I thought I would go for a change in direction this week. I will give the xenophobes, the women-haters, and the bigots a bit of time to collect their thought(s) and instead present you with something of an unrequested public service announcement.
Newsflash - oranges don't cure cancer, sunbeds don't prevent melanomas, and refusing to vaccinate your child does not stop them from developing autism. You might think I have finally lost the plot but these are just some of the bizarre statements I have seen floating around during the last week - some on social media, and some published by another news source, and then swiftly retracted. For the purpose of this unrequested public service announcement, I will choose to look at the vaccines/autism debate as it is one that seems to be gaining a worrying amount of traction both locally and internationally.
Believe it or not, in 2017 there are still some among us who believe these things and will argue to the death that dousing your child in in some homeopathic tincture while chanting and feeding them an avocado, will protect them against polio, measles, and other potentially deadly diseases.
So, how did this farcical story start? Back in 1998, a doctor called Andrew Wakefield presented a claim in the famous medical journal The Lancet that vaccinations in childhood were directly linked to autism and certain types of bowel disease. This caused a massive outcry worldwide with thousands of parents refusing to vaccinate their offspring, and countries like Japan even banning the vaccine altogether. Then in the early 2000s, the doctor who first made the claims was investigated, prosecuted, and found guilty of making the whole thing up - in other words it was nothing but "fake news".
This whole debacle started from just one published paper which focused on the results of monitoring just 12 children, the results of which have never, ever been replicated since. Now for the icing on the cake -- the motivation for Mr Wakefield to make this paper up was because he was being paid to do so. That's right, he was being paid to make up a false test, false results, false cases, false claims, false evidence, and a false conclusion. The whole thing was part of a speculative lawsuit against the manufacturers of the MMR vaccine, and his fake case study would result in him making money and profiting from the resulting scare. Moreover, Mr Wakefield also patented his own "safe vaccines" in an attempt to further benefit from the mass hysteria surrounding the combined jab. It was all a con but unfortunately thousands of people looking for an answer for their child's health problems, fell for it hook, line, and sinker.
What boggles my mind is that despite this revelation, despite Mr Wakefield owning up and retracting the claims, people all over the world still believe it. You are buying into a scam, a fraud, and a liar and no amount of star charts or distilled wolfbane will convince anyone with half a braincell otherwise.
I have seen many comments saying that it is the parents' choice whether to vaccinate their child and they have every right to choose not to. Well I have some news for you, not only is your science completely flawed, illogical, and to be honest, a little bit loopy, but it is actually not your choice. Unless you intend on keeping your bundle of 'au naturel' joy in the house with no human contact for the rest of its life, it is the business of society whether you vaccinate the child or not. Yes, you may claim to have only their best interests at heart, but that is exactly the point- you only have their interests in mind. How would you feel if your unvaccinated child infected and caused serious harm to a baby that is yet to be vaccinated? Where does that leave your moral objections?
If you intend on being a part of society then you must be aware that you must abide by its rules, which include ensuring that you do not cause deliberate danger, damage, illness, or harm to anyone around you. By not vaccinating your child, not only are you risking the health of your child, but you are also risking the health of the people that you or your child will come into contact with.
You may think that you noticed a change in your child after they were vaccinated, you may swear blind that they only showed signs of autism after these injections, but I can assure you that you are wrong. It could be coincidence, it could be that their symptoms have developed over time; it could be that you are looking for something to blame the condition on, who knows. One thing is certain, there is no proven, valid, substantial, or actual link between the two and you can be assured 100% that vaccinating your child does not cause autism.
Yes, we have immune systems but these are not equipped to deal with serious infectious diseases and no amount of quackery and jiggery-pokery is going to change that. That is why infant mortality rates were higher before vaccinations; that is why there were multiple epidemics that killed millions and that is why life expectancy was around 40 years. In Japan where the MMR was banned out right, cases of autism continued to grow and in fact doubled, coupled with a huge increase in the spread of infectious diseases that were previously preventable. In America and across Europe we have seen recent outbreaks of diseases where cases were not previously reported for over 100 years, and why is this? Because some parents had the bright idea not to vaccinate their children.
The Superintendent of Public Health released a statement on the 17th of this month, informing and reassuring the Maltese public that vaccinations are fine, there is no link to autism, that Mr Wakefield is a fraud, and that another trial which involved 96,000 children (as opposed to just 12) reaffirmed this information. Their advice to parents is to continue immunising children because Measles is the leading cause of death in young children but that through vaccinations, its infection and mortality rate is dropping. The statement ended by saying that vaccines are "highly recommended by all the world scientific bodies".
As a parent, you have a responsibility to look after your child and that includes ensuring they are protected from the very real threat of preventable, infectious diseases. If you do not vaccinate them, you are not only failing to protect your child, but you are deliberately risking the wellbeing of others. By all means, bathe in tincture of unicorn wee and eat nothing but kale hand-harvested by virgins if you so desire, but when it comes to cold hard facts, the health of your child, and the health of those that your child comes into contact with- stick to advice from the professionals. Stop falling for urban myths and talk to a doctor or medical professional about something called 'herd immunity'.
Disclaimer: I am not being paid by 'the big pharma' to write this article, I am not a part of the vaccine conspiracy, and guess what? I was vaccinated and I turned out just fine...