Vaccinations cause autism. The flu shot doesn’t prevent you from getting sick and can actually give you the flu. The chemicals in vaccinations are more dangerous than the disease it prevents. These are all legitimate fears that people have that have prevented them from vaccinating their children. All parents who are faced with the decision of whether or not to vaccinate their children earnestly want the make the best choices for them, however the stigma surrounding vaccinations are often fear-driven rather than fact-based:
- The Autism Myth
Numerous studies conducted by unbiased scientists and medical doctors have found no link between vaccinations and autism. In fact, the 1998 study which purported that the children displayed symptoms of autism within a month of receiving the MMR vaccine has since be debunked. The study was funded by a law firm who intended to sue vaccine manufacturers and the doctor who conducted the study altered or misrepresented the medical history of the children being studied, some of which never even had autism. He has since been stripped of his medical license for the unfounded hysteria he created that led to many parents not giving their children life saving vaccinations. - The Flu Shot Myth
The flu shot contains inactive flu viruses that program your immune system to fight of the active virus if you are exposed to it. Since the viruses are inactive, you cannot actually contract the flu from the flu shot. It takes one to two weeks for your body to establish a strong resistance to the flu virus, so if you were exposed to it before getting to one of the medical clinics that offers the shot, you could still come down with the symptoms after getting the shot. However, even in these cases, the symptoms are often less severe and your body can usually kick it a lot faster. - The Dangerous Chemical Myth
The chemical that that most fears are based on is the preservative, thimerosal. Thimerosal contains ethylmercury, a type mercury. Mercury is considered a carcinogenic and interrupts brain development in children.However, due to fears of mercury exposure, thimerosal has been removed from almost every vaccine since 1999. Even then, the amount of mercury contained in thimerosal is trivial compared to the amount we’re already exposed to through breathing in polluted air, drinking water, and eating fish.
The Truth About Vaccinations
It’s estimated that nearly 2.5 million lives are saved every year through reduction of deadly diseases that vaccinations prevent. If more clinics were available to administer vaccinations in remote and third-world countries, as many as 4 million more deaths could be avoided every year.
Through the implementation of global vaccinations, the smallpox disease has been entirely eradicated. When clinics started vaccinating people for smallpox in 1950, 50 million people died every year from the gruesome disease. In less than 30 years, the very last case of smallpox was reported in 1978. We no longer have to be vaccinated from smallpox because it is entirely eradicated.
The paralyzing and deadly disease, polio, is almost entirely eradicated. In the 1950s, polio was a most dreaded childhood diseases, now the last natural case of polio in the United States occurred in 1979. The only three countries where polio is still occurring are places where there is little to no vaccinations available: Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria. If vaccinations could be increased there, one day, we wouldn’t need a polio vaccination at all.