"Vaccination is unquestionably one of the great public health successes of the modern era. Many of the most dreaded scourges of the pre-inoculation age have either been eradicated (like smallpox) or vastly curtailed (like measles). While one can certainly debate the morality of compulsory vaccination and the role of both corporations and the state in the design and marketing of vaccines, the efficacy of childhood vaccines for certain diseases is empirically clear. For instance: In the 1920s, an estimated 13,000 to 15,000 Americans died each year of diphtheria; last year, that number dropped to one.
However, the history of vaccination is not without its tragedies as well. In 1955, mistakes in the manufacture of the early polio vaccine by Cutter Laboratories caused 40,000 cases of polio and killed ten children. More recently, a vaccine for dengue was discovered to increase danger to seronegative recipients after a mass vaccination campaign in the Philippines. So one of the key questions in this scenario is how to balance the unknown potential risks of a novel vaccine against its promised benefits.
Obviously, the vaccine should only be made available to anyone if the risk-reward calculus favors doing so..."
Written by
kaypeeoh
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It is easy to think of vaccination as a solution. It isn't. First, it may be impossible to develop a vaccine for this virus, given that there seem to be several mutations. If it is possible, then we need to remember that the ability of our body to respond to the vaccination depends on the strength of our immune system. Vaccination puts antigens into the body to which the body's immune system responds by producing antibodies (just as it would respond to the vaccine itself by producing antibodies ). If we have a strong immune system, we get lots of antibodies, which are there ready to attack the virus if we get infected. If our immune system is weak, we don't.
With this virus, most people with strong immune systems may be OK anyway. Largely it is people with other conditions who suffer badly. Those of us with heart conditions, diabetes, obesity. We can't extrapolate from our experience of other vaccines. Measles, mumps, polio, may have been stopped by vaccination, but those conditions often struck the young and healthy. Today's flu, less so. The data on flu js very poor, but in the over 50s it seems that the protective effect is 0.6%. The highly regarded Cochrane Institute, analysing data in 2016 (healthy adults), excluded 85% studies as being of too low quality, but concluded from the remaining 15% that overall (all age groups) " Injected influenza vaccines probably have a small protective effect against influenza as 71 people would need to be vaccinated to avoid one influenza case"
What kind of response will those who are at most risk of developing covid-19 have to any vaccine? We won't know until post vaccination infections occur, but personally, I won't be pinning my hopes on a vaccine. Rather, exercise, community, good nutrition and good sleep, all of which are known to strengthen the immune system. After a good night's sleep, for example, we make 4 times more white blood cells and double the antibodies that we make when we sleep poorly.
Boy am I glad you qualified your statement "Vaccination is unquestionably one of the great public health successes of the modern era." Nutrition, hygiene and clean water are primarily responsible for the reduction of disease and increase in lifespan.
My two cents: "Vaccines are unavoidably unsafe;" US Congress when they gave vaccine manufacturers a free pass and no liability for vaccine injury in the 1980s and created VARES and the vaccine injury compensation fund - that the public pays for! The vaccine schedule exploded and Autism (neurological injury) became epidemic. This is not a correlation folks, it is a fact.
Vaccinosis is a term we don't hear often anymore, this is the diagnosis for vaccine injury. Vaccines haven't become safer, pharma has captured our medical system and the doctors who are trying to make a living in it.
There is no such thing as a safe vaccine, it is a tradeoff between risk of illness and risk of vaccine injury, both encompass the risk of death. 40% or more of people carry the MTHFR mutation (I have 2) that makes vaccination an absolute no for me and my descendants. We are not tested beforehand. I have vaccine injured children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews.
When you choose to confront the obvious, it's easy to see the thread of neurological disorders running through the family tree. Autism is basal ganglia dysfunction - so is Parkinson's disease; are my sons destined to develop PD as they age? (Or worse, ALS from Roundup and other ag chemicals? Their risk is now 50% subsequent to my ALS diagnosis.) Did the vaccines we received as children set us up for neurodegenerative disorders later in life? These are valid questions that need to be answered.
It's important to know that the polio vaccine of my generation (1950s & 60s) was contaminated with SV40, a cancer causing virus from the monkey kidney cell culture. We were injected with monkey DNA. Cancer was a rare event before the introduction of vaccines and agricultural chemicals.
Children born with Down's syndrome go on to develop Alzheimers disease. Why is it that science hasn't found the germline mutation that causes DS? Because there isn't one. Women were told "our eggs are old" and bearing children later in life is a risk factor for DS. The women I know with neurologically injured children were young - in their 20s. I call bullshit. It's environmental poisoning of the embryo in the earliest stage of development. It is likely a cleaning chemical that is in common use, chlorine bleach perhaps. This chemical is in public water supplies along with another neurological poison - fluoride. Want to guess what these chemicals make when combined?
It trips my trigger when I see people blindly abiding dogma instead of thinking critically for themselves. This is what has gotten us into this mess, and it will continue until we as woke members of society put a stop to it.
There is no such thing as a safe vaccine. There is no such thing as safe agricultural chemicals. There is no such thing as a safe pharmaceutical drug.
I remember the Salk vaccine as well as well as the chicken pox vaccine as well as the Sabin vaccine. I had them all and survived. Nothing is 100% but vaccines saved millions of lives. I'm waiting for the coronavirus vaccine. Vaccination is not a crap-shoot. It's not bullshit. Vaccines save lives.
I don't agree with you, but I will defend your right to your opinion.
Mandatory vaccination is a slippery slope and this is where I fear we are headed as a global society.
Vaccination is an invasive medical procedure that carries risk of injury. It is not benign. I will fight anyone who tries to impose their beliefs on me and infringe upon my right to self determination and bodily integrity. My body. My choice. Your body. Your choice.
As far as the herd immunity propaganda is concerned: I can't make anyone sick with an illness I don't have. I'll quarantine myself and protect me from you. 😷
”Why is it that science hasn't found the germline mutation that causes DS”. They have. It’s called trisomy 21, meaning people with Downs have 3 copies of chromosome 21 rather than the usual 2.
I dont know anything about somatic and germline but it seems that Trisomy 21 is not exclusively somatic. And why havent they found it before? I presume because we are just learning about genetics. There is still much to discover.
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