Vaccinations

 On Thursday, I had my physical to get into Solebury and also to be able to get my learner's permit (although seriously who needs a permit to take a test? Am I gonna collapse from the effort of filling in a bubble). Which meant... shots! Yayyyy.

What astounded me was the sheer number of shots that I had to take. I took three shots, including a PPD test for tuberculosis. Today, the doctors had to confirm that I indeed did not have tuberculosis although the injection site is still red and the dot marking where I got it still prominent. The doctor's office had a list of all of the shots that I had taken for my entire life (and all of the dates I had taken them)... and it was quite extensive. It was enough to fill up an entire page and looked like about fifty or so vaccinations. That wasn't even counting the flu vaccination I get every year too, which is even more than that. It seriously got me thinking about things.

I know vaccination is an incredibly controversial topic. I'm sure that it's not good to to give that kids that many vaccinations and I'm sure it has some unforeseen effect. Who knows, maybe this is all apart of our over-medication? I'm not a medical expert; all I know is that I don't quite understand the point of it all. Half the diseases are diseases that have been wiped out in the Western world anyway so what's the point of vaccinating kids with them? To me, there doesn't seem a need to put random chemicals in some kid's body on the off chance that they might go to some third world country or something. I certainly don't understand why babies have to have all of these vaccinations forced on them at once, either.

I don't think vaccinations are the devil incarnate, either. While there are a few side effects that some kids suffer from them, these vaccinations are the most part safe and approved for use (for now. Who knows, there could always end up being something wrong with them). While some critics have argued the link between mercury and autism, this has largely been disproved. According to the FDA, vaccinations no longer contain thimerosal, the mercury-containing compound that was to blame for the spike in autism in the first place (many never even did at all). I certainly have never had any serious consequences to vaccinations with the exception of pain (before and after) and the allergic reaction that I had to the chicken pox shot when I was three.

It seems worse not to vaccinate your kids than to not vaccinate them. My sister has a friend who somehow got out of it (not for religious reasons, though, so I don't know) and it just astounds me. For example, every once in a while in my old public school, there was an outbreak of some kind going around. One time, there was this one kid who had measles that they had to guard against. Those who were not vaccinated had to stay home for an entire eighteen days. Eighteen days!

Sometimes, the effects are much more dire than that. Whooping cough, for example, can be lethal to young children or can leave them very sick. I don't understand why someone would want to leave their beloved child vulnerable to such a disease. Vaccines can prevent children from getting sick in the first place or can prevent an outbreak from the disease in the first place. Unvaccinated children can even make other children sick. So yes, vaccines kind of suck but they can't be worse than such diseases.

But still, I can't say that having shots are exactly pleasant, though. For one, they HURT. They always burn me going in. Most of the time, this changes when the needle is removed but not always. When I got my tetanus shot, my arm felt like I had had surgery on it... and still does. I've heard many girls suffer pain with the Gardasil vaccine although I never had.

So, to be honest, I'm not sure what to make of vaccines. I still can't help but think about them though and I think it's important for everyone to know what is in these vaccines and what it means putting into our bodies and in our children's bodies. But, for now, it looks like they're here to stay.

I'm not trying to say vaccinations kill you but I do admit I found this picture funny