First of all, I think it is impossible to talk about each of the important arguments in the Pro-Vax / Anti-Vax debate, and it is not my intention to do so, only to state my point of view about the whole chaos this debate has created.
I need to be honest about my position: I am pro-vaccination. What is truly important here is not our opinion on whether children should be vaccinated or not, what matters the most is that this type of debate should be based on evidence. It should involve informed and educated people, not the creation of a huge media frenzy. Everyone is in their right to choose what is true and valid to them, but there is absolutely no excuse when you are basically playing with other people’s safety, especially when it comes to children!
All around the world, from the United States to Pakistan, governments and specialists are doing whatever they can to get a hold of this situation, and control the consequences as much as possible. But why is it that suddenly people want to believe that doctors and country leaders want to hurt us, and our children? This is what we really need to be talking about, to step back and have honest conversations with people who can actually give you some answers: doctors.
The true danger in this situation is that it has opened a door for people to take advantage of uninformed parents, and by direct consequence thousands of people are getting sick. In some countries, there are people suffering from diseases (like Polio) that shouldn’t even exist anymore.
If you want to believe that by vaccinating your children they’ll be somehow damaged or poisoned, or that if they are living with autism the culprit could be that vaccine they got when they were babies (just because a disgraced doctor said so in the 90’s), that’s ok, just take the time to get properly informed. But please, consider the fact that you may be wrong and talk to different doctors about it.
I am not saying that vaccines are perfect, or that we should all get every single vaccine just because most doctors say so, of course not. What I’m saying is that we can talk about it and take the right steps so the people who can actually make a change hear our voice. We can talk about the ingredients in vaccines, about the possible side effects, about our religious beliefs; there is nothing stopping us from having serious and responsible discussions about all kinds of things. When it comes to vaccines most of these conversations and debates have worked in the past, so why wouldn’t they work today?.
What we, as human beings, as citizens of the same planet, need to agree on is that the bigger picture demands that we take responsibility for our decisions, and that we educate ourselves. This is the 21st century, let’s be informed before we promote information that we are not absolutely sure about.
The snowball effect is real, and we may be putting lives at risk by staying uneducated on such a delicate subject.
