Following up on the post about the fraudulent study about how the MMR vaccine may cause autism, I came across this sad report of 70 children dying of measles in Zimbabwe. They were part of a religious community that shunned vaccines because “it contradicts their belief in supernatural powers.”
The story illustrates what a deadly threat measles is, and how its threat escalates rapidly as the proportion of unvaccinated people in a population increases.
Yet another tragedy in this tragic country. I am amazed that measles vacine -- or any vacine- was still available for the religious community to reject.
This is extremely tragic that people will shy away from science even at the expense of their own health so sad
In my belief system we believe that Magick is real and we have the power to heal. I am not aware of another person in my belief system (Wicca) who would tell anyone not to use modern medicine unless it was an end of life decision about a method of pain management and only then after they had a long discussion with their Doctor as well. Modern medicine is a great thing so I advocate using BOTH. Like I said in another post. My son gets all his shots on time. But as for those who want to do the Jim Jones blind faith; Darwin Awards will follow.
HP.Bryce,
Pointing out that your belief system is not absurd and/or dangerous in the same particular way that another belief system is does not make your belief system less ridiculous.
Having ANY “belief system” that does not consist simply in “I believe PROVISIONALLY in things, and only in things, for which there currently is reasonably good evidence” is ridiculous.
When my children were growing up , I would cringe sometimes at the volume of vaccinations that were required for them to attend public school… But my desire for my kids health and safety always outweighed my uncertainty of the shots safety. Parents today have the choice to vaccinate or not, can you imagine the horror you would feel by choosing not to and then losing your child because of that? That makes me cringe.
Independent of the safety of vaccines, I think the real story here is the trustworthiness, or lack thereof, of medical research. We should never forget that the information is being designed and collected by ordinary fallible people. These people may have agendas and/or financial conflicts of interest.
Unfortunately, this happens on other countries other than Zimbabwe and not just about vaccinations but generally toward modern medicine. There are a lot of people who would prefer visiting a quack doctor first until it’s too late.