Sticky Situation

I'm stupid. At least, that's what sanctimoms say when they hear I don't vaccinate my children. I've obviously made the decision because of Jenny McCarthy (whoever the heck that person is) and not because of any independent research I've done. How dare I question the medical communities and the dogma they spout as fact? Why would I possibly risk my child getting measles, whooping cough, or chicken pox when the CDC has all but cured those diseases?

It must be because I'm ignorant.

I'm ignorant of the fact that the CDC admits, on their site, that the strain of whooping cough that's most prevalent is one that doesn't respond to vaccination. (1)

I'm ignorant of the fact that measles outbreaks are obviously caused by "anti-vaxxers" rather than a fraudulent vaccine company. Yes, the drug company Merck, has three(!) class-action suits lobbied against them for violating state laws and "hiding the declining efficacy of the [measles] vaccine..."(2)

But it's not the power hungry drug company's fault when there's a measles outbreak, right? It's us "anti-vaxxers".

I'm also ignorant of the fact that vaccines are 100% safe. At least, that's what Dr. Karen Remley, executive vice president of the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) has said (3). Let's just ignore the fact that when the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Bruesewitz vs. Wyeth in 2011 they said that, "vaccines are unavoidably unsafe"(4). We'll also pretend that the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Fund not only doesn't exist, but that it hasn't paid out over 3.8 billion dollars to vaccine victims since 1988(5).

I'm so very ignorant when it comes to acknowledging the existence of doctors who are against vaccinations or, at the very least, advocate delaying until a child is old enough to handle the stress to their system. These are well-read, intelligent people with PhD's behind their names. People like Dr. Neides, former "Medical Director and Chief Operating Officer of the Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute", fired for his views on vaccinations(6) or Arizona doctor Jack Wolfson, who almost lost his license to practice medicine because he's not gung-ho for vaccines(7). And I'm sure we've all heard of the "evil" Andrew Wakefield, who dared to wonder if it would be safer to spread out the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines rather than lumping them together. He wasn't even against vaccination but only mentioned that there "might" be a correlation between the MMR and GI issues, and, BAM! he was discredited, disgraced, and labeled a fraud!(8)

When you have doctors that are labeled as quacks for breathing a concern over vaccines and are then ostracized and/or fired for that concern, you can't help but wonder what's going on.

At least, us dummies start to wonder. The regular, "sane" folks just smile and pull up their sleeves for the next shot that Big Pharma deems necessary. Don't ask questions, don't put up a fight, just follow along like good little sheep.

I guess I'll just stay ignorant when it comes to the knowledge that exposure to measles has been found to have oncolytic properties. As a big stupid-head, I had to take the time to look that one up and when I did, I discovered it meant that having measles as a child, "significantly protects against genital, prostate, skin and lung cancers, as an adult". Amazingly enough, measles has also been found to create tumor remissions (8) and has been used to cure cancer! (9)

Yes, people can die from measles. Even a dummy like me knows that. However, the risk of dying from measles is so small, it's almost laughable. This is when sanctimommy tosses her perfect hair and flashes her glistening white teeth in what I'm supposed to take as a smile but is really just an excuse to bare her fangs and reminds me that the risk is small because of herd immunity.

Really? I'm curious, then, how Loyola College in 2013, Fordham University in 2014, and Harvard in 2016 all had measles outbreaks when all students who attend were required to have vaccines? These colleges claim 100% vaccination rates and yet, their "herd immunity" wasn't worth poo.

I mean, I could see how an unvaccinated idiot could have sneezed measles onto one of those college kids and infected him or her but after that, shouldn't the rest of the studious students have been protected by their herd immunity?

I get that parents want to protect their kids. That's what I'm trying to do by allowing my children to build up their own immunities. Not to mention that I can't tell if one of my kids will have a reaction to one of the vaccines until they have it injected into their system. Doctors routinely stick our babies for a full year without knowing if they've got an autoimmune issue that will adversely affect their health later in life. Even when a baby or child has a reaction that could be deemed dangerous, it's shrugged off by the medical community.

I used to frequent a site for moms and while I visited there, I read many posts from mothers who said their newly vaccinated baby or child had a "high fever" or "knots at the injection site" or even seizures. And yet, instead of alerting the parents to the fact that these were adverse reactions and should be reported, they were virtually patted on the hand and told that everything was "normal" and "fine". Why? Because the pharmaceutical companies can't let it be known that their vaccines are dangerous, so they continue to downplay the "adverse reactions" so they can continue making the almighty dollar!

I've had mothers, through the anonymity of the internet, threaten to kick my ass if my unvaccinated children come near their precious snowflakes, all while laughing as they share how they stuff little Johnny or Jane full of addictive sugar (10) and mind-altering food dyes(11). I've had them wax poetic on how vaccinations should be required before children are allowed into public libraries or grocery stores, but then scream when their "rights" are violated.

And yet, I'm the ding-dong because I don't treat my doctors like they're god-incarnate. I'm the idiot because I don't kow-tow to the fear of diseases that basically died out when our hygiene habits improved (12). I'm the unintelligent one that researches all the angles of vaccination, rather than blindly believing and following the word of a rich and greedy company claiming to know what's best for my family.

If that makes me stupid in your eyes, then so be it.



(1089 words--not counting sources)




(1)https://www.cdc.gov/pertussis/pertactin-neg-strain.html

(2)http://ahrp.org/former-merck-scientists-sue-merck-alleging-mmr-vaccine-efficacy-...

(3)www.aap.org/en-us/about-the-aap/aap-press-room/Pages/American-Academy-of-Pediatrics-Emphasizes-Safety-and-Importance-of-Vaccines.aspx

(4)https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/300aa-22

(5)https://www.hrsa.gov/vaccine-compensation/data/index.html

(6)https://healthimpactnews.com/2018/former-medical-director-of-cleveland-clinic-sp...

(7)http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/arizona-anti-vaccine-doctor-to-keep-his-lice...

(8)https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3136032/

(9)https://books.google.com/books?id=V3jWBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT250&lpg=PT250&dq=Neil+Z.+Mil...

(10) http://www.startribune.com/no-4-massive-blast-of-measles-vaccine-wipes-out-cance...

(11) Watch the documentary, Sugar Coated also: http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/negative-effects-refined-sugar-children-7164.htm...

(12)https://www.happy-mothering.com/02/health-2/nutrition-health-2/beyond-allergies-...

(13)http://www.organiclifestylemagazine.com/how-plumbing-not-vaccines-eradicated-dis...