we need to stick together

The intense vitriol around the vaccine debate is debilitating. It undermines honest, productive, compassionate conversation. Debate has become divisive. Name calling is the norm. It is truly embarrassing.

Can we take a moment? Please? A temporary ceasefire is desperately needed to remember why we all care so adamantly about this subject in the first place. We are talking about our KIDS- their safety, health and future. We all want the best for our kids. 

Those who vaccinate want the best for their kids.

Those who do not vaccinate want the best for their kids.

I refuse to vilify. I do not believe in "bad guys." I believe in people- all of us capable of good and bad. Selfish and harmful choices are made every day, by each one of us. The redemption of this reality is that though selfish, we are also capable of great good. I believe that the majority of us are doing the best we can with the information we have. 

All that said, as the debate has gotten more absurd, a certain unmistakably untruthful argument has been trumpeted and it needs to be taken off the table as unproductive: "vaccines are completely safe!"

Have you ever heard of a drug with no side effects? Time and again I have watched drug commercials for medications that seem relatively optional- quality of life related, not life or death deciding- and then listened to the quiet list of side effects whispered as the commercial closes. These often include things like "heart attack," "suicidal thoughts," or "death." This is not because a large number of men taking Viagra are going to DIE. Rather, it is because the pharmaceutical company producing and selling these drugs are liable. They are required to tell us the potential side effects- all of them- so they won't be sued should they occur. 

We all know there are side effects of taking medication. Tylenol has side effects ("severe liver damage"). Benadryl has side effects (anything from "nausea" to "trouble breathing"). Taking medication is always a cost-risk analysis.

We need to acknowledge as untrue the assertion that vaccines are, without fail, safe. Like water! With no side effects! If this were true the pharmaceutical industry would not have threatened to pull out of making vaccines in the 1980s due to the increase in vaccine injury lawsuits. If vaccines could cause no possible harm, there would be no reason for the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (created by the US government in 1988). Since its institution our government has paid out $2.8 billion in vaccine injury compensation. 

We need to acknowledge that this is not a clean issue and that the yelling is not productive. The shameless malice and rancor taking over this conversation is not getting us anywhere. As voices get louder and faces flush deeper shades of red, the pharmaceutical industry continues to make an obscene amount of money off of something for which they can not be held accountable. In 2009, the Wall Street Journal published a brief piece saying that "the lack of liability for the pharmaceutical industry compromises safety." You don't have to dig very deep to find the real issue here- follow the money. 

According to the World Health Organization there is "an inherent conflict of interest between the legitimate business goals of manufacturers and the social, medical and economic needs of providers and the public to select and use drugs in the most rational way. This is particularly true where drugs companies are the main source of information as to which products are most effective." Accountability is desperately needed. We are talking about a $300 billion market. On top of this, $267,076,420 has been spent on pharmaceutical lobbying from 1998-2014- $16,610,000 in 2014 alone. 

Why is an industry immune from liability spending more on lobbying than oil companies?

THESE are the real issues that ought to make us angry. Parents should not be pitted against parents, calling others idiotic or foolish for taking a stand on either side. 

We have made choices for our daughter based on family medical history and personal convictions, weighing the risks on both sides and acknowledging that there are risks to vaccinating and risks to not vaccinating. I pray that every parent retains this right and finds a safe community in which to make these decisions.