Cecona wrote:When I was younger chicken pox vaccines weren't required and parents would purposely give it to their kids do they wouldn't have to worry when they grew up. I actually kind of prefer that over the vaccine being required. It's possible they could get it as an adult when it is much more dangerous.

Except that getting it as a kid gives you a higher risk of having Shingles when you are older. It lies dormant in your system and can come back at any time over 50.

source!

I agree with themightyfall. 25 or so years ago I always heard people say that kids should get chicken pox when they were little so that they wouldn't get it as an adult because as an adult it was called shingles and was much worse. Well, I don't know if everyone that I heard that from was just plain wrong or if that's genuinely what everyone (even doctors) thought back then and we just know a lot more about shingles now than we used to. But, either way, now we know that shingles is NOT "you didn't get chicken pox as a kid, so now you have it as an adult, and it sucks." Shingles is "you had chicken pox as as a kid, it's been dormant in your body all these years, and now it's flaring up, and it sucks." My partner had shingles this summer (he's in his 30s). We found out when he was in so much pain that we went to the emergency room. He was lucky though and had the rash on his back. Some people have it on their face and even in their eye, which can cause permanent vision problems. So purposefully giving your kid chicken pox at any age isn't wise.

chicken pox as an adult is not the same thing as shingles as an adult; you got chicken pox as a child, before there was a vaccine against it, because getting chicken pox as the full blown pox, not as shingles, is much more dangerous as an adult.
My father and I contracted it at the same time; I was an infant, and had no problems. He was an adult, and was hospitalized for several days, on a respirator, because the pox was on the inside of his lungs. His fever was dangerously high and risked the integrity of his brain function. He could have died from it.

Now, with the vaccine available, people have the chance to use that instead of actually catching chicken pox as a child....


But if your choice was to have chicken pox as a child, or nothing at all and risk getting it later as an adult?

I have complete sympathy for all the parents who deliberately exposed their children in hopes of saving their lives later, despite the risk of Shingles.
Shingles is painful and not fun at all, but it's SO MUCH BETTER than getting chicken pox itself at that age! (I'll take being blind over being dead. The risks are not equal.)




In general, though? If you have the chance to vaccinate, I'd recommend it. None of the poxes are worth risking.

Plus there's a huge difference between a vaccine and a chicken pox party...

I actually heard there isn't really a proven correlation between autism and the vaccine in itself and usually studies aren't made on a huge demographic when it comes to this subject.

I've seen many reports of the diseases that were in the world before-vaccinations and anyone who watched any of the reports - like polio - would not think again about NOT vaccinating their children and themselves.

I think the biggest BS anti-vaxxers could give people is that "if your kid is vaccinated, why did he/she get sick?" --- did these people fail biology? Since when was vaccination a 100% process without failure? It offers us protection and the best is when the herd immunity is strong.

Its shields weaken if you're like 1 in between many infected and diseased.

And anti-vexxers actually harm the vaccinated population so much - just because some didn't contacted any diseases while they themselves were not completely vaccinated, doesn't mean they never tempted with faith and put their lives at risk...


People should get themselves educated from PROPER medical journals if they wanna find more, not google information on the internet and suddenly make all the shit they find there as 'facts'.


I myself will vaccinate my kids with all the mandatory ones for sure, i won't be afraid of the risks.


PS: always make sure the one who does the vaccination opens the syringe pack in front of you so you know it had not been used before. Many get sick with reused materials, even syringe bodies despite having the needle switched. A no-no from what i've heard.

The study that "proved" a correlation between autism and vaccines was found to be Very Bad and had no actual statistics that showed the purported connection - a lot of things were fudged, and the sample size of the study was laughable. The doctor who conducted the study and published the results actually had his license revoked because of the false claims he made.

The other argument I've heard is that vaccines apparently use stem cells from aborted fetuses. To counter that, there are other sources of stem cells, but because they're there, the aborted fetuses are often the quickest source. This argument overlaps with the whole abortion debate, so that's all I'll say here.

Personally, vaccines are Very Important and should not be sacrificed even for religious reasons. I know that it's probably a bit of an extreme stance, but vaccines are important because herd immunity is what helps to protect individuals who can't be vaccinated for whatever reason - infants, people with autoimmune diseases, etc. Even if they themselves aren't vaccinated, the fact that most people around them are means that they're protected by virtue of the fact that nobody else can get the disease and pass it on to them. As with all things, it's not 100% perfect, but it's a damn sight better than leaving it up to chance.

Children have been dying of smallpox since last year, and there was a measles outbreak in late 2015 if I remember correctly. These diseases were eradicated because of vaccines; by not vaccinating your kids, you're risking the health and safety of everyone.

SeaCrest wrote:The study that "proved" a correlation between autism and vaccines was found to be Very Bad and had no actual statistics that showed the purported connection - a lot of things were fudged, and the sample size of the study was laughable. The doctor who conducted the study and published the results actually had his license revoked because of the false claims he made.

The other argument I've heard is that vaccines apparently use stem cells from aborted fetuses. To counter that, there are other sources of stem cells, but because they're there, the aborted fetuses are often the quickest source. This argument overlaps with the whole abortion debate, so that's all I'll say here.

Personally, vaccines are Very Important and should not be sacrificed even for religious reasons. I know that it's probably a bit of an extreme stance, but vaccines are important because herd immunity is what helps to protect individuals who can't be vaccinated for whatever reason - infants, people with autoimmune diseases, etc. Even if they themselves aren't vaccinated, the fact that most people around them are means that they're protected by virtue of the fact that nobody else can get the disease and pass it on to them. As with all things, it's not 100% perfect, but it's a damn sight better than leaving it up to chance.

Children have been dying of smallpox since last year, and there was a measles outbreak in late 2015 if I remember correctly. These diseases were eradicated because of vaccines; by not vaccinating your kids, you're risking the health and safety of everyone.

You have summed up my feelings right there, and written much better then I could have.

I have religious friends who have decided against vaccinating their children. It makes me sad to think that the information they quote to me is so biased. I just hope they don't convince my brother not to vaccinate their new baby.

My biggest problem with the vaccine debate is that the science behind the main argument, namely that vaccines increase the chances of autism, has been thoroughly debunked. The man who wrote the study took bribes and his results were never duplicated in similar studies. ...also as someone on the autism spectrum I find the fact that people find autism so TERRIFYING and TRAGIC to be a bit...insulting.

hanelle wrote: ...also as someone on the autism spectrum I find the fact that people find autism so TERRIFYING and TRAGIC to be a bit...insulting.

I agree. Or rather, I'm insulted that so many people believe autism is something that happens to other people, as opposed to being part of who that person is.

I've done my research and am well educated in science. Vaccinations are good. The problem is that Americans love to follow trends. Your average American is not very intelligent or educated either. We've seriously had so many outbreaks caused by unvaccinated people recently. It's embarrassing! I've always been vaccinated. Never had a single bad reaction. My children are vaccinated as well. There's literally no way for a vaccine to hurt you unless you are a baby in utero, you have an allergy to an ingredient, you already have immuno issues, or you magically got a vaccine from a bad batch.