Labels
Posted by

If You Don’t Get A Shot For Measles, You’re An Asshole!

If you don’t get a shot for Measles (aka rubeola), you’re an asshole!

Despite massive amounts of evidence that underlines the safety and value of vaccinations many educated and dedicated parents are still wary or even passionately opposed to the whole process.

Autism

Ask a parent why they’re opposed to vaccines and the resounding answer is usually Autism. The controversy started when a fraudulent research paper published in the medical journal “the Lancet” claimed that colitis and autism spectrum disorders were linked to measles mumps and rubella vaccines. According toWikipedia[1] the author of the original research paper (Andrew Wakefield), had multiple undeclared conflicts of interest[2], had manipulated evidence and had broken other ethical codes. According to the Sunday Times[3] the former surgeon whose paper linked MMR vaccines with Autism was paid more than £400,000.
This wasn’t just an allegation made by a Sunday rag, this was released under the freedom of information act due to charitable funding by law. According to the figures Wakefield was paid £436,643 and £3910 expenses by lawyers that supported a £3.4M legal aid fund designed to file lawsuits against vaccine manufacturers. Wakefield’s work was for the lawyers began 2 years before he published his notorious report in 1998.
His suggestion caused immunisation rates to drop from 92% to 78.9% in 2006 in the UK.

Protection of the Herd

What winds me up about this is that there is a thing known as “herd immunity”[4].This is a Mathematical modelling of the spread of diseases.
In simple terms it means in order for a community to have a much higher chance of not catching a disease less people should be able to catch it.
You know like common sense.
If everyone is immune no-one will get it because the virus can’t spread.
Basically according to these tested and scientifically proven methods the average population has a better chance of not contracting measles if 92-95% of the population are immune to it. Makes sense no?
So what happened in 2006 when the immunisation rate dropped to below 80%? Well the first child in 14 years died of measles. Coincidence? Babies who aren’t old enough to get the shot are the ones with the greatest chance of getting measles.
In response to various bullshit (like people all over the world dying again of Mumps and Measles) a lot of study was done by the general medical council (GMC). In response to the GMC findings the editors of the Lancet announced on 2nd February that they fully retract the paper from public record. On 24th May the GMC panel found Wakefield guilty of serious professional misconduct on 4 counts of dishonesty and 12 involving the abuse of mentally challenged children. He was struck off the medical register meaning he can no longer practice due to incompetence. In short Wakefield was a liar and an asshole.

                                     Child with measles

So yes, by not getting the shot you’re an asshole

However you’re an even bigger asshole if you don’t do your research, listen to the media and not get a vaccination for something that can stop a defenceless baby from dying. Just cos someone says it’s so, doesn’t mean it is, especially if that someone is making the best part of half a million quid.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment