I have to start at the beginning, which is with my first son. I had him at 21 and had very little information about vaccines other than the baby comes out and off they go for shots. That and the dreaded trips to the doctor every few months for shots, when I knew my generally calm baby would be miserable, probably feverish and crying for the entire day. But- it's what the doctors told me I had to do and more than that they presented it to me as LAW. So my son received all the vaccinations "required" until I became pregnant with my daughter when he was 4.
By my second pregnancy, not only was I older and more concerned with information, but it was about the time the anti-vaccine movement was in full swing, at the time mostly as a concern about autism. There was media coverage and it seemed questionable enough to look into. So I did look into it, and what I found was concerning to say the least.
Before I get into my personal understandings/feelings/beliefs about vaccines in and of themselves, I have to preface with something that I consider to be a fact. FACT: this issue is less about vaccines and more about faith, or lack there of, in the medical community. That said, we can argue all day about science and medicine, and if you are the sort of person who believes that either of those businesses have your best interest at heart, we will never agree. It is because of my general distrust of the medical community that I chose not to vaccinate my kids, the same reasons I keep both them and myself as far away from any pharmaceutical, (prescription or otherwise) as possible.
First of all you HAVE to understand that vaccines make money- BIG MONEY. Big Pharma is a BIG DEAL, and the medicines being manufactured and sold are not in order that you might live healthier and longer, but that the pockets of the pharmaceutical industry may get bigger.
"The global pharmaceuticals market is worth US$300 billion a year, a figure expected to rise to US$400 billion within three years. The 10 largest drugs companies control over one-third of this market, several with sales of more than US$10 billion a year and profit margins of about 30%. Six are based in the United States and four in Europe. It is predicted that North and South America, Europe and Japan will continue to account for a full 85% of the global pharmaceuticals market well into the 21st century. Companies currently spend one-third of all sales revenue on marketing their products - roughly twice what they spend on research and development." -World Health Organization (That last sentence should really frighten you and honestly be almost enough to make you never take/inject anything ever again.)
Secondly, vaccines were initially needed in a time when clean drinking water and sanitary environments barely even existed. We are talking the 1500-1700's. If you engage yourself in a little history project, you will find that the living conditions of people during this time period were horrifying. There had yet to be invented anything resembling a modern toilet, and in a lot of cases cities didn't even have sewage systems. There was no "Waste Management" truck and because of the unavoidable piles of garbage everywhere, rats and bugs were inescapable. Not to mention the overall lack of bathing. Call me crazy, but OF COURSE disease became RAMPANT. Not only that, but the medical community had no treatment for diseases and so what seemed and was at the time most necessary was prevention of said illness. Enter in the creation of the vaccine- Edward Jenner, smallpox, 1790.
Consider this: we now live in a world, in a country, where at every grocery store as you enter with your cart you will find a little tub of sanitary wipes. Everything is antibacterial. We don't even drink from our taps, we buy prepackaged water with pictures of waterfalls on the label so we can tell ourselves it's "clean". We poop in toilets, flush them and never see whatever came out of us again. Is it possible then, that perhaps even more than vaccinations, our sanitation developments have been what has done us the greatest justice in the prevention of contagious disease? Food for thought. (Also, it is worth mentioning that our obsession with sanitation is actually hurting us.)
Third, because I would argue that our progress in sanitation has been a much greater contributor to our not dying of measles or whooping cough, I would also argue that these viruses are much less likely to occur for the same reasons, and if they do, they are treatable. Would having the measles or whooping cough suck? Yes (both my daughter and I had whooping cough last year). Could it kill a baby or old person? Sure. Could any number of things kill a baby or old person, many of which we don't vaccinate for? Yes. But a generally healthy person will live through the measles, whooping cough, mumps, flu, etc. Which leads me to this: if you are scared about the health of your child, you should be doing a lot more than vaccinating them. (Obviously I believe vaccines are dangerous, which I will get to in a minute, but follow me here). You vaccinate to prevent scary viruses, but what are you FEEDING your kids??? How much processed chicken nuggets, cheese burgers, sugar and soda are they ingesting? Do you pay attention to ingredients and origins of their food, because in the long term THIS is a whole lot more terrifying than a week of the measles. Are you even attempting to buy whole or organic foods when you can? I have to stay here for a minute because it is so obvious to me. Do you know what the number one killer of Americans is? Heart disease- followed closely by cancer (taken from CDC). Heart disease is caused by unhealthy diet and lack of exercise. Good habits start in childhood, so if you are lazy or uncaring as to what your child is eating or how often they get off the couch DON'T YOU DARE talk to me about how I am putting my children, or yours, in danger by not vaccinating. Have you ever taken the time to think about cancer and why it seems as though everyone around you is being diagnosed with it? Have you thought that perhaps there is a tie between the malformation of our cells and what we breath, eat, and rub in our skin (or all those seemingly "helpful" meds we take for XYZ)? I am saying all of this to get across that vaccines in the way of "taking care" of your child are not one sided and the overall health of your children is LONG TERM not just what you can do in a Dr's office to try and assure they make it through childhood. Also, back to my point, if your child does contract one of the viruses generally vaccinated for and has a healthy immune system, they will survive, without long term damage.
Fourth, and this is sort of tied to the above, and the OVERALL LIFETIME health of your kids- do you know what is in vaccines? If you don't PLEASE click HERE (straight from the CDC), and inform yourself. If you are somehow too lazy for that, let me help you by naming off a few things that are highly recognizable:
Aluminum, MSG, Thirmesol (mercury) and formaldehyde.
Aluminum is a huge problem, stretching far beyond vaccines. You can learn about it and how it is related to cancer and Alzheimer's HERE. MSG is also a much larger problem than vaccines alone. You can learn about MSG and its ties to brain damage (particularly in children) and nervous disorders HERE. To learn more about formaldehyde head over HERE. Keep in mind, these are JUST FOUR of the toxic ingredients used as additives in your children's vaccines. Sadly, very few studies have been done to really address these additives and their direct correlation with the long term health of your child. I would venture to assume it is because again, vaccines are big money and we don't want to stifle big money. However there are many many stories, (most of which are undocumented by the media) about children who have had horrifying adverse reactions as well as death as a direct result of vaccines. For some of those stories, click here or here.Honestly, the ingredient list was the selling point for me. I don't need studies to prove that injecting toxic chemicals into my child is a bad idea. Even if they have no initial reaction, there is NOTHING to prove to me it won't affect them long term. Furthermore, with little to no answers as to the rise of things like Autism, ADD/ADHD, cancer and the like, you cannot tell me there is no relation.
One more time, before I go, and I hope if nothing else this has at least allowed for a minimal understanding of parents like me, I have to restate that this whole argument is about the trust we as individuals are able to place in the medical community. I don't trust them. I don't trust their quick visits and immediate responses. I don't trust their drugs and the money being made having them sold to me. This distrust does not make me stupid or crazy and the media with their propaganda and fear mongering does not move me. If you haven't noticed, the government as a whole cares very little about you or whatever infectious disease you may contract. Should you be on the opposite side of this belief, as a person who stands on the hope that medicine really is made to heal, or at the very least help, we will never see eye to eye. Just please, do yourself a favor and don't decide to be a sheep before you interrogate the shit out of your shepherd.
PS. I feel as though I am leaving this all to soon, because it is so much more complicated than even what I have presented here, and for that I am sorry. I will leave you with this: find some non bias info about the actual illnesses you are vaccinating against, environment they originated in, how rare they are today, (not because we have vaccines but because we don't accidentally touch poop and rats all the time and have clean water), and what the actual effects of the illness are IF they were to be contracted and try and look at it from a place that isn't viral-apocalyptic-fear based. More than that, isn't bias in terms of all you've ever heard from every Dr for your whole life.
PSS. This is all just my opinion ya'll.
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