Oh fuck off, TV.

[logansrogue]

You know, John Deed isn't high quality TV at the best of times, and now it's tackling the "Immunisation means AUTISM" issue.

Which is making me clench my teeth for various reasons. First of all, they have a black actress playing the emotionally fraught mother trying to stop their child from having their shots. Which is pretty bizarre, because the most vocal anti-immunisation people I've seen have all been rich white women. I'm not saying it's impossible that black women could have this view on the issue, it's just that the actress they chose is odd to me because it's not representative of the usual section of society that I've seen complain about vaccinations. That's all I'm going to say on the race issue since I don't feel comfortable going into it, I'm just pointing it out. (I'm worried I'll represent it badly).

Then there's the "Big Pharma" angle, which I'm really uncomfortable with. I know large pharmaceutical companies can be less than scrupulous, and downright evil, but in this particular issue, there is more than money at stake. There are children's lives, so I'm really, really leery about using the issue for drama value and forwarding pernicious narratives and myths about immunisation. I'm leery about this being seen as a David and Goliath issue. It's not.

Of course, if anyone wants to disagree with me, I've got a whole bunch of photos of me at 3 suffering from the measles. I'm in tears! It's painful! Really, it'll be fun! (Mum lagged with the immunisations with us kids, and she did regret that, as did I!)

ETA: John Deed is such a fucking stupid show.

Comments

[nephron.livejournal.com]

My father survived polio unscathed long-term, but he was pretty lucky.

I've had whooping cough and every time I had a coughing fit I was terrified that I'd never be able to breathe again.

[bunny-m.livejournal.com]

Having once been woken in the middle of the night by a coughing fit so intense and prolonged I eventually puked into the sink, and only then gasped for air, I totally empathise.

[purrdence.livejournal.com]

Oh god, I had those recently. It's a horrible feeling.

[purrdence.livejournal.com]

Didn't they get the message about the Lanclet publicly disowning that 'MMR causes Austim' paper?

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

Clearly not. Got any good links for me? I like to be educated about shit.

[purrdence.livejournal.com]

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18447-damning-verdict-on-doctor-who-linked-mmr-and-autism.html

And here is an article about shit:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17231-satellites-spot-new-penguin-colonies-by-their-poo.html

*teeheehee*

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

That is some seriously edumacational shit right there.

[purrdence.livejournal.com]

There were lots of articles to do with poo on the New Scientist website! *hah!*

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

Poo is the stuff of learned gentlefolk.

[nephron.livejournal.com]

But don't you know that the Lancet are in the pockets of Big Pharma and and just conspiring to discredit poor Dr Wakefield who was exposing the evils of Big Pharma?

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

BIG PHARMA, BIG PHARMA.

[nephron.livejournal.com]

The whole ranting about BIG PHARMA in relation to vaccinations pisses me off. I'm pretty skeptical about big pharma (not that medications never work, but they're not released to fix problems, rather to increase profits) but vaccinations are one thing that is shown to be effective (and cost-effective).

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

The problem with a lot of medication these days is that they're having a really hard time navigating the placebo problem. I don't remember rightly where I read about it, but it is causing problems researching new drugs.


But yes. Vaccines = good.

[nephron.livejournal.com]

The other problem with medication at the moment is that pharmaceutical companies would rather wait until a patent is about to run out on a drug, then make minor changes to the drug to create a new patentable medication (escitalopram vs. citalopram, paliperidone vs. risperidone, desvelafaxine vs. venlafaxine) or create a slow-release version, that is also patentable- Max profits, minimal input.

Also they're busy marketing lots of new health conditions that desperately need their treatment.

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

Oh shit. That does not sound like fun. :(

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

I don't remember it but I've seen the photos and I look like one miserable fucking kid.

[nephron.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, and also. I got chicken pox as an adult, which is normally a severe condition.

HOWEVER

Since I had been vaccinated some years previous I had no symptoms other than about 10 pox which itched a bit.

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

Well, that's a relief. I had it full-on as a kid, it wasn't fun. :(

[nephron.livejournal.com]

It was mostly annoying that I couldn't go to work for over a week.

[greteldragon.livejournal.com]

kadeton got chicken pox with no vaccination. Probably from SCGH's plaster clinic, when I was all covered in injuries.

Yeah... fucking hell that didn't look fun. It took us two days to realise what was going on too, it looked at first like he'd gotten a rash from cleaning out the shed.

He was a miserable boy for a bit there. I'm glad we have vaccinations for it now.

[strangedave.livejournal.com]

You are very lucky. I had chicken pox as an adult, at 19, and it totally fucking sucked. I felt like it been hit with hammers, and looked and felt very gross.

[nephron.livejournal.com]

I think it was more being vaccinated than luck (unless you are referring to me being lucky that a vaccine was available).

[strangedave.livejournal.com]

Well, the main public face of the anti-immunisation people is Jenny McCarthy, so yeah, she is about as rich and white as they come. She did go on Oprah to spread this nonsense, though.

The anti-vaccination people enrage me. I know measles etc is painful, and rubella can be disastrous (my father has lifelong very poor hearing, due to rubella during his mothers pregnancy), and mumps can cause sterility, and the rest, but its still the deaths that really get to me. These people have a serious body count now.

And big pharma isn't really making any money here. Vaccinations are long out of patent, big pharma would *love* for there to be known problems with vaccinations so they could invent new ones that were in patent.

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

Anti-vax folk make me froth and rage. Anti-science and pro-stupidity makes me do that. Especially when children's lives are at stake.

[greenforest-elf.livejournal.com]

I think people who think vaccines are safe should be doing more research!!

This is a good start

http://www.avn.org.au/Vaccination-Information/

click on individual vaccines to see the shit thats in them - ie Mercury!

Sure sure we have all had our shots and are fine.... but join some forums and speak to parents of children who are NOT. Some children develop serious health issues!

This page has info on the swine flu jab
http://refusingvaccines.homestead.com/

..... we swallow up what they tell us YET doctors are refusing this vaccine....

I dont care about who is making money or whatever....what I care about is the fact vaccines cause problems and I refuse to believe they are safe.

Try and convince parents of childrens who's lives are ruined after being immunized that vacc are safe.

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

I don't think anyone is saying vaccinations are a hundred percent safe. No drug is a hundred percent safe.

I think people are saying that a LOT more children died before widespread vaccinations took place. That is an undeniable fact. Herd immunity.

There is a risk-to-benefit ratio with every drug a human ever takes, every chemical or substance they put in their body.

Sometimes these things react badly to people. And it's terrible. It really is. I do not deny these mothers their anger or their fear.

What I do get angry about, however, is the widespread misinformation and panic that gets spread by these campaigns, and the huge oversight that seems to take place by the anti-vax crowd: children are saved by vaccinations. Not just a few kids, mind.

Just take a look at child mortality rates before vaccinations were widespread. Look at the child mortality rates in areas of Queensland where vaccinations have dipped below the level of herd immunity. Read about how horrible it is for a baby to die of whooping cough. And I still have those photos of me suffering the measles at three.

It was common for women, once upon a time, to have to have 14 children, and half of them would die of some pretty horrible diseases, because they didn't have the medicines and advances we have today.

I'm pretty sure they're phasing out Mercury as an ingredient in vaccinations. If not, they should - I agree with that one.

And I'm leery about big pharmaceutical companies, I know how ruthless and cruel they can be.

BUT, huge but here, the alternative? Oh God, I couldn't think of it. If people stopped immunising their children?

Smallpox. Scarlet fever. Measles. Rubella. Mumps. Typhoid. Flu of varying horrible strains. Whooping cough.

I could go on and on.

I'd also read strangedave's response in this thread about the actual money-making ability of selling vaccinations they have no patent on. Not as lucrative as one might think.

So, I've said my piece, you've said your piece. I really respect you and your views so I'm going to leave it at this and not get into it any further.

Just keep in mind that when parents stop other parents from vaccinating, it's not just their own children they're risking the lives of. When the vaccination level dips below a certain point, the herd immunity is gone and then thousands of children are at risk. If refraining from vaccinations gets more widespread than that? I shudder to think of the lives that could be lost.