influenza…
i’ve always been a proponent of immunizations. (i’ve had numerous battles with a cousin who refuses to immunize his children but haven’t changed my mind in the slightest.)
i tend to trust that doctors have our best interests at heart, at least on this issue. it has been floated that doctors are pushing these vaccines on the public so that they can reap the financial rewards. as has been pointed out in other sources, the doctors (and various other health care providers) stand to make a much bigger fortune if people get sick and are hospitalized rather than a one time $30 payment (what it cost for my regular flu vaccine).
last summer i read a novel called ‘the great influenza’ by john m. barry. it described in great detail the struggle with the deadly influenza pandemic during the wwI period. i highly recommend the book. it can be very dry in some places but it was very enlightening and helped me understand the huge difference between a deadly strain and a fairly mild strain and why it’s so important to protect ourselves.
this virus is deadly! the deaths per year are reported at between 20000 and 36000 per year. the number varies per report but even if it’s on the lower end near 20000, that still 20000 too many deaths. i don’t want myself or my family to be in that category. it’s easy to refuse vaccines but almost impossible to lose a loved one, especially child to horrific illness.
medicine advances over time. new ideas, procedures, treatments and chemicals are discovered every year. some of these are dropped over time, some may become better over time and unfortunately we’ve discovered that some of these may be detrimental. we must trust that doctors have our best interests at heart. research doctors spend their lifetimes working to keep us healthy. the doctors during the 1918 influenza outbreak spent years working on a cure or at least an understanding of this deadly virus. they weren’t doing it to make money. they were doing it to save people.
it’s your choice. get the vaccine or don’t. i sincerely hope you never lose a loved one to one of these preventable illnesses and i hope you will consider/reconsider getting the vaccine. my children and i are protected from the regular flu now and will receive protection from swine flu as soon as it’s available.
