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?
This thread has been heavily edited and posts which violated the Terms of Service have been removed or changed.
The thread will be re-opened at this time.
This is a passionate issue on both side. Remember that is is fine to disagree and debate but do so with the issue not the individual. Posts that are devisive, off-topic, include name calling or offer medical advice will be removed and result in infractions to the poster.
Since some of the posters here LOVE anecdotes and believe they constitute evidence:
I have an acquaintance who had a child who was eventually diagnosed as Autistic. The parents were devastated at first, but like most parents, came to accept their child for who he is, love him dearly no matter what, and moved on. When they had their second child, they had to decide how much weight to put on the argument that vaccines cause autism. They decided they just couldn't risk it, and didn't have the second child vaccinated. Not only did they eschew the MMR vaccine, but all of them.
The second child was diagnosed as autistic at about the same age as the first one had been. Two autistic children, one vaccinated, the other one completely free from vaccines. It became clear to the parents that genetics is the cause of their children's condition.
There! My anecdote now "proves" that vaccines do not cause autism, but that this is a genetic tendency that runs in families. I can put this on a blog and people can then cite my blog as a "scientific source" in future arguments about the vaccine issue, right?
Holy crap, the ignorance is strong in this one. How many cases of GBS are linked to vaccines each year? How many cases are linked to exposure to illnesses? Not all cases are caused by vaccines. Now, how many people die of influenza every year? How many died of measles, mumps, polio, small pox before vaccines had almost eradicated them? Millions of lives are saved every year because of these vaccines.
Let's look at H1N1. This disease wreaked havoc on the world in the early 1900s. So severe that we lost a appreciable percentage of the world population. You can't put that on a weakened immune response due to over-vaccination because we had very few vaccines back then. Now fast forward to H1N1 popping back up. You know who it hit hardest? Young, healthy people with no medical problems, especially young, overweight or pregnant women. Many of these people died that first year. Now to give them a chance we put them on ECMO.
For everyone else who thinks the big pharma and health care are just out for profits, do me a favor. Stop smoking and lose some weight. Top two preventable expenses in health care, smoking and obesity.
Type 2 diabetes wouldn't be a thing if people would eat right and exercise some. Most people can come completely off medications if they did those two things. But it's easier for them to pop a pill and be non-compliant.
Come on people, use your brain. Some of y'all are probably more worried about gluten then communicable diseases.
As for autism, it seems to be genetic in some way, starts during first trimester of pregnancy and might be caused in some part by vitamin D deficiency in the mother. Maybe the reason we are seeing more cases is because people are sitting at home on their butts and not getting outdoors. Or maybe we are trying to give every special snowflake a label.
Now I know most of the vaccine dissenters do not work in health-care, but some do and it's sad because you are probably some of the same ones who told me I was giving my son autism in 2005 when he went for his 4 year old shots. Keep believing a woman who shoots botulism into her face.
You really need to do your research on herd immunity. It requires a very high percentage of the population to be vaccinated. How about we save those unvaccinated spots to legitimate medical concerns not your whims or religious nonsense. I agree with the poster. You can be charged with neglect for not taking care of your kid, letting them get measles would be neglect in my book.
You really need to do your research on herd immunity. It requires a very high percentage of the population to be vaccinated. How about we save those unvaccinated spots to legitimate medical concerns not your whims or religious nonsense. I agree with the poster. You can be charged with neglect for not taking care of your kid, letting them get measles would be neglect in my book.
Hi, I agree with your posts. Can you please use your Quote button on the lower right of your response box when responding to a particular poster? Thanks.
This thread has been heavily edited and posts which violated the Terms of Service have been removed or changed.
The thread will be re-opened at this time.
This is a passionate issue on both side. Remember that is is fine to disagree and debate but do so with the issue not the individual. Posts that are devisive, off-topic, include name calling or offer medical advice will be removed and result in infractions to the poster.
"Accelerated immunization activities have had a major impact on reducing measles deaths. During 2000-2014, measles vaccination prevented an estimated 17.1 million deaths. Global measles deaths have decreased by 79% from an estimated 546 800 in 2000 to 114 900 in 2014."
This is for just measles. Please explain why children should not be vaccinated. Remember to cite your scientific, peer reviewed and/or fact based, non-debunked sources as anecdotes and blogs without peer reviewed research do not provide empirical evidence and use of them reduces your credibility to zero.
Since some of the posters here LOVE anecdotes and believe they constitute evidence:
I have an acquaintance who had a child who was eventually diagnosed as Autistic. The parents were devastated at first, but like most parents, came to accept their child for who he is, love him dearly no matter what, and moved on. When they had their second child, they had to decide how much weight to put on the argument that vaccines cause autism. They decided they just couldn't risk it, and didn't have the second child vaccinated. Not only did they eschew the MMR vaccine, but all of them.
The second child was diagnosed as autistic at about the same age as the first one had been. Two autistic children, one vaccinated, the other one completely free from vaccines. It became clear to the parents that genetics is the cause of their children's condition.
There! My anecdote now "proves" that vaccines do not cause autism, but that this is a genetic tendency that runs in families. I can put this on a blog and people can then cite my blog as a "scientific source" in future arguments about the vaccine issue, right?
I doubt that very many here were even involved in any clinical research, so let me clarify some things...
The plural of anecdote is NOT data.
BUT...
Absence of proof is NOT proof of absence.
You can NOT prove a negative (example, vaccines do not cause autism), you can only prove a positive (example, vaccines do cause autism). Unless you can observe the visible effect, what constitutes proving†is a extremely high confidence level in your observations, measurements, etc. supporting your theory.
Most studies do not find cause and effect, what they find is a statical correlation.
You really need to do your research on herd immunity. It requires a very high percentage of the population to be vaccinated. How about we save those unvaccinated spots to legitimate medical concerns not your whims or religious nonsense. I agree with the poster. You can be charged with neglect for not taking care of your kid, letting them get measles would be neglect in my book.
Exactly what part of religion is nonsense? Is it all religions or do you pick and choose which religions to attack?
I find your comments extremely offensive to human dignity and especially people of faith. Statements such this are dangerous and lead to another form of extremism.
)
to cover this up. This vaccine tampering seems to be a part of some nefarious population control plot.
BostonFNP, APRN
2 Articles; 5,584 Posts
Unfortunately, closing the thread for staff review and revision.