A couple friends of mine are currently at the Victoria ComicCon. There is an artist there by the name of Tyler Nicol who will turn anything horrible and make it adorable for $5. My friends, knowing how much I wanted to be at the VCC this weekend but couldn’t because of previous commitments and how much I loathe Jenny McCarthy and the antivaxx movement, had this beautiful thing made for me. Sorry for the poor quality but all I have at the moment is a camera phone picture of this awesome.

Drawing by Tyler Nicol

Do you get what it is? It is the newest myth surrounding what will happen if you get vaccinated. Unicorns will impale you. What causes me to love this even more is the likelihood of getting the various things McCarthy et al say will happen if you vaccinate is about as likely as being impaled by a unicorn. The female in this drawing is none other than Jenny McCarthy. Bloody Brilliant!

Thank you @Chibi_Tzar for this!

Normally I am very happy to agree to disagree on many subjects, even subjects normally very emotionally charged such as theism vs atheism. I like a good debate and exchange of ideas. This is how we learn. I am not an atheist myself. I have many friend who are atheist. I do find fundamentalism on both ends to be equally dangerous HOWEVER I will not stop being a friend with someone for being an atheist, unless I feel they are fundamentally doing harm. Just as I would stop being friends with anyone who believes in some form of Divine entity if I thought what they were saying was dangerous, things that cause parents to set their children on fire or mass suicides or not seeking proper medical care for their children or not teaching evolution as examples.

Antivaxx even in the smallest dose is fundamentally dangerous. I have been removing people from my Facebook who are antivaxx and spread dangerous antivaxx misinformation. If you choose to put yourself at risk by not vaccinating that could be one thing. But by spreading lies and misinformation despite the fact science (let us ignore BigPharma here, I am talking about outside independent studies) has repeatedly shown the antivaxx movement is nothing but a bunch of quacks and as a result putting even more people in danger, to me that is unacceptable. To me, it is the same as preaching fundamental religious beliefs that lead to things such as burning your child alive because you feel they are possessed. I even get really upset when people choose not to vaccinate them self because it puts others in harms way but normally that is not enough for me to stop associating with someone. That falls into a personal freedom over body and thoughts slightly outweighs keeping society safe as a whole thing. Am I making any sense? I do not know if I can make sense right now due to my current state of mind and the conflict I am currently experiencing.

Today I found out someone that I highly respect who also just happens to be influential is a bid of an antivaxxer. I am not going to say who because like I said, I respect this person as a person and not because of their job. I don’t want more people to give them flack or praise for their POV. And some of the things they said is valid, such as investigating. Unfortunately people have done their “investigations” and have fallen victim to the likes of McCarthy et al instead of science which, if done correctly, is free from personal bias. I am conflicted. If it were most other people who came out with something antivaxx, I would stop paying attention to them. In this case, I do not know what to do because they did state they are not giving advice whether to vaccinate or not and told people to do their own investigation. Unfortunately, that is along the same lines as the new anthem sung by McCarthy et al.

I feel as if I were 5 again and just found my parents putting the presents under the Christmas tree with all the tags from Santa or someone just burst one of my favourite balloons.

I feel sorry for my followers on Twitter at times because I am not sure if they are aware of why I rant so loudly against certain thing, the Antivax movement being one of my loudest rants. Here is an example of my latest rant:

Everytime something like this happens, I am filled with such rage! A DC laywers (Jim Turner) is suing the FDA to prevent approval of the H1N1 vaccines based on falsified information. FFS! When is the insanity going to end?!? Info via @achura RAGE! JULES SMASH!

Maybe I should write a second book entitled “The Stupidity of Humanity” which would be a complete rant against idiots.

JULES SMASH! “He’s suing 2 stop Swine Flu vaccine on behalf of a client who sells snake oil fake medicine http://j.mp/1m7F35 (via @achura )

Just because you don’t get sick, doesn’t mean you do not carry disease that can kill babies, elderly, the immuno-compromised, transplant patients, cancer patients, those who on the outside look healthy but are not. Just get jabbed already.

And if you think the side effects of the shot are bad imagine how sick you would be if you actually got the disease you are being protected from

Look into the eyes of a child who’s parent you helped kill or the eyes of a dying child or elderly person & explain to them your choice.

I am one of those parents that you will get to explain to my children why something as the “simple flu” took away their mother. Hell even if you are a normally healthy person, these diseases that vaccines help prevent can make you seriously ill. I am so tired of the look I get from my children when I am sick. The look of fear and panic that this illness is the one that is going to take away their mom. They have spent their lives with a mom who has been in and out of hospital more times that one can count. I am a single mother who relies on public transportation to feed her children. I do not have physical support. So of course I get really angry and upset when people just don’t care to understand. I get really angry when the normally sane Canadian health authorities stop the normal fall flu schedule. I break down in tears when my child comes to me and says, “um will you live… and don’t lie to me.” Right now the elephant in the room is HUGE and I cannot ignore it. If I ignore the fact I have Lupus at this moment, it could mean my death.

And it is not only just because of my situation why I rant the way I do against this idiocy, but there are millions of families just like mine. Babies are already dying in countries such as Australia because of all of this nonsense. Australia is not some third world country that does not have the resources to protect the population and babies are dying. Look in the face of of Dana McCaffery’s parents and explain to them why their baby had to die. Explain to them that it is a necessary casualty of war against the BigPharma. Explain to them and the other parents who’s children have died of pertussis because they were too young to be vaccinated and there is no herd immunity.

Explain to the family members of transplant patience, cancer patients, the elderly why their family members are dead because you were either too lazy to get jabbed or you gave into the fear mongering or you used the excuse “I never get sick.” Explain it those who cannot be vaccinated to do allergies why they are sick. Explain it!

Just because you never get sick, does not mean you cannot get others sick. Call it my crazy socialists ways, but it our jobs to protect everyone from these things. What good are we if we are sick, infirmed or dead.

As I said on Phil Plait’s blog last night, we have become lazy and complacent in our instant gratification society. People expect perfect knowledge and heaven forbid there are mistakes made along the way. That is how we learn. That is how we grow. That is how we make advancements and better products. Yes there have been some mistakes made in science and medicine along the way, but we deal with them and move on. Nobody has ever denied that, except for the denialists. As someone pointed out in the comment section, our parents never thought twice about jabbing us. My response to this was perhaps it is because they grew up in a time where they saw first hand the devastating effects of mumps, measles, polio, whooping cough etc. We are lucky enough to be in a part of the world were up until recently, those diseases were under control.

Are you going to have to see a resurgence in these diseases to kick your lazy asses into motion and get a simple needle? I really hope not.

What this report is claiming is that getting the normal flu vaccine is dangerous and it increases your risks of getting the H1N1 virus. Now other countries have done the same studies and their published findings say that there is no increased risk. But what does our government do? It decided to hold off on the flu vaccine despite the fact THEY HAVE SEEN NO PROOF that the flu vaccine increased the risk of getting H1N1. 5 different provinces have now changed their normal fall flu vaccine campaign based on alleged findings. Does this seem logical to you? No it is not! What this will do is make those who are antivax scream louder and say “HA we told you so! Vaccines are dangerous, m’kay?”

Now why does this have me so upset that I cannot stop crying? Because unlike you normal healthy people, this can kill me. This fear and ignorance is a threat to my life. I rely on others to be vaccinated from things as simple as “just the flu” to keep me alive. This means that this Winter I will probably get to enjoy at least 2 months in reverse quarantine because something as simple as the flu can kill me. I have Lupus and there is no such thing as a simple virus to me.

And people wonder why I get so upset when people are so ignorant when it comes to doing their part to keep everyone safe and healthy. I do not want to ever have to hear Kid1 ask me “mom are you going to die… and don’t lie” again. Now if the flu or cold can kill me, what do you think the other things that vaccinations help prevent will do to me?

I am not the only one who has to worry about things as simple as the flu either. There are millions more like me. And a lot of us cannot be vaccinated because it is contraindicated for health reasons. Another example of why this has me in tears at the moment is this. There is a little boy at Kid2′s school that had to have a heart transplant when he was a baby. He is on immuno-suppressants for the rest of his life, like me, so that his heart does not get rejected. He also relies on other people to be responsible when it comes to health.

When I had H1N1, even so Kid2 was fine, the health authority had to go into their school and remove every piece of furniture from Kid2′s room and the other boy’s room and completely disinfect everything. A notice has gone home to all the parents stating that there are two families with chronic health problems where something as simple as the cold poses a serious health risk. If your child is showing any symptoms of illness, please keep them home until they are symptom free for 24 hours. Kid2 had a cold and I of course kept him home as I understand the seriousness of this situation better than anyone else. But do you think other parents are going to do the same? Somehow I doubt it.

I am so angry and upset right now. I cannot believe those who are in charge of keeping the general population healthy, of protecting babies and the elderly, of protecting those of us with compromised immune systems are doing this. Do they not understand how much fear and panic this has the potential to cause? Do they not understand how much louder people who say, “I never got the flu until I got my flu shot” are going to claim that flu shot is bad and people should have listened? Do they just don’t care?

Think before giving into fear. My life and millions of others literally depend on it.

julia sherred

“I was asked in a recent interview if I thought parents should be mandated by law to vaccinate their children.

I hesitated, knowing this was a thorny topic. I said I wasn’t sure, which was true. But I may be leaning toward a more definite answer now: yes.“

He then goes on to explain why he is starting to lean that way.

Now my first instinct is to say yes as well. However, I also see many issues with legislation that makes vaccination mandatory. As I have said in previous blogs, I am a full supporter of vaccines. I have not been able to be vaccinated due to allergies. My youngest has not been able to be fully vaccinated either due to adverse reactions to vaccines. Living with Lupus, this puts me and my family and the general community as a whole, in danger. Now in some places, it is mandatory that your child is vaccinated if they are to attend a public daycare or public school (unless there is a valid medical reason as to why the child is not vaccinated). I fully agree with this. I would even go on to say that it should be mandated on a country wide level. If you want your child to be exposed to other children, you should have to protect your child and other children against the spread of very deadly infection disease. If you do not care about the welfare of your child or that of the greater community, then home-school your child. Do not put my family or other families at jeopardy because of your ignorance on the subject of vaccines and risks involved. If you want to risk infecting yourself, as an adult you can give informed consent to that. However, as parents it is our jobs to protect not only our children, but children across the globe. A child does not have the ability to give informed consent and unfortunately some parents are not rational enough to give informed consent, so maybe it should be left to the state. There is already some legislation in place that would allow for this, such as when parents refuse medical treatment due to religious/philosophical beliefs and the state has to step in and impose treatment due to life-threatening medical issues. Ah but here is the catch, vaccines are preventative. Even so your are placing your child at risk for a life-threatening disease, your child is not at immediate risk according the current laws.

So again, that leads me back to a few issues I have with making it mandatory. Here are a few of my thoughts that I have already made in the comment section off Phil’s blog:

julia sherred