This constant ME, ME, ME, instead of US followed by “me” has given us things like Ebola in America. The closure of a wedding shop in Ohio because a selfish soon to be bride decided to travel after exposure to ebola without thinking about any of the other people that she could potentially expose to the disease.
ME in our society trumps an outdated concept that used to be called “For the general good”.
ME, MINE, and I, have also led us to measles making a comeback.
Just wait, in another few months We’ll have our first case of Polio in 36 years then we get to look forward to Small Pox, and Rubella.
Yipeee!!!!!
Virtually all Americans in my age group were vaccinated. Guess what? We’ve lived long and generally healthy lives.
Now or maybe I should say 20 years ago, along comes the woo woo crowd and suddenly vaccinations are bad and can HARM YOUR CHILDREN! AHHHHHHHHHHH lets ALL PANIC!
Lets all ignore science! We MUST not expose our children to bad things! (Except for strapping our babies into car seats then playing music so loud it can be heard a block away, or continuing to smoke pot and cigarettes around our kids, or feeding them absolute crap 3 times daily from fast food places!)
Yeah, RIGHT! We have to protect our kids from vaccines. What about protecting them from the diseases?
Come-on folks!
Yes, a long time ago some of these vaccinations were preserved with a material called Thiomersal. When I was growing up we had an antiseptic in our medicine cabinet called Merthiolate. It was the same stuff.
It contained mercury and some people were sensitive to it. Remember, this was in the 1960s. If you want to know something really scary… metal fillings in your teeth have mercury in them! Are you done panicking yet?
Today, most anything that ever contained mercury doesn’t anymore. In point of fact, we knew back then, that mercury could be dangerous, we’ve known this since the 18th century.
(The term “Mad as a Hatter” traces its origin to felt hat production in England where mercury was commonly used during manufacturing and later to cleanse hats. People over time would start to develop dementia as the levels in their blood became toxic.)
Notice, I said as the levels reached toxicity, which says that a single exposure or even more than a few exposures will probably have no ill effect as long as you personally don’t reach a toxic level.
Vaccines today just don’t have nearly as much Thiomersal in them. Thats if they have any at all. Add to that, most vaccines don’t have living viruses or bacteria in them and honestly, the antivax crowd doesn’t have a leg to stand on. Better that you’re exposed to the protein markers that trigger your immune system than be exposed to the live potentially killer agent. All a vaccination does is let your body learn “This is a bad protein configuration.” then your body creates antibodies to destroy that configuration in the future. A vaccination gives your body a shot at learning in a safe way when life or death isn’t on the line. Bottom line, vaccinations are safer than catching the disease.
But selfishness is the real point.
When people fail to vaccinate their kids, they create a situation far worse than just their kids getting sick and potentially dying. They create a situation where people who cannot take a vaccine at all are more vulnerable.
A young leukemia patient can’t have many vaccines, and for them exposure to preventable diseases like measles can easily be a death sentence. The “herd” immunity is conferred on us all, when most of the population (something above 93%) is vaccinated. When the vaccination percentage drops, the door is opened for the disease to get a foothold, potentially doing damage to all of society.
Whose fault will it be if kids die of measles? I’m sure there will be some parents who say, “The Doctor didn’t explain, the government should have made a law, we just didn’t understand, the government should have paid for vaccinations.”
Any of those excuses are bullshit!
I know I’d hate to have to look into my child’s blind eyes and explain my failure as a parent in not getting him vaccinated against a preventable disease, and because of my failure he caught rubella and lost his sight.
The bottom line is that the Parents are responsible.
They’re the ones who didn’t do the research, they’re the ones that chose to save the money, they’re the ones that decided to ignore astounding scientific advances.
Ultimately parents have failed in their duty to look after not only their children but also in their duties to society at large.
I remember being vaccinated AT SCHOOL against Rubella and having to hand the Nurse an envelope containg my Mother’s permission to vaccinate me and payment for the vaccination.
One of the rituals of summer was going to the doctor for my booster shots and my Mother then presenting proof of my boosters being up to date to the school in the weeks before start of the fall term.
That’s being responsible, my Mom was a single working Mom in the ‘60s and ‘70s. It wasn’t easy for her to afford vaccines but she did it. First and foremost she wanted to protect me, and secondarily it was a duty to society at large.
Honestly, things were simpler in the ‘60s. I’m not saying things were “better” but they were simpler. It was easier to know your place, your duty, and the world was a smaller place where wonders were always just around the corner.