"The 1952 polio epidemic was one of the largest and most frightening public health crises in the United States, with outbreaks in all 50 states. Of the nearly 58,000 cases reported that year, 3,145 people died and 21,269 were left paralyzed. Until 1955, when New York City's Dr. Jonas Salk introduced his vaccine, polio was a constant terror. When asked in a televised interview who owned the patent for the vaccine, Salk replied, "There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?"
Well, times have changed. Now pharmaceutical companies are highly protective of their assets, because vaccines are not just medical breakthroughs, they are also big business. In fact, Salk's vaccine went on to raise manufacturer Eli Lilly's profit by 90 percent in 1956, bringing in a total of $13.7 million in revenue for the company, in addition to the millions it made other manufacturers of the time. Today, companies like Merck bring in billions by manufacturing vaccines for everything from chicken pox to the flu."
It would be difficult to name something that isn't an industry. Making money and helping the world are not mutually exclusive. This article is attempting to malign vaccine manufacturers by painting them all as greedy bastards - an intellectually dishonest tactic.
"And, today, children who follow the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended schedule receive 69 doses of 16 vaccines-46 more doses than they did 30 years ago, and the highest amount given in any country in the world."
That's not a bad thing, that's a good thing. It's a testament to how far science has come in preventing diseases that used to terrify our ancestors. Every single one of those vaccines represents a disease that is on its way to being nothing more than a historical footnote, a thing of the past.
"Vaccine opponents, namely parent activists and a very small minority of doctors and scientists, argue that infant immune systems are too weak to handle these shots, and that the possible side effects of vaccination, including seizures, paralysis and death, are overlooked by pharmaceutical companies and are not worth the risk. These critics say vaccines can trigger developmental problems like autism."
Infants are bathed in viruses and bacteria from the moment they are born. Being concerned about getting a vaccine because there are germs in it is like being afraid to get your pinky toe wet as you dance naked in the rain.
The risks of vaccination are so tiny that they are negligible. They are no excuse for not getting a vaccine.
According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control), severe side effects are listed as extremely rare.
Furthermore, the Wakefield study that supposedly linked the MMR vaccines to autism has been exposed as fraudulent. (Cohen)
So don't be scared of a literal one-in-a-million chance of severe side effects. It's better that people take that negligible risk with a vaccine instead of dying of a disease that has a much greater chance of crippling or killing them.
Citations:
A CNN article about how Andrew Wakefield's study was exposed as a fraud.
"July 12th - Seattle: CDC Public Meeting On Meningococcal Vaccine Policy." National Vaccine Information Center 29 June 2011: n. pag. Web. 5 July 2011. <http://www.nvic.org/NVIC-Vaccine-News/June-2011/July-12th-–-Seattle--CDC-Public-Meeting-On-Meningo.aspx>.
The original article that this post debunked.
"Possible Side-effects from Vaccines." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Department of Health and Human Services, 31 May 2011. Web. 5 July 2011. <http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vac-gen/side-effects.htm>.
The CDC's conclusion on the side-effects of vaccines.
