I'm having my wisdom teeth removed this afternoon, and I have faith I will survive it despite the fact that kids have died during the procedure. I actually just read about this lovely girl who is the exact same age as me and looks like she could be my doppelgänger who went into cardiac arrest and later died after having her wisdom teeth removed.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/minnesota-teen-dies-after-dental-procedure/ I pleaded with my mom to let me not do the surgery, mainly because the
only irrational phobia I've ever had in my life relates to dental procedures and this cranked my anxiety up to the imploding point. She said no, because it's necessary, and the risk of anything happening to me is still microscopically small. She's not one to win over with irrational pleas, and my dad is even less willing to be budged by them. We partake in the beautiful and exhilarating things that involve risk. We just got back from cruising in Antigua, where I also went sky diving. We survived the flight despite people having died in plane crashes, the cruise despite being having died on them, diving and playing in the waters despite teens recently being bitten by sharks and others having died by it, and sky diving despite parachutes having malfunctioned and people plummeting to their deaths. We should also partake in the banal and less pleasant things that involve risk but provide benefit, especially with the risks and benefits extend beyond ourselves.
Bathtubs and beds actually cause more injury to kids than vaccines, yet you never hear of Anti-Bathers or Anti-Bedders. Car accidents are ubiquitous, and the chance of being in one is exponentially higher than ever having an adverse reaction to a vaccine. Earlier this year there was a story on the news about this 23-year-old beautiful pregnant woman who was driving her Jeep Liberty, and due to a malfunction in it when she was crashed into from behind her car exploded and she and her unborn baby were incinerated. It's indisputably, indescribably tragic, but extraordinarily rare. So are life-impairing vaccine injuries. The "Vaccine Court" has awarded over two billion dollars to families who've been injured by vaccines over a 25+ year period. In some cases, medical advances later showed that genetic problems unknown at the time were actually what caused the problems rather than the vaccines themselves. In others the vaccines really did cause the harm. It's still but a thimble full in comparison to what automakers have paid out due to malfunctions in their products. In 2014 GM began its expansive compensation plan for victims of 2.6 million defective small cars any accidents in which the air bags in the cars failed to deploy, and was expected to be over $7 billion. That was for one problem.
There's risk everywhere, in everything, everyday. There are risks in vaccines. There are personal and communal risks to not vaccinating. I have compassion for those who are injured from vaccines. I also have compassion for those who are sick due to vaccine-preventable diseases. My life has been significantly impacted by them. I was born very prematurely, and as a fragile baby was scooped up by my brother's deliberately unvaccinated friend who had the chickenpox. He was four and snuck out of his own house and into ours when he saw my brother. He wasn't at fault, but this happened in 1998 when the vaccine was already available. I had
severe complications from it that put me into the hospital for a long time. I later was diagnosed with Addison's Disease, which is virtually extinct now but used to be more commonly caused by tuberculosis infections destroying the adrenal gland. Because of my incompetent immune system I've been a human sponge picking anything up. I am at the mercy of the herd! I've had chickenpox, shingles, and whopping cough so far, things more common for people born at the end of the 19th century than the 20th. I also was peripherally exposed to the measles (didn't ever get it, thankfully) earlier this year and had to miss out on my last YAGP of my dance career because of a cautionary quarantine. A few years ago I also had whopping cough that was brutal, agonizing, and life-halting and took more than three months to fully recover from. It feels like having a tight corset around your chest and shards of glass in your lungs, all day, every day, for months. You don't appreciate the beauty and simplicity of breathing until you can't. I live in California and we are having a whopping cough epidemic with rates higher than they have been in 70 years, and that's been directly linked to the low vaccination rates. A preschool aged sibling got it and that caused an outbreak at a secondary school despite all the kids having received boosters. No vaccine has a 100% efficacy rate, which is why herd immunity is crucial.
I personally don't think vaccines should be mandatory but am in full support of them being requirements for attending any preschool, school, college, or camp, or participating in sports, dance, Scouts, and group activities, unless a licensed physician has provided a clear medical reason for an exemption. I'm starting Stanford in September, and your choices are you either submit your proof of immunization by June 30, you submit your doctor's letter explaining why you are exempt from the required vaccinations, or you don't go. Simple as that. It's mandatory for enrollment. My secondary school was exactly the same. Theatrics and hyperbole and Mercola are not indulged. There is a process at the school and Stanford where you can submit a
form appealing the requirements on philosophical or religious grounds, but it has very strict criteria and few ever make it through. On Cardinal Connect we were talking about this, and there's basically like a better chance of hitching a ride on a flying pig. It would be nice if all schools could still offer such a process, but it's just not practical due to the time it would require.