At first I wasn't going to write this post since I believe that a film that appears to be (at least in part) based on thoroughly discredited, fear-mongering nonsense should get as little attention as possible.
Then after browsing several anti-vaccine and conspiracist websites I found as I suspected, that this has already exploded and whatever I write here won't make matters any worse.
The film 'Vaxxed' is directed by Mr Andrew Wakefield, a former physician who lost his medical license after research that he had authored, was found fraudulent (containing as I understand it, both methodological and ethical flaws).
Just watching the trailer for this film elevated my BP into dangerous territory. How is it that this man keeps promoting the same debunked data to this day? Hasn't it caused enough harm already?
It seems that anti-vaccine proponents span the entire spectrum from sadly misinformed to clearly unhinged. However, no matter what their individual motivation happens to be, they are in my opinion dangerous. We have fought a hard battle against diseases that today are vaccine-preventable. Millions of children have died in the past and some still do, to this day. We don't see much of it in first-world countries due to the success of vaccines. Anti-vaccine proponents seem to believe that the "olden days" were better. I think it's deeply worrisome.
In my escapades around the internet, I've found all sorts of scary blogs, clips and opinions relating to childhood vaccines.
This YouTube clip rather amusingly (in a sad way) has 90 likes and zero (!) dislikes (probably because no rational person would even click on it in the first place). (I'm not sure what this says about me)
Anyway this women thinks that nagalese (an enzyme) is added on purpose to vaccines in order to induce autism, cancer and type 2 diabetes in vaccine recipients. And the doctors who discovered this were subsequently murdered to cover this up. This vaccine tampering seems to be a part of some nefarious population control plot.
(It seems that alpha-N-acetylgalactoseaminidase (referred to as nagalese in the YouTube clip) can deglycosylate vitamin D binding protein (DBP) and DBP plays a role in the immune cascade response. So it seems that alpha-N-acetylgalactosaminidase can interfere with the immune response. While some cancer cells can release alpha-N-acetylgalactosaminidase, I've found no proof that injecting them into humans induces cancers, never mind autism and DMII. I will however admit that I didn't spend an inordinate amount of time researching her theory).
I admit that this last video is a bit extreme. But this woman and other "anti-vaxxers" have one thing on common. They are willing to accept something as true, even when there is no supporting evidence available.
Serious questions:
* Why are some people so vulnerable/susceptible to flawed logic and poor research?
* What can we as nurses/healthcare professionals do to ensure that our patients base their decisions on sound evidence-based facts or at least have the opportunity to do so? Or should we just reconcile ourselves with the fact that a portion of the population will base their decisions on questionable or outright false information, misconceptions and fear?
There are so many vaccine injured children, that the consequence of vaccine injuries, and of other mal-practice (whether by accident or not) is my "concern". I'm guessing that you don't know ANY parents of vaccine injured children, right? And, I'm guessing that you've NEVER seen any vaccine-injured autistic or otherwise vaccine-injured children, right?
There are so many vaccine injured children, that the consequence of vaccine injuries, and of other mal-practice (whether by accident or not) is my "concern". I'm guessing that you don't know ANY parents of vaccine injured children, right? And, I'm guessing that you've NEVER seen any vaccine-injured autistic or otherwise vaccine-injured children, right?
I've never seen "vaccine-injured autistic" because THEY DO NOT EXIST.
This is obviously a hot topic with a varying degree of opinions, but I have to at least play devil's advocate despite that I'm not anti-vaccine. I, personally, am vaccine choice because, in all reality, it is an invasive medical treatment and should be regarded with the same informed consent as any other procedure. Forcing any medical procedure on anyone--child or not--is a slippery slope and not something that should be taken lightly. Advocating for mandatory vaccines is advocating for the elimination of the right to refuse treatment. I assure you that once the precedent has been set that choice is no longer given on one medical procedure, it's only a matter of time until other treatments are no longer optional-- chemo? dialysis? CKD & cancer may not be contagious, but the decision to refuse treatment still affects other people. So, should those people be forced into treatments they don't want because other people are involved? Just a thought.
I also think the biggest mistake people make when discussing those that are considered "anti-vaxxers" is 1) lumping them all into the same category and 2) assuming that their only concern or source of concern is Andrew Wakefield and the threat of autism. The fact is that there are a lot of people that are labeled "anti-vax" when they advocate for an augmented schedule or are maybe only against only certain vaccinations but not all. Or, potentially, some don't vaccinate their children when they are very young but will when they are older. There's a broad spectrum out there, but the generalizations that exist make it seem like anyone that has any concerns about vaccines is a whack job that would try to cure measles with a bowl of petunias. It's just not true, and there are a lot of legitimate concerns out there that have nothing to do with autism like the media fear-mongers would have you believe.
Some of the concerns of so-called "anti-vaxxers" that have nothing to do with autism:
1) Vaccines are the only medication given to children that is not dosed by weight. So, a 4 lb newborn would be given the same dose of HepB as a 12 lb newborn. If that doesn't sound strange to you, then it's probably because you just don't care to think about it.
2) Vaccines are pretty much the only medical procedure out there that "scientists" absolutely refuse to do more research on. The argument is that "the science is in and there's no reason to keep looking into it." Hardly anything in history has been 100% proven and therefore not worth continuing research on. There's a reason in science why there are theories vs hypotheses vs laws. In this instance, vaccine safety is still a theory, not a law and more research could always yield different results. For a long time people were convinced that the Earth was square. As much as they argued that to be the case, further research proved it to be untrue. Everything is always worth continued research, especially when it comes to the safety of children.
3) As many studies have been done on vaccines, there are none that have researched the vaccine schedule in whole, only vaccines individually.
4) As others have mentioned, the corruption within the government, Big Pharma, and research facilities is real. Most of the studies done to prove vaccine safety are either performed, sponsored, or paid for by the vaccine manufacturers themselves. That's called bias, and those studies should be questioned. Any research with heavy bias should be. Likewise, the CDC, the vaccine companies, and the research facilities swap employees so often that they might as well be one large company. As one example, Julie Gerberding, Executive VP of Global Public Policy and Population Health for Merck used to work as a Director for the CDC. That's called conflict of interest.
5) The whole "herd immunity" theory is majorly questionable. No vaccine is 100% effective, so you have some people not covered there. Vaccines also wear off over time, so there's another group of people not immunized. Finally, older adults never had to be vaccinated for a lot of the things we currently vaccinate for. So, the likelihood that >84% of the population of the US is currently fully immunized per CDC schedule is less than zero.
6) Autoimmune diseases are on the rise. It's well known that just about anything can trigger an autoimmune disease in those that are susceptible. Unfortunately, most people do not get tested for susceptibility until it's too late for them. So, is it possible that vaccines could be the catalyst for some autoimmune diseases or cause complications? Yes, very possible. Unfortunately, there is currently no medical exemption afforded to those with immune system dysfunction or the children of someone with autoimmune dysfunction. Does that mean they shouldn't get any vaccinations? No. But does it mean they should potentially stay away from live vaccines? Probably.
7) Many strictly pro-vaccine people refuse the flu vaccine. Why? The flu and pneumonia kills more older adults and children each year than most of the diseases we vaccinate against have in the last 50 years.
8) Some of the diseases we vaccinate for are not as serious as the fear-mongering media make them out to be. With the advances in modern medicine, most of the patients (measles, mumps, chickenpox, etc) are treatable at home. In fact, the main treatment for measles is Vitamin A and rest. Scary. As with anything, early intervention is the key to prevention of serious complications.
The way I look at it, there are real concerns with vaccines out there and we, as a society, owe it to our children to do everything we can to make sure we are providing them with the best and safest care. I think that vaccines, like any medication or procedure, should be subject to unbiased continual research for safety and efficacy.
Finally, as a parent, I am inclined to believe people when they say that their child was developing normally until they received a vaccine. I know my son better than anyone else and I could tell you without a doubt if he were to radically change behavior. Shaming parents that are searching for answers, even if you don't agree about the cause of their concern, is not responsible or ethical. As health professionals, feeling empathy and wanting to help these families should be the easy answer.
My hope here is not to change the mind of those that read this. I understand that most are going to stay on their side of the fence with regard to vaccines. However, I only hope that the conversation can one day be civil and all sides can agree that research should never be concluded in this important matter. My apologies that this is so long-winded.
If there are no autistic children made to be autistic, by vaccine injury, how do you explain away the BILLIONS of dollars paid to their families, by the Vaccine Court??
And the naked Emperor is "wearing clothes", right, Farawyn?
If there are no autistic children made to be autistic, by vaccine injury, how do you explain away the BILLIONS of dollars paid to their families, by the Vaccine Court??
I'm not a lawyer.
Please, post some links, so I can see of what you are speaking.
There are so many vaccine injured children, that the consequence of vaccine injuries, and of other mal-practice (whether by accident or not) is my "concern". I'm guessing that you don't know ANY parents of vaccine injured children, right? And, I'm guessing that you've NEVER seen any vaccine-injured autistic or otherwise vaccine-injured children, right?
How many vaccine injured children are there out there? I'm not doubting that there are some, but what kind of numbers are you talking about? How is it determined that vaccines actually caused the injuries you mention? I'm not being facetious here-I truly do want to know how you arrived at your conclusions.
Personally, I have never seen a vaccine injured child, but I have seen several children and adults who were injured/killed by diseases they were not or couldn't be vaccinated against.
I never claimed what I said to be fact. I stated that I was addressing a list of concerns from non-vaccinating parents other than that vaccines cause autism. The only reason I brought these up is because the major focus of the original thread was Andrew Wakefield and the fact that vaccines were "proven" to not cause autism.
Hi, Jen, you have made quite a few statements as if they are "fact", re: no further ongoing research, etc.
Can you please post some links to back up your statements?
Otherwise, we may think your arguments are not valid.
For the record, from the Autism Science Foundation (whose Co-founder and President is a CDC advisor) About Us section:
"Vaccines save lives; they do not cause autism. Numerous studies have failed to show a causal link between vaccines and autism. Vaccine safety research should continue to be conducted by the public health system in order to ensure vaccine safety and maintain confidence in our national vaccine program, but further investment of limited autism research dollars is not warranted at this time."
To me, that reads as "no more research." Considering the President is an advisor of the CDC, one can reasonably assume that the CDC and any other government sponsored or funded organizations will follow suit.
It isn't, sadly. Most anti vaxxers write just like you did, and swear it's fact.
I can understand that. A lot of people get swept up in the world of opinions instead of doing their own research. I only want to open the conversation to some of the other issues people have that are usually neglected. There's so much hubbub about autism and vaccines that the people with other fears get lumped into the same category. I know a lot of people with the "other" concerns that just do an augmented vaccine schedule, but still somehow get labeled anti-vax.
I think that the people who gravitate to these hypes are either:
1. Conspiracy theorist who believe that anything mainstream must be bad and controlled by "them".... I could explore why they are this way, but I think the movie A Beautiful Mind does it better... LOL
2. Cannot accept that there are "things" that happen to children that are bad that do not have a blamable cause. If something is wrong with a child, someone must be responsible. It is easier for them to accept this and spend endless time and energy calling everyone to arms against the "enemy" than to try to cope with not knowing what caused the "bad thing". The child was "perfect", someone did something to change this. Unfortunately, in the rush to protect children without problems, many turn to the anti-vaxx campaign as a mystical cure against the evils of modernization. Because children never had autism, diabetes, or cancer before we vaccinated.... They fail to realize that there was a huge child mortality problem, from these problems and from the diseases we vaccinate against.
It is sad, but until their child contracts one of these diseases, they will not see and believe anything that takes away from their "magic protection" that they have in place for their child. And the rest of society pays the price...
)
to cover this up. This vaccine tampering seems to be a part of some nefarious population control plot.
concerned lady
133 Posts
Hi Horseshoe,
There are so many vaccine injured children, that the consequence of vaccine injuries, and of other mal-practice (whether by accident or not) is my "concern". I'm guessing that you don't know ANY parents of vaccine injured children, right? And, I'm guessing that you've NEVER seen any vaccine-injured autistic or otherwise vaccine-injured children, right?