Vaccines and the missing debate Part 2

In part one I primarily focused on greatly increased numbers of vaccines today compared to thirty years ago.  The numbers gathered were from the CDC, and not some random web site.  In part two, I'm going to relate the first time I questioned policies and mandating vaccines from first hand experience, again using the CDC as the primary source of information.

It's traumatic for children to get vaccines, and I'll say traumatic for parents as well.  My kid's vaccinations always caused reactions.  Outside of pain and irritation in the injection area, there was always at least a day of mild fever, sometimes nausea.  This would lead to irritability and sleeping more than normal.  Nothing I would say is abnormal, and nothing really unexpected.  These same side effects are listed on the CDC web site for nearly all vaccines.

When I became a parent, like most adults, I trusted the CDC and State Government for information and requirements for vaccines.  Then came the Chicken Pox vaccine.


The CDC reports show that that prior to the vaccine 0.00005% of cases each year were fatal in the US.  None of those cases were solely due to the virus.  Infections and other complications were major contributors to death.  Key in on that number, and this one.  The amount of cases that required hospitalization for Chicken Pox was 0.0005%.

And now the personal back story...

When my child was in elementary school he contracted chicken pox.  Like nearly every generation before him, this was not a big deal.  Everyone I know had the Chicken Pox at one time in their life.  The treatment was simple.  Prevent itching, quarantine for a couple days, and treat any wounds from scratching.  Our pediatrician saw and confirmed the Varicella virus, and that was pretty much it.  In a few days time, life was back to normal.

Michigan schools started requiring vaccinations for Chicken Pox about a year after my kid was diagnosed and recovered.  Like the good parent should, I asked the State authorities if my son was required to get the vaccine since they were already exposed and had recovered.  I was told that the vaccination was still required, and that since he already had the Chicken Pox he should see no side effects.  Except that within twenty four hours, he had come down with a second case of Chicken Pox, this time accompanied by the same vaccination symptoms I described above which seem to accompany most vaccines.  Digging around, I found that this was not that uncommon.  The contraction can not just occur from a shot after an exposure, but the opposite direction as well.  In fact the success rate for the vaccination according to the CDC is about 90%, less by other Government agencies so one in ten gets the virus even with the vaccination series.

Speaking from strictly a numbers perspective, the vaccination doubled my kids chances for a severe reaction to the virus.  More concerning to me as a parent, the vaccination  has complications that are much more severe than the virus.   Severe allergic reactions occur in 0.002% of people injected, severe nervous damage in 0.0008%, and severe life threatening side effects in 0.0004%.  (Note: For simplicity in numbers I used a beneficial population number of 200,000,000 instead of the reported nearly 234 million.  These numbers favor vaccination, not the other way around).

Remember those numbers from above?  Putting this in perspective 1 in 2,000,000 mortality rate prior to vaccination compared to at best 1 in 1,000,000 today, and at worst 1 in 500,000.  The CDC is pretty clear on this.

We have greatly increased our risk, and to what reward?  Not quite a 90% success rate in preventing a virus that to the majority was a couple days of nuisance.  This is not wild speculation, or "anti-vac" insanity, or "conspiracy" nonsense.  This is the math based on the science we currently have available from the CDC and other Government sources.  Believing anything contrary to the numbers is insanity and delusional.

In reality, all vaccinations have different risks and different rewards.  I fully advocate the Polio and MMR vaccination for example.  Vaccines are improving all the time, and this should be something you constantly educate yourself on.  My opinion of the Chicken Pox vaccine in time will probably change as improvements are made.  This is how science works.

In part three, I will be adding the contents of vaccines to the discussion and provide some closing thoughts.