The more I’ve learned about vaccination, the more I’ve shied away from it. So in answer to Rick Trim’s question from my previous posting, I’m not real keen on the Texas governor’s order to vaccinate school girls in the state.
Like most people, I’ve been thoroughly programmed to be all for vaccinations of all types. I grew up at a time when polio was a huge threat overhanging life each summer. Parents held their breath as they watched news stories on television showing children in iron lung machines who had been stricken with the virus. Measles was only slightly less concerning; I was so sick from it as a kid, there was worry I would lose my hearing.
When the polio vaccine was finally developed in 1955, it was a cause for near universal celebration, and relief. The benefit was so obvious that any risk truly seemed miniscule. The measles vaccine came too late for me, but struck me as similarly useful.
Yet over time, it seems as if the benefits associated with vaccination have gone down, while the risks have gone up. Not unlike the situation with antibiotics, in a sense. The first antibiotics truly were wonder drugs and saved many American soldiers’ lives during World War II.
A good case can be made that the increases in autism that we’ve seen stem from mercury in the vaccine medium. In addition, it appears that as vaccines have become more specialized, they somehow are less universally effective. I read in one place where the vaccination for cervical cancer is 70% effective, which is a lot less than the near-90% effectiveness rate of the polio vaccine.
For these reasons, I decided several years ago to discontinue taking the flu vaccine each winter. So far, I haven’t regretted my decision.
Then there’s the philosophical argument–that if we took enough care via diet and other lifestyle factors to build our immune systems and those of our children, we wouldn’t need vaccines. I have an uncle who adopted this philosophy many years ago, and refused to have his two children, my cousins, vaccinated. Neither of them contracted any serious diseases.
When all is said and done, the decision about whether or not to vaccinate is a difficult one to make on behalf of children. Most of all, you want them to be safe, and you don’t want to expose them to unnecessary risks. I think my inclination would be to allow vaccination only if I could determine the vaccine solution was free of mercury, and for the most serious childhood diseases, like polio and measles. Given those concerns, I wouldn’t want the governor of Texas, or any other public official or bureaucrat, making that decision for me.
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