How Not to Get Sick

[mama1803]

The current issue of Time magazine has an article on preventative medicine. Care to guess how many times vaccinations are mentioned?:



http://www.time.com/time/specials/pa...903802,00.html

[kiara7]

How I hate the whole "vaccinate your child so he can be healthy" crap.

[mama1803]

Originally Posted by kiara7

How I hate the whole "vaccinate your child so he can be healthy" crap.

I hate it too. And vaccines are not being pushed just on children--vaccines were recommended for all other age groups covered in the article. This article was really pushing the HPV vaccine for teen girls and lots of vaccines for older adults too. It's really disgusting IMHO.

[tessie]

But vaccines do prevent a person from getting sick with that particular disease. Admittedly it's not 100% but you can't argue that they do have a role in preventative medicine.

[Marnica]

Originally Posted by tessie

But vaccines do prevent a person from getting sick with that particular disease. Admittedly it's not 100% but you can't argue that they do have a role in preventative medicine.

Um yeah actually you can....It depends on which vaccine you are referring to. Some are quite effective, some are not. And for the ones that are quite effective, preventative medicine is not just about preventing a particular illness. Take measles for example. The vaccine is quite effective for that usually mild childhood illness. So you get the vaccine, and perhaps you are "immune" to mealses for 15 - 20 years. But you have no idea what long term damage may have happened as a result of getting that vaccine. This damage may show up immediately or years later in the form of IBS or a host of other issues. Now had you actually caught mealses as a child you would have lifelong immunity. Preventing 1 illness only to perhaps have to deal with something more serious and chronic is not preventaive medicine IMO

[ema-adama]

Originally Posted by tessie

But vaccines do prevent a person from getting sick with that particular disease. Admittedly it's not 100% but you can't argue that they do have a role in preventative medicine.

This is precisley the question I found myself asking when I started looking into vaccines, what role do I want them playing in preventative medicine for my family?

With a bit more understanding about the immune system (my understanding was limited to antibodies in the blood), how to promote a healthy immune system in an infant and my increasing understanding that vaccination is a very young science with far too many unanswered questions and some rather tricky problems with evaluating safety - well we have decided to rely on other forms of preventative medicine and support developing immune systems with more gentle methods.

Yes, it is not 100% - each vaccine has it's own problems. And efforts to eliminate viruses and bacteria through mass vaccination are hopelessly naive. Of course every family should have the right to choose vaccinations as preventative medicine. But so should they have the right not to.