It has been requested that I write a blog on vaccines. Wow! Where to start? I am one of those rare health care providers that grew up when communicable diseases were still commonplace. We all had them. My oldest sister was one of the last patients in the communicable disease hospital in Northeast Pennsylvania for 6 weeks with polio. My father was the only one allowed in to see her. It was the era where people often used to bury a child under the age of five, and bought life insurance at birth rather than start a college fund, which is more typical today.  Fear, sadness, and resignation were common emotions. Thousands died from the flu. Public health measures were well in place. Something had to be done. The issues then were not cancer and heart diseases. The public demands action to save the children. Vaccines seemed to be the answer. Doctors, nurses, public health workers were passionate about preventing death and disease. Risks and benefits had to be considered but the benefits were real. Unfortunately, this desire to help has snow balled and now instead of looking at a broader picture of health and disease, the focus narrows to vaccines. Medicine develops vaccines when they have no way of treating the actual disease. Vaccines are based on a good guy/bad guy vision- no gray areas allowed. Vaccines are based on a western philosophy of drugs are the answer. Vaccines are based on a belief the immune system can take lots of hits and survive unscathed.

I want to make it clear, vaccines work. There are possible ramifications.

Vaccines rarely provide permanent immunity. The only guaranteed immunity is to get the disease. This is highly unlikely in this day and age. Shots will be a never-ending ritual of life. No drug, including vaccines is without side effects and we are each unique individuals, so what these side effects may be for us is unclear. Vaccines are now just as likely to be developed for economic issues as for public health issues.

Vaccines are given by shots. They are therefore not given through the normal pathways, these diseases enter our bodies and meet our immune system. There are many “inert” substances, which are used to get this foreign body into our system without our immune responding, as it should to a foreign body. We are doing some chemical manipulation here.

The diseases we are talking about can cause disease, disability, and death. I have seen this. The vaccines can also. It is up to each individual to choose what they are comfortable doing. Will you take a chance on getting the disease? Have you educated yourself on what these diseases look like and what recourse you have if you or your child becomes ill? Are you taking advantage of the herd immunity (protection for you because most people around you are vaccinated)?  Will you take a chance and get the vaccines? Have you educated yourself on how to support you or your child around getting the vaccines and how and when you will get the vaccines? There are lots of decisions to be made here. It is your choice.