Ok, so there's an outbreak of measles. It is across both Canada and the US, and there are several pockets in each country. Most of these are in communities which have a high anti-vaccine rate. These are just simple facts, and I won't open them for discussion. In the time i've spent researching, this may be the only indisputable part of this whole subject: Low vaccination rates can and do lead to outbreaks. Children and adults alike can become very ill or die from these diseases. Group vaccinations lower the occurances and the severity of diseases (don't believe me? How many people do you know right now that have polio and were vaccinated? That's not a coincidence...)
I did the research and could spout a ton of statistics right now, but honestly I don't think that's going to solve the issue and you can easily look them up yourself. I have looked, and I can say that the death from chicken pox alone has made a serious drop and I'm happy for it. That's not even how many get measles and complications from that. Did you know that chicken pox and measles can actually turn inside? So instead of pox and spots and rashes on the outside of your body you can get them inside as well. These are just the more common affects as well, not dealing with the swelling that can cause lung damage and brain swelling. Yup. i can totally see why we vaccinate those! Now lets look at polio and tetnus. We have managed to almost completely eradicate polio, and I feel confident saying it's not because treatments work so well it doens't spread, but that it's by creating an immune system that can withstand the fight. I recently read an article about a child who contracted tetnus from a small cut on his foot. The pictures were terrible enough I won't share them, but it leads to such severe pain that he was put into a coma until it improved. This makes me wonder how we know they don't feel pain when in a coma but that's a whole other conversation., People die from tetnus, and it's an easy shot to get, I even had my booster as an adult. I know you are reading this and thinking I'm not really saying much about anything, but a little bit about everything. Yes, that's my plan. You all know what these diseases are, and you all know what they can look like. You would have to know that they are dangerous or we wouldn't bother using them. So I"m doing a quick reminder, and now, now is when I'll start addressing what really scares the moms. Autism. Ok, I've said it now let's deal with it. First, both the Canadian and American governments have reports stating that vaccines don't cause autism. We have drug compaines who have said they don't cause autism (now sure, you think they may be lying, but they'd face so many huge lawsuits it would be a very dumb move on their part) I won't even try to convince you with numbers, but I'm going with common sense theories and the money based concerns. No drug company in this century would be in operation if their owners were stupid enough to leave that door open. We are in a society where lawsuits are like breathing to some people, I have to believe that they are trying to protect people, even if it's for selfish reasons. There's also been proof that the original person who said it does, was funded by companies and it's popular opinion that he was wrong or paid to say it. I don't really understand the theory behind it, but he created a huge argument that has no proof. We may as well start a discussion on who believes in aliens and who doesn't, and why. As it stands there is no medical proof that autism is linked to vaccines at all, but if you really want to play it safe, go ahead and delay those vaccines. I know there are lots of children who were vaccinated that have autism, I know children who were showing signs of it and hadn't been vaccinated yet, and there are children that haven't been vaccinated that are autistic. On the other hand, we have reports that vaccination rates have been dropping over the last decade and the Autism Speaks website says that rates have been increasing. If you can explain to me that relationship and still blame vaccines I'm all ears. Now let's face the other purple bear staring at us. So many people think that governments and drug companies want us vaccinated to make money. Now, in Canada these vaccines are paid for so I'm all ears to how they are making money on that... In fact the government pays for them because it's a lot cheaper to vaccinate kids then it is to treat them when they get one of the diseases and needs treatment, possible life long treatments, and hospitalizaiton. These are also mostly paid for by the Canadian government, so really the vaccines save thousands of dollars a year and free up hours and hours of doctor availability to treat other patients. I can't see how a government makes money off them. The drug companies of course are a different view. Yes they probably do make money providing vaccines, but imagine what they could make if these people needed treatments for years and years, or if the money they'd make off basic Tylenol and aspirins when parents everywhere are trying to fight the fever that comes with almost everything. The calamine lotions, bath additives, and pain relievers for both chicken pox and measles, the medicines and antibiotics for tetnus, these all would make them more money then one tiny little shot in the arm ever will.
So there you have it, my straight up, number free, theory on how to make your choice. The not so simple answer is only a parent can decide, and only a mom will know what they are comfortable with. As it is they can't tell me how to avoid autism but they can tell me how to avoid deadly diseases, and I don't want to be that mom who lost my child because I decided that I didn't want to vaccinate. That's just not a future I'm ready to risk.