Vaccines: An Illustration…

This post is just an illustration. I’m not going to try to persuade, because I fully support informed consent–where people/parents are given the risks/benefits in whole and allowed to choose, and legally required. But that virtually never happens…and I believe it is in large part because of the money behind the pharma industry.

Again, this is an illustration.

We vaccinate millions of people a year, and with the current setup, each of those gets multiple booster shots. Most recent pricing of the Tetanus & Diphtheria Toxoids that our kids recently got at $20.39/dose. That’s just one vaccine–do the math…there is a LOT of money on the government-backed vaccinations. (And that’s just the cost of the vaccine itself).

But back to the illustration.

In the 1940s, when the tetanus vaccine first was used in a widespread manner, how many tetanus cases do you think there were in the US on average?

The answer: 500-600.  And that’s with medical care as it was then. And that’s not deaths, that’s just tetanus cases.

According to the CDC, tetanus that leads to lockjaw that leads to death in 1 out of 10 cases. And is one of the illnesses that can be treated with post-exposure prophylaxis (treatment after infection to prevent spread).

So we’re spending millions upon millions of dollars a year on a vaccine (that carries its own side effects and dangers)  for an illness that was never widespread and is much more treatable now as it was in the past.

Disclosure: the Tetanus & Diphtheria is thus far the only vaccine we’ve subjected our kids to, and that was based on the benefits vs risks. However, currently regretting it, because Maddie is dealing with some side effects from her shot on Monday. The literature describes them as minor, but she’s not been herself a good amount of the time since that afternoon. We’re keeping an eye on it, with great concern, and hopeful that the information is true about these side effect lasting only 1-3 days.

This post is just an illustration. I’m not going to try to persuade, because I fully support informed consent–where people/parents are given the risks/benefits in whole and allowed to choose, and legally required. But that virtually never happens…and I believe it is in large part because of the money behind the pharma industry. Again, this…