Vaccinated for Crazy, by Arthur Tebbel – Pop Art #146
September 20, 2011 Arthur Tebbel 14 Comments
Dear Art,
You’ve no doubt noticed that vaccines and their safety are back in the news this week. Michele Bachmann said during last week’s debate that the HPV vaccine was dangerous. She is not the first nor will she be the last public figure to attack vaccination but, according to the CDC, vaccination rates drop after they are called dangerous by celebrities and politicians. What do you think should be done about statements like this?
-Cecile Richards, President, Planned Parenthood
Cecile,
The vaccine issue is weird. I’ve read all the statistics that show no correlation between vaccines and mental issues like autism or mental retardation like Bachmann claimed. I’ve also seen people I consider to be otherwise intelligent argue this with complete ant utter conviction. I understand that the data is probably way more reliable than people’s beliefs but it doesn’t make it any easier to argue those points.
Now, I don’t think that has anything to do with why Bachmann said what she said. The HPV vaccine is an issue in the Republican primaries because it has to do with reducing the dangers of women having sex. Christian conservatives in this country want sex to be scary and dangerous for women so that they can do their damndest to make sure people don’t have it. If they had their way having sex would be on equal footing, safety-wise, as opening the airlock on the Nostromo. It should be worth noting that making Alien references is a fairly effective contraceptive in its own right.
This is an uncomfortable issue for me because it puts me in agreement with Rick Perry. Perry issued an executive order mandating all sixth grade girls get vaccinated. There is an issue about whether or not that order was related to campaign contributions but it is in line with CDC recommendations about the issue. In fact, the CDC asserts that if 80 percent of women were vaccinated the human race would develop herd immunity for the human race to the strains of HPV covered by the vaccine. Mandating this vaccine is overwhelmingly unpopular with just about every group surveyed, support is in the 20s across demographics. Perry’s order was eventually rescinded by the legislature. It’s very hard to figure out if I can support Perry doing the right thing for the wrong reasons.
Can something be done about these statements? People could refute them but good luck at a Tea Party-sponsored debate or really in the modern media climate in general. The noise surrounding any statement will always be louder than the noise pointing out that it was complete horseshit. The far right are masters at this. At least they’re using it on each other right now.
Vinnie Bartilucci
September 20, 2011 - 6:38 pm
From personal experience, I can tell you that parents of autistic kids are desperate to find a “reason” that their kid is autistic. Just like any sad experience demands an explanation on par with the trauma, they want something they can point at and aim vitriol at. And, if at all possible, sue.
The statement of one celebrity will counterbalance a sheaf of reports and tests. Jenny McCarthy has her own death clock, which tabulates all the cases of diseases, and deaths from same, that are easily avoided with vaccination that loving but misguided parents choose not to get for their children because a blonde woman with no training at all said on Ellen that they will give your kid autism.
If people don’t get immunized, we lose what’s called “Herd immunity” If enough people are vaccinated, the disease can’t get anywhere – one person might get it in a freak situation, but if they’re surrounded by people who can’t get it, it can’t vector anywhere, and it stops. And all these non-vaccinated kids are putting the rest at risk. It’s not just them catching disease X, it’s all the OTHERS they’ll expose to it.
Slightly more serious and fact-based than my usualy tirades, but it’s an issue that hits close to home.
Rene
September 20, 2011 - 8:00 pm
She is apparently taking a page from the Catholic Church, that still says condoms are the most dangerous, most unpredictable artifact ever created by man.
Sometimes Social Conservatives are really irresponsible (if not out-and-out evil) with the crap they spew.
They all want to make sex as scary as possible, but what is really scary is Michele Bachmann. I wonder if she is there as bad cop, just to make Perry and Palin and the others look better? It’s very scary when Rick Perry is the moderate.
Bill Mulligan
September 20, 2011 - 8:13 pm
If just about every demographics group surveyed only gives the vaccine 20% support it sure is a leap to assume that social conservatives are opposing it solely out of an anti-woman bias, as comforting as that conjecture may be.
Since Bachman’s statement has brought condemnation from a wide array of conservative websites (I’ll provide examples if you doubt this)I think you are barking up the wrong tree. Has there been an equal condemnation of Robert Kennedy from the left for his reckless anti-vaccine activities? I hope so.
Disregarding petty partisan politics, here’s an issue that should unite people across the spectrum. I have sympathy for those parents who are looking for a reason for their child’s illness other than the cruel randomness of fate but that’s no reason to condemn other kids to potential harm.
MOTU
September 20, 2011 - 9:18 pm
For some in the GOP this issue is about fucking.
Period.
If there was a vaccine that could DEATH but it also produced erections some on the Right would let their kids die.
Extreme? Nope-I just made that up.
Those risking cancer for their kids because of moral stance is real. That’s not just extreme that’s a parent who should have use the birth control they want to deny their kids.
MOTU
September 20, 2011 - 9:20 pm
Sorry-I meant to write:
If there was a vaccine that could CURE DEATH but it also produced erections some on the Right would let their kids die.
I didn’t because I was busy with my vaccine induced erection.
John Tebbel
September 21, 2011 - 1:11 pm
All parents who can do the math will always support vaccines.
MOTU
September 21, 2011 - 11:28 pm
John,
No one told the GOP there would be math that does not include money in life.
mike weber
September 22, 2011 - 1:04 am
One problem is that the anti-vaccine types (the sane and/or honest ones, anyway) sincerely believe that they have evidence and its’ just being suppressed by Big Pharma.
Unfortunately for them, they haven’t encountered the evidence that the “study” their beliefs are based on was a complete fraud from beginning to end.
Bill Mulligan
September 22, 2011 - 3:55 am
You can never win with these folks. I have otherwise sane acquaintances who are 100% convinced that cancer has been cured but doctors and “Big Pharmacy” make too much money treating it to ever release said cure…because, really, how much money would there be in curing cancer? I don’t know, but my back of the envelope calculations come up with A BIG FUCKING LOT.
It’s not just dumb paranoia but dumb paranoia that doesn’t even follow its own logic.
(PS: they are all Democrats. Each and every one of them. Except for the ones who think the Democrats are too far to the right. 🙂 )
John Tebbel
September 22, 2011 - 5:33 am
There are people who don’t see the big picture stuff like some people can’t throw a baseball. I think in the old herd we were blessed to have all sorts of intelligence when we decided whether or not to go across some river, people who remembered the bear on the other side of the last river and people who remember that, in the main, crossing the river meant more food.
Rick Oliver
September 22, 2011 - 8:35 am
Vinnie: AFAIK, vaccines don’t impart “herd immunity”. Exposure to actual diseases imparts herd immunity, partly through killing off those who aren’t naturally resistant, thereby leaving a population that passes on its natural resistance.
The mechanism by which vaccines work is still somewhat poorly understood. Exposure to actual diseases typically imparts lifetime immunity. Most vaccines, much to the surprise of those who created them, requires periodic boosters. The current Pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine becomes ineffective after three years. (The old Pertussis vaccine was very controversial and had potential side effects much more devastating than the disease itself.)
The Sabin attenuated virus polio vaccine had one distinct advantage over the Salk killed virus vaccine: Unvaccinated people exposed to vaccinated people during the incubation period could also develop an immunity as a result of exposure. It also had one drawback: unvaccinated people could get polio when exposed to those who had received the vaccine.
Bill Mulligan
September 22, 2011 - 10:09 am
“I think in the old herd we were blessed to have all sorts of intelligence when we decided whether or not to go across some river, people who remembered the bear on the other side of the last river and people who remember that, in the main, crossing the river meant more food.”
That is an extremely wise and perceptive observation.
Rene
September 22, 2011 - 5:24 pm
The conspiracy theory that annoys me most is the one that says the US government faked the moon landing, that is particularly popular with known-it-all old hippies, Marxists, and luddites. This one just won’t go away and is surprisingly widespread outside the US.
Perhaps I hate it so much because the other popular conspiracy theories are at least entertaining, if nothing else. This one would turn one of mankind’s shining moments into an anti-climax.
I keep wondering why is it that the Soviet Union lost the Cold War if they were clearly the Superpower with superior technology, since no one says the Soviets faked any of their space race feats.
John Tebbel
September 27, 2011 - 2:46 pm
The soviets faked the end of the Yuri Gagarin flight. According to the official rules the flyer has to land with the ship. Gagarin was ejected from the craft and landed by parachute. They didn’t have a way to slow the capsule before it hit the ground. Neither did we, but we had a Navy that could recover the craft at sea. This was a secret for years.