I love science. I love Steemit. I am very interested in medicine.
Yesterday I had an unpleasant conversation with someone who advocated against vaccination. While I support everyone´s right to share their opinion, I was aggravated by the way that person dealt with critique and evidence suggesting that this person may be wrong. While I kept my argument factual and not personal, I was flagged. That person even sabotaged the account of a new member on Steemit because that member disagreed with the anti-vaccine advocate. Even when a PhD toxologist argued for vaccine safety, that person would accuse him of being a government agent.
This is a very emotional topic for some reason that I do not understand. However, I realized that I was somewhat emotional about it myself and so I decided to look into this topic further.
I admit that I am pro-vaccination. Probably because my mum got me vaccinated according to the recommended schedule. She always told me that vaccinations are necessary. I believed her, because she is my mother, and because she is a nurse with 20+ years of experience in internal medicine. Maybe I was also influenced by my dad´s friend, who studied medicine at Harvard and University College London on fullrides, who now is a world-renowned specialist in Parkinson´s and epilepsy, travelling around the world giving presentations. So, in order for this to be according to the norm, I am disclosing this potential bias.
What I want to do is to stimulate a discussion. I will dive into material and I will try to argue for both sides, using legitimate sources (peer reviewed, published and legitimate research articles). At some point I will reference questionable, extremist websites in order to convey the current public opinion (websites from both sides of the spectrum).
I want to apologize in advance is somebody feels offended. It is not my aim to hurt anybody, or portray them as bad or stupid people. I will reference every source I am using, so you can read my sources yourself. There will be no flagging from my side - unless you become personal. But if you do decide to contribute, please stay factual. If you are stating what you perceive as a fact, please cite your source, and please do not feel attacked if somebody has a differing opinion.
If you agree withw hat I have written above, please proceed. If you do not like above, please just do not continue.
I am not sponsored by big pharma. Sadly I have to say this.
The Cons of Vaccination
Let me begin by talking about the cons of vaccination. According to a recent research article, vaccinations can be contaminated by metals, such as aluminum. The researchers mentioned that the amounts of aluminum found may have adversive effects. It is noteworthy though, that such a statement is merely a hypothesis and needs actual research to be confirmed or denied.
On this website the CDC states that a common vaccination (vaccination against varicella, or chickenpox) can cause side effects. There is a range from mild side effects (soreness, swelling, fever) to severe effects (pneumonis). I would recommend checking out this website as they state ratios of people who suffer side effects (eg 1 out of 25 people may experience a rash). Side effects do occur!
This research article states that vaccinations may cause skin infections.
In this article, research show that there seems to be a link between vaccination against pandemic influenza A H1N1 and narcolepsy. They stated that a vaccination against the so called swine flu was developed in a rather short amount of time to meet the pandemic of spring 2009. Narcolepsy is a disorder that causes patients to sleep more than would be the case in healthy individuals. The researchers found this in Sweden and Finland, but also stated that similar findings were made in France, England and Norway. This is an exceptional case, not only because the correlation found, but also because this vaccine was developed under exceptional conditions. I found another research article that had the same findings
In summary it is a valid statement that vaccinations cause side effects, and that those side effects may be due to contaminants found in vaccines.
A Note on Non-Credible Sources
It is very time-consuming to find research articles that show good evidence against vaccination. Most sources I read that investigated vaccine safety, concluded that vaccinations are safe. Even the sources I found that stated some harmful effects of vaccinations showed that vaccinations are still safe. During my search I encountered websites like this one, that portray statements as facts, which have no scientific basis. They did quote some legitimate research (and I included this in my con arguments), however, they also link sources that claim to be scientific studies, but are not following appropriate methods. This survey, is really just a survey - it has nothing to do with research. The website they published their survey on does not allow any pro-vaccination adds. This indicated that there is a high chance of anti-vaccination bias. I am not saying that conducting a survey is not legitimate, but surveys need a random population of unbiased participants. The claim to be science does not mean it is science.
Another common website type you encounter is this one, which uses emotionally loaded language. I would recommend to refrain from visiting such websites as they do not allow for an objective opinion to be formed.
The Pros of Vaccination
Why do we vaccinate? Because there were diseases that plagued people. Once Robert Koch discovered that many diseases are caused by bacteria, we were able to develop medicine and vaccinations against diseases. This research article shows that human papillomavirus vaccine showed to be effective in the prevention of certain diseases. I need to say that not everybody that was vaccinated was protected against the target disease. Please read the article yourself. Another research article that suggests high effectiveness of vaccines is this one. The effectiveness of vaccine against rotavirus was found to be 94% in industrial nations (hygiene is a factor in vaccine and drug effectiveness).
As a matter of fact, I do believe that this is the only pro of vaccination. Everything else is just a direct effect of this one pro. Vaccinations do what they are supposed to, they prevent infections and wide-spread pandemics. There will always be pandemics appearing, because we simply do not have vaccinations against every disease and because people refuse to vaccinate. Another factor is that germs and pathogens are constantly evolving and because vaccinations undergo a rigorous testing phase (CDC, CDC on vaccine safety research, US Department of Health and Human Services, NHS), which usually prevents unsafe vaccines to hit the market.
Inform Yourself About Safety
Again, there are side effects! Decide for yourself if the risk of having a mild reaction like a rash (1/25) outweighs the risk of you dying from measels or polio. There is an good amount of studies that demonstrate that vaccinations are safe, while it is somewhat difficult to find research suggesting the opposite. Yes, there is evidence of potential harmful substances in vaccines. But why do you worry about a few drops with nano particles, when you sit in a car, which has an air inlet for your cabin right were the toxic exhaust from the car in front of you is?
Additionally, durining my research I read a lot of statements that pointed at the authorities claiming isufficient education about the risks of vaccination. I do not understand why. A simple google search led me to agency website and they disclose almost everything you would want to know:
CDC Vaccine Safety Datalink
CDC Vaccine Information Statements
CDC Vaccine Safety
NHS Information Leaflet
NHS Vaccine Safety Information
University of Oxford Vaccine Knowledge Project
Research Article About Vaccination of To-Be-Mothers in Different Trimesters
I would like to share this link also: Google Scholar Search
If you believe I ignored research articles that were against vaccination, please go and search for articles yourself.
Informing yourself is important, but it is even more important to have the right sources. Media does need to catch readers attention, and thus uses sensationalism. Research on the other side, writes to postulate hypothesis, which are then tested by other researchers. This is why I included only research from the last four years. No research article can claim to be true forever, because new evidence arises all the time.
This is only an opinion. Even though I tried to be objective, this is not a scientific article. I have looked at current research in this area, using multiple sources and websites. I have not conducted any experiments myself.
I want to apologize to anyone who may have been affected by an adversive effect of vaccination. While cases are very rare, they do occur.
Again, if you do decide to share your opinion, cite research from legitimate sources. I will downvote you if you attack someone personal. I am looking forward to having a constructive argument!
Thank you for reading and thank you for giving constructive opinions!
Cheers 