Are You Pro Vax or Pro Choice?

in #vaccines6 years ago

It's time for Angel's opinion.

I see so much hate on the internet coming from both sides of this argument. I get it. It's a sensitive topic. The debate is generally directed at children, so of course people are going to have strong opinions.

For the record, I am 100% pro-choice. That doesn't necessarily mean I'm anti-vaccine, I just strongly disagree with these bills to make vaccinations compulsory. I'm pro-choice in pretty much everything. It's a scary thing seeing so much freedom slowly taken away from us. Some people feel the fear elsewhere. They feel the fear from all of these problems that are becoming more and more publicised. Terrorist attacks, measles outbreaks and the like. For them, the security of more and more regulations make them feel safe. A lot of people though, feel the fear in what seems to be becoming a prison. It’s less and less possible to go off the grid and fend for yourself. Society is closing around us and trapping us in some sort of illusion of freedom. A scary thing for me is for my choices to be taken away from me. What if I was forced to get vaccinated? That reminds me of these dystopian movies where they tie people down while forcing needles into them. Once vaccines really are compulsory what’s to stop experimentation? New drugs tested on school kids without us even knowing? This sort of thing has happened before so do we really believe that it can’t happen again? That the fear mongering and pushing us to “choose” to make vaccines compulsory is in our best interests?

When a mother loses a child to a preventable disease, its seen as perfectly acceptable for her to take to the internet and warn others of what might happen if you don't vaccinate your kids. Which is great. She will get support, condolences and the like. But if another mother, who perhaps lost her child to a vaccine that they reacted badly to took to the internet in the same way she'd be ignored or just told that its "natural selection" or something. I've seen it happen. This is such a strong debate so why aren't both sides being heard out? So tell me why these pro vaxxers are preaching "herd immunity" if they're not willing to support those who can't be vaccinated? They say that they do this for those who can't be protected, and yet they push for bills that leave no exceptions. Its fear, that's all it is. And i think they have to understand that others have different fears. Fears just as valid as their own.

Now if you’re still saying that you are doing it for the herd immunity, then you need to acknowledge that you’re pro choice. Don’t let them take away yet another freedom.

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I'm anti-choice on vaccines. It should be absolutely necessary to ensure herd immunity for those that have comprised immune systems and cannot be vaccinated for various reasons.

You could make the argument along the lines of well, "survival of the fittest" but when I see news articles warning people who went to major events like the recent Formula 1 race in Melbourne of the risk of measles, a disease that shouldn't proliferate in any country on Earth in 2019, then it really frustrates me.

It's also an enormous burden on the health system when people contract preventable diseases and illnesses.

I can see it very quickly going down a rabbit hole of dystopian loss of liberties, on the other hand as well.There's a certain level of "don't let your choices do harm to others" which is something that can happen if enough people choose to not be vaccinated.

Thanks for the thought provoking post!

Posted using Partiko Android

It's interesting that the "survival of the fittest" rhetoric is used on both sides by the extremists. I've heard people say that if you can't survive vaccines then this is taking the weak out.

Currently Australia hasn't mandated vaccines and 95% of children are vaccinated. 3% of those that aren't up to date are because parents have missed appointments for various reasons, including lack of transport to get them to appointments. They are trying to remedy that. This leaves just 2% who have chosen not to vaccinate. The majority of that 2% fall into two categories; those who started vaccinating and stopped due to serious adverse reactions and those who already have health issues and are worried about the risks of vaccinating a child who has, or may have, health issues. Few parents who are healthy actually choose not to vaccinate. This is actually a very good coverage rate and easily falls under herd immunity.

Mandating vaccines could actually have the opposite affect to what they want. There are those who will push back because they don't like not having a choice and there are those who will become fearful because it's being forced. What if they vaccinate and their child reacts, but because there are now no exceptions they have to continue with more and risk their child's life? Those who would have still considered it may now not, because that choice of care had been taken away from them.

My concern with mandating vaccines is that they are calling for no exceptions. I have a friend who has three children and stopped vaccinating due to reactions. One was hospitalised after the second, one after the third. The last child she wasn't even going to risk, but her new husband wanted to. So they did and the doctor they had to call out said they shouldn't continue with the vaccines. For her, and for me as well if I'm honest, "anti-choice" makes her quite fearful.

I also have a family member with a compromised immune system, so I get that too.

Posted using Partiko Android

Anti-choice with reasonable exceptions works for me :)

I think the movement against vaccines is a bark more fierce than its bite. We've always been ahead of most curves (be they technical, medical, or other) in Australia.

Posted using Partiko Android

Funnily enough I spent a few hours writing a piece on this last night. Feels like it needs a little more polish but I'll post it soon.

You say, "It's also an enormous burden on the health system when people contract preventable diseases and illnesses." When you research the Government site VAERS you will see that there are almost ONE MILLION people who are now affected by a long term chronic illness or have died because of vaccines. If that is not "an enormous burden on the health system" I don't know what is. But, actually that is the plan, because the sicker people become because of vaccines the more money the pharmaceutical makes in the long run. I learned this from working 20+ years in the healthcare field and witnessing first hand the manipulative tactics the pharmaceutical industry uses.

According to VAERS:

A report to VAERS generally does not prove that the identified vaccine(s) caused the adverse event described. It only confirms that the reported event occurred sometime after vaccine was given. No proof that the event was caused by the vaccine is required in order for VAERS to accept the report. VAERS accepts all reports without judging whether the event was caused by the vaccine.

Nuance is important

I'm seeing two excellent arguments here. One against mandatory vaccination, and one for Home schooling :)

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