As a concerned, non-clinical, parent I am finding this discussion
very enlightening.
Norman Vetter suggests that there is a parallel with Meningitis C
and that 'people need to know more about what goes on day by
day in infectious disease units'. Possibly - but aren't infectious
disease units totally unrepresentative ? What really happens in the
general population ?
Meningitis C appears, to me as a lay person, to kill a significant
proportion of otherwise healthy people at a time in life when their
resistance to illness related mortality should be near it's peak.
Measles, mumps, rubella don't have the same pattern. As a child it
was viewed as a good thing when I got measles, mumps, rubella
and chickenpox. I was building up immunity. Risk was seen as
negligible - in an otherwise healthy child. In this context Judi's
comments are particularly interesting. Introduction of vaccination
shows no appreciable effect on long term trends ? Rather different
from preliminary results from Meningitis C vaccination.
Of course, the media may be distorting the picture unfairly. We
hear widely publicised rumours of autism and other side effects of
MMR, but none of any side effects of Meningitis C. Is this accurate
?
There is another difference. The government is refusing to accept
separate vaccinations. Why ? To save resources. So children have
to be challenged with three separate agents simultaneously. That
goes against all my common sense. If a child got sick with all
three simultaneously, there would be cause for serious concern.
Maybe vaccination has a place. I don't find the propaganda
convincing. In fact I suspect that the louder the shouting, the more
is being hidden. Yeah, BSE is worth remembering. I am a farmer
too, and I didn't believe the government from the day I first learned
of BSE and I don't now. Especially after the government reaction to
the BSE enquiry report. 'We may be responsible but accountable ?
Stuff you !' Just two weeks ago Farmers Weekly reported that the
studies done on milk safety may be flawed. Now we are hearing
that studies done on MMR safety may be flawed. Time for an
independent audit ?
Lastly, Judi's comments remind me of the recent discussion about
new suspicions emerging about the long term health effects of
protecting children from immune challenges, summarised for
instance in the BMJ late last year. Hopefully we will soon have
more complete evidence on the wider picture, rather than
arguments being too focussed on immediate effects.
Mike.
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