I never claimed medical science is infallible.
It just uses the best data it has.
With Vaccines, much of the variability is due to statistical analysis, modeling and such. They shoot for some level of immunity in the general population with a certain course of shots. Sometimes they find that the immunity is better than predicted, sometimes they find certain vaccines are more effective than others, etc.
If you’d have them ignore that data, fine, but it is the right thing to do, in my opinion, to keep studying and make adjustments when data says you can meet the same goal of immunity with a different course of action.
As for the rest of medicine, much of it is of the “lookup table” variety, not requiring a huge amount of creativity - match the symptom with the pill. But it’s the stuff that doesn’t fall into that where they earn their money - and surgeons - well they earn their money with a trail of success.
I do not advocate anything but vaccines for life-threatening illness. I generally do not get flu shots - because the flu, for me, isn’t life-threatening. I didn’t get my kids the chicken pox vaccine - because it’s life-threatening in only very unusual circumstances.
The childhood diseases that can be vaccinated against should be - and unless you have something better on your side, you should just follow the vaccine schedule. The risk of complication for shot vs illness is ridiculously one-sided in favor of vaccination.
Agreed. The medical community has a responsibility to provide us with the latest information.
I do not advocate anything but vaccines for life-threatening illness. I generally do not get flu shots - because the flu, for me, isn’t life-threatening. I didn’t get my kids the chicken pox vaccine - because it’s life-threatening in only very unusual circumstances.
Right there, it sounds like you've been doing exactly what many of us on the other side of the debate have been doing. More below...
The childhood diseases that can be vaccinated against should be - and unless you have something better on your side, you should just follow the vaccine schedule.
The doctors around here would say that your kids are not fully vaccinated - because they didn't have the chicken pox shot. The chicken pox shot is the one doctors have lectured me about. They seem to forget it wasn't even required until recently. (Ironically, I have agreed to the chicken pox shot, so there's at least one shot you've declined that I've agreed to.) Other parents are just doing what you and I have been doing - listening to what the doctor says, considering all of the information, and then making their own informed decisions.
Lately, I've noticed even more shots have been added to the immunization schedule - such as Hep A and Rotavirus. I just counted - there are now 28 shots recommended for children just between birth and age 6. And 25 of those shots are given before age 18 months. That's why parents are starting to balk:
As a side note, I went along with whatever the doctors advised until one day: One doctor (and the nurses) had been assuring me my children were caught up on all of their immunizations. Then a second doctor in the same office told me they weren't and tried to insist on giving them more shots before I checked with the first doctor. That's when I finally put the brakes on.
