So It Seems the Anti-Vax Crowd

[Clueless Morgan]

I agree with Bill Maher about ONE thing.

Skepticism of government and big Pharma shouldn't be vilified. People should be skeptics about everything.

Under no circumstances is that the end of it though. This is what bugs me about all the bullshit conspiracy garbage Maher spouted off on his show Friday. It was that it's okay to be a skeptic and that's it.

The natural conclusion of skepticism is that the question is just the beginning. You don't just stop there. The questions is what leads you on a search for the answer. I am absolutely skeptical of Big Pharma. I have also read peer reviewed articles which attest to the efficacy of vaccination and the idea of herd immunity. So my skepticism about vaccinations is quelled.

This mislabelling of continued ignorance/incredulity as skepticism is something Bill Maher should be ashamed of.

I saw the rerun on that show on Sunday and the conclusion that I drew from him was he's skeptical of vaccines because he's skeptical of the motives of Big Pharma which makes no sense to me.

What I don't think people who are skeptical of vaccines because they are skeptical of Big Pharma get is that there are more benefits to nationwide vaccine programs than simply lining the pockets of pharmaceutical companies.

Are they capitalist companies looking to make a profit? Yes, they are.

Do they make money off vaccines? I'm sure they do.

Are those sufficient reasons to abstain from vaccinating for preventable, highly contagious and deadly diseases? Not to me.

I don't like Big Pharma. I don't like that prescription-only pharmaceutical products are advertised on TV like tonka trucks and fast food. I don't like that they put a price tag on peoples lives by inflating the cost of necessary, live-sustaining prescription medications. But if the choice is between funding something I don't like or watching thousands of people unnecessarily die from preventable illnesses, I'll take the people not dying.

[dyresand]

shhh let them die off because sooner or later they will catch one of the many things and their children will more than likely will suffer because of it and then they will be turning around
saying oh my gosh vaccinations do work and my child is sick because i did the wrong thing.

[Tonus]

The problem with waiting for them to die off is that the whole purpose of vaccinations is to control highly-contagious diseases. Which means that while they are dying off, so are a lot of non-crazy people.

[dyresand]

The problem with waiting for them to die off is that the whole purpose of vaccinations is to control highly-contagious diseases. Which means that while they are dying off, so are a lot of non-crazy people.

Dammit... and we cant exactly force them to get the vaccinations either... then again if you don't get them your children cannot go to public school and sure as hell in some private schools wouldn't let them in due to
health risks. All in all even as a adult i guess you can get away with not having your vaccinations but in a medical field no you can't work around anyone without those shots.

[SteelCurtain]

I don't like Big Pharma. I don't like that prescription-only pharmaceutical products are advertised on TV like tonka trucks and fast food. I don't like that they put a price tag on peoples lives by inflating the cost of necessary, live-sustaining prescription medications. But if the choice is between funding something I don't like or watching thousands of people unnecessarily die from preventable illnesses, I'll take the people not dying.

I just think he needs to realize that conjecture like "if you get vaccinated, you're not using your immune system as much and maybe this is why people are more sickly than ever" only gives ammunition to people who need it in order to continue to have a "personal objection" to vaccinating their children and therefore challenging herd immunity. He needs some data to back that up.

[Clueless Morgan]

I just think he needs to realize that conjecture like "if you get vaccinated, you're not using your immune system as much and maybe this is why people are more sickly than ever" only gives ammunition to people who need it in order to continue to have a "personal objection" to vaccinating their children and therefore challenging herd immunity. He needs some data to back that up.

Oh, yeah! I forgot he said that nonsense - there's was just so much bullshit flying around that table it was hard to keep track... :p

The whole "You're not using your immune system if you get vaccinated" crap belies a complete misunderstanding of how vaccines work. Vaccines are to your immune system like training is to an athlete; you do the one so you can prevent injury to the other.

Then again, y'all already know this...

[Clueless Morgan]

speaking of Big Pharma, got on HBO Go tonight and this is what I found:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQZ2UeOTO3I

[Mudhammam]

That John Oliver segment was spot on.

[SteelCurtain]

I sincerely wish she'd run in 2016.

[ManMachine]

really does think they can infect you in the name of Freedom.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/02/anti-...g-liberty/

Anti-vaxxer radio host accuses Jon Stewart of being a vaccine ‘Nazi’ for opposing ‘healing liberty’

Maniacs.

Is it me or are people objecting to something for the sake of objecting to it?

The reason the former doctor responsible for this rubbish has popped up in the US is because he moved from Britain because he could no longer practice medicine on account of him being struck-off.


Between July 2007 and May 2010, a 217-day "fitness to practise" hearing of the UK General Medical Council examined charges of professional misconduct against Wakefield and two colleagues involved in the paper in The Lancet. The charges included that he:

"Was being paid to conduct the study by solicitors representing parents who believed their children had been harmed by MMR".

Ordered investigations "without the requisite paediatric qualifications" including colonoscopies, colon biopsies and lumbar punctures ("spinal taps") on his research subjects without the approval of his department's ethics board and contrary to the children's clinical interests, when these diagnostic tests were not indicated by the children's symptoms or medical history.

"Act[ed] 'dishonestly and irresponsibly' in failing to disclose ... how patients were recruited for the study".

"Conduct[ed] the study on a basis not approved by the hospital's ethics committee."

Purchased blood samples—for £5 each—from children present at his son's birthday party, which Wakefield joked about in a later presentation.

Wakefield denied the charges; on 28 January 2010, the GMC ruled against Wakefield on all issues, stating that he had "failed in his duties as a responsible consultant", acted against the interests of his patients, and "dishonestly and irresponsibly" in his controversial research. On 24 May 2010 he was struck off the United Kingdom medical register. It was the harshest sanction that the GMC could impose, and effectively ended his career as a doctor. In announcing the ruling, the GMC said that Wakefield had "brought the medical profession into disrepute," and no sanction short of erasing his name from the register was appropriate for the "serious and wide-ranging findings" of misconduct. On the same day, Wakefield's autobiography, Callous Disregard was published. It argued that he had been unfairly treated by the medical and scientific establishment.

The British Medical Journal, The Lancet, in which Wakefield's papers were first published have said the paper was "utterly false" and that the journal had been "deceived".[

This man has caused completely unnecessary panic and distress to millions of parents, he has been the root cause of many unnecessary deaths from diseases we can vaccinate against.

This is not about choice it is about ignorance, and on a grand scale.

Andrew Wakefield is a self-serving egotist who clearly did not consider the wide ranging implications of his 'false' paper and has sewed seeds of doubt in the minds of millions of parents for no reason whatsoever other than his own ends. If ever I want to look for definitions of evil then this man is certainly on my radar.

This is not about choice, it's about easily preventable diseases that cause the unnecessary suffering and death of children who have put their trust in parents who's 'principles of choice' have become more important than their duty as parents.

On one hand we have the medical profession saying that the research and scientific evidence does not show any good reason not to give these vaccine's to a child and on the other a group of people who's ideology is more important to them than getting better informed about the facts of these issues, and who are determined to drive that ideology home regardless of those facts and of the damage the may be causing not only their children but other children who live and play around them.

Who sounds more like 'Nazis' to you?

MM