I have two kids. Both have received every vaccination suggested by their pediatrician, a man who I respect and trust. He went to medical school, and he keeps up on the latest medical research, something I cannot do because I am not a trained pediatrician, and have no skill in deciphering medical studies and research. Therefore, when my kids are sick, I take them to see the doctor, and he tells me what the best course of action is. He always takes into account my input as a parent, since clearly I know my kids better than he does, but I'm willing to take his word that "medicine A" will help with "illness B." I've never once felt like he was jumping too quickly to a pharmaceutical solution when one wasn't warranted, and he's never pressured me to use any medication on my children.
I once asked him about the vaccination debate, (just out of curiosity - I wasn't trying to make a decision either way for my kids, as they had already gotten their shots). This is what he told me: "If there were any danger to giving kids vaccinations, and I was only doing it to make money for myself and a drug company, then I would just give them to other kids and not my own. But honestly, vaccinations are not a money making proposition, for doctors at least. In fact, we generally break even or take a loss on them. But really, why would I give them to my own kids if I had any question at all about the safety? I would just give them to other people's kids and rake in the dough."
Now, obviously this is just one doctor's take on the issue. He can't speak for the whole of the medical community. But still, it makes sense. He has a son the same age as mine, and I trust that he's confident enough in what he's giving his own son, so I don't worry about him doing the same with my son. He's just more knowledgeable than I am on the subject, period. And no amount of Googling is going to earn me a medical degree.
The reason I think this is such a tough issue for many people is that the pharmaceutical industry certainly hasn't given anyone any reason to trust them. Do they do shady shit for the sake of profits? Definitely. Are people in America over-medicating themselves? Probably. Do drug reps trade free lunches for the chance to get doctors prescribing their products? For sure. I used to work at a clinic, and the free lunches were the best part of the job.
But does any of that mean that vaccines aren't safe and effective? No. How do we know this? Scientific evidence. Why should we trust scientific evidence? Because of the scientific method. Why should we trust the scientific method? Because it's been proven time and again to work. The science on vaccines is not unclear. Vaccines have been studied, and studied, and studied. And while there is always a small risk with any medication, there is a much bigger risk to NOT getting vaccinated.
My generation has been lucky in the area of infant mortality (at least in America). These days we don't just expect at least 1 or 2 of our kids to die from a routine illness like measles or small pox. We don't have to watch our communities be decimated by influenza. We haven't been traumatized by a child getting polio, like my grandmother was with my uncle. We take it for granted that our kids will, for the most part, be healthy and stay alive to reach the terrible twos (with a few horribly tragic exceptions, obviously). I don't even have to watch my kids suffer through the painful scratching I had to endure with the chicken pox, because now we can vaccinate against that too. In fact, my kids are pretty dang healthy. You would expect that if having all of those vaccinations had somehow ruined their immature immune systems, that they would be catching every illness that came knocking on our door, but no, with the exception of some constipation issues, my kids have been able to fend off virtually anything. Of course, this is just "anecdotal evidence" which shouldn't really be taken to mean anything, but still, you get my point.
At the heart of the anti-vax debate are parents who truly believe they are doing what is best for their children. For whatever reason, they feel that vaccinating might harm their child somehow, and I can understand that. No parent wants to gamble with their children's health and well being. But part of the problem, as I see it, is the view that MY children are the only thing that matters. As parents, the view that all of our parenting decisions should be sacrosanct and autonomous, and that we always just "know" what's best for our own child, ignores the fact that our children are part of a society, and yes, even a "herd."
Which brings me to my neighbor. She has a son, Cole, who is roughly the same age as my youngest. They are BFF's, and during the summer, they have the run of the neighborhood, playing together all day long. It's really very sweet. But Cole has a variety of health issues, which prevent him from getting certain vaccines, and which cause him to pick up EVERY bug that travels within 10 yards of him. My neighbor has to be very careful about keeping her house free of germs, and if my kids are at all sick, Cole can't come over and play. She is relying on me to vaccinate my kids, so that her son doesn't get the measles (or anything worse). She is like many parents out there with children of kids (and babies who are too young to get vaccinated), who are relying on YOU to do your part and get your kids their vaccinations, if at all possible.
Women in other parts of the world will walk for days to get their kids to a vaccination clinic, because they've seen firsthand the devastation of losing a child to a preventable illness. While (mostly upper class white) people in America debate and pontificate over the idea that you're poisoning your baby with *GASP* chemicals (ignoring the fact that everything on the planet is made out of chemicals), women in poorer parts of the world are just trying to keep their babies from dying.
I'm not even going to touch the autism issue, because the link between vaccines and autism is just not there. Case closed. No more debate needed. And even if it did, autism is not worse than dying. I can't even imagine how offensive it is to people who are actually on the spectrum to hear that the mere thought of someone's child being like them is worth risking their life over. I'm not trying to downplay the devastation autism can cause for families, but I hold to my belief that a child with autism is better than a child who is dead. And that's only if there were a link, which there's not, so again, case closed.
But like I said, I have close friends and relatives who choose not to vaccinate, and despite our different feelings on this issue, I still love them and think they are great parents. I think we're ALL trying to do what is best for our kids, and fighting with them won't really help anything. They are right to have questions about how the environment around them affects their kids, and we should all have some healthy skepticism about the things we feed and inject into children. Autism IS on the rise, and there ARE more food allergies today, and processed food IS worse for you than fresh vegetables. Overuse of antibiotics IS something we should be looking at more closely, and pharmaceutical companies ARE pretty horrible in some of their tactics.
But the vaccine debate doesn't need to be had. It's over. And there are real world consequences to not getting your child or yourself vaccinated. And those consequences affect other people's kids. Which is why this is such an emotional topic. But turning it into a political issue only muddies the waters even more. This should not be a Democrat vs Republican issue. Mainly because there are not 2 sides to science. Do I think we should require parents to vaccinate under penalty of law? That seems a little creepy even to a commie lefty like me. But do I think you should be required to vaccinate your kids if you want them in the public school system? Yes. No exceptions. I think that granting religious and philosophical exceptions to vaccinations is stupid, because science doesn't care what your religion or your "deeply held beliefs" have to say about it. And neither does Cole, who just doesn't want to be sick all of the time.
So there you have it. Take it for what it's worth. I'm not an expert and I would never claim to be, but there are experts in the world, and I take my advice from them, not the Internet.
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P.S. And I have one more beef with this whole issue: the idea that alternative medicines are not about profit like those big evil pharmaceutical companies. I used to own an allergen-free food store, and the companies we ordered from also sold alternative medicines and vitamins, and let me tell ya, there is a LOT of profit to be made in the "all-natural" industry. The difference of course is that there is actual science to back up the claims of vaccines, and none to back up the claims of the homeopathic tablets that cost you $30 a bottle.
