Is there any merit to the anti-vaccine movement?
Absolutely. But I am of the belief that the anti-vaccine movement is "controlled opposition" designed to make any opposition to anything related to official public policy to appear crazy, paranoid and delusional.
I'll concur with Basil Ransom's statement here:
"It's silly to conflate support for specific vaccines to mean support for ALL vaccines - but that's what liars and scam artists do, and the anti-vaxxers who do so are much the same. "
I like to think of my own stance on this topic as a bit more nuanced, informed, and calculated to obtain the benefits of necessary vaccines, while avoiding the worst consequences of the current, absolutely ludicrous vaccine schedule pushed by the CDC, AMA and any other org being influenced by Big Pharma $$$$ concerns.
Here's my case, citing the works of Cardiologist Dr. Donald Miller.
Quote:Quote:
A communitarian ethic increasingly governs health care in the U.S. It places a greater value on the health of the community, on society as a whole, than on the health of particular individuals. Public health officials have put together a vaccination schedule designed to eliminate infectious diseases to which the population is prey. These officials recognize that these vaccines will harm a small percentage of (genetically susceptible) individuals, but it is for the common good. The communitarian code posits that it is morally acceptable, if necessary, to sacrifice a few for the good of the many. Or as one observer more bluntly puts it, "Individual sheep can be sheared and slaughtered if it is for the welfare of their flock."
In this framework, health care providers become agents of the state charged with injecting vaccines into people that the central planners deem necessary. Physicians who remain true to their Hippocratic Oath and place the interests of their patient above that of the herd are considered to be out of step with the times, if not an anachronism.
When it's your kid sitting in the Doctor's office with the hypodermic needle hovering above his or her arm, do you take comfort in the idea that our society's "betters" who decide what is best for the FLOCK see the possible harm your child experiences as a necessary cost to ensure the welfare of everyone else's children?
I know my answer to that question.
But here's the real issue in a nutshell - the current vaccination schedule is ludicrous, and YES it certainly appears to play a causal role in the rise of autism and other auto-immune diseases. I believe it's related to every kids state of health and nutrition at the time of vaccination, as well as the number of vaccines their immune system is exposed to at any given time. I.e., autism can't be traced to a single vaccine or a single cause....but is the result of multiple variables in play at the time of vaccination that CAN result in a kid suffering from autism or other "side effects" of the current vaccine schedule which calls for multiple vaccinations in a single Doctor's visit. All kids are different. All kids have variable levels of health, nutrition and various levels of development of their immune system. Which is why some kids will take 6 vaccines at once and suffer no apparent side effects, while another kid could get a single shot and turn into an autistic basket case.
Now that I have a child who is 4 years old, this vaccination issue is quite personally relevant to myself. The vaccination schedule our HMO wanted to use with my kid was completely different from the schedule I had as a kid. "In the Recommended Childhood Immunization Schedule put out by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), 12 vaccines are given to children before they reach the age of two."
When I was a kid, I had 6 vaccines, and a follow up booster shots of those 6 vaccines when I was around 10 years old.
Polio, Mumps, Pertussis, Measles, Rubella and Tetanus. I know this, because I still have my old 1970's era shot record card my Mother saved from my child hood along with all my other important documents - birth certificate, etc.
I let my child have those same 6 vaccines, and I argued and fought with the Doctors so that only one vaccine at a time was administered...except the MMR. The singular vaccination for each separate disease is not available in the US. I let my kid have one round of the MMR, and that's it.
I believe in a
user friendly vaccine schedule and avoiding what I consider to be unnecessary and extraneous vaccines - like flu and chickenpox.
The debate between "pro" and "anti" vaxx is a manufactured debate. The real debate is Who will follow orders from AUTHORITY without question, and who will question, think for themselves and attempt to make an informed decision based on personal research and rumination.
The current Government-Healthcare-Pharmaceutical complex is more concerned with the herd immunity of the flock of sheeple.
I'm more concerned with my own kids health and well being, so I am certainly not going to follow the Government's one size fits all policy and HOPE my child is not one of the unfortunate outliers that suffers the bad effects.