It would appear that there is an outbreak of rubella, a.k.a german measles, in southwestern Ontario among schoolchildren. Interesting since the vaccine, as far as I can tell from a google search, was approved in 1970. Now I’m not an expert here, just your regular, semi-informed, news junkie blogger, but I happen to think that vaccines are a pretty good idea generally speaking. But I’m not going to argue that government should require you to get vaccinated or throw you in jail or anything. I’m just saying that there are good reasons for it, and you might just want to seriously consider them for you and your children. Personally, I’m for vaccination because of ‘the social contract’—because there are some things one does to protect society as a whole. For me, the fact that I may not get the disease, the individual benefit, is a lovely side effect. Every year I get the flu shot because I come into regular contact with vulnerable individuals for whom the flu would be a lot more than a discomfort and a couple of days off work. Yes, if you don’t get the rubella vaccine (actually MMR) you might get rubella. It would be uncomfortable and not fun, but you would get over it. But more importantly, you would be raising the risk to every pregnant woman you come into contact with, perhaps profoundly affecting the life of her and her unborn child. Yes, the vaccine isn’t 100% effective, but neither is a condom. *Shocking* It’s all about the risk vs. benefit analysis.
Interesting that those in opposition to immunization in general cite, as one of their reasons, that vaccines are tested on fetal tissue, and yet their refusal to get vaccinated may prompt many other women to abort. I’m not saying that’s a good decision on their part (then again, who knows what one would do in such a situation), but it is seemingly incongruous with the purpose of their self-centred behaviour.
Yes, you heard me. I really think that these are people who only think about their children and no one else’s. Yes, there are chemicals in vaccines. Yes, they probably aren’t great for you. But in my mind, eradicating, or at least significantly diminishing the impact of a disease, outweighs the risk. Okay, if you are allergic to something in the vaccine that’s another story. But if you’re already taking your kids to McDonald’s twice a week, sorry, but you just don’t have a good enough excuse to jeopardize our collective health to avoid some formaldehyde that’s probably somewhere in those fries too.
I mean, if God wanted us all to die of cancer, there’d be no mammograms, no chemotherapy. Rubella is a disease that is largely preventable. Far more preventable, and easily preventable, than cancer. Come on people, we have enough to worry about here. If you want to refuse treatment, that’s your right, but don’t do so at all our expense. It’s irresponsible.
Interesting that those in opposition to immunization in general cite, as one of their reasons, that vaccines are tested on fetal tissue, and yet their refusal to get vaccinated may prompt many other women to abort. I’m not saying that’s a good decision on their part (then again, who knows what one would do in such a situation), but it is seemingly incongruous with the purpose of their self-centred behaviour.
Yes, you heard me. I really think that these are people who only think about their children and no one else’s. Yes, there are chemicals in vaccines. Yes, they probably aren’t great for you. But in my mind, eradicating, or at least significantly diminishing the impact of a disease, outweighs the risk. Okay, if you are allergic to something in the vaccine that’s another story. But if you’re already taking your kids to McDonald’s twice a week, sorry, but you just don’t have a good enough excuse to jeopardize our collective health to avoid some formaldehyde that’s probably somewhere in those fries too.
I mean, if God wanted us all to die of cancer, there’d be no mammograms, no chemotherapy. Rubella is a disease that is largely preventable. Far more preventable, and easily preventable, than cancer. Come on people, we have enough to worry about here. If you want to refuse treatment, that’s your right, but don’t do so at all our expense. It’s irresponsible.
On a side note, I was once threatened with expulsion from grade school for not having my MMR vaccine. It was really just a question of timing and moving from one province to another with different immunization directives. So how come over 60 per cent of kids at this one school haven’t been vaccinated? I guess we’re more enlightened to people’s charter rights in 2005 than we were in 1986. Like I said, it’s a question of collective rights. And I don’t happen to think that my individual rights are being violated in protecting myself and my community from disease.
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