Vaccines are a plot by big pharma!

[Fidel_Castronaut]

Sure, vaccines were evidently very useful in bringing down many forms of dangerous epidemics at one point in history, but are they as useful today as they were back then?

Err, a resounded, 110% yes.

What, you think viral infections stopped with smallpox?

I haven't done enough research on this topic, but I know that there is still a considerable amount of debate going on about it. There are experts who support child vaccination, and there are also some experts who are against it. Our member Psychoslice here thinks that vaccines are more harmful than beneficial, but I don't think he's necessarily that much of a delusional wacko nor ignorant as you guys are making it appear to be.

Yes he is.

Last year at least one child died from measles in Wales because the parents of that child refused to get them vaccinated thanks to the MMR controversy. Bearing in Mind that MMR has been proven without a single doubt to be safe and the 'research' that contributed to the controversy over MMR was fabricated by a guy who lied about his interests, lied about his methodology, performed unethical and unnecessary invasive procedures on children whose parents he paid to perform the research, and lied ultimately about his results.

This is one child that died from something that should, by all good measures, have been eliminated from the world. There is not a single good reason for measles to be a virus we have to contend with in the 21st century. The only reason we do is because some people are still hung about an issue which doesn't exist and prefer woo,mor holistic treatments to treat something that is in no way affected by them.

Multiply this countless times for rubella, mumps, strains of influenza And many others, and you have diseases that should not be killing/harming people anywhere in the world that are still doing irrevocable damage to tens of thousands of lives on a yearly basis.

And there are no reputable 'experts' that are against child vaccination as a way to prevent viral infections. Not one, I can guarantee you that.

According to my knowledge so far, I personally think that vaccines are good in some ways and they are also bad in some ways. However, I'm still undecided in regards to the question of which argument is stronger. Or maybe the issue is a little more complicated than having simple black and white answer to it. It seems like it at least.

I'm sorry Rayaan, but there is no good reason not to be vaccinated.

I've said it countless times and I'll say it again; vaccinations are not all about the individual. Quite the opposite. They are about The entirety of human society, and protecting those that cannot be protected by vaccinations themselves (immuno-compromised, very young and very old).

Small pox was not eliminated by physically defeating the virus. It was eliminated by immunizing entire villages where an outbreak had taken hold so the virus could not transmit to others and then move to other villages. The herd immunity of the regional populations where smallpox was most prevalent wiped it out, and this was only possible thanks to vaccination.

The exact same principle applies to every virus in existence today. It is very, very difficult to 'cure' someone of a viral infection. The only real, tangible course of action is prevention. And it's a tool we have in our arsenal! It's something we can do, right now, to save millions of people. But we still have people like Alice here who are happy to let their personal convictions of woo dictate their behavior. Normally i wouldn't care, but their decision actually affects people like me (immuno-compromised), and the sad thing is I could be infected by an idiot like that and die, and there's not a damn thing I can do about it.

It's sick.