Blog #150--Vaccine Pros and Cons

When I was in second grade, my classmates and I were all given a polio vaccine, and happily so since polio was a highly contagious, highly destructive virus that killed many people and debilitated many others. Like most people I knew, I had more than one relative who came down with the dreaded disease. The vaccine was a true God-send, and its utilization on the entire US population helped eradicate the disease from the country.

Dr. Jonas Salk was rare among scientists. He cared more about helping people than making a huge profit on his discovery. He held no patent because he believed the vaccine belonged to the entire world and not just to him or any one company. He was considered a hero among the masses, but he was not held in as high regard by the pharmaceutical industry that expected huge profits.

When I was a student in veterinary school, my classmates and I were given a rabies vaccine plus a booster to protect us during our careers as veterinarians. If we had been bitten by a rabid dog or other animal during our careers, we’d only need another booster rather than the more painful series of shots others exposed to rabies had to receive to survive. I agreed with this approach due to our constant exposure to animals and their diseases.

Veterinarians are required by law to provide yearly rabies shots for all dogs, and many areas require the same for cats. Vets also give vaccines to animals to protect them from common illnesses that would otherwise kill off a high percentage of them if exposed. Distemper in dogs is highly contagious and highly fatal, so using its vaccine on the dog population has helped prevent the disease.

However, like I stated in my book “It’s a Secret, So Pass It On: a Toolbox For Life” and also my blogs, using vaccines has two opposite effects. A vaccine helps provide immunity necessary to help the body fight off certain contagious diseases, something most people feel is a good result. However, it also allows people and animals to live despite having no natural immunity to these diseases. Thus, more of them live long enough to pass their genes onto their offspring, guaranteeing they will also need the vaccine to survive.

So while a majority of people believe using vaccines is preferred over not using them, there is at least one advantage to using no vaccines. Without vaccines some will die, but they won’t be able to reproduce their genetic weaknesses. What is left is a smaller population that is naturally immune to most diseases. Humans are especially reluctant to allow their own offspring to die at a young age, so vaccines become a necessity for them. This attitude makes them vulnerable to greedy companies that use the fear of disease as leverage to sell unnecessary vaccines.

Originally, vaccines were created against only the most highly contagious diseases. Experience with Bubonic plague, Spanish flu and other disease agents that wiped out large segments of the population in past generations created a necessity for this research, and vaccines like polio were developed as a result. But adding a profit motive to vaccine research has altered the approach many scientists take toward their work.

Instead of researching how to eliminate the most devastating diseases, some pharmaceutical companies have begun developing vaccines for diseases that have low mortality and contagion rates among the general population. In some cases, the vaccines are for diseases that are considered self-limiting, in that once they have run their course in the body, a natural immunity is developed which prevents a repeat occurrence. For non-lethal diseases, vaccines are unnecessary and may be counterproductive in the long run.

In other cases, vaccines for diseases that sound scary to the general population but are not highly contagious are being produced in part to make a profit. Compliant media, self-serving druggists and their compatriots in public health have all helped spread the notion that everyone must take these vaccines. Without a true contagion, these scare tactics are merely tools for profit-building. Those who think for themselves can see through the deception and refuse to obtain the vaccines, but they are in the minority and are pressured frequently to submit to vaccination programs.

I have taken flu shots occasionally, but there never seemed to be a direct correlation between the vaccine and an absence of flu during any given year. Sometimes I had no flu problems during years I took no vaccine, and sometimes I was vulnerable to the flu despite taking the shot. The likely reason for this is that flu vaccines are created based on the most common viruses from the previous year.

There is no guarantee the same viruses will be predominant during the upcoming year, meaning the vaccine may be ineffective against new strains. Since many people besides doctors can now give people these vaccines, the pressure to receive them is immense. It is understandable why so many people succumb to these scare tactics.

Another aspect of this discussion is the potential negative side effects of taking certain vaccines. Besides the possibility of getting the diseases they are designed to prevent, at least some vaccines contain chemicals that credible scientists have alleged are toxic to humans. Some may ultimately be incriminated in neurological disorders and other physical problems.

There may be no sinister ulterior motives among those who are designing exotic vaccines, but the profit motive alone can encourage all sorts of short cuts. If a potential side effect could interfere with profit, it is sometimes ignored. This is especially true if a company believes its vaccine will be approved by the Food and Drug Administration because of faulty research findings or friends in high places.

I won’t judge which vaccines are best for use in this blog, and I won’t incriminate any individual or company. But I encourage readers to think for themselves and not just obtain every vaccine that comes along. Ask yourself how often you have heard about these diseases throughout your lives and not just recently. Is a disease highly contagious or simply one of many possible but unlikely situations that may come along?

Compare the potential benefits with the negative side effects and decide for yourself whether you need a particular vaccine. True contagions are an exception; on those rare occasions, a government may have to pay to vaccinate everyone out of tax dollars. No contagion is eradicated if only the rich can afford the vaccine.

As a side note, I understand some researchers are trying to resurrect the Spanish flu, ostensibly as a biological weapon but also so a vaccine can be created. If there is no governor on such research, all sorts of contagions may be in our future. Some greedy companies may actually be trying to create new diseases to expose unsuspecting populations. If they have created a vaccine prior to exposure, they stand to make massive profits.

There may be people out there who have the same degree of moral development as Jonas Salk. But the likelihood they can regain control over disease research from the greedy and warlike is highly doubtful at this time. Let the buyer beware of ulterior motives.

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