Forced vaccinations

[VancouverIslander]

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Originally posted by lquade

dear mike. please don't be 'shocked'. i never said i was against all vaccines. much of the name calling ( stupid, self absorbed, ninnies, etc) being done as always on punaweb. I am against mandatory vaccines and certain vaccines. I have had several, and gave my children several as they were growing up. But those vaccinations whose side effects are worse than the disease is a different matter. Many many doctors, scientists, other healthcare workers are against mandatory vaccinations. I don't know which medical journals you are referring to when you comment on the HPV vaccine. i would be interested in reading it. If you are fearful of the unvaccinated masses, what then is your stance on our open borders and letting refugees in from third world countries? It is interesting to me how people love to jump on a PC bandwagon. I am concerned that pharmaceutical companies flood our airways with this and that new drug that you need to take. Should the government start deciding meds you must take? suppose they want everyone with a cancer diagnosis to have chemo and radiation treatment. Mandate them? you might be interested in the data on how many doctors make that choice for themselves and their families... many of the medicines we take for granted went through some terrible times that the average person is not aware of. Look at the death numbers when the first birth control pills came out, or the HEP B vaccine that was given thousands of health care workers using Live Virus... OOPS! i could go on and on... i believe we should educate ourselves and make our own decisions about our bodies. You can all start your name calling now...

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Dear lquade:

There's no name calling (or straw man arguments) from my side. Skepticalraptor has a nice well referenced article on HPV vaccination: http://www.skepticalraptor.com/skeptical...-gardasil/

Allowing pharmaceutical companies to have any say in these things is a terrible idea, but a well managed science based approach founded on what we have learned over the last century or so is not a bad idea. I currently work with teens and the the amount of disinformation they are exposed to is shocking. They are getting medical advice from celebrities on social media who are indeed empty headed ninnies. I'm not saying that all vaccines should be mandatory, but I think some of them probably should given the public health issues that can arise. In the wikipedia article previously linked regarding causes of death world wide, infectious disease clocked in at over 23%. In the developed world, that's much lower, due in large part to the effectiveness of vaccines, especially DTP.

For those interested in possible side effects of vaccines, the CDC keeps records: http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vac-gen/side-effects.htm

In Canada we have a public health care system, so vaccination makes a significant difference to our overall health care costs.

Just call me Mike