An Open Letter to “Anti-Vax” Parents.

 

On Wednesday last week, the CDC announced that the number of Measles cases reported in the United States reached the highest level since the year 2000.  Bear in mind that April is not yet over, and the number has already met the full-year 2000 numbers.  Cases have been reported in 21 states.

 

The issue has become so serious that New York leaders have made controversial decisions to ban unvaccinated people from public places and have enacted fines and other penalties for those refusing vaccinations.

 

This has me asking myself several questions.  I pose them here to see if others are asking the same questions.

1. Are antivaxxers are so afraid of an adverse reaction that they would rather their child die from a preventable disease?
2. Do they fear infinitesimal possibility of a vaccine reaction so much that a dead child is preferred? 
3. Even if (And all evidence points to the contrary) a vaccine could cause autism, is autism so bad that you would prefer your child die from a disease we have been able to prevent for decades?

 

If that question (the three are all variants of a single thematic question) seems too strong a point to make, I pose this series brief questions to perhaps get people thinking.  The hope is that by asking this series of questions to anti-vax parents, some might begin to seriously rethink their position.

 

1. If your child has a fever and is vomiting, do you take them to the doctor?  Do you trust that your doctor will treat your child with the flu in a manner that is in the child’s best interest?
2. If your child were to break a bone, would you take them to the doctor?  Do you trust that the doctor would treat your child properly?
3. If, God forbid, your child was diagnosed with cancer or some other very serious condition, would you trust that your doctor would work to ensure your child were receiving the best care they could offer?

 

If the answer to these questions is yes, allow me to ask the following?

 

1. If you trust your doctor to provide proper care for your fevered child or your child with a broken bone, why would you think your doctor is being less thorough saying vaccines are needed? At what point is the line of trust crossed?
2. If you don’t trust the doctor on vaccinations, why would you trust them to render any care for your child with the flu, cancer, or asthma?

 

It would be obvious the doctor couldn’t be trusted to properly care for your child if they would suggest a treatment that could knowingly negatively affect your child’s health.  How could you trust them for even the most basic care?

 

So, if you trust your doctor when your child has the flu; and you would trust your doctor with a broken bone or cancer, why would you not trust them when they say a child requires vaccination?    This is not a “straw man” argument.  This is not some false equivalency.  These are questions about whether you trust your doctor. … Do you?

 

Please think.  Use real logic and not just some “feeling” based on fear instilled by an uneducated celebrity or conspiracy monger.  For the sake of your children and those with compromised immune systems, please, vaccinate your children.  Their lives may depend on it.