Re: doc10 to spud...

I wonder how people would feel if they watched a video on youtube of a baby or child dying of whooping cough, or a child blind and deaf from measles, disfigured from smallpox or chicken pox, crippled from polio. Or, a young man's devastation, because he contracted mumps from an unvaccinated child, and it has left him sterile, (this happened to my own father, thankfully he had children already before this happened). Or perhaps the tragedy of a pregnant woman who contracts rubella from an unvaccinated person, and ends up with a child with severe birth defects, (this is something I have also personally seen happen).

I'm sure this sort of video, (either for or against vaccines), would change the views of those who make decisions based on emotion, rather than credible information.

Personally, I prefer to make decisions, as serious as the decision to vaccinate or not, based on credible information, rather than emotional responses.

There are side effects to vaccines, and I honestly hope that with further research, those side effects can be lessened, if not gotten rid of entirely. I know there is research taking place that is looking at why some people have adverse reactions to vaccines, and this can only lead to safer vaccines in the future.

I believe that as a society, we no longer see the devastation that these communicable diseases, such as whooping cough, polio, measles, smallpox, and many other diseases, can cause, and have become complacent living in a world where many of these diseases have been greatly reduced, and in some cases almost eliminated because of vaccination.

If people had to face the reality of these diseases, and the damage and death they can cause, or experienced themselves or their families being devastated by these diseases, people might not be so against vaccination, or would at least give pause for thought when considering the question of whether to vaccinate or not.

spud