Precisely.

It's far easier (and more profitable) for the Pharma companies to hype fear.

Here's a question: WHY are companies like Walgreens not only GIVING the shit away...but PAYING you (via in-store gift cards) to take them (vaccinations--usually seasonal)?

Has Big Pharma, all of the sudden, become hyper-altruistic??

This is NOT a rhetorical question. If anybody has any "inside" information on this I'd love to know. I was once a pharm tech (long ago) and those things cost a LOT of money. Who is subsidizing them and WHY??

I interned at Abbot Labs for a time in college and one thing was made abundantly clear to me on the very first day: there is NO MONEY in cures--the money is in maintenance. AIDS could have been cured 10,000x over had they wanted to cure it, trust me.

Let's be frank here--whether or not the MMR is efficacious or safe is not the point. There is a media blitz right now around how "evil" anti-vax people are. The question is...why?

Here's what I want to ask these parents on the news who talk about how "irresponsible" it is to not vaccinate...and how anti-vaxxers are "risking their children's lives.":

Wait...aren't YOUR children vaccinated? Then who cares?? These people aren't affecting YOUR life in any way if YOUR child is vaccinated. So...why all of the anger?

You can be certain that they don't give a shit for anyone else; so WHY? It makes no sense and that response, right there, is what made me realize that this is nothing but a media scare tactic to jack up the already-ridiculous bottom line of Big Pharma.

Vaccinations may work, but we don't really know the drastic side effects of some because they simply aren't reported. I know two women that BOTH had their child die within 48 hours of receiving the MMR. Cause of death according to the coroner? SIDS, of course. So...how many vaccine deaths simply go unreported? I'd venture a guess at around 90%...if not FAR more.

Here's the thing...I believe that vaccinations DO work (there is TONS of evidence saying so) and are a boon to mankind. Still, they should NEVER be given all at once (as they do today) and they should NEVER be given to kids who's autoimmune systems are simply overloaded by all of those toxins injected at once. Still, in a "risk vs reward" argument I'd have to say that, even if the chances were as high as 1 in 1000 of your kids having an adverse effect, vaccines are very much the lesser of two evils. In regards to this, even while I was growing up (don't ask, a LONG time ago...) measles were a "rite of passage" for kids...quite like chicken pox are today. It's almost to the point where contracting one of these 19th Century diseases and then curing it is less of a chance than being vaccinated for the disease itself! The key word there is ALMOST though. I simply cannot see any reason NOT to vaccinate. Due to public scrutiny (in part) vaccines are safer than ever (barring the seasonal flu vaccines that are risky and unnecessary due to the shifting-antigen nature of influenza). Still, it's hard to ignore the fact that these "19th Century diseases" ARE "19th Century diseases" because of one main thing...vaccination. Of course, improved sanitation practices play a HUGE part as well.

My son is two, unvaccinated, and has never been sick a day in his life. EVERY ONE of his vaccinated friends has at least had the flu...and most (80%+) have chronic ear and sinus infections. This likely is anecdotal...but I read results like that from parents all over the world and this "phenomenon" is repeated over, and over, and over.

My son WILL be vaccinated...probably at his next doctor appointment. BUT...he will receive ONE at a time (since most are combination vaccines). I feel that it was crucial to wait until he passed his second birthday as this gave the myelin sheaths that "insulate" his nerves a chance to develop and completely minimized his chances for having an adverse reaction to the shots.

EDIT: Spelling/additional info