Two things prompted this post. The first is a good article called the Pandemic of Fear by Michael Specter and the second is an old CBS video going around about Judy Roberts and her neurological damage following the swine flu vaccination she received in 1976.

Then I ran across this offensive bit of misinformation about the nature of vaccination. It says, for example, “it is absurd to give a disease to a healthy person in order to prevent the same disease. It is like giving a child a small rape in order to prepare her/him for a possibly bigger rape later.” I mean really! It really says that.

I mean if the author can’t tell the difference between a virus and a rapist he/she is in big trouble.  It also shows such incredible basic ignorance of how immunization works that apart from the possibility of a seriously low IQ, the only thing that really makes sense is that either the person knows better and is using our penchant for irrationality for some unknown personal reason or the person has been raised inside a cult/cave.

Here’s an example of this same kind of “thinking.” (Imagine a news anchor speaking in horrified tones) – “The vaccine in 1976 caused more deaths (4000 of the 46,000,000 million people vaccinated – that’s 0.008% of the population by the way) than the epidemic itself!”  Gee. That’s terrible. That means we didn’t need the vaccinations. Right?

What is left unsaid is that maybe the low death toll was because the vaccine worked just fine for the other 99.992 % of the population.

Here’s a question: if you had a 99.992% chance of winning the lottery would you buy the ticket? If there was an 0.008% chance that someone would break both your legs as a consequence would you still buy it? Probably is my guess.

Do vaccines bear risks? Sure. Do diseases bear far, far greater risks? For sure.

Am I going to be vaccinated? Yes.

Am I worried? About 0.008% of me is worried. (I am 66 inches tall. That means about half an inch of me is worried.) I’ll probably get over it pretty quick.

There. Done.