Millenials and Vaccines

Professor J,

Given the winter that we've been having I think we might find a few more citizens willing to do anything referred to as UN-polarize. ;)

I found the article you linked to interesting. I've wondered before about how a generation that questions everything and and has deep problems with the status quo would react to military service in the future. I was thinking in terms of a draft or mandatory service. Seems like everyone is way ahead of me.

The vaccination controversy that has arisen has caused a number of interesting discussion among friends and family. You've done a good job outlining the arguments so I won't go over them. I will point out that the weight that many people give to the ideas and opinions of celebrities over the medical community is troubling.

As Melynda Gates pointed out when asked about it, American mothers have never seen these diseases. Women in Africa, who have, walk miles to get their children vaccinated.

You are correct that vaccines are not perfectly safe. Any parent who has sat in the doctor's office with a crying baby and had to read and initial all the potential risks understands that. In our case the vaccines in the first couple of years were done fairly close to the scheduled recommendations. The round of kindergarten shots I put off because I didn't have a child who would be routinely in a large community of other children. My daughter got those immunizations when she was 14. Yes, I got dirty looks from the shot nurse. But since school was taking place at home I put off the series feeling them much less necessary. I think at the time I wanted everything that was truly needed and nothing extra.

In between the time my kids got immunized the chicken pox vaccine was introduced. My daughter had to suffer through that childhood disease but her brother was immunized and didn't. This now means that she is in danger of suffering from shingles at some point in her life and he is not.

Part of the problem is that we are becoming a culture of parents who want ZERO risk for our children. Every parent secretly wishes for this but realistic ones understand that it's impossible. There are going to be lots of risks, but many of them are calculated.

The anti-vaccine movement relates back to our repeating topic of American individualism and the need for community and good citizenship. Am I willing to get my child vaccinated in order to keep your child safe? How can I make a decision I feel comfortable with as a parent after I have researched the potential risks? How do I balance my civic responsibility, the health of my child, and legitimate fears?

As you've pointed out the answers to those questions are lying somewhere in the middle.