Of measles and men
February 7, 2019
Vaccinations. Everyone is familiar with them, but not everyone supports them.
It is becoming more common for parents to deny their kids vaccinations because of their supposed side-effects. Many agree that the government also should not have a say in how people raise their kids.
The lawful requirement of vaccines in most American schools is seen as unfair to many anti-vaccine parents, which makes sense. Why should Americans trust the government’s decision regarding vaccines for their kids?
The use of vaccines is beyond the American government, though. That law exists in America, yes, but it exists everywhere. It was created to get rid of the most common and deadly diseases around the world, and has been extremely effective in doing so.
The Problem With Not Getting Vaccinated
In 2002, measles was declared eradicated due to widespread use of vaccines. However, since the anti-vax community has gained traction, 600+ cases of measles have been reported.
With more people choosing not to vaccinate their kids, measles will not be the only disease to come back.
Worse still, those already immune will lose that immunity as new strains develop. Those who physically cannot get vaccines will get exposed to the diseases, when before they were protected by herd immunity (the fact that everyone around them was immune, so they were never exposed). This is all thanks to pseudoscience.
Pseudoscience is a group of beliefs or practices that have become regarded as scientific fact when they are not. One pseudoscientific belief is that vaccines can cause things like autism, sickness, or even death.
Autism, for example, has been proven to have no relation to vaccines.
Sickness undeniably develops as a side-effect of vaccination. One woman, when sharing her story in an anti-vax Facebook group, said her “son got the very illness he was vaccinated against” every time he was vaccinated. Yes, because that is how vaccines work. They inject minor versions of the disease so the body can build a defense against it and fight it off when the real thing comes along.
Death is the biggest accusation among them all, but with the weakest reasoning. Deaths caused by vaccines are so extraordinarily rare; it is nearly safe to say they do not happen at all. Some anti-vaxxers say there are “unreported cases”, but those are usually deaths that occur months after receiving a vaccine, which do not have enough evidence of having been vaccine-induced.
Even if vaccines are the cause of these things, in a race between vaccines and devastating diseases that can wipe out millions of people, vaccination takes the cake.
So What Do Anti-Vaxxers Want?
Some alternatives to vaccinations suggested by anti-vaxxers, are:
- Prayer
- Strict diet
- Chiropractors
- Breastfeeding
- Herbal treatment
- Essential Oils
- Vitamins
- Homeopathic (diluted) vaccines
- Natural immunity
Alternatives that have worked:
- Natural Immunity
Natural immunity works if someone is lucky. The people would get the disease and recover on their own, but chances of coming out of it in perfect health are slim to none.
What allows people to be anti-vax is the sheer fact that they weren’t there before vaccines, when the same diseases massacred hundreds of thousands annually with no escape. If healthy eating and daily exercise was not enough then, why should it be enough now?
Having vaccines be mandatory by law is an infringement upon parents’ right to raise their kids how they wish, but only because that parent’s kid is not the only one at risk if they get infected. When a parent chooses not to vaccinate the child, they are choosing to risk contraction of that disease and choosing to risk other people’s children. It is not just about one person at that point and that must be recognized before the black plague comes back for a sequel.
To Find Out More, Visit:
Understanding Vaccine Opposition
Vaccines Turn Immune System Against Us
Parent’s Guide to Childhood Immunizations
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