Vaccines

[Guest guest]

Gosh, I have to speak up on this matter, too.

Vaccines are another case where these is much argument

in the States about their helpfulness or harm, but,

man, try living in a developing country for a few

years and you will lose any doubt that vaccines are

major lifesavers for humanity. It is very obvious,

outside America, that vaccines have saved MILLIONS of

lives--especially infants and children. When we watch

Americans debating vaccines, it looks as nutty to us

as Americans denying global warming while we lose our

island nations and our homes sink into mud where there

always used to be permafrost. Vaccine efficacy is as

obvious to us over here as is climate change.

For example, just the other day I was watching the

BBC's excelent program " Kill or Cure " which followed

pneumococcal vaccine's adoption in developing areas.

Pneumococcal Disease is a horrible killer and torturer

of infants an young children throughout most of the

world, including where I live in SE Asia. After

introducing the vaccine to Alaskan native children

(who had been suffering terribly from PD), the

incidence of PD in the population dropped by something

like 95%. PD--and other childhood diseases vaccinated

against--kill or stunt, and cause real misery. None of

the elusive hypothetical dangers of vaccination come

close to those real consequences of not vaccinating.

I'm a natural, breastfeeding, coconut oil using,

organic-loving,

get-sick-and-boost-your-immune-system-believing Momma,

and over here in SE Asia, do I vacinate against

serious diseases? You betcha! Would I in America?

Heck, yes! And when pneumococcal vaccine shows up in

Malaysia or Singapore, I'll be standing in line to get

my kids vaccinated. Even if that risks these vague

hypothetical consequences of vaccination, otherwise I

am seriously risking their deaths. (And the last

non-vaccinated-against serious disease that came

around I almost died from as well, ending up in the ER

in the middle of the night!)

I think living in a cozy safe country it might not be

easy to appreciate these things--but these diseases

are very serious in the developing world, and if

Americans stop vaccinating in large enough numbers,

these serious, killer diseases will come back over

there, too. I guess that would end the debate,

though...

Ann H in Malaysia

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