This is my opinion and does not represent anyone else’s opinion. I seldom discuss politics here, but this political problem puts the whole world population at risk. Contagious diseases know no borders, do not discriminate, and are equal opportunity killers in all countries. They are helped by people who think they are doing good, but who are actually creating a breeding ground for an epidemic that will kill people.
http://www.sacbee.com/site-services/databases/article90300877.html
This article tells only a small part of the truth about Autism. It does say that there has been an increase in the number of people diagnosed with autism. But there lies the murkiness.
I have a relative who is a caregiver for an autistic boy. It is obvious that he is handicapped. But his sister, also diagnosed with autism, works at a supermarket. You wouldn’t know it from talking to her. She wouldn’t have been diagnosed until recently. Maybe she just had mild symptoms like learning difficulties or a below average IQ.
Autism is like many other disabilities, it is very costly long term, and families are negatively impacted by it. They struggle with the economic impact. They are desperate to find a way to relieve this stress.
A Dr. Wakefield somehow got a faulty research paper published in The Lancet, the UK medical journal, and a whole ‘industry’ grew up around this ‘proof’ that autism was associated with the MMR vaccine. Dr. Wakefield was found to have a conflict of interest in that he was involved with getting a single dose type vaccine accepted, and other breaches of ethics. The UK revoked his medical license and The Lancet withdrew his publication; his research was seriously flawed.
It has only been recently that the ASD (autism spectrum disorder) has been defined. I have read that a large part of the autistic people were previously undiagnosed, and these newly diagnosed were responsible for the large increase in people with autism.
Just because event B follows event A does *not* mean event B was caused by event A. But people interpret this as ‘bad luck’ or any number of other associated reasons. This is subjective logic.
Subjective opinions are opinions where there is uncertainty and disbelief. We can make a statement of opinion, and measure its uncertainty and whether or not to believe the statement. In the case of vaccines causing autism, the one research paper that associated vaccines with autism has been invalidated. Other researchers have not been able to find any association between the two. Therefore the statement that vaccines cause autism is not believable, and the certainty is high that the statement is false.
If I make a statement, no one can be 100 percent certain that it’s true. But there are many people out there who believe that president Obama is a Muslim, even though he said he’s a Christian in his book (Audacity… p.206). It puzzles me why so many people are persuaded into believing that he is not what he said he is. These people are very certain about their belief, even though the certainty of it being true are so low, nearly zero, and there seems to be almost no reason to believe he is a Muslim. Are people really that foolish? Obama was reelected for a second term, so it is obvious that the radical ‘fringe’ extremists who believe he’s Muslim are a small minority. Whether he’s Muslim or Christian doesn’t make any difference in his ability to do a good job. The law says one cannot discriminate on the basis of religion. So what’s their problem? They have been brainwashed.
Back to vaccines. Those who believe that vaccines will do harm are believing an unproven myth, and it is absolutely true that getting the disease will do much more harm than the vaccines.
I believe the reason why so many people believe vaccines cause autism is because they want to persuade other families with autism to take advantage of the vaccine insurance program. This program was set up by the federal government to solve the problems of lawsuits filed against the vaccine makers for claims of adverse reactions to the vaccines. The program allows a patient with a claim of adverse reactions to file a complaint with the court, and if it meets the requirements of the program, the court will find in favor of the patient’s claim.
One thing that is not on the list of adverse events is autism. But mental disabilities are on the list.
The vaccine opponents (let’s call them anti’s) are a minority, but a very vocal minority. They have tried very hard to get others to believe them, it is a leading cause for their campaign against vaccines. But as seen above, their efforts are severely hampered by the people’s lack of belief that there is something wrong with vaccines, and by the very high uncertainty that their ‘proof’ has any validity, especially after the only research paper was invalidated.
There are many illogical conflicts that the anti’s can’t explain. Here are some.
Vaccines are designed to protect you, not harm you. Nothing is 100 percent safe, but vaccines have been tested on hundreds of millions of people and found to be many, many, many times safer than having the disease itself.
Every day your body has to battle with foreign invaders called germs. Isn’t it foolish to go into battle without any weapons? The immunity given by vaccination is your weapon to fight disease. Or looking at it another way, pregnancy used to be a leading cause of death among women. Today’s medical advances, that is no longer true — pregnancy is much safer. Would you refrain from having a baby if you knew the chances were 1 in 10 it could kill you? How about 1 in 1000? Yet getting vaccinated is still much much safer than pregnancy.
Do you believe your doctor adheres to the Hippocratic oath? If so then if vaccines are bad for you, why does he recommend that you get vaccinated??
I shake my head in disbelief when I read the hatred that comes from people’s mouths in the name of humanitarianism. But all they speak is rubbish. The unfortunate part is they actually believe it. I just wish we had a mirror, like in Harry Potter, that one could look at and see what they really are. They might be shocked at what they see. This reminds me of the question: If vegetarians eat vegetables, then what do humanitarians eat?
I had to give the dog some antibiotics. I had to put him on his back in my lap, with my arm between his legs to keep him from squirming out and running away — thankfully he’s small. As soon as I came close to his mouth with the eyedropper, he clenched my arm with both legs, clamped his mouth shut and bent his head as far from the eyedropper as he could go. I had to force the tip between his lips and teeth just to get a few drops of this medication in his mouth. From his reactions one would think that I was feeding him poison. If he had been a cat, I would have been scratched to death. But the medicine did the job and the infection is gone.
This reminds me of the anti’s. They are fighting against something that is making their lives safer. But they struggle to distance themselves from safety. They also distance themselves from common sense. How foolish can one get?
Did it ever occur to them that their family tree might be missing leaves or even branches if it wasn’t for vaccines and modern medicine? After reading their antivaccine BS, others may have wished that the anti’s leaf had fallen off!
One thing I would like to find out is what’s necessary to say to someone who believes in something that isn’t true, to convince him or her that they are believing a lie.
The anti’s claim they should be able to choose whether or not to vaccinate. But is choice acceptable when they choose against vaccination and then they become a person carrying disease, and spreading it to others? At one time people with a disease were banished to a colony to prevent spreading it to others. The disease was leprosy. Does society have to give the anti’s a choice? Choose to get vaccinated, or else go to a colony where they will not infect others? They seem more and more willing, like the dog, to go to any length to get away without getting vaccinated.
The more I try to rationalize with these people the more they deny that what I’m saying is true. Perhaps I should leave them alone and let them learn from experience. It’s very sad to know that that experience might lead to death or disability of a loved one.
Update Aug 5. – I had a thought about the perfidy of humans. People will go to a store and fight over the last item just to save a buck. But when the tables are turned and there is a ton of extra items, people get very suspicious and think that it’s because that product is flawed.
The organization ACT UP was formed to light a fire under the bureaucracy to get more research done to find a cure for AIDS. They staged protests and held news conferences to get their message to everyone.
Because of the great demand for, but complete lack of a solution, the solution had an extremely valuable worth. Thousands of people were HIV positive and were doomed to die, and many others had already died. There was a tremendous fight to stop the deadly disease.
On the other extreme, when the healthcare industry and government have determined that the best, cheapest and most effective method of preventing diseases is by vaccination, some of the people fear for their life and believe they are being herded into gas chambers for a lethal dose of medicine.
It will take another epidemic like AIDS to wake these paranoid people up and make them realize that what they cause when they refuse to be vaccinated is a refuge for humans carrying diseases. They are becoming the vector, just like mosquitoes, for the spread of disease.
Whenever another mass shooting occurs, there is a great uproar of people who demand gun control. The government then gets hammered by gun rights advocates using the Second Amendment.
Just like the AIDS, Ebola, West Nile, and now Zika spreading throughout the world, there will be a time when the majority of people will demand that the government do something to stop the spread of disease. The government will offer everyone vaccines to prevent the disease. The epidemic will go away because most will get vaccinated. But those who refuse will continue to spread the disease. When the government researchers show the problem is those who are not vaccinated, then there will be a public outcry to force them to be vaccinated. In this case, they will not have a constitutional amendment to protect them.
Update 2016-09-08 – Dr. Bob Sears, of Capistrano Beach, CA, is in hot water for gross negligence and inadequate record keeping among other things. He may get reprimanded, or worse.
http://m.ocregister.com/articles/sears-728409-medical-board.html
Somewhat harsh criticism (quack dr.)
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2016/09/09/the-medical-board-of-california-initiates-disciplinary-action-against-antivaccine-dr-bob-sears/
I have written another blog about vaccinations dated 2016-11-18.
