Sheer brilliance
First they came up with a chicken pox vaccine.
This, as anyone with an ounce of common sense should have been able to forsee, led to an increase in adult shingles.
So what did they do?
They came up with a shingles vaccine too.
It’s sheer profit brilliance.
(Oh, but it’s not about the money. Really.)
Oh yes, and did you hear? There has been an increase in measles outbreaks recently. Measles are, after all, a “potentially deadly disease”. Darn those religious homeschooled non-vaxers.
A few years from now, they’ll be writing the exact same article, only about chicken pox instead of measles. Forget normal childhood illness (with lasting immunity, unlike the chicken pox vaccine’s immunity). No, no, chicken pox is a “potentially deadly disease”. Beware!
The Definition of "Risk"
I’m trying to be patient. I really am. But when people can’t even understand a concept so basic as “risk”…well, it becomes rather difficult.
Risk is the possibility of an event occuring. When I say there is a risk of such-and-such, I don’t mean that it will happen. I mean there is a possibility that it will happen.
So the fact that it didn’t happen to your sister/mother/friend/etc is, I’m sorry to say, really quite irrelevant.
There are risks associated with epidurals. There are risks associated with being induced. There are risks associated with medical tests. With formula. With babies watching television. With vaccines. With leaving a baby to cry alone. There simply are.
I just want people to think. To have all the knowledge they need to make an informed decision. Not to necessarily make the same decision I would – just to make an informed one. Maybe for you the benefit is worth the risk, while for me it isn’t. That’s fine – just be willing to recognize that the risk exists in the first place! I can respect that sort of decision. What I can’t respect is the poor logic of “such-and-such didn’t happen to so-and-so, therefore there is no risk”, or, perhaps even worse, “it won’t happen to me.”
Those two statements are so hurtful in the way they completely disqualify and invalidate the experiences of all those to whom it did happen. So it didn’t happen to your sister – that doesn’t mean it won’t happen to you. That doesn’t mean it hasn’t already happened to countless numbers of other women. Show some respect for those women – recognize that the risk exists. Just recognize that it exists.
Negligent?
I really wish magic 8 balls worked.
Or that all baby books and articles and studies said the same thing.
Or that “right answers” fell out of the sky.
Because then these no-win issues wouldn’t exist.
It seems that no matter how much I read about vaccinations, I just don’t get any further ahead, any closer to that one perfect “correct” answer.
On the one hand, I can continue to delay my son’s vaccinations and to be selective about which ones he gets in the first place. I’m very fortunate to have a doctor who accepts this without question or objection. But how would I feel if my son ended up with a vaccine-preventable disease? And is it really fair to take advantage of everyone else’s vaccinations?
On the other hand, I can have the vaccinations done. I can allow the doctor to inject them into my baby. And then I can hope and pray that he isn’t adversely affected by them, and constantly wonder whether this or that is a result of the vaccines.
Either way, I’m gambling. Either way, I take a risk with my son’s health, with his life. It feels like either way, I lose.
My perfect little baby boy is napping a few feet away from me, blissfully unaware that on Tuesday, when he turns six months old, we will go see the doctor and once again his mom will say no, not today, we’re still delaying. No, not today will we inject him with substances that could have lasting negative effects on his health and development. No, not today will we increase his protection against this, that, and the other. What does that make us? Good? Bad? Thoughtful? Negligent?
Confused?
I know there probably is no right answer here. But for now, I’m doing what I think is best, after months of research. I’m continuing to delay. In the meantime, I’m breastfeeding, the bit of protection I can give him without worry. I’ll keep delaying until I feel it’s time to do otherwise – and maybe that day simply won’t ever come.
hippiehousewife