Vaccines are a controversial topic. Until recently people thought (and some still do) they caused autism because of an article someone posted after an "experiment" a guy did and a child's birthday party that linked the two together. Now, many studies have been done to show that there really isn't a link between autism and vaccines but people still believe what they want (let's remember: correlation does not imply causation). I know parents who don't vaccinate their kids and I know people who shun those parents and their kids. This is so relevant in my life because I have two young children and they get vaccinated. The main reason I vaccinate them is because it is mandatory for them to get into school. I have tried to deny certain vaccines, since they give me a list of supposedly everything that is in the syringe, and they say I don't have to agree to every shot. But then they turn around and say that my kids will need to get whatever shots they don't get now before they go to school. I think it's interesting how you have the "option" of pumping your kid full of mild forms of different viruses and diseases but if you choose not to, they cannot a attend a public school. If I had a real choice, I would probably opt out of having to see my kids fever ridden and in pain for days after being stabbed with needles full of who knows what (even with the list of ingredients). Whether or not these vaccines actually work is up for debate, I mean, people get the flu shot and still get the flu (and on top of that, sometimes they get the wrong vaccine). I do it not to conform to societal norms but to ensure an education for my children and ultimately secure their future. That may seem like I'm reaching a bit but what is the future without education? Today, we need at least a bachelors degree to make more than minimum wage. We have to graduate from high school, as well as pass standardized tests, to get into college. We have to complete middle school to enter high school. Before we go to middle school, elementary school is required. To begin our education in elementary school, not only do we have to go through an early childhood screening that tells us whether or not we are good enough to get into pre-k or Kindergarten, we MUST have all of our vaccines up-to-date. How's that for reaching?
This, to me, is a ridiculous debate. I've always felt that people should be free to choose what they do and do not do with themselves (or their children). All of the conditions and disorders we have specific names and treatment for, that make people who they are, that we try to 'fix' (like being transgendered). I have never understood why people care so much about what everyone else is doing. If your kid gets the vaccine and mine doesn't, even if there is a sudden outbreak of whatever man-made disease they decide to throw out there, your kid will be covered, because they were vaccinated. Isn't that why you did it? If my kid gets it and comes into contact with your kid, shouldn't they be immune, because they were vaccinated? That is the point of vaccinations, right? They help to lower, or eliminate, the risk of contracting a certain disease. Oh wait, but there is still a chance that your kid could contract it, it's just lowered because he/she was pumped with that disease during infancy.
I feel as though I have turned this into a debate rather than a blog. I know that I will probably get angry comments about vaccinations and what I should and should not do with my kids, but that's the point of my post. People telling me what to do with my family. That is how techno science has shaped us. It allows us to be overly opinionated about other people and what they should and should not do or what they can and cannot do. Many people posted about standardized testing, which seems to have told the majority of us, myself included, that we are not good enough to attend college (attempting to tell us what we cannot do). But look at us now, posting in a blog for a class that we all attend at the University of Minnesota. Techno science isn't always right and many aspects should be argued.
**FOR THE RECORD: I do get my kids vaccinated because even though it is optional, I have to. They are up-to-date on all of them. Please don't come at my throat for not believing the hype.
Hi Ashley,
ReplyDeleteGreat post, it was brave of you to come out and express your ideas and concerns about the topic. The reason why I chose to comment on your post was because I too was in your situation. I also believed vaccines were really bad and also used the argument, "well if you're vaccinated and you believe it works, you don't have to worry about me." This form of my thinking was because (and I am ashamed of this) in early high school I read a lot of right-wing websites such as Infowars with Alex Jones and so on before even knowing what the right and left were and their political stances associated with them. I also never read any evidence-based papers on the issue other than the man who published his results linking autism and vaccines, Andrew Wakefield. I learned in my medical ethics course of a term called herd-immunity. This is basically a term used to describe a process where multiple people in a community get vaccinated in order to protect, or prevent dangerous diseases, from getting those who cannot get vaccinated. Those who cannot get vaccinated include babies under 6 months old, people over 65 years, those with allergies to certain components in the vaccines, or even people who have AIDS/HIV or Diabetes as these diseases make the carrier have a weaker immune system. My professor invited someone who worked for the CDC and she said that they perform very careful and thorough inspections to each batch of vaccines sent off and that this was one of the reasons why our life expectancy has risen, as per say those who study public health. She also commented that Thimersol (a compound that contains mercury) is in such small quantities in vaccines that they cause no harm to those who are vaccinated. This compound is used so that the vaccine is preserved by killing dangerous microbes.
They also mentioned cases in Minnesota where anti-vaccine groups scared the Somali community by saying that vaccines cause autism which caused many from the Somali community to not accept vaccines, thus causing a measles outbreak.
The reason why I changed my view so quickly was because both people were reputable and I could not find any actual scientific results saying vaccines were bad.
Hope this helps!
That was helpful information although babies under six months do get vaccinated, both of mine did! Also, I've read that there is no known safe level of exposure to mercury. But it's more about how my kids feel afterwards and the list of ingredients that they provide that make it hard for me to like the vaccines. I understand what they are supposed to do I just don't like them.
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