(gnrhealth.com)
Look, I get it. I am one of the yuppiest hippie wannabes I know. I buy organic produce. I meticulously inspect food labels for the presence of preservatives or synthetic texturizers. I know what buzzwords to look out for in my shampoo. I frequent the Environmental Working Group's website to be sure that my cosmetics are safe. I have DIYed my own window cleaner, makeup remover and face cream. I try to only take OTC drugs when I'm feeling really, really down and out. I am one of those people who wants a doula and a midwife by my side when it comes time to have a baby. I do my best to inspect every last thing that comes near my body in the vain hope that I can out-do the mass industrialization of nutrition and personal care. My husband has born the brunt of it; I can only imagine what a madwoman I am going to turn into when we have children. So yes, I understand where you are coming from. In any other circumstance, I would be wary of agreeing to inject myself or anyone else I knew with some mystery chemical compound simply because that's what society is telling me to do.
BUT. I am also a nurse, and so I curb my neuroses when it comes to basic public health and safety. And so I'm going to say this very, very carefully: vaccines are, without question, one of the greatest, most miraculous public health accomplishments in the history of humankind. I mean it. They are up there with sewage treatment facilities, seat belts and antibiotics. Before we routinely administered today's safe, reliable vaccines, measles killed around 400 people each year. Tetanus killed around 500. Diptheria, pertussis, polio, and rubella each independently killed thousands. Keep in mind that many of those deaths were infants and young kids. And today, hundreds of thousands of men, women and children are spared these diseases, not because of better sanitation practices or better overall medical care, but because they have been immunized against them. But an increasing number of individuals - the very young, the very sick, and the very un-vaccinated - are not afforded the same protection, simply because of misinformation, mistrust and/or ignorance.
