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?
No offense but you work for them. I doubt you would be aware of any larger plan to profit billions at the expense of a few side effects. Also, there is no money in dead patients. Living patients on multiple meds is where the profit lies.
I'm sorry but the "big pharma" stuff is one thing that bugs us . . . big pharma doesn't make their money with vaccines. It would be better for big pharma to hide the vaccines in a bunker somewhere and make kids get sick and then hospitalize them . . . that would roll in the dough for sure.
One of the ongoing memes, tropes and fabrications of the vaccine deniers is somehow, somewhere, in some Big Pharma boardroom, a group of men and women in suits choose the next vaccine in some magical way, and foist it upon the world just to make billions of dollars. And while magically concocting the vaccine brew, these pharmaceutical execs ignore ethics and morals just to make a profit on hapless vaccine-injured victims worldwide.
The Big Pharma vaccine profits conspiracy trope ranges across the junk medicine world......
By now, the numbers on the recent U.S. measles outbreak are well known. In 2014, America had more than 600 cases of measles—the highest number in 20 years. In the month of January 2015 alone, 84 people in 14 states reported having measles, with most cases linked to an incident at Disneyland. The reason for the resurgence? More and more people are opting to not vaccinate their kids.
But that argument is historically unfounded. Not only do pediatricians and doctors often lose money on vaccine administration, it wasn't too long ago that the vaccine industry was struggling with slim profit margins and shortages. The Economist wrote that "for decades vaccines were a neglected corner of the drugs business, with old technology, little investment and abysmal profit margins. Many firms sold their vaccine divisions to concentrate on more profitable drugs."In fact, vaccines were so unprofitable that some companies stopped making them altogether....
@ladyfree is there genetic testing to pre-determine in utero?
Genetic testing is offered when considering having a child, as well as during pregnancy; one can test for Fragile X syndrome, which is a leading gene in ASD.
My GYN offers genetic testing for fertility, as well as genetic testing for most genetic carrier disorders; albeit my GYN is a part of health system that has been researching genetic testing for most carrier disorders for some time, and now offer pts the ability to undergo testing.
For the people in here questioning vaccines. The problem is there are children out there that cannot legitimately receive vaccines. I have a friend with a boy who has Down syndrome and because of the heart problems he cannot receive them. Your unvaccinated child can kill him. Kill him. We 80% of people to be vaccinated in our society for vaccines to work.
And I'm sorry, but no child's life is more important than another's. People say oh, measles isn't that big of a deal. Look at all the kids that have had it and survived. The problem is, lots of kids can't survive it. They can't. And it's not fair for people to just decide that as a whole it's ok for people to contract these deadly diseases. If they weren't deadly, they wouldn't have made a vaccine.
Im very pro-vaccine. There is no evidence that anybody has ever gotten autism from a vaccine. None. Autism seems to be mostly made of genetics. I think there could be some environmental factors as well as the one thing these kids have in common is gastrointestinal disorders. But it's not vaccines.
Genetic testing is offered when considering having a child, as well as during pregnancy; one can test for Fragile X syndrome, which is a leading gene in ASD.
My GYN offers genetic testing for fertility, as well as genetic testing for most genetic carrier disorders; albeit my GYN is a part of health system that has been researching genetic testing for most carrier disorders for some time, and now offer pts the ability to undergo testing.
Autism is a behavioral diagnosis. Fragile X is a genetic diagnosis. When kids are diagnosed with an ASD, we usually do genetic testing to see if they have any genetic disorders. Fragile X is but one genetic disorder associated with autism. (The National Fragile X foundation website confirmed this also).
Kids with disorders such as Down Syndrome and Tuberous Sclerosis also have a higher incidence of autism, but not everyone with autism has Fragile X, Tuberous Sclerosis, or Down Syndrome.
I will add that many insurance companies have now balked on paying for some genetic tests for kids with developmental delays or disabilities citing testing will not change the treatment or the outcome.
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to cover this up. This vaccine tampering seems to be a part of some nefarious population control plot.
dishes, BSN, RN
3,950 Posts
@enuf_already, that is what I thought too
@ladyfree is there genetic testing to pre-determine in utero?