[QUOTE=red_awning]
The problem with vaccines and anti biotics is that the needs of the community outweigh the needs of the individual. Its a risk to the public not to vaccinate. But as individuals we as parents can make that call ourselves. That seems to piss a lot of people in the medical field off for some reason.
[/QUOTE]
It pisses off a lot of people in the medical field (such as me) and many others as well, yes. And it goes beyond the risks to which ill-informed (or completely misinformed) parents subject their children.
All those diseases that kids used to routinely get before vaccination, and which the great majority of the time didn’t permanently maim or kill them - why shouldn’t parents get to make the call about whether they’ll take that small chance that their kid won’t be blinded or killed by measles or some other preventable disease?
Well, there’s other kids for starters. Epidemics begin when enough children are unvaccinated to diminish herd immunity. The disease is introduced when a non-vaccinated child comes into the community. The larger pool of unprotected kids spreads the disease, and since vaccines are not 100% effective, others come down with it at well.
If one doesn’t care about those other kids, take the large number of adults who are susceptible to preventable diseases - for instance those whose immune systems are damaged or not functioning properly for some reason. This includes those born with immune defects, get infections (like HIV) that damage immunity or are on immunosuppressive drugs (i.e. those who’ve gotten organ transplants, are on chemotherapy or receiving immunosuppressive treatment for potentially crippling or fatal diseases like rheumatoid arthritis or lupus). If they pick up an infectious disease from an unvaccinated child, the results could be fatal.
From an editorial in yesterday’s USA Today:
"So why, many parents may wonder, should they follow new recommendations from a federal advisory panel that children up to age 18 (an expansion from up to age 5) get annual flu vaccinations, either a shot or the more recently approved nasal spray?
For the answer, just look at what happened in Japan. When school children there were given flu vaccines, flu-related deaths among elderly Japanese dropped dramatically. Even if children rarely get deathly ill from the flu, they spread it to people who do."
Like it or not, red_awning, we live in a community and have some obligation to look out for each other.
“Letting your body heal itself” is an acceptable mantra, to a point. When it starts putting the rest of us and our loved ones at serious risk, it becomes unacceptable.