Vaccine debates. They are everywhere. Pretty much unavoidable in the past few weeks amidst the outbreak of measles that is gaining more and more cases each day. From my observations there are many different sides to this debate. Those who cannot vaccinate and want to. Those who do not vaccinate. Those who do vaccinate but feel it is a parent's choice. Those who do vaccinate and feel it is a parent's duty to do so as well.
I am part of that final group. I am generally a very "parent how you choose" kind of person. Formula or breastfeed. Spanking or time-out. Co-sleep or crib of their own. I seriously could not care less how you raise your child. That "could not care less" goes away in two scenarios: when you are putting your child's life in danger or when you are directly affecting another person's life. Vaccinating is definitely one that fits in both of those scenarios, hence why I get VERY passionate about it.
Anyone who is becoming a parent right now is extremely lucky. Generally we are in the age range of 20-40 (obviously there are exceptions) and we have been so blessed to not know what it's like to grow up in a time where diseases like measles, mumps, polio, smallpox and others were fairly common. They are now so unheard of that we don't have to think about them. That is very lucky. Other countries in this world do not have the same luck. However, we are about to join them if this madness (yes madness) of anti-vaccination doesn't stop RIGHT NOW.
There are many reasons why someone would believe in the "choice" of vaccination. Some are valid, others are so off the wall that I can't take someone seriously if they truly believe them.
Let's start with the blatantly obvious
vaccines are dangerous reason. Except.. well.. they're not. They do not cause autism (this theory has been debunked countless times). Their chemical levels are not toxic (there is more mercury in a can of tuna than all the lifetime shots combined, hydrochloric acid is added to level out the pH of vaccines, and we produce more formaldehyde in our bodies naturally in a few minutes than what is in a vaccine). Let's not even touch on the fact that the food we consume on a daily basis has more chemicals in it than vaccines ever will. While vaccines do have a rare possibility of side effects, your child is more likely to be in a deadly car accident than to be injured by a vaccine (assuming there is no history of injury). Vaccines have been around for decades. If they were THAT dangerous, there wouldn't be hundreds of millions of vaccinated adults walking around without any issues. The bottom line with this excuse is the benefit outweighs the risk when it comes to vaccinating.
Continuing on, many people, even those who do choose to vaccinate, are worried about any sort of
law requiring vaccinations because
where would the line be drawn? Okay. Fair enough. How do you feel about laws requiring children of a certain age/size be in a car seat/booster seat when riding in a car? Anyone with a smidge of reasoning is fine with a law like that, so what's wrong with a law like this? Both laws put into place the legal requirement for you to protect your child from a scientifically proven dangerous situation.
There are a few who are opposed for
legitimate moral reasons to a few vaccines. As a pro-life woman, I kind of understand this one. Some vaccines were created using fetal stem cells. Those cells were basically used to "grow" the vaccine. Vaccines do not contain actual fetal cells and the abortions performed to get said fetuses were done several decades ago. No new abortions have been performed for this reason. But, here's the thing. First of all, even the Vatican (a.k.a. pro-life central) has said we are fine to still vaccinate. Second of all, being truly pro-life needs to extend past the womb. Part of being pro-life means protecting the lives of our children who have already been born, and vaccines do that. I'm all for finding an alternative vaccine that wasn't made in this way (they exist) but if you can't get your hands on it (which is common.. they're hard to find), I don't think it's very pro-life to put your child's (and other children's) lives in danger just to boycott something made in an unethical way fifty years ago.
Finally there are
history of vaccine injuries. In my mind, other than being immunocompromised or allergic, this is the only valid reason not to vaccinate. Vaccine injuries DO happen (albeit extremely rarely), so I do not blame someone who has a history to second guess wanting to vaccinate their child. This is a situation where the risk does potentially outweigh the benefit. This group is a very small percentage of the population. They should be able to rely on the rest of us being vaccinated (herd immunity) to keep them safe. But we are in a day and age where it is now a "choice" to put them in danger.
Before Little Man was born, I will admit I bought into the hype and ended up doing a LOT of research about whether or not to vaccinate. But there were two conclusions that I came to:
1. There is no scientifically accredited reason to not vaccinate a normally healthy child.
2. Even IF vaccines caused autism and had higher than okay chemical rate (again, not the case), how in the world are autism and chemicals more scary than diseases that often disable and even kill?
*Before you get on my case about the autism comment, no I do not have an autistic child. Yes, as a teacher I have been MORE than educated on the subject and am well aware of what a life-changing thing it is. I would still rather have an autistic child than a dead one.
Many of you may think I'm being over dramatic when I talk about a dead child. But back to our luck. We cannot fathom what it is like to live in constant fear for our children's lives because of these diseases. Why? Because of vaccines. And the reason it still isn't to those levels is because a vast majority of us are vaccinated. However, that number is dropping. Our luck of not knowing what it's like to see our children with these diseases is running out. And it is becoming dangerous. The CDC has a great article about
what would happen if we stopped vaccinating. I urge everyone to read it.
The only reason anyone who chooses not to vaccinate feels comfortable in doing so is because of the rest of us being immunized. We provide your herd immunity. You're welcome. I challenge anyone who is against vaccination to take their children to a country where diseases like mumps, polio, measles or smallpox are still around for a quick two-week vacation. If vaccines are that unnecessary or even dangerous, this thought shouldn't scare you in the least. But if it does, maybe you need to rethink the logic of your "choice". If this concept scares you, then you are admitting you rely on the rest of us to be vaccinated (hypocrite much?) or it proves that these diseases are scarier than you think they are.
Chances are, no minds were changed with this blog post. Frankly, I don't expect them to be. But until someone who is anti-vaccination can come up with a legitimate scientific reason not to vaccinate that is scarier than the diseases themselves, I will sit on my "high horse of judgement". I will look down on anyone who puts their own "beliefs" over science and literally puts the lives of their children and others in danger. Because that is not cool. And not a difference in opinion I can respect.
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| Photo credit: discovermagazine.com |
