“That’s not to say the anti-vaccine folks are proved true, just that the science is definitely not settled yet.”
We do know that, for instance, not having a polio vaccine leads to polio and often consequences like paralysis.
The science of vaccination is settled. What isn’t settled is whether vaccinations are the cause of certain other ailments or whether it’s just bad parenting.
I submit that it’s not vaccinations that cause any complications, that it’s bad parenting. You may try to prove me wrong, but I’ll just say “the science of bad parenting is FAR from settled”.
We do know that, for instance, not having a polio vaccine leads to polio and often consequences like paralysis.
This is completely false.
One does not get polio because they do not have the vaccination. In fact Polio is eradicated in the US. The only cases of it are by the oral vaccination that is still offered in other countries.
The science of vaccinations is far from settled. Look at the explosion of disorders in school aged children and the amount of vaccinations that are introduced to a weak non-formed immune system. The science of vaccination is actually a huge science experiment at the expense of the most vulnerable of our society.
Not having the polio vaccine PLUS exposure to polio virus PLUS infection, leads to polio and then some percentage of patients exhibit consequences like nerve damage and paralysis. Perhaps that is splitting hairs but the absence of the vaccine does not CAUSE polio. Other factors have to be combined as well.
We also KNOW that exposure to polio vaccine CAUSES a certain percentage of people to suffer complications up to and including death. That is why Congress has created the vaccine fund and given protection from lawsuits to the manufactures.
From a public policy perspective, reducing the number of people who can get and thus transmit polio is a good thing. However there is a point where further using is harming more patients that the threat of the disease. This is the current state of affairs within the United States.
From an individual perspective, it sucks being on the wrong side of the percentages. So if your child just happens to be in that small percentage ... well, your child is still damaged by the choice that you made. Some parents believe that the risk for getting polio is now so low in the United States that the risk of side effects from the vaccine are greater than the risks of getting the disease.
As in all choices, it is a trade off and a risk comparison. I and my kids are vaccinated. Alot of that has to do with the fact that I travel all over the world and to some pretty exotic places ... well did, not so much any more. To my view, the chance of exposure to polio is higher because I did travel to 3rd world countries. Thus to me, the risk of my kids getting polio was higher than the norm in the US. We are also vaccinated against some other rather nasty less common diseases as well.
What I fear greater than the disease itself is a government that takes over so much of the health care industry that what was once my choice and between me and my doctor, becomes a forced program where the government controls what goes into your body, the last truely "private" property.
>> “We do know that, for instance, not having a polio vaccine leads to polio and often consequences like paralysis.” <<
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No, we know that the opposite is quite true.
If the vaccine fails to bring on trouble immediately, it likely will later on, with fibromyalgia, ALS, MS, or other polio vaccine related conditions.
That's not how science works. You can't separate the good effects from the bad effects of vaccines.
Nobody is suggesting that the smallpox and polio vaccines didn't work to minimize these diseases. The question is at what cost, and is the cost sufficient to try for a vaccine against sniffles.
We know that things like mercury and aluminum in the body have downsides. We know now that there are bacteria as small as viruses that cannot be filtered out of vaccines. We know via mouse experiments that giving vaccines to very young mice can eliminate any defense against later infection, rather than enhance it. What we need now is a much better view of what the risks are before we start bombarding new--borns with lots of vaccines.
You can't point to one accepted fact like vaccines eliminated smallpox and project that onto the question of what the cost/risk is for vaccines and how that compares to the risk for getting a vaccine against sniffles.
There have been vaccine shortages because some makers ran afoul of government quality rules. Let's hope the next vaccine you get wasn't made the day before such a shutdown.