Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ED209]

How worried should we be about vaccines? Do they cause autism? Should we vaccinate our children?


I feel that there is a lot of misinformation out there on vaccines that the science simply doesn't support. Of course there are risks in taking any medicine including aspirin, paracetamol and antihistamines. The anti-vaccine movement has offered little to nothing in terms of evidence, yet they enjoy screen time on Larry King and Oprah dishing out anecdote after anecdote.

I know the hardened anti-vaccinationist will always stand by their claims. It worries me more when people I know tell me they aren't going to vaccinate their child because of something they saw on Oprah. I'm all for choice, but more for informed choice.

We are now seeing a return of diseases such as Polio and Measles due to such misinformation, possibly leading to loss of life.

I know the sites I now site are from skeptic sites but you can follow the citations if you wish.

http://www.skepdic.com/antivaccination.html

On Swine Flu

http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/09-09-23#feature

Here's a little back ground on anti vaccine movements

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaccine_controversy

I've limited the poll to yes or no. Perhaps you feel you can trust some vaccines and not others. Please feel free to explain your choice.

[seonsengnimble]

Couldn't agree more. For some reason I find myself watching Bill Maher every week even though I don't really like him. His last two episodes baffled me. Here's a guy who makes a huge deal about being a skeptic and mocking religions, but he fully supports alternative medicine and is convinced that h1n1 vaccines are dangerous.

One of these days, Homeopathy will be the only commonly practiced medicine, and I'll be bitterly lmao.

[DrugstoreCowgirl]

I do for the most part, but I really don't like the idea of injecting something into your body that hasn't been studied over a long period of time (H1N1, Gardasil etc).

[ED209]

Yeah Maher shouldn't have been given the Richard Dawkins Award.

Many vaccines can't be tested over a long period of time, since that would make them ineffective. This would include the flu shot which has to be changed every year. Although it may be better to say tweak rather than change, as it is using existing vaccine methods.

[Aelric]

One thing I'll never understand about Libertarians and other groups is the associating that if the government distributes vaccines, they must not medically work. Just a few years ago, nobody was anti-vac about things like polio and other standards. We got our shots and those that had kids gave them their shots. Only crazy cultists out in the forest drinking dogpiss didn't do it. Now various politicians pushing against government in anything, in a ridiculous display of political absolutism, have been building an army of idiots ready to froth up their retard strength and quite frankly, I really am scared of them.

I mean, when did science become the enemy? When did medical advances long established as effective turn into something to fight a crusade against? Seriously, we are evolving backwards. The movie Idiocrasy was a grim prediction and we are all truly doomed.

[Joe666]

I was vaccinated with the usual "battery" in the 70's as a young child, but have only been vaccinated once in the last 25 years. That one time I decided to get vaccinated was at work and they were giving free influenza vaccines. I destroyed me for 2 weeks. I never really became sick during the long New England winters for all that time.

I don't necessarily disagree with vaccinations, but some people are better off without them.

[Fox]

Vaccinations are proven science that have worked wonders for our society. Anyone questioning them needs to present hard evidence that they do more harm than good. So far, I've never seen such a thing.

People trying to link things like perceived increases in Autism to vaccinations are being especially ridiculous. It's almost assuredly the case that Autism hasn't increased at all, but rather we're simply diagnosing it more often due to advances in the field.

[UknowsI]

Vaccines has advantages and disadvantages. I know one chinese boy who got polio from vaccination. For him the vaccination was the worst thing that has happened to him, but he just had bad luck. The overall advantages by far outshades the disadvantages, but I would prefer my kids to have the polio vaccine we use in the west which has much less chance of messing up than the one they use in China.

[Fox]

[UknowsI]

[Fox]

[UknowsI]