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This book is based on the dangerous, ill-informed and just plain wrong idea that getting measles is somehow more beneficial than getting the measles vaccine. If you hate children so much that you want them to suffer from potentially fatal disease, by all means enjoy this book.

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can only presume that the author was born after the successful vaccination programme made people complacent about the dangers of measles. I was not so lucky. In the epidemic of my childhood I was nearly blinded, and still have scars on my eyeballs. I was the lucky member of the family; my sister died from complications. Measles kills children. This book is irresponsible and misleading at best. At worst it could lead to the death of a child.

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Misconceptions about the vaccine and parental squeamishness about inoculating their kids against a sexually transmitted virus make HPV vaccination a touchy subject, but cancer experts insist that it’s a hurdle we need to overcome. And soon.

“Just as it is hard for some patients to talk about anal disease or their kids having sex, it’s equally hard for some providers to talk about it,” Dr. Julian Sanchez, a colorectal-cancer surgeon at City of Hope, told Time magazine. “I talk about it every day, and sometimes it is still difficult for me to approach some patients who I know have a degree of opposition to this type of conversation.”

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I've read the comments below this article and I’m dismayed that so few Americans are taking the steps necessary to protect themselves and their neighbors.

Sowing false doubt that vaccines don't keep people safe has deadly consequences!

If yelling 'fire' in a crowded theater isn't allowed, how is spreading bullshit about deadly, communicable diseases legal?

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Maes said:
I never understood why some people get so butthurt over other people not vaccinating theirselves or their children, as long as they are protected.

E.g. if someone wants to ride a bike without a helmet, it's his prerogative, as he can harm none outside of himself.

Same with vaccination: let's say there's a disease X out there. If you get the AntiX vaccine, you don't get infected. If you don't, you get.

Now, take two people Alice and Bob. Alice has AntiX, Bob does not.

Can Bob infect Alice, even if he has X? No, he can't, because she's vaccinated. That's the whole point.
Will vaccinating Bob make Alice's life any better? No, it won't.
WIll vaccinating Bob protect alice from contracting X? No, if Alice isn't already vaccinated herself. If she wasn't, then the roles would be kinda reversed, dontchathink??!

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Maes said:
I never understood why some people get so butthurt over other people not vaccinating theirselves or their children

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Stephanie Messenger said:
...history shows that in industrialized countries, these diseases are quite benign and, according to natural health sources, beneficial to the body

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Maes said:
I never understood why some people get so butthurt over other people not vaccinating theirselves or their children, as long as they are protected.

E.g. if someone wants to ride a bike without a helmet, it's his prerogative, as he can harm none outside of himself.

Same with vaccination: let's say there's a disease X out there. If you get the AntiX vaccine, you don't get infected. If you don't, you get.

Now, take two people Alice and Bob. Alice has AntiX, Bob does not.

Can Bob infect Alice, even if he has X? No, he can't, because she's vaccinated. That's the whole point.
Will vaccinating Bob make Alice's life any better? No, it won't.
WIll vaccinating Bob protect alice from contracting X? No, if Alice isn't already vaccinated herself. If she wasn't, then the roles would be kinda reversed, dontchathink??!

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Gez said:
Talibans have been murdering volunteers from NGO who were vaccinating people against polio in Pakistan.

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Csonicgo said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herd_immunity

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Gez said:
Talibans have been murdering volunteers from NGO who were vaccinating people against polio in Pakistan.

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Maes said:
Don't wanna vaccinate? Fine. For only your ass will get sick, not mine, so what do I care?

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Maes said:


So, if Alice doesn't vaccinate, she does not provide "herd immunity" to Bob, who's also not vaccinated? So who's to blame here? Alice for failing to provide herd immunity to an indifferent/unwilling Bob, or Bob for not wanting/knowing to safeguard his own ass in the first place?

Sounds like a perverted catch-22... damned if you DON'T, damned if THEY DON'T? What sort of logic is that?

@DoomMarine et al.: If you need to go through long-winded and roundabout ways to convince me (or yourselves?) that somehow, doing something which realistically can only affect the individual doing it is wrong, well, that's trying too hard.

I believe that as long as the repercussions of someone actions are limited to himself, he can do whatever he pleases. Don't wanna vaccinate? Fine. For only your ass will get sick, not mine, so what do I care?

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Maes said:
E.g. if someone wants to ride a bike without a helmet, it's his prerogative, as he can harm none outside of himself.

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Now, take two people Alice and Bob. Alice has AntiX, Bob does not.

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GreyGhost said:
I don't want my tax dollars to be wasted providing lifelong care to brain-dead fools.

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GreyGhost said:
Alice survives the Avian Swine Flu pandemic, Bob dies a relatively quick but excruciatingly painful death.

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Membrain said:
There's a number of ways a person who hasn't been vaccinated can be a danger to others.

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Q: "BUT MAES, L0L, What about non-vaccinated people that get to suffer because of THAT ONE unvaccinated person?"

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Maes said:

...but NOT being vaccinated is NOT one of them, at least not versus VACCINATED people, that's why I don't get why the controversy. If the poor bastard doesn't want vaccination, let him have it his way: he's the only one that can suffer from it.

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Maes said:
Only (a long) time can tell whether you were right, while the short and mid term tell that you are not. An uphill battle, if you ask me.

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darknation said:
I'm reading your arguments and hearing a whiney, AIDS patient kinda voice. Is this intentional?

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Maes said:
Not convincing. Very weak and roundabout points, full of "ifs" and "maybes", and perhaps only relevant on a scale exceeding a single human's lifetime, which is why I don't "get" them at all.

So, the neighbor kids not vaccinating will result in them developing a super-strain that will kill everyone within a week, including my -just vaccinated- children? Good premise for a scarecrow-type of movie, but not realistic within a normal lifetime.

Vaccination is a PERSONAL protective measure, which directly affects only the bearer (on the short term, may I add, as some may be limited in scope and duration). Nothing more.

I guess vaccination resistance falls into the category of "victimless crimes": some of them might have long term, community-wide repercussions given the right (unfortunate) conditions, but it's nearly impossible to come up with sufficiently obvious, sensitizing arguments against their practice.

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Membrain said:
However, there always exists a chance that a global epidemic could break out, and with a wider pool of infected individuals, it becomes more and more likely.

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Maes said:
No, Membrain, you are the infected individuals.

And then Membrain was a zombie.

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