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originally posted by: VoidHawk
originally posted by: chr0naut
It is increasingly ineffective if significant numbers do not vaccinate.
Hi chr0naut
Why? Lets assume you've been vaccinated and I haven't, and we're the only two people on this earth. If your vaccine works, then how does me being un-vaccinated degrade your protection?
originally posted by: rickymouse
My granddaughter feels defective since she reacts so badly when she gets a flu shot. She wants to get one just so she is like the other kids even though the doctor told her that she has immunity and does not need the flu shot. He also told her that she could die if she took the flu shot since her reaction was so bad.
But the teachers and school nurses still keep on pushing that she should get one and treat her as a nut when she tells them, they do not believe people can get violently ill from a flu shot....because they have not researched it. One out of twelve people can get a violent reaction from the shots, the trait is genetically passed down so it runs in families. These people are part of the group that does not get vaccinated and they have a legitimate reason for not getting the shot. Not all of those one and twelve have a severe reaction that makes them violently ill though. Some just get a reaction similar to the flu.
originally posted by: Alexithymia
This is my personal account of living as a wholly unvaccinated woman. Not meant to spark a huge debate about the possible links between vaccinations and horrible side effects or possible vaccination-tampering or what have you. Just thought I could provide an interesting point of view that presents a third position you may not have considered.
When I was born, my parents had to go through a lot of paperwork to be able to keep me from being vaccinated, and that was their choice. The government was very reluctant to allow this, and since then they have stopped allowing these special cases--from what I have heard. (Please feel free to verify this and left me know.) Growing up, I never thought much of it. People would get shots at school sometimes, and I didn't. It was never a big deal.
When I got older, people started to question why I didn't get my shots. I trusted that my parents had made the right decision and payed these people little mind. In high school there were kids who hadn't gotten certain shots updated, and were given notices that they would be unable to return to the school until they had received their shots. People would ask me why I wasn't also barred from attending. Because of the paperwork my parents had filed with the government, I was only to be sent home in the case of an outbreak. It seemed to me that people were becoming less understanding and accepting of my parents' alternative standpoint. People would ask me why I didn't get them later when I was no longer a baby, or ask me how on earth my parents could be so inconsiderate of my well-being. They didn't realize that insulting my parents was also an insult to me. Concerned, I approached my then-biology teacher and asked her about my chances of contracting one of these vaccinated diseases. She told me the many outweighed the few, and that getting sick was a remote possibility if I stayed in regions where the diseases were rare/eradicated and vaccines were prevalent, because so few people could be carrying it. This assuaged my concern.
Now I am caught in the middle of a war I do not fight. On one side, anti-vaxxers would have me be their hero. I am fully healthy and have never had a major health issue. In fact, I was often more healthy compared to others--I've never had pneumonia or bronchitis, both very common here. I did have what was probably H1N1 when the big scare happened a while back, and while I was out of commission for a week, being a near-zombie in bed, my vitals were never at alarming levels. It was like any other flu--something I haven't had since being a young child. To anti-vaxxers, I am a success story, proof that you don't need vaccines to survive.
On the other side, I am constantly attacked for being unvaccinated. People try to tell me I am somehow in the wrong, even though it was my parents' decision. They tell me it's sick that I want their children to die of horrible, preventable diseases (which is not true). They want me to feel shameful and dirty and unreasonable. That I am the reason we can't have nice things, as it were. I am seeing more and more almost-attack ads aimed at anti-vaxxers that do make me feel lowly.
It is unfair, on both sides, to force me into a position. I do not have strong feelings on vaccines. I resent the fact that people use me and my story to their own end, and I resent that people make me feel such unpleasant things. I do not plan on ever getting any vaccines, and I do not plan on having children, so the issue isn't really a concern to me--beyond how I am being used. This is my life, and I am living it as I see fit. Being vaccinated or unvaccinated does not define who we are.
Yes, I recognize that not everyone who has an opinion on the subject all think and act the same. My goal is not to make anyone on either side feel bad if they are not like those that I have described. I simply ask that you respect the people out there like me. Let us tell our own stories. Thank you.
originally posted by: Alexithymia
I don't much care what people think about vaccines either way--that is their business--but I am tired of people involving me in the debate. So I suppose now I am involving myself.
I do not plan on ever getting any vaccines,
I want people to be free to make their own choices and live their lives.
originally posted by: gwynnhwyfar
originally posted by: superman2012
Personally, I don't care about the uneducated and feel that not getting their vaccines will make the human race stronger. What I don't like is parents forcing their stone age beliefs on their kids. I wonder if you would feel the same way (or even able to put yourself in this situation) if this were to happen to you:
*warning, video is disturbing* Shows Pertussis in a four month old.
Link
PS- you are not a "success story" you are lucky....for now. Imagine getting pertussis at 60...at least you'll have a nice long life?
Good grief, you make it sound like it is the OP's fault she was not vaccinated and you sound very accusatory! The OP was very clear that the decision was made by the parents. I personally vaccinated my kids and hope other parents will vaccinate theirs. My Dad was hospitalized with polio as a child and others in the hospital with him died, but I am not about to accuse the OP of somehow condoning that sad fact by virtue of having never been vaccinated by her parents.
To your comment about making the human race stronger: I assume what you are implying is that the stupid unvaccinated people will die off, leaving behind more intelligent people. I counter with this: vaccinations allow the weak to appear healthy, so really, vaccines allow weaker genotypes to prevail.