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#52985 09/11/14 01:48 PM
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I just watched the latest Nova program about vaccines. I recommend anybody who can manage watch it. They talk about what vaccines are and how they work. Mostly they investigate some cases where vaccines have caused harm, and where they haven't. Mostly they haven't. The odds of having a reaction from a vaccine is about 1 in a million. Those are pretty good odds, since the odds of getting a disease that could be prevented by vaccination are pretty short.

I am old enough to remember the "good old days". I personally recall having mumps, measles, and chicken pox. I also had something that almost killed me when I was 7. I don't really recall that, I was too sick. But those were standard diseases that everybody could expect to get. My sister also had scarlet fever and we were quarantined until she got over it. Of course in the 40s and 50s a parent's worst nightmare was polio. I remember the joy when the polio vaccine was announced. Just about every body got vaccinated. They had vaccination clinics everywhere to get the shots out.

The main lesson here is that unless your doctor has some valid reason to suggest not getting your child vaccinated, do it. The chances of having some kind of problem with the vaccine is extremely small compared to the chances of getting the disease.

Bill Gill


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C is the universal speed limit.
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Bill #52989 09/12/14 03:29 AM
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The odds of getting the disease if unvaccinated varies with the frequency and the depth of "herd immunity", the degree to which the rest of the community is vaccinated. The reason we have made vaccines for these diseases is because the chances of bad results with the real thing is much more than the consequences of vaccination. Measles encephalitis leaves the child with severe retardation, and is a not-that-rare outcome of having measles. Chicken pox can result in male sterilization, and the mumps are not a benign illness, either. And polio is a terrific disease, causing paralysis and stunting of limbs, not to mention the cases of paralysis of the breathing muscles necessitating the use of an iron lung to enable the patient to breathe. These now-preventable diseases have taken a huge toll in human life. It is a sad commentary that people fear the vaccine now more than they fear the disease. So much pain and suffering could be prevented.


If you don't care for reality, just wait a while; another will be along shortly. --A Rose

Bill #52994 09/12/14 02:19 PM
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I saw the same Nova show, about vaccinations and the anti-vaxxers. I was disappointed that they didn’t talk much about the demographics of the antivax crowd ...or maybe I missed that part.
Quote:
Why Do Affluent, Well-Educated People Refuse Vaccines...
http://www.chicagomag.com/city-life/Marc...g-the-Affluent/
Cavallari said, “we don’t vaccinate.” The reason? “I’ve read too many books...”
...assuming that if you are well read, then you should make your own decisions on everything?
===

I was most surprised by the long story of vaccination as a technique, which extends back into prehistoric times, across various regions of the globe. It’s not just something those crazy scientists invented in the lab wink as part of a government plot.

It’s humbling to realize ...that in 1955 when the first Polio vaccine was introduced:

People probably would have happily accepted a 10% or 20% chance of side effects, or at least a much higher rate than we grudgingly accept today, for the privilege of being included in and benefitting from this miracle of modern medicine.

It was much more effective than any previously intensely prayed-for miracles, and it was coming for free from the government!
What a country! What a country there had been before!

What a country there once was.

~


Pyrolysis creates reduced carbon! ...Time for the next step in our evolutionary symbiosis with fire.
samwik #52995 09/12/14 04:50 PM
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Originally Posted By: samwik
I was most surprised by the long story of vaccination as a technique, which extends back into prehistoric times, across various regions of the globe. It’s not just something those crazy scientists invented in the lab wink as part of a government plot.

I thought that part was very interesting. I hadn't realized that there were vaccination techniques in use before Jenner.

And in that regard as to accepting much larger chances of side effects they showed that too. The chances of having the person actually develop small pox from the vaccination were pretty high. Much higher than what would be acceptable now. But small pox was bad enough that the chances of getting it without the vaccine were still so much higher than the chances of getting it from the vaccine that it was definitely worth the risk.

Bill Gill


C is not the speed of light in a vacuum.
C is the universal speed limit.

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