September 8, 2016
You know that family, the one who doesn’t vaccinate? You know those parents, the flippant, uneducated “anti-vaxxers” who haphazardly skip the shots because they’re over worried, can’t science, and have complete disregard for the “Greater Good”? Do you see their kids? Their snotty, sickly, ear-infected, allergy-ridden, disease-spreading, self-righteous kids? Yes, that family. Do you know them?
I’m not talking about families you see portrayed in the news who suffered through seven rounds of pertussis, saw the error of their fanatical ways, and now rigorously stick to the “safe and effective” vaccine schedule; those are obvious plants by media on a marketing mission. I’m talking about folks who are your friends. Friends you know well. That friend who doesn’t vaccinate and doesn’t have a clue why, other than “she’s afraid the vaccines might hurt her child,” full stop.
I know many families who delay or forgo vaccination for medical, religious, or conscience reasons, and I don’t know a single soul who declines to vaccinate out of stupidity and blind fear. Yet these are the people vaccine promoters claim they are “fighting,” people they seem to actively believe exist in large numbers. But what they’re fighting is a mythical creature – along the lines of the Loch Ness Monster, a.k.a. “Nessie.”
Nessie
Vaccine promoters post articles poking fun of “anti-vaxxers” on the regular. The choir clicks “like” or even “love,” and they all get a good self-indulgent laugh. They feel super safe in their derisive responses, cushioned by a majority that makes it so easy to marginalize and hate a group by attributing non-existent qualities to them. But in addition to the nodding choir, there are others, silent friends and family whose stories you do not know, listening and taking note. They are alienated by your lack of curiosity and compassion. They dare not tell you how they, too, once believed in the bone-crushing, flesh-eating nature of Nessie, but then they were brought to their knees by vaccine injury – a reality far from the mythical one-in-a-million. They see your callous disregard, and out of fear they do not speak up, because speaking only adds insult to vaccine injury. It fuels your mythological fire, and they or their children are sacrificed a second time by your heavy-handed denial and mockery.
When the vaccine-injured do speak, when they comment and point out that “my child was injured by a vaccine and will require lifelong care,” or “my child has a medical exemption,” or “my child has multiple autoimmune genes,” or “my child has a genetic inability to detox heavy metals,” or “my family has a deeply held religious belief” – when any one individual scenario is explained, vaccine advocates generally have one of two responses: either “She’s a witch! Burn her!” or “Well, I wasn’t talking about you. I’m talking about the crazies. The ones who compromise herd immunity for your child. The ones you should be angry about.”
And suddenly it’s like I’m your one black friend in a sea of dangerous black people. It’s like I’m your token gay male friend who deserves to marry his partner that you also approve of and personally know, but all those other gays are endangering real families. Or I’m the one vegetarian that you know who isn’t on a PETA rampage, in possession of fake mammal blood to throw on your fur coat. You’re not talking about me, you’re talking about that generalized group defined by my characteristics that I actually don’t belong to because I’m nothing like them since you know me. Any person you actually know who has an exemption is exempt from your contempt. It’s the crazies that you’re talking about. Those mythical crazies.
The thing is, only 0.84% of Texas school children are not up-to-date on vaccines. For those who have medical, religious, or reason of conscience exemptions, most of them believed in and vaccinated their children. Most of that 0.84% represent vaccine injury or genetic susceptibility to vaccine injury (which comes in many, many forms). It’s super easy to post an article that makes fun of “anti-vaxxers” – and then say, oh but not you, not the one who has legitimate cause – when that is the overwhelming majority of that 0.84%. To minimize folks in this way is to simplify the complexity of the issues to absurdity and demonize the families struggling to put the pieces together and protect their children from further harm. I believe we all have more compassion than that.
If you’re one of these vaccine promoters, you’re fighting a non-existent war. You’re pushing laws and removing choice in an effort to corner and render submissive a group of people who do not exist – heartless souls, science deniers, who kill other people’s babies through irresponsible and selfish inaction.
Loch Ness
In your effort to dehumanize and control the crazy “anti-vaxxers,” you are sacrificing your own autonomy and freedom. You are also sacrificing the families and children of the vaccine-injured, who ironically are the group that you do not believe exists.
Texas put forth 15 bills last session to limit freedom of medical choice for all of us. All 15 bills were defeated thanks to Texans for Vaccine Choice. We may not be so lucky in 2017. Believe it or not, I am fighting for you. I will storm the Capitol, talk to representatives and senators, educate, write – you name it – to preserve your freedom of choice. The CDC has hundreds of vaccines currently under development, and national mandates for both children and adults are being proposed. Are you comfortable with any or all of those vaccines being determined mandatory? Would you be willing to give up your child’s school, your family’s health insurance, your job if you refused a particular vaccine? No? Then you are pro-choice, too. Welcome to the real fight.
I’m not writing this to try to take your privilege from you. But I am going to tell you that you have it. You have the privilege of not having a vaccine-injured child. You have the privilege of not knowing that world. Ask yourself – are the vaccine-injured a marginalized group that hide their medical statuses and histories for fear of death threats? Do they have to vigilantly fight for their legitimacy as a group? Are they recognized by the government? Can they take legal action or is that actually illegal for them? Do they have to come out of hiding in order to fight for their rights to make medical decisions for their children because there are billions of dollars behind silencing them? Are they being sacrificed for the “Greater Good”? Would it be okay if it were your child that were sacrificed in this game of Russian Roulette? Do you believe there aren’t really any bullets in the gun? Do you hear folks saying, yes, there are bullets in the gun but call them “crazy,” “hippie,” “anti-science,” and then support, either implicitly or actively, laws to silence them? Aren’t you more empathetic than that?
Take this simple first step: Trust the vaccine-injured. When you don’t have another’s experience, you have to trust their words, you have to trust their suffering. No one vaccinates a child and then turns around in this cultural climate of “anti-vaxx” hate and makes up an injury, declaring “Hey, I think that vaccine injured my kid! Can y’all believe that?” Because no, apparently, we cannot.
Let go of the mythical anti-vaxxer. Shed the prepared responses. Drop the rough exterior, and leave your defenses at the precipice. Step onto the bridge of compassion, eager to find common ground.
Be more than curious. Be more than an ally. Connect on a human level with those fighting for medical choice, and be a growing, learning, transforming, humble and vigilant presence.
Where there is risk (and no screening for that risk), there must be choice and informed consent. Demand it. Fight for it. Do not bow down and kneel, holding up your medical rights on a golden platter to the over-reaching government. Do not be so subservient. Will your eyes open, and step out of the matrix. Fight for the actual greater good – the real battle: our medical autonomy and freedom.
~ Inanna
Inanna is mom to two energetic, sweet boys. Her background is in mathematics, psychology, and research. Her researcher’s mindset makes her very concerned about the modern day witch-hunt against free-thinking parents, and she opposes in any way she can the encroachment on personal liberty.
My husband’s aunt is a crazy anti vaxxer. I asked her once why she is putting her child at risk if getting vaccine preventable illnesses and she said that she could treat her child’s illnesses without modern medicine and that getting polio would not be a big deal.
My my grandmother who lived with the after effects of polio for years would beg to differ
Actually, for 95% of people who DO “get polio” it is not “a big deal.” Infection with poliovirus usually results in illness so mild that people don’t even know it is poliovirus. What happened in the mid-20th century to make polio so much more invasive to the central nervous system? Could it be that the many tons of DDT used every year had something to do with it? http://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/pesticides-and-polio-a-critique-of-scientific-literature/
Maybe your husband’s aunt isn’t as crazy as you thought.
Seriously Pfr_TMR you will not allow up Archie’s quote ?
Do you think I made it up ? Linus Pauling backed him !
The book “Every Second Child” which alleges genocide against the aboriginals by the Aussie State via vaccination is changing hands for £1000+ now . The book is being struck from the record – to re-write the history . I haven’t made anything up you know ? And I’m not going to forget what I know . Why have you censored that ?
I don’t know what you’re talking about, Hans. I don’t have any comments with an Archie quote.
There seems to be some censorship in place , some filter .
I cannot put up those links .
GoogleCia and the knowledge vault perhaps ?
No idea. Never had that problem before. Mercury is retro, who knows?
Thank you for this. So much yes.
Hi Peter,
Please provide data on the hundreds of millions of deaths as well as the data on permanent disfigurement prevented by proper vaccination. Thank you.
Would you also have data on the relative health of vaccinated populations and unvaccinated populations?
Thank you.
http://www.who.int/immunization/newsroom/factsheets/en/
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs378/en/
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs211/en/
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs286/en/
http://www.who.int/topics/immunization/factsheets/en/
http://www.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=278&Itemid=2032
http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2014/p0424-immunization-program.html
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5518a4.htm
http://www.who.int/entity/bulletin/volumes/86/2/en/
http://www.action.org/resources/item/vaccine-preventable-deaths
These references indicate that today, vaccines prevent 2-3 million deaths annually. That’s the normal rate without an exceptional epidemic. The annual global figure has decreased dramatically in recent decades, as immunization coverage has greatly improved. Furthermore, during times of widespread conflict, many additional millions have died from vaccine preventable diseases, and those mortality spikes are not reflected in these figures.
Sorry Peter old chap , you are misinformed .
The CDC has been proven to be a criminal organisation and cannot be trusted in any capacity (Poul Thoresen & William Thompson – whistleblower) .
And likewise the privately owned company “the World Health Organisation” is not a reliable resource .
My estimation of autism numbers globally is 50m
50m vaccine maimed babies & children – that is the cdc for you!
Peter , care to talk about the efficacy of the mumps vaccine ?
Because I believe its in court now (the vaccine doesn’t work its a lie – which invalidates the MMR of course ) .
Care to talk Peter about Kenya HCG tetanus program 2015 ?
Mexico 1974 Phillipines 1995 Nigeria Sri Lanka etc etc
Care to talk about Gardakil vaccine program Peter ?
Care to talk about HepB vaccine at birth Peter ?
Care to talk about sv40 Peter as admitted by the cdc on their own website ?
Care to talk about GlyphosHATE in vaccines Peter ?
Care to talk about Estradiol in vaccines Peter ?
You worked for a vaccine program but that doesn’t mean you know anything about vaccination or in fact what harm you were doing !
http://www.globalresearch.ca/vaccines-dark-inferno/15452
Don’t be a scoundrel Peter –
Archie Kalokerinos: My final conclusion after forty years or more in this business is that the unofficial policy of the World Health Organisation and the unofficial policy of ‘Save the Children Fund’ and almost all those organisations is one of murder and genocide.
They want to make it appear as if they are saving these kids, but in actual fact they don’t. I am talking of those at the very top. Beneath that level is another level of doctors and health workers, like myself, who don’t really understand what they are doing. But I cannot see any other possible explanation: It is murder and it is genocide. And I tell you what: when the black races really wake up to what we have done to them they are not going to thank us very much. And if you want to see what harm vaccines do, don’t come to Australia or New Zealand or any place, go to Africa and you will see it there.
If you believe what you just said:
“My final conclusion after forty years or more in this business is that the unofficial policy of the World Health Organisation and the unofficial policy of ‘Save the Children Fund’ and almost all those organisations is one of murder and genocide,”
Then you have gone completely off the rails and lost your mind. I won’t participate in this psychotic conversation.
Peter, this time you seem to have misunderstood a comment because it DIDN’T use quotation marks. Hans was quoting Archie Kalokerinos, Australian physician and author of “Every Second Child.” (https://www.amazon.com/Every-Second-Child-Archie-Kalokerinos/dp/0879832509) He didn’t “say” it; he quoted it. While choice of quotation may imply belief or disbelief in the concepts of the quotation, it is not appropriate to berate him for something someone else said.
Linus Pauling backed Dr Archie Kalokerinos Peter.
Ever heard of Linus Peter ? One of the greatest scientist to have ever lived , 2 nobel prizes and narrowly missed out on a third .
Sorry if you cannot handle the truth Peter .
You have been duped my good man . “psychotic” you say ?
How can you justify that “unhinged” comment ?
You need to admit your knowledge about vaccination is solely based on “faith” but it is not based on fact . And the facts about vaccination are a shocker from start to finish .
Get reading Peter .
Hans, Linus Pauling is dead. And he didn’t “back” Kalokerinos. Pauling endorsed Kalokerinos’ view the Aborigines were suffering from scurvy because of Vitamin C deficiency. Your comments are grossly distorted to suggest that Linus Pauling give a blanket endorsement to Archie Kalokerinos. To use your snotty words, get reading Hans. Your condescending tone is tiresome and childish. Have I ever heard of Linus Pauling? Have you ever heard of speaking truthfully without distortion? Sorry if you can’t handle the truth, Hans.
Again with the “snotty,” “childish,” and “condescending”? Haven’t you yet figured out that you’re getting back what you dish out?
Say what you will but my point stands. Your comment was a gross distortion. Linus Pauling certainly did not give a blanket endorsement, and your remarks are dishonest.
I’m starting to think you don’t have much experience with this commenting on the Internet stuff. Now it seems you’re confusing me with Hans. I didn’t say a word about Linus Pauling or make any gross distortions or dishonest remarks.
Hi Peter,
I think you will find that most if not all of the statistics referenced are based on modelling estimates which are in essence guesses. There is no one in Africa or any other 2nd tier country gathering data on all deaths from disease. In fact there is no one gathering data on causes of most deaths. There is nowhere in any 2nd tier nation where testing for disease is routine. In fact, there is no routine testing for common so-called VPDs in most 1st tier countries. Testing costs money and takes time. There is no money in Africa to test for a common illness that will resolve itself in most cases with traditional care already in use for centuries.
I know you want to believe that vaccines have saved humanity from certain extinction, but there is no logic in that because vaccines are new on the timeline of humans on earth. You’d have to ask how come we are all still here over-populating the planet if our immune systems have never been capable of protecting us? How did we manage to survive so long before vaccines? The idea that vaccines have *saved* us is not based in fact.
If you want to read an interesting and enlightening book on statistics and modelling specifically regarding vaccines here it is:
Fooling Ourselves about the Fundamental Value of Vaccines by Greg Beatty.
It is available as an e-book for about $10. Google it.
Peace.
Hi Jennifer,
Regarding your comment that “most if not all of the statistics referenced are based on modelling estimates which are in essence guesses,” that’s outright nonsense. Modeling is as good as the input information, and the term modeling means simply predicting the facts when you don’t have all the data. NASA “models” the response of rockets and spacecraft before they are launched, and they produce “guesses” within thousands of a percent error. So you’re not going to get away with that nonsense saying modeling is essentially guesswork. I don’t know how accurate the epidemiological models are, but they may be quite accurate indeed. They certainly should not be rejected out of hand with no knowledge of the input, as you did. I beg your pardon, but I take strong exception with your highly critical and dead wrong description of disease record-keeping across the entire African continent. You are either badly misinformed or making a very poor guess with prejudice.
To quote you, verbatim, what you say here is completely false. Every single sentence in this excerpt from your comment is false. I don’t know where are you got your ideas, but every remark here is flat wrong. This is what you said, and I insist you cite references for these untrue assertions:
“There is no one in Africa or any other 2nd tier country gathering data on all deaths from disease. In fact there is no one gathering data on causes of most deaths. There is nowhere in any 2nd tier nation where testing for disease is routine. In fact, there is no routine testing for common so-called VPDs in most 1st tier countries. Testing costs money and takes time. There is no money in Africa to test for a common illness that will resolve itself in most cases with traditional care already in use for centuries.”
To repeat, every single sentence in the excerpt from your comment is sexually untrue. Please provide references for those comments. Full disclosure, I know for a fact what you said is untrue because I was personally involved in programs gathering data and testing for illnesses in different African countries with budgets for doing so.
Your comment goes on to make the following condescending and untrue presumption about me: “I know you want to believe that vaccines have saved humanity from certain extinction, but there is no logic in that because vaccines are new on the timeline of humans on earth. You’d have to ask how come we are all still here over-populating the planet if our immune systems have never been capable of protecting us? How did we manage to survive so long before vaccines? The idea that vaccines have *saved* us is not based in fact.” Overlooking the lousy tone of that remark, the answer to your question has been researched thoroughly and I don’t have to speculate myself. Biologists and immunologists recognize that human beings were largely protected from spreading viruses throughout history simply because travel was not possible as it is now. You would know that if you read any of the dozens of books on the subject written in the last decade. It is commonly recognized that viruses are much more of a threat now than they were throughout human history simply because the spread globally overnight because of air travel. That also gives viruses the opportunity they never had before to comingle and mutate. So please, Jennifer, spare me the snotty histrionics about human history and what you think I would want to believe about vaccinations.
You are correct that human immune systems evolved along with viruses through the timeline of human history. But the evolution of viruses now has the potential to make Quantum leaps forward where is the human immune system is no better equipped than it was before. You referred to overpopulation, and that’s part of it. The real culprit is rapid transit. Whereas oceans and mountain ranges were once natural barriers to human migration and thus obstacles to the passage of viruses, they are no longer.
As much as YOU would want to believe we can simply go back to the good old days and stop using vaccines, those days are gone. A bacteria has already evolved and infected people, which is resistant to every single antibiotic known to medicine. Flu viruses mutate and evolve annually comma the flu vaccine of course is just a guess and less effective every year. One of these years a superflu will evolve for which there will be no effective vaccine at all. And it won’t be because our immune systems have been compromised by aluminum or Monsanto. It will be because of American Airlines.
You want a book recommendation? Read The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert. In the history of life on Earth there have already been five mass extinctions. The 6th has already begun. And that’s not guesswork produced by modeling. It’s underway.
My reply to Jennifer contains an embarrassing voice to text error. The reply says “sexually untrue” where I intended to write “factually untrue.” I apologize for the error.
Thanks for the book recommendation. It sounds very interesting. I was also interested to note that Kolbert lives in Williamstown, Massachusetts with a view of Mount Greylock. The same views inspired me in my undergraduate days at Williams College.
The thing is, though, that super bacterium you are talking about was CREATED by the reckless overuse of antibiotics (in line with Kolbert’s thesis that the “sixth extinction” will be one due to man-made threats), just as the recent state of chronic illness in the children of industrialized countries was created in large part by the reckless overuse of vaccines (not to mention other 20th and 21st century inventions). You cannot correct reckless overuse by even more reckless overuse. There MAY be a point when one specific vaccine is worth the likely hit to an individual’s neuroimmune system in order to avoid an imminent dangerous infection, but a blanket endorsement of ALL children getting ALL vaccines is just more human reckless overuse.
And I’m chuckling at the “condescension and untrue presumption,” “lousy tone,” and “snotty histrionics” remarks. Doesn’t feel great when you’re on the receiving end, does it? How about we all just talk to each other as people who are interested in helping others, especially children, achieve good health? We may disagree as to approach, but that is natural because of widely varying experiences, and it would behoove EVERYONE to listen to others’ perspectives on this.
Jennifer, I’m still waiting for those references.
Hi Peter,
I also wanted to know if you had statistics on the relative health of vaccinated and unvaccinated populations? I live in a country where the vaccine-compliance rate is very high because the government uses the carrot-and-stick approach, but the overall health of the almost fully-vaccinated population is appalling.
Thank you.
Hi Jennifer, I don’t have such statistics, and I’m not aware of a resource that collects them. I would be curious to see them as well. If you come across that kind of data, would you be so kind to post it?
Thanks, Peter
It’s a trick question, Peter. That data doesn’t exist anywhere because no one has seen fit to study it (Dr. Coleeen Boyle of the CDC admitted on the Congressional record at a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform meeting several years ago that they had not done it), despite the fact that the reviled people known as “anti-vaxxers” have been calling for it for quite some time because they know it would support what their own observations have led them to conclude: for the most part their NON-vaccinated children are far healthier than their VACCINATED children. Interesting that, despite the fact that that research should be considered crucial to “restoring confidence” in the vaccine program, no one is interested in compiling that data, isn’t it?
Hi Peter,
I do apologise if I offended your sensibilities in my comments. I personally have had to grow a thick skin after years of reading the harsh and ugly words written on this subject by those with vested interests who in any other milieu would be defined as disturbed. The anonymity of the internet makes for false courage.
I am genuinely interested in the data you have on record collection in Africa. I think you made my point for me when you wrote,
“Modeling is as good as the input information, and the term modeling means simply predicting the facts when you don’t have all the data.”
That pretty much sounds like what I said : guesswork dressed up as fact.
Why do we not have all the data? If the data collection is as extensive as you imply? If we are predicting the facts (which means guessing) where are we getting the information to make the prediction? From what source? NASA at least has previous rocket launches to take information from. The vaccine cartel has ZERO published data that vaccines have saved humans in any great numbers from anything.
But if you have access to the numbers regarding Africa please share.
I am more a glass-half-full kind of personality. It sounds to me as if you are the glass-half-empty type of person. I am not frightened of viruses like Ebola and Zika and whatever else will be *discovered* in the future because I do not believe these super-viruses are anything more than the collective imagination run wild. Ebola has been one great big fizzer for the drug industry. Zika is a better bet for said industry because they can point to mosquitos and say ZIKA! and don’t worry we have a vaccine and a poison (to humans as well as mosquitos) spray!
I do not agree that modern day travel will facilitate humanity’s demise. I am concerned that you seem to be predicting (which means guessing) our doom because a super virus will spread unhindered throughout the population facilitated by modern travel practices. Is that what you are saying? Please clarify if you can.
I think it much more likely that we will kill ourselves through self-indulgent behaviours, nuclear and/or conventional warfare and/or reliance on the pharmaceutical cartel to heal us from the diseases caused by our risky lifestyles.
Peace.
Jennifer, peace to you too. I’m simply saying that data collection in “Africa and second-tier countries” certainly does exist, and although it’s not as extensive as it is here in the western world it’s far from the black hole you described. And it’s much more than enough to produce meaningful models and projections. Your first comment maid broad conjectures about models based on nothing, describing sheer guesswork. It is not. I know that because I took part in various data collection programs in projects during projects in Uganda, Somalia, Kenya, and other countries. And the programs I worked on were in partnership via memoranda of understanding with various ministries of health in different countries, who were themselves gathering data before my organization arrived. So please, as I requested before, cite your references for the broad claims you made. I am interested, and I am still waiting for those. You claimed virtually no data collection exists. I maintain that’s utterly false, and smacks a bit of Western snobbery.
In Archie’s opinion, the death rate in the Aborigine babies and children stemmed from widespread subclinical scurvy, which resulted in every second child dying, after the medical profession’s vaccination teams swept through the districts. This finding prompted the writing of the book, EVERY SECOND CHILD
Vaccination Peter Vaccination !!!!
The double Nobel prize winner Linus Pauling in the foreword to Kalokerinos’ book Every Second Child endorsed his views.
Everyone really should read Tragedy of the Common by Thomas Hardin. It is as true today as it was when he wrote it in 1968. And for the record, yes, Pat Slattery, humans are a herd and we behave as such, dominant males and all. The entire point of vaccinating all healthy individuals is to create “herd immunity” to protect those who are immunocompromised (and cannot be vaccinated), those with allergies (e.g., heavy metals, eggs, etc.), and those who do not/cannot develop an immunity despite sometimes multiple attempts at vaccination.
Epigenetics, which is what I think Sequence was attempting to reference, involves the methylation or turning on/off of genes as part of heredity and gene expression and grandma’s experiences (e.g., stresses–war, famine, etc) do affect the grandchildren. There is no current evidence (i.e., data) that immunity or susceptibility to cancer due to immunization does. That IS fear mongering. And really bad reasoning.
X-mom is absolutely right about how pharma regulations came into existence. No argument, but pharma has also created antibiotics that have allowed humanity to stop dying from sore throats, ear infections, gangrene, and other bacterial diseases and has allowed people who have HIV to live normal lives (which means they are more likely to dies from heart disease than an HIV related issue, which IS supported by data, incidentally).
Ladies and Gentlemen, everyone should remember that it is the “Art of Medicine” not the “Science of Medicine”. Nothing is going to work 100% of the time for 100% of the population and vaccinations have not made that claim in the last ~40 years. Some people will suffer adverse reactions to vaccines, some of them catastrophic. It is horrible and sad and unfair but so is life sometimes. But, really, if some parents are unaware or unconcerned about the potential for death or permanent disability from preventable diseases (e.g., Tetanus, Scarlet Fever, Pertussis, Chicken Pox, Measles, Mumps Rubella, Smallpox, Polio, etc) then those same parents have no right to expect government assistance in caring for/treating any of the long-term results from contracting those diseases. It’s the same thing as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day and then crying foul when you end up developing lung cancer. It’s not like you didn’t know what the most likely outcome would be. You were gambling that you would be the one that got away. The difference here is that you aren’t gambling with your own life, your gambling with a child’s life. We all want to think that we (and our progeny) are special snowflakes and that the known, established, and well-documented (and data supported) rules shouldn’t/don’t apply to us. That we can somehow, through hyper-vigilance and/or obsessive control, prevent all negative outcomes. Life doesn’t work that way. It would be great if it did.
So let me get this straight, you’re saying that if someone did NOT know that a particular action, such as vaccinating their child according to the CDC schedule for instance, would result in significant disability that they DO have a “right to expect government assistance in caring for/treating any of the long-term results” from that action? Because that’s EXACTLY what happened to the children of many “anti-vaxxers” that you consider to be “gambling” with their children’s lives, and precious few of them get any governmental assistance beyond a seat in a special education class. And, shockingly enough, the children whose lives they’ve supposedly “gambled” with turn out to be MUCH healthier on average than the children they “played it safe” with in your scenario. Your comment sounds all reasonable and “sciency,” but it simply DOESN’T fit the facts.
Having had a child who DID die (and not of a vaccine reaction or a vaccine-preventable disease), I am FAR more aware that “shit happens” than most parents, but that doesn’t mean that I will not do (or should not do) EVERYTHING in my power to enable my living children to have the fullest, happiest, and most productive lives they possibly can. And in order to do so it is incumbent upon me to get the best and most accurate information that fits ALL the available data points, including the supposed outliers that, despite your assurances otherwise, most medical authorities try really hard to pretend don’t exist. The funny thing, though, is that I personally know hundreds, if not thousands by now, of those “outliers,” exactly as Inanna describes, people whose testimony you airily dismiss with the derogatory and demeaning term “special snowflake.”
You would do well to read the current series we are running on the scientific PROOF that vaccines can and do cause autism. Then, if you continue vaccinating YOUR children or encourage others to do, you won’t have a right to expect the government assistance that you wouldn’t get anyway in caring for or treating them when they develop autism or other neurological or immunological conditions.
Seems AoA does not want people to read this post !!!! sb277 legal status
Why is that Mr Blaxhill ?
http://bolenreport.com/sb-277-lawsuit-whats-doc-happens-now/
Because Tim Bolen has a bee up his butt about Mark Blaxill and Jennifer Larson that has nothing to do with them or their actions. He is about creating controversy and division among people who would get so much more done if they worked together. One has to wonder at HIS motivation. Aside from that, Mark is no longer at Age of Autism.
1. Because someone spoke to the judge during the omnibus proceedings and swayed the ruling of the court against us .
2. And someone edged out Brian Hooker from appearing in front of congress and instead another rambled on some nonsense about the original Kanner_12 in 1943 or whenever .
We lost sb277 due to the work & forces of infiltration within our own ranks . That is a fact . This is a classic technique used to deflect and destroy all grassroot movements .
Sorry but Bolen has a point in my view .
1) You have GOT to be kidding. You’re blaming Mark for “swaying the ruling of the court against us” during the omnibus proceedings? Have you read the conclusions of the special masters? Those people listened to MOUNTAINS of evidence and chose to ignore anything that wasn’t sponsored by the CDC or their cronies. They MOCKED and RIDICULED the families for believing that what happened right before their eyes could have actually happened. If you think ANYTHING Mark Blaxill could have said either way would “sway” the special masters, you’d have to be nuts. Then to believe that Mark would WISH to “sway” the special masters to “rule against us” is be extra-specially crazy. The man has consistently used his influence and intelligence to further the cause, even when he sustains ridiculous personal attacks from the likes of Bolen. (Several of those peer-reviewed papers that connect vaccines and autism were AUTHORED by Mark Blaxill.) Did he do it exactly the same way I would? Of course not. He’s not me. But that doesn’t mean I’m not immensely grateful for his efforts over the years. And if by any chance I were on the opposite side of this issue from him and wanted to neutralize the tremendous impact he has had, I would totally try to undermine his credibility in the autism community. Just sayin’…
2) And no one “edged out” Brian from appearing in front of Congress. I love Brian and Brian does GREAT work, but Brian — understandably enough, of course — can get very emotional when speaking on this subject (I have personally watched him “go off” on someone who was obviously and completely on his side), making him a less than optimal witness for a Congressional hearing despite the terrific information he could impart. Shockingly enough, the Chairman of the Committee at that time, Darryl Issa, is a pretty smart cookie and could see that for himself.
3) And “we lost” SB 277 because of corruption in the California government. Plain and simple. There were a number of serious deviations from standard procedure that were probably enabled by significant campaign contributions from the right people to the right people. The efforts of the people of California on this were sufficient to stop this bill three times over if the process were NOT corrupt — and that was plain to people watching from all over the country. There MAY have been some people like Bolen wishing to divide the forces opposing SB 277 and pit them against each other for their own reasons, but that WASN’T why the bill succeeded.
You are welcome to your opinion about Bolen, but I think he has hurt “this movement” far more than he has helped it by fomenting the very division that makes us less effective.
Great article and very true. I came out and told our story to try and get help for my son Adam recently. As you say I battled away in silence for a long while first, foolishly believing that if I appealed to peoples better nature that their compassion might just shine through, unfortunately I was wrong.
So now I can feel the flames smouldering around me often as they try and lump me into the ‘witch hunt pile.’ Friends and family often think I am insane and yet they can offer no other explanation as to why the media won’t publish our story, or why it is that I have such difficulty getting medical care for Adam here in Ireland. Some people just don’t get it and suggest trying this doctor or that one, as if I am just a bit incompetent and just don’t realize that if I want medical care for Adam then all I have to do is ask for it! Then again I try to have patience with those of us who are still asleep, as there was a time too when I couldn’t comprehend or believe that a sick child would be treated the way Adam is being treated, in a country that has all the tools to help him but ‘the politics,’ is more important every time.
Keep writing Inanna as I will, to try and point out the fact that we are just parents whose children are the sacrificial lambs of an industry that see all the vaccine injured as nothing more than, ‘the cost of doing business.’ http://hubpages.com/health/Our-story-of-Autism-Autistic-Enterocolitis-and-on-bringing-Vaxxed-to-Ireland
Exactly!
Thank you.
I don’t understand the idea of herd immunity in humans. A herd of animals has 1 sire for maybe hundreds of the herd. We don’t. Dominant males are not our way. We have much diversified genes and even in a family we are very different- different blood groups, allergies, appearance, hair, height etc. Treating everyone the same is insane.
Also the idea of giving inmates of prisons reduced sentences for acting in pharma trials is crazy. yt skews the results because the prison population is not balanced. Only now are they finding they should be testing on women but women don’t volunteer. Too smart to risk it. My ancient Scandinavian genes , and odd blood group, over 1000-years old via Ireland, Scotland France and UK are nothing like an African American male prisoner that is who the research shows are the volunteers. All wrong science.
Try living in Australia where they have now made it a law to vaccinate your child and you cannot access early education or Childcare and have government payments cut if you don’t. The only exemption to this rule is if your child has HIV or has had a previous anaphylactic reaction (and even then it’s only a partial exemption!). It’s horrifying!!
And for those who is soo brain washed to believe that government don’t sleep nights to trying to figure out how to “better serve us” – do you ever ask yourself question why so many babies at age 3 month and a little older have cancer? Where did it come from? What is going on? Why leukemia striking at that early age? Life stile (sarcasm)?
And the answer is – grandmother was inoculated, mother was inoculated and babies from that line after first inoculation are just a ticking time bombs! Ever heard about Transfer Factor? Yea, that what I thought…. All and everyone inherit 50% of all that crap what was done to previous generations thru mothers immune system!
Whether to vaccinate or not should ALWAYS be up to the parents, ALWAYS!!! I have LOTS of friends whose children are unvaccinated and I NEVER had an issue with my kids being around them, I really don’t understand why anyone would!!! People need to take initiative and become more informed about issues, however, people don’t care to do any kind of research. Great article!
You say it should always be left up to the parents, but that’s unacceptable selfish and dangerous, when we live in a community among other people, and the vaccinations are fighting infectious diseases. The vaccinations don’t just protect you. Your vaccination matters to those around you.
What Peter really means is “It’s your duty to set your child on fire to keep my child warm”
He will totally understand if his child and your child are standing on a street corner when a car jumps the curb, and you push your child out of the way, leaving his child to be hit by the car.
Thank you, Peter, for stepping in and demonstrating the ignorance and lack of compassion so prevalent on the pro-vaccine community. I’m certain this must be your intention, as nobody with an ounce of sense or a grain of empathy could read Inanna’s post, and leave a comment such as yours.
Sarcasm aside, you can go ahead and keep pretending you vaccinate your child to protect everyone else. We know the truth.
We know that you vaccinate because you believe you’re protecting your child. I’m your mind, vaccinations are safe and effective. You’ve never witnessed your child having an adverse reaction, so you figure they don’t exist, or if they do, they don’t matter since they don’t apply to your child. Many of us did the same thing, until our children suffered from our decision.
But stop pretending your decisions are not all about your child.
You make quite a few rash presumptions about my motives and rudely barge ahead with unfounded conclusions of my experiences and (in you are utterly baseless opinion) presumed ignorance.
My knowledge and experience comes from many years working with Doctors Without Borders. I have witnessed firsthand the devastation caused by infectious disease running wild through an unvaccinated population, as I’m sure you have not. On the other hand, I have witnessed firsthand the marvelous power of prevention afforded by proper vaccination.
The “pro-vaccine community,” as you stupidly label the overwhelming majority of the world’s medical professionals, will consider your reply hilarious, and regard you as a laughingstock.
Vaccines do indeed cause injuries and adverse effects. The hundreds of millions of deaths and permanent disfigurement prevented by proper vaccination outweigh those adverse effects by astronomical numbers.
Shame on you for your adolescent tone and your ideological lack of objective reason. If you indeed have medical knowledge and training, the burden of balanced, factual statements is particularly your obligation and your failure to provide honest balance in your statements is particularly egregious and unforgivable.
Get off your self righteous high horse and speak to people honestly without grandstanding in absolutes. Do some good in the world, not just something with publicity.
“The hundreds of millions of deaths and permanent disfigurement [that may have been] prevented by ‘proper vaccination'” in one population (as in your experience in third-world countries with Doctors Without Borders) does not for one instant “outweigh the adverse events” in other populations that would never have been likely to suffer those “deaths or permanent disfigurements.” Anyone who REALLY looks into the numbers for industrialized countries, including the United States knows that adverse events from vaccines far outnumber the potential number of “deaths or permanent disfigurements” from “vaccine-preventable diseases.” That may or may not have been at least partly due to vaccine usage in the past, but even if it were it would not justify ignoring the true trade-offs of vaccine usage today.
When I said hundreds of millions of deaths caused by infectious diseases have been prevented by vaccinations, that was not a number I simply imagined. Just as Dr. Wendy inanely presumed my comments were exaggerations or hyperbole, you did exactly the same. The World Health Organization statistics are easily accessible on their website. Before making yourself as much of a fool as Dr. Wendy has, do a little research.
It’s best to know what you’re talking about before you attempt to criticize. Do I have to hold your hand and walk you through the World Health Organization website or do you think you can do that yourself? You popped up out of nowhere and added nothing meaningful in an irritating impolite way.
Excuse me, but I did not say or imply in any way that I “presumed your comments were exaggerations or hyperbole.” That is a bizarre assumption on YOUR part. I merely said that any “deaths or disfigurements” that MAY have been avoided in one population are not a valid argument for vaccinating another population where such deaths or disfigurements are by no means common (and I assume that you are not arguing that “deaths and disfigurements” from “vaccine-preventable illnesses” ARE common in industrialized countries or have been since long before the vaccine schedule exploded due to the 1986 law absolving manufacturers of all financial liability for the damage vaccines do). And they are not, whether they are “exaggerations and hyperbole” or not. Before you make a bigger fool of yourself than you have so far, you should read the comments you are criticizing. Apparently, you’re not as far above the rest of us as you so desperately wish to believe.
As for “popping up out of nowhere” simply to irritate you, I am the editor of this website. I comment where I see fit, and you should probably know that I have the power to delete any and all comments *I* deem to be “irritating” or “impolite” — like yours for instance.
My assumption was not so bizarre, calm yourself down. The way you misused quotation marks is how people commonly use them to imply skepticism, not citation as you intended.
As for the populations I’m referring to, the figures I am citing are global. Obviously. I understand now that the scopes of your issue and technical interest are limited to a corner of the United States. Perhaps I made a mistake by failing to package my opinions into the narrow views of the American vaccine debate.
As for popping up out of nowhere, you did, to me. I was responding to somebody else. But now that you informed me you’re the Editor of the Website with the fearsome Power to Delete, you seem like an insecure god, so I hope you get the trembling adulation you seek.
So… you assumed I was “misusing” quotation marks by quoting your exact words, and that’s not bizarre? There was “skepticism” implied with the added single quotes inside the quotation around the words “proper vaccination,” because really, what the hell is “proper vaccination”? Everything that’s ever invented, including yellow fever, anthrax, and smallpox? The CDC-recommended schedule? The U.K. schedule? California’s schedule? Botswana’s schedule? But that skepticism should have been obvious to anyone who actually read the comment. I guess I could have gone formal by saying “single quotes added,” but this not being a dissertation, it seemed a bit much.
Indigent people in third-world countries aren’t reading our blog. It should be apparent that a blog like this that is ABOUT the media coverage of vaccine issues in industrialized countries is AIMED at those industrialized countries, which by the way is a great deal more than “a corner of the United States.” In our tiny organization we have three members who live in other countries besides the United States. In addition, we have an affiliate organization in Australia. You and anyone else are welcome to “package your opinions” any way you like, but you should expect people to point out when those opinions are irrelevant to the questions at hand.
You realize that when you post a comment on a website such as ours, anyone is free to respond, right? All responses “pop up out of nowhere” to the same degree mine did, but somehow it was irritating and impolite of me to respond? You have been dripping with condescension from the start, which in case they didn’t teach you in your medical school is pretty much the definition of irritating and impolite, especially when you don’t even have enough grace to admit that you completely misread a comment because it was using quotation marks to quote you.
And I’m the “insecure god” seeking “trembling adulation”? I don’t think it’s possible to roll my eyes hard enough. Again, it would probably be good for the world if you realized that you’re not as far above the rest of us as you so desperately wish to believe.
Thank you, for giving clear and gentle words to the vaccination dilemma.
And the battle goes on . . . . .
The greater good is so mischaracterized and misunderstood by the masses. History shows us that individual welfare matters and contributes significantly to the “greater good”. Education is key! Everyone should read the Declaration of Helsinki and understand the history behind it. Read about the history of FDA 210 and 211 regulations and how federals laws came in place for Pharma AFTER major public health issues. Medical rights have been infringed time and again and even with ethical guidelines in place. Studies and drug uses get subjective and benefits get inflated while risks are minimized all the time and who suffers – the individual, but we should remember individuals contribute to whole. if 1/44 are in need of full time care how well are we going to function as a society?!
I loved how this blog brought it back to the reader – start with trusting the parent’s words describing vaccine injury (really why would anyone lie about that?!). I have yet to have a civil conversation about vaccine injury with anyone…but here’s hoping!
One of the best ever hands down! You capture the experience of hundreds of thousands!