:banghead: Right, but chemo is treating someone who will most likely die without it. and no one is interested in mandating a law forcing anyone to have chemo if they are healthy and don't want it. Vaccines are given to healthy BABIES, who haven't had a chance to even develop an immune system yet. And they're given to them for things that they have very little chance of actually coming into contact with. Example: There were zero reported cases of diphtheria in the US in 2013 (most recently reported year). A baby probably has a 0% chance of getting it. If my kid WAS to develop diphtheria, do you think there is literally NO treatment for it and the only outcome is death? The treatment is antibiotics. I'll take my chances. I have literally scoured through all the reported cases and statistics on treatment and outcome for every "vaccine preventable" disease. They all have treatments. Most of them can be asymptomatic. Most of them have a very low death rate, especially for an otherwise healthy person. So a preventative IMHO should not have as many risks as a cancer treatment.
Okay with all due respect a lot of this is completely incorrect scientifically.
Mumps, measles, polio, Haem influenzae type B, meningococcus... All can be
incredibly nasty. Most of these are viruses, so there is no easy treatment, just symptomatic relief that often isn't enough. Secondly, an infant and a child have about the same small risk of adverse effects from vaccines. Not sure where you're getting your research from but the American Journal of Epidemiology, NMJ, BMJ and most respected pediatric journals have all found no difference.
Thirdly, there is no scientific way a vaccine can harm a baby's immune system. When babies are exposed to attenuated microbes (most vaccines have these 'dead' organisms), they are fully able to mount specific responses. In fact, theoretically, they are able to mount millions of immune responses; the Journal of Pediatrics found that an infant would be able to respond properly to 10000 vaccines at any one time.
Babies most certainly do have adequate immune systems. But the way they become stronger is by access to antigens. When they're born a baby will be exposed to thousands of fecal microbes. Breast milk has microbes. There are thousands of germs on a playground swing. They fight off germs daily – their bodies are incredibly strong. It has even been shown that babies who have dogs, and hence have access to tons of unusual germs, have lower incidence of some allergic conditions.
Finally, do you know the reason there were zero cases of diptheria in 2013?
Because of vaccination. Why do kids not get measles frequently any more?
Because of vaccination. Why is polio extremely rare?
Because of vaccination. Contrary to popular belief, though, if people continue to not vaccinate, some diseases can still propagate. Unvaccinated children pick them up from various places and spread it around the playground. If you do not vaccinate your child, you put the entire community at risk.
After years of studying this stuff, I've been trying really hard with this thread not to sound condescending. But I don't really care anymore.
