Yeah, I know, there hasn’t been any plague vaccine (it’s actually one of those diseases vanquished largely by “better hygiene”). Plague however is among the infectious diseases some antivaxers cite as no big deal. No, really. Epidemics are a form of natural selection doncha know, a means of weeding out the weak and unworthy (unlike folks who deride the need for vaccines, as they are superior beings with superior immune systems).
I had one on a forum awhile back telling me, so what that a third of the world died during the worst of the plague outbreaks. Humanity survived, dinnit?
I’m comfortable with having the bar set by medically-trained personnel, the kind who give vaccinations as a matter of course, but still recognize factors that lead them to recommend against their use for certain patients.
Hey, all I’m saying is, IMO, it’s easier for people to buy some of the nonsense that’s out there because medical science has some significant black marks against its name. Rationally, your counter points are great, but you’re talking to the wrong person. I have no apprehensions about vaccines, and I’m good at separating fact from fiction.
French Guiana (along with other equatorial South American and African countries) require a “Yellow Card” (International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis–ICVP) certifying that you have a yellow fever vaccination before you can enter the country.
I’ve always hoped that Jenna and Wakefield would travel to FG with a fake ICVP just to prove a point.
I’d be happy for visas to be withheld (excepting a doctor’s note) but not passports. They’re essential ID for anyone who can’t drive and other countries can make their own decisions about whether or not to let unvaccinated people in.
One annoying fact, loosely related to Tragedy of the Commons or something, is that If almost all of the other kids are getting a vaccine, Then I wouldn’t want my kids to get it!! (although I woldn’t break the law). They don’t need it – they’re protected by herd immunity – but risk bad side-effects of the vaccine. (Of course if other parents are avoiding vaccines, then I’d want to vaccinate my kids.)
This is why many vaccinations must be a matter of government coercion, rather than parental information.
I know that they sentenced some scientists to six years in prison for failing to predict an earthquake, and last I heard, they’re still going after that American woman over that prosecutor’s psychotic delusions about satanic cults.
Of course they are, Gyrate. Because, remember, the it’s all the UK’s fault for banning import of Wakefield’s favoured ‘measles only’ vaccine. If only that had been available…
Wakefield makes me froth at the mouth. I get incoherent when he’s brought up in conversation. Is there a vaccine for that?
An Italian court issued a ruling linking the MMR vaccine to autism, and a separate ruling blamed brain tumors on cellphone use (neither finding reflects good science)
In addition to seeing Satanist conspiracies all over the place, the Italian “justice” system apparently is very woo-friendly.
Documented allergy to a component of the vaccination [like the egg allergy to the one nurtured in chicken eggs FREX]
In the US as far as I know every single state has a ‘state ID’ available to people who do not drive. Some states they are free, other states there is a minor charge similar to the charge for maintaining a drivers license.This is the state info page on the one for Connecticut as an example.
I immediately reacted to this previously unknown adjective perceiving racism yet I appear alone. Does the “woolly” represent something other than “nappy”
Ok, so, newspaper clippings. But it was a serious question: what do you know about the Italian legal system. The “earthquake” decision is more complex than you are acknowledging, and the American woman was acquitted.
There are lots of other reasons for people not to get vaccinated, like undergoing chemo or being immunocompromised in other ways or having a serious reaction to a previous vaccination. Some vaccinations, including rubella, can’t be given during pregnancy and it may be only then that a woman discovers she’s not immune.
They were charged with manslaughter because of the supposedly unclear, vague advice they gave the public on the earthquake threat.
Guess what? In any country of half-way educated people (i.e. even if they’re barely above idiot level), scientists don’t make that call. The civil government uses scientific advice to make that call.
When you get a hurricane warning or a storm warning or a fire warning, is it a scientist evaluating the necessity to evacuate or take action or is it the local government? Around Houston, at least, it’s the local mayors and county judges making those calls.
I suppose that’s a bit “more complex” but only just and still appalling.
Not quite. Her original case was overturned only on appeal after massive outcry on the international scale. She only got a break when Italy was embarrassed on the international level by the massive levels of incompetence displayed, especially after the revelations of an opportunistic prosecutor with delusions of satanic rites and a Keystone Kops level local constabulary.
And even that decision itself was overturned and a new trial ordered. That is, she’s not completely off the hook, even now.
And that doesn’t begin to describe the other foibles of Italy, including the linking of the MMR vaccine to autism, linking cell phones to brain cancer, or certain members of the Italian judiciary and legislature claiming women wearing tight fitting blue jeans cannot physically be raped.