area knows that they have specific vaccines specifically for use on aboriginals. Canada has a past that is now being unveiled where aboriginals have been used as guinea pigs for Doctors and I can only assume drug companies. I’m sure we all owe our wonderful health and proven to work vaccines today on those our government didnt care to protect yesterday and I’m certain they were not only aboriginals.
Lisa, I don’t question the history of Aboriginal abuse by the government and perhaps even medical professionals. This issue seems distinct from your refusal to vaccinate your kids unless proven effective for Aboriginals, though. Has it been shown that some are not? (Just wondering, not criticizing). How will the effectiveness be shown? Are there specific studies? It seems like someone has to rely on the effectiveness shown for the general population and take the vaccine or the Aboriginal community will never know.
EXP: The Antidote for H1N1 virus were both patented by Baxter International… The Antidote for the virus was patented first… Germ Warfare in our society is real and its a huge economy! PPL need to take their head out from sand of mass brainwashing! Learn how to build up their immune system…!!!! Pls… Look up a man named ” Walter E Boomer ” then start connecting the dots! And this is but one example!
This is the first time I have ever commented on an article like this, but in honor of Autism Awareness Month I think it’s time I at least share my side and say something. Vaccines can absolutely 100% be harmful to your child, especially the MMR. The people who say that there have been studies that prove vaccines are safe haven’t look at both sides because there are countless studies that prove that there is a direct link to the MMR vaccination and Autism as well. I’m a believer because I am one of the millions of family members who have witnessed a loved one develop Autism literally overnight. My younger brother was walking, talking, eating all kinds of foods, and developing just like any 2 year old would until he got the MMR vaccination, and the effects were apparent the very next day. His whole life was taken from him that day because the nurse who gave it to him said was perfectly fine.
Now, I don’t think there should be an all vaccines or no vaccines way of thinking about this whole debate because of course there are vaccines and preventative measures that should be taken for certain things. As parents, we just need to be aware off ALL sides of the story and follow your gut before giving your child a scheduled vaccine. It’s okay to say no and its certainly okay to modify your child’s vaccine schedule based on what you are comfortable with and what you think is necessary.
The bottom line: This vaccine debate is not black and white and it shouldn’t be all vaccines or no vaccines. Just be smart and educate yourself on the details of all vaccines and ALL the different studies and views.
I am sorry to hear about your brother. However, the article discusses and provides links to peer reviewed scientific studies which show no correlation between vaccines and autism. Please reference these “numerous articles” that “prove” that autism is caused by MMR.
Once again… the doctor who released a study linking autism to vaccines had his information debunked and his medical license revoked.
I understand that autism can and is devastating for the individual and families, however we need to support research into what is actually causing it (new study suggests it could develop in utero http://
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/274655.php).
Article links, please!
Also, some autism researchers have demonstrated that it is around age 2 (maybe this is why MMR is held accountable?) that autism symptoms often develop, sometimes quite rapidly. So…sometimes that can happen just after vaccination or sometimes not. Correlation is not the same as causation, and even the correlational studies that actually investigate many children now show that there is NOT a correlation. I’m so sorry about your brother, but the coincidence of those two events doesn’t prove anything.
“Correlation is not the same as causation.” – The same exact statement can be said about vaccines having anything at all to do with the reduction of infectious disease. Vaccines DO INJURE people. Lots of people. You are too blind to see this truth. I am a health professional and there is no point in ever trying to convince the ignorant. Only until vaccine injury hits your home and loved ones personally will people like you change.
If you are a health care professional, then you would know that every single human being will react differently to absolutely every treatment, be it vaccine, chemo, pills, etc. (this is why some people are allergic to some things, while others are not, same thing with chemo..some, it cures, some it doesn’t). Yes, vaccines do injure people (allergic reactions, adverse effects, deaths,etc.) and yes, some people will die. Nobody’s DNA is identical, so how in the world would they be able to tell which person can receive what vaccine/treatment without adverse reaction, prior to giving it?. Are you currently practicing? Because in the hospital I work in as a nurse, it is mandatory for all staff to have titres done, and regular boosters given, if you wish to work in the facility. You should also know, that people can be “carriers” of such diseases…so perhaps, no the person will not actually contract the disease/virus, but they can pass it on to others. As a health care professional, you should know that patients with compromised immune systems rely on herd immunity in order for them to be protected. You, the health care professional, should have learned in school HOW the immune system works, how vaccinations work, and as a health care professional, it is your duty to educate the public of BOTH, the pros AND cons of vaccinations, the side effects, and the risks. It is your OPINION that vaccinations do not reduce infectious disease, when science has proven time and time again, that it has.
My sincere condolences to you, if the vaccination injury happened to you or your family directly. I know my reply was harsh, however, it is a tough job we have, and it is our duty as nurses to protect the public.
Apparently you don’t understand what a correlation is and what causation is because the cause of the eradication and reduction of infectious disease are the vaccines that were given, how do you think they got rid of polio, small pox, etc? They didn’t just stop on their own, the vaccines were the cause of them being stopped….
Nice fact to add; there is a new Ebola outbreak in Africa killing 90% of people it touches. Treatment is usually futile and if it escalates experimental vaccination will likely be the only way forward. Organic food, vegan diet and coconut and hemp oil will not cure the new diseases and old diseases in the 21st century, the human body doesn’t work that way.
Does anyone think it’s harmful to give five shots in one visit, for children to create antibodies all at once. When would someone contract 5 diseases in one day?
Vaccines have been tested separately and together, for many years, There is no harm in putting those vaccines together, and no loss of efficacy. Whether or not people typically get infected with many diseases at one time is not relevant to the vaccinations working. The reason that vaccines are given together is because, quite simply, it is harder and more expensive to get people to bring their kids to the doctor 5 separate times compared with 1 visit.
Awww JerryA look at you being all composed and civil. I’m proud of you! ❤
You do know that the rate of children vaccinated in the US is extremely high, over 90% in many areas, which is well over the amount suggested as needed for herd immunity, and that even with the small anti vaxx community those #s aren’t dropping. If there were more of you pro vaxxers out there on a mission to get the adult community vaccinated instead of bashing parents who don’t vaccinate their kids, the percentage of the country vaccinated would probably be even higher, since a huge percentage of adults are not vaccinated. You should really re-prioritize here, as I’m sure you believe yourself just as well intentioned as those who believe vaccines are harmful. However most people who believe so, really just care about doing what they believe is best for their children.
Truthfully one argument that bothers me is about all those poor immune compromised. If they truly are such, they shouldn’t be out in public anyway, and especially in a school amongst children who are germ ridden. Most parents who are conscientious about vaccines wouldn’t take their children to play with the neighbor who has aids, or the kid who has cancer, at least I would just hope that they would and that all parents would be, since they could catch anything that would be harmful to them even from vaccinated kids. Vaccinations shed, and all parents should be aware of that fact and be careful with who their children are around since they are good little carriers for the germs they are afraid of in the first place.
Brava! Any parent whether anti or pro vaxx should be aware of contact with immuno-suppressed individuals!
I want evidence of “herd immunity” anyway!
Marta- Many vaccines are made with proteins, or dead virus, not whole live virus, so “shedding” is not an issue with most vaccines. For the rest, no vaccine that has a live virus contains the deadly wild type, but a weakened strain that does not cause the full blown infection. That is why it is given as a vaccine… Anyone given those vaccines should avoid people who are immune-compromised, but in a country where people think it is too hard to learn how to use a remote control, it seems that vaccine fact sheets are also too much to read. Finally, doing the best for your children should mean getting real facts about real medical care, not misinformation from anti-vaxxers.
Devion- Read Jennifer’s original article, including the links. It’s all there. Unless you don’t want to believe in, well, facts and reality.
You do realize that in the case
of highly virulent diseases such as measles that a person can be infected by visiting a location, ie. coffee shop, within a few hours after the infected individual has left that location. Also you seem to forget that a portion of some immunocompromised children have older/younger siblings in daycare/school who can bring those infections home.
No I don’t forget that at all.. I’m just saying I feel it would be horrible if someone in your own household brought it home. I lived in a house with an immunocompromised adult that meant the world to me. So in my own personal circumstance I would take the risk of any vaccine to protect people I love (from myself) who couldn’t protect themselves. I fully realize they could have gotten an illness from somewhere else.
I don’t claim to know everything – I was really just curious for a simple answer because to me it’s such an obvious answer with my own logic. So, I just wanted to see a justified answer from someone who has a different thought. Not to judge, just to know.
Amen!
When this debate comes up (which I read about frequently having an infant son)… I wonder what would happen if a hypothetical, highly communicable pandemic disease just “popped up.” Let’s say it had terrible symptoms and an almost certain list of either long term ill-effects or death – and our brilliant scientists came up with a vaccine… would people choose the vaccine or take their chances?
In MY mind I would obviously choose to vaccinate myself and my child… considering it was “try to vaccinate or death.” I would tend to think if we were in a Spanish flu type situation with a vaccine – most people probably would want to try and fight for survival (yes?). What is difficult for me to understand, as a(n educated) person who strongly believes in vaccinations is that it SEEMS people take for granted that we are currently NOT in the above “hypothetical” situation because of vaccinations.
I totally understand that people are trying to choose what they honestly and truly believe is best for themselves and their children and what works for one doesn’t work for everyone. However, I’d like to know, if you lived in a city with a current measles outbreak and you had 2 precious children, one of whom was severely immunocompromised, would you take a “risk” and vaccinate your family to protect that child? Or risk that child’s life by increasing exposure to the disease?
Isnt that, the same argument Novarlis and Baxter International used to munipulate the masses, Then force Governments worldwide to their knees… FEAR! Fear is a great method to get your way…. Bizarre however that the Video above and that person talking is to cowardly to add his own name! Propagandist. He probably funded by NIH or is bought and sold by big pharma. ASK YOURSELF….How much revenue does each dose injected does “DR” earn to administer>>>? Big Pharma and Germ warfare go together! Its called BIO TERRORISM …. Just Follow the money!
Novartis.
The Conspiracy Theory nutjobs have invaded, and they have brought Proof, PROOF. Oh joy. (You have the First Amendment right to petition the government with your insanity. You don’t have the right not to be mocked for it. Maybe you should find an antipsychotic med… one not made by Novartis, of course.)
The ConSpiracy ThEory nutjobs have invaded, and they have brought proof, PROOF! Oh joy. (You have the First Amendment right to petition the government with your insanity. You don’t have the right not to be mocked for it. Go get some antipsychotic meds… not made by Novartis, if you like.)
Doctors and drug companies make a comparatively tiny amount of money from vaccines. They would make hundreds of times more by letting people get sick and then selling them meds that would help only a tiny bit or not at all. The herbal natural blogging “little pharma” is getting rich off of people who believe as you do.
“Propagandist. He probably funded by NIH or is bought and sold by big pharma.”
Let me see if I get this straight… the only way that someone would strenuously advocate for a position is if they are compensated for it? That either means that you, too, are speaking on behalf of a benefactor, or your suggestion is total BS.
YES, exactly. Everyone has no idea of what is at bay because of vaccinations, so they think that opting out is a reasonable choice to make.
A must watch:
How many dead from MAN MADE Viruses… Is a better Question
Please list these man made viruses, and your sources. Just out of curiosity.
Post hoc ergo propter hoc
Herd immunity
Those who dont learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
Theres no cure for stupidity
A must see:
Professor Finn saying it as it is:
Reblogged this on THINKING SCI-FI and commented:
Lies can be sincere and well-meaning, but they’re always willfully blind to truth.
I’m really grateful for science. I am really grateful for God who I believe created science. I am thankful that many children have been spared illness because of vaccines. I think God wants us to continue to use our minds to find ways of preventing illnesses and to find cures. No matter if the ways are natural or if they are more on the FDA approved end, it’s good to look at the positives, because there will always be negatives. I’m immune supressed intentionally so Lupus doesn’t kill me. I’m very glad for that. I am glad when my children can be immunized and it’s difficult to think that I could get sick or they could get sick because other people choose not to immunize. But I’m also glad we all have free will still and I try to look at that because if that was taken away, humanity and our chance to learn is taken away. There is a balance between our personal choices, and what is right and wrong etc. Nobody can force anyone to do the ‘right’ thing because that is always subject to the perspective of the collective human society we live in. And that is always changing. In many ways, we want that perfect society to exist but that includes freedom to choose being lost if it is forced upon us. It’s going to take a long time for many things to change, but it’s getting better in many ways. Education is the key and lots of respect. We are all learning.
https://archive.org/details/WhatYouS1952
http://www.livingwithschizophrenia.com
I think some vaccines are great things like polio have been near erraticated.
The flu vaccine is a different story it has not been proven to work. They force it on people. Many of them sat in storage for years so rather than throw them out they changed the expiration dates. Japan has outright banned tami-flu due to several teenagers commuting suicide after receiving it. The American government has paid out millions of dollars of taxpayer dollars to families who had side effects from the flu shot. And the world health organization received more complaints about flu vaccines than every other complaint combined. Do some research outside of the western media who is bought and paid for. There are tons of studies available online from other parts of the world by governors that have not been paid for by drug companies.
The flu vaccine doesn’t prevent the flu and it doesn’t even necessarily weaken the symptoms in all cases, however, it does prevent SOME people from getting the flu, and it does weaken the symptoms in most people who contract it. Frankly, that is enough for me to want to take it every year–I hate the flu! I got the flu after having had the vaccine last year–I contracted it form my unvaccinated husband. I was mad that the vaccine “didn’t work,” but a bit vindicated when my fever was just 2 days and his was 4, and I felt bad overall for just 4ish days and his lasted over a week. Our vaccinated son didn’t get it at all, thankfully.
“The flu vaccine is a different story it has not been proven to work. They force it on people. Many of them sat in storage for years so rather than throw them out they changed the expiration dates.”
You do realize that influenza isn’t one virus… it’s a family of virus, right? There are dozens upon dozens of variants. The ‘recipe’ for the vaccine is formulated each year with epidemiologists and virologists looking at which strains of the virus are ascending, and which are descending, and they identify those few strains that have the highest probability of being widespread the following winter… then the manufacturers make *that year’s* vaccine, based on those forecasts. They don’t sit around on shelves, waiting to be used in successive years, since the recipe is ‘fingerprinted’ to an individual year’s forecast.
Do strains other than the ones forecast (and included in the vaccine) circulate? Yes, and this is one of the reasons that flu vaccine isn’t 100% effective. Can you still contract one of the strains included in the vaccine? Yes, but the likelihood of getting sick is significantly lower. Even if you do get sick, odds are that your body will fight it off more easily / quickly if you had that year’s vaccine.
What if I said “seat belts haven’t been proven to work?” They’re not 100% effective. People die in car wrecks while wearing their seat belts. You’d probably (and justifiably) laugh at me, because you know that – even if seat belts aren’t 100% effective – they do provide some (significant) protection. To claim that anything less than 100% effectiveness is “proven not to work” is hyperbolic, and just plain wrong.
Tamiflu is an antiviral drug, not a vaccine.
Everyone should see this movie, It will help you understand ….. V FOR VENDETTA is a wake up call here is a preview! http://youtu.be/07zV-HMc97U
We ALL have a social and moral responsibility to vaccinate our children. We have many responsibilities as parents that require us to raise children that are ready to become contributing members of society. By NOT vaccinating, one is saying to the world “my child is a super special little snowflake and I do not care about the effect this has on my community or society as a whole because my child is MORE SPECIAL that all of YOUR children.” The anti-vax campaign may have been fueled by this bunk paper over a decade ago, but it’s a sickening trend among developed nations and the United States specifically, for us to keep giving our children this message that they are the best and they are better than everyone else and they are entitled. It’s not just leaving them open to completely preventable disease, but it is arrogantly thinking that you know better than mountains upon mountains of scientific data that it would take a lifetime to wade through. Our behaviour molds our children’s worldview. Those who choose not to vaccinate are telling their children that they do not have to conform to societal rules and that they are somehow more entitled to life and health than the rest of us.
There is an argument to be made that perhaps vaccinations are the single most important medical breakthrough in the past century. How many of your parents and grandparents have siblings that died in childhood? Because it was very common. I would have trouble thinking of a family with more than 3 children born in the early part of the 1900’s where all the children made it to adulthood.
It’s simple, the advantages as a societal whole far outweigh the individual risks. Statistically, your child is many many more times likely to die from a totally preventable disease than from the vaccine for it. You child is no more special than anyone else. Herd immunity is helpful for the prevention of the very young, very old and those who are unable to receive vaccines.
I don’t live in the US anymore, so my children weren’t offered the chicken pox vaccine. They had to endure the illness at a young age. But if they had passed the virus on to a grandparent or elderly relative who then became ill or lost their life, I don’t know that I would ever be able to live with the guilt in not seeking out the vaccine. How would you feel if your child infected someone because of your arrogance?
I forgot to mention that I have a close family member who has been rendered sterile from a case of the mumps. These are not diseases with which we should be choosing to take chances.
A couple of people here bring up an excellent point. Seriously, how many of you adults are up to date with ALL your boosters? The CDC came out with a report in February that Adult vaccination rates are DRASTICALLY LOW. Do you feel responsible for diluting the herd? Vaccines are amazing, but what drives me crazy among my provax colleagues is that many are not following their own advice,
In 2012, only 64.2 percent of adults were up-to-date with their tetanus shots, and only 20 percent of adults at high risk for pneumonia had received the pneumococcal vaccine. Additionally, a mere 14.2 percent of adults had received the Tdap vaccination, which protects against tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis – also known as whooping cough.
Hepatitis A vaccination coverage was even lower, with only 12.2 percent of adults between the ages of 19 and 49 receiving immunization. Fortunately, vaccination for the human papilloma virus (HPV) increased from 29.5 percent in 2011 to 34.5 percent in 2012, and 20.1 percent of adults received the shingles-fighting herpes zoster vaccine in 2012 – up from 15.8 percent in 2011.
Given the report’s findings, CDC officials are urging American adults to get vaccinated, in order to reduce the spread of preventable diseases to the elderly and children.
Furthermore, many health experts believe that poor adherence to vaccination schedules may be to blame for the recent rise in vaccine-preventable diseases in the U.S. In 2012, 48,277 cases of whooping cough were reported by the CDC – the highest number of cases reported in the United States since 1955.
“Vaccination coverage levels among adults are low,” the CDC researchers wrote. “Improvement in adult vaccination is needed to reduce the health consequences of vaccine-preventable diseases among adults and to prevent pertussis morbidity and mortality in infants, who need the protection afforded by the Tdap vaccination during pregnancy recommendation.”
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2014/02/07/cdc-adult-vaccination-rates-are-drastically-low/
Aww, that’s cute. I refuse to fall for this crap. OJ Simpson was found not guilty and so was Casey Anthony in our court system. What does that tell you about our court system? Not falling for it. Prove what DOES cause Autism. Tell us. We are waiting. When you have safe vaccines, we are willing to listen. And it’s not just Autism, it’s the permanent seizure disorders that are also becoming more and more common. Parents that don’t vaccinate are just trying to protect their kids, like you think you are 🙂
The chicken that was fed hormones to make it grow quicker so that they could get it to the supermarket quicker and that you ate, causes Autism and the seizure disorders. How you could not know that? You saying that vaccines cause Autism and seizure disorders even though research has shown that they don’t is just as wrong as me saying it was the chicken that you ate that was the cause, there is no evidence to support either statement.
In the 1950s, I lined up at junior high for the Polio vaccine. It was easy to do…I had classmates who had been crippled by polio as young children, when there was no vaccine, and the father of my best childhood friend had died of polio. I also had chicken pox and measles before there were vaccines and was lucky not to have been harmed because I knew children that had been. My children were vaccinated and also had daily chloride drops too (they have beautiful, strong teeth enamel). Sure, there may be powerful incentives for people to abuse or ignore knowledge. Just ferret out the abuse and understand the knowledge.
Please continue your research until you do find the cause of autism.70 years ago the children all got measles,mumps.Whooplng cough,chickenpox and were vaccinated for diptheria and smallpox. Almost everyone lived and none had autism.Go into the homes of the autistic and research the food additives.Becel and benzoic can’t be used by us.. for immunizationus.1962 was a bad year. they even used apreservative that caused autism in rats.Why haven’t the doctors learned the cause?
I can’t speak for 70 years ago, but I can for 65 years ago. At that time in our country, children were vaccinated for diphtheria but not smallpox. Polio vaccinations were introduced when I was seven. I am one of several of my peers who have been diagnosed as autistic when we were well into middle age. So to say there were no autistic children around 65 years ago is ignoring the facts. There were, but they were not diagnosed as autistic at THAT time.
And I guess these people who decide not to vaccinate will rely on science to treat their child when they get sick in treating the disease which they contracted. Yes you can source any information these days on the internet to back up any theory but there is overwhelming scientific evidence in favour of vaccinating and that is the evidence we need. Not some website that has no scientific credibility.
Yes, yes they will. Even the staunchest of atheists prays to God on his deathbed, right? When H1N1 was at it’s frenzied peak, I had anti-vax friends who were at the clinics every sniffle looking for a batch of tamiflu. You know, when those who lived in major world cities were pretty nervous? Everyone of them would’ve gotten a vaccine for that and it turned out not to be as serious as they thought.
Not true. Don’t fool yourself, there are plenty of atheists in foxholes and other life and death situations. We do not pray.
It’s a turn of phrase, Irit. I used it as a similie that people act differently with faced with a desperate situation.
for those against vaccanations , go and live in a third world country where measles and others are rampant. Maybe when youve seen enough very sick kids and kids die you may see the light . Vaccinating isnt perfect but because we choose to in our area we havent had a reorted case of meales in 15yrs. After watching a six month baby die from whooping cough because of someone else not immunizing there child maybe the doubters should watch this. it is heartbraking and tragic . PLEASE PLEASE IMMUNIZIUSE SO WE CAN PROTECT AS MANT AS POSSIBLE
“There are outbreaks of vaccine-preventable illnesses now throughout the United States because of unvaccinated children”
Really? Because I would think that the 25% of children that aren’t able to form an immune response that did receive a vaccination were also responsible for spreading disease. There is no such thing as a perfect, or perfectly safe vaccine. I agree with the statement made to educate yourself, and I have. I’ve made the right choice for my child.
Reblogged this on comparingthetruth and commented:
In the face of truth there is still ignorance.
Vaccine Court is a scam. People see right through the B.S. As a pediatric nurse, I got in trouble by my superiors for trying to report an obvious vaccine injury. The needle was still in the kids arm when he collapsed and the paramedics showed up.
The federal government has granted the vaccine industry total immunity from ever having to face the legal system for its crimes against humanity. Nonsense!
On February 22, 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court shielded drug companies from ALL liability for harm caused by vaccines mandated by government.
Drug companies selling vaccines in America will not be held accountable by a jury of our peers in a court of law if those vaccines brain damage us. Yes, adults too. if you get paralyzed by a flu shot or your child has a serious reaction to a vaccine required for school and becomes learning disabled, epileptic, autistic, asthmatic, diabetic or mentally retarded, you are on your own. Essentially, you are screwed.
Would you get in a car where the brakes fail 10% of the time and you can’t sue the manufacturer to recoup your medical costs?
People are waking up!
I’d be interested in a look at some stats showing the education levels of parents on both sides of this issue. Does anyone have some numbers on this?
That would be fascinating.
So basically your saying that your vaccinated child can potential contract or spread measles to my vaccinated child because we all know that no vaccine is 100% effective and we have no idea how long immunity may last in each individual. Just like my vaccinated child can contract measles from an unvaccinated child….. So the conclusion is that everyone can get measles still. In fact the majority of measles cases in the current outbreak are in vaccinated individuals.
Public health officials are saying the opposite- most of the people infected by measles either _did_not_want_ to get vaccinated (82%) or _could_not_ get vaccinated because they were too young. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/cdc-vaccine-philosophical-differences-driving-up-us-measles-rates/