Compulsory inoculations

There was a blind school not far from my shop. We had some regular customers who came in and were keen on some of our rather antiquated computer equipment that we had for sale. One particular fellow, mid-twenties, had a rather scrunched up face. He would have to hold things very close to his face, maybe five or six inches or less in order to see them properly. I asked him his story. Measles when very young.

Measles is not something that just makes you feel unwell for a week or two. Measles might not just be a full body covered in spots and an abundance of rashes. Measles often causes permanent long-term damage.

Measles, mumps, rubella, polio are just four of the many vaccinations that we have to consider giving to our children. They are not old enough to decide for themselves whether they want them. It is down to the parents. No inoculation is entirely risk free, but there are usually far far bigger risks in not doing so.

Vaccines to prevent measles, mumps, rubella and polio have been around for a long time. The risks associated with taking them are unbelievably low. The risks of not, are profoundly high.

There is plenty of ammunition for 'anti-vaxers' though. I will highlight two significant events.

The swine flu disaster.

An outbreak of flu originating from pigs was making a lot of people rather ill. A vaccine was rushed into production and given to thousands of school children. Not long after, it became clear that a link between the vaccine and a horrid form of narcolepsy was found. Children uncontrollably falling asleep several times a day. The vaccine was hastily withdrawn. That was not before it left swathes of young children permanent suffering. To add insult to injury the government didn't recompense or provide financial payments of significant magnitude to assist with their consequential lifelong condition. They would be unlikely to get a driver's licence, relationships would suffer, many types of jobs would become untenable and so on. Some vaccines are unsafe. Some.

Tony Blair and his ugly desire for 'privacy'

In the UK we had an odious prime minister who at the height of a vaccine take up crisis refused to tell the nation whether or not he had the MMR vaccine administered to his own children. The reason he would not enlighten us, the people, was down to privacy concerns. How often do we today hear "Oh I can't tell you because of 'data protection'", "Oh it is for 'health and safety'" or "It is for security". If the government is endorsing, encouraging citizens to have various jabs then the least we expect is for ministers to lead by example. What is more important, privacy or the health of our children? I would take Mr Blair to a hospital with children damaged by measles and ask, "would you forgo your privacy to turn back the clock on all this suffering? " Some parents delayed or denied their children vaccines because of the doubts sown by their leaders.

John Gummer - a health minister who did indeed put his beliefs out for all to see.

A BSE calamity rocked the beef industry. Measures were taken to minimise the risk to consumers. Once the problem was rectified as much as it reasonably could have, this man John ate a burger himself and gave a beef burger to his daughter in a public showdown. It didn't go quite to plan as it was a bit hot for the young child to eat right away in front of the camera. Nevertheless, it demonstrated that he had confidence in what he was saying.

Barack Obama

It only takes one thing to start dissent. For me to lower my opinion of this chap it took the sight of him pretending to drink a glass of water. The water was derived from a source known to be formerly plagued by very high lead (Pb) levels. What a joke. Is the water safe now or not? If I believed in the quality of the water, I would have drunk the whole glass. Snide? Time wasting or plain conspiracy theory inducing.

As for me?

I have had all vaccines for mumps, measles, rubella and polio. I ensured all my children have had them too. I would be cautious about all new vaccines. I would make full evaluations of them on a one by one, case by case manner. The vaccines for mumps, measles, rubella and polio prevent hideous illnesses and the risks they carry are infinitesimally small compared with not having them.

The preservative

Mercury is the second most toxic element on the planet. Element - not substance. Anyway, why this was used as a preservative (thimerosal) for some vaccines is anyone's guess. It has since been replaced by another agent that has no mercury in it at all. Some had a suspicion that this was a cause of autism in children. Mercury is harmful. 'Mad as hatters' came from the hat making industry where hats were dipped in mercury as part of the manufacturing process. Mercury amalgam is in cheap poor mans teeth fillings. On a side note, don't scrimp on fillings. Pay the extra for white mercury-free ceramic ones. Yes, they are ten times the price but worth every penny.

Mercury is poisonous. However, mercury would not cause autism. It may cause memory problems, co-ordination problems and a host of other things, but not autism.

One simple way to 'get the problem' is this. Child has vaccine, two weeks later autistic symptoms begin. The body has triggers where changes occur rapidly. Autism stages are triggered like an alarm clock that ticks by then goes into action. It can be hard to accept that it simply coincided with the vaccine. I will give you a list of other things that happen virtually overnight.

Voice breaking. Squeaky last night, low and gruff today.

Balls dropping. Wet dream number one.

First period starting.

Improve uptake or make compulsory.

Making vaccinations compulsory is undesirable. Some suggest that only those that are vaccinated will be allowed to go to schools or get financial assistance - welfare/workfare. Encourage, remind, cajole - by all means, but compulsion is dangerous. I would hate to see it be made mandatory for mumps, measles, rubella and polio which are highly established, but then extended into troubling areas. It could set a precedent, normalised with less and less consideration for any negative consequences. HPV and many flu vaccines etc don't have the same risk/risk ratio as mumps, measles, rubella and polio vaccines have.

I do wonder if children of parents that buried their head in the sand or were too lazy to investigate the positives of vaccines challenged, confronted and scolded their mothers and fathers.

Imagine your child asks you in years to come, "why didn't I get vaccinated? " And your reply "I read some worrying things about them online". You will have read a very limited amount, suffered from conformation bias and made little effort to get a rounded opinion.

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Compulsory vaccines - good idea but very dangerous too.

Compulsory