The Vaccine War- Are You Blaming The Right People?

Okay, I know what you’re thinking.  

Another vaccine related “mom-blog” rant, but you’re wrong. 

Okay, you’re sort of wrong. 

I hope you know me well enough by now to know I’m not going to just restate the same thing that’s been said over and over and rant for no good reason other than to hear myself talk.  My hope is only that you read this, keep an open mind and consider what I have to say because for all the thousands of angry moms on the Internet ranting about this, none so far have even touched on this issue.

 So, I’ve been thinking a great deal about this vaccination situation. The witch hunt mentality brewing out there is absolutely appalling.  It hurts my heart to see it- the disgusting, ugliness of blame and so much violence and hate being thrown around, both in real life, as well as on the internet.  I admit, I’ve been a little silent on this topic and I have many reasons for that, but I’m breaking my silence to some extent now because I think every single person out there who has shared their opinion, written articles or blogged about it so far is completely missing the point.

If you listen to the news for any length of time, I mean, really listen.. listen like a historian and not like a random citizen turning on background noise while you make dinner… it’s all pretty frightening because this sort of thing has happened before.

On the topic of vaccines, there is talk of “mandated vaccines” for all Americans.  Violation of religious freedoms, violation of our medical right to say no in order to prevent complication of reaction.  There is talk of throwing parents in jail if they refuse vaccination due to a child’s health situation or reaction history.  There is a “call to action” to deny access to public education to any child who has not been fully vaccinated.  There is a push to call out and publicly document who the unvaccinated families are in your town so they can be singled out to make everyone else aware.

Clearly no one remembers their history well enough to know when we divide and/or single out a group of people we don’t like or think of as “dangerous”, hmm?

See, it never works out well and it doesn’t take a history major to understand how very un-American it is, and maybe that’s the point.  Americans don’t want to be American anymore.  Well, they do… but only if the rights THEY PERSONALLY hold dear are upheld.  Many Americans use the concept of “freedom” to manipulate the masses.  I believe this is one of those situations, along with many others.

I know plenty of gun-toting, red-blooded Americans who will “die to save our freedoms” in this country who are screaming from the rooftops to force people to get vaccinated.  I also know several nature-loving “granola” folks, those who claim to love and respect all life because they are so connected to the Divine, the Earth and their spirit, who are begging people to support a parent’s right to opt out of the vaccine schedule but also completely support a woman’s right to abort a baby or get angry when they are banished to some dark corner or back alley to smoke a cigarette because it’s unfair that they should not be allowed to smoke wherever they want to. 

 In the world of double standards, vaccines are simply one more coin to throw into the well of confusion. Just one more topic that no one can agree on and all part of a much larger issue of freedom and personal rights.  The issue is not “I should be allowed to opt out for the protection of my child ” vs. “I should be able to demand a vaccinated community for the greater good”.  

The issue is- while we are all raving mad about whether or not it’s not our right to demand someone put something in their bodies that might cause them harm, the companies who make these questionable cocktails are blameless, untouchable and protected in every possible way. 

 To bring it back to the topic’s heart, I wanted to remind people what is really going on.

“Anti-vax” parents want their children to be safe and protected.  “Pro-vax” parents want their children to be safe and protected.  

Both sides want the same thing.  We keep forgetting that, as we all get so heated and angry at the mud-slinging being thrown on both sides but really, we’re all just parents who love our children and want the best for them. We are all scraping in the dark, searching for the right answers, digging in the sea of mud that is the Internet with all its vast amounts of knowledge mixed in with total bullshit.  We are all trying to find the answers.  We all just want our kids to be okay.

No one knows who to trust or what to do.  Many pro-vax people simply want to trust their doctors unequivocally.  Many of them, some I’ve spoken to personally, say they don’t want to know what’s in the vaccines because it’s too scary to think about.  They know their doctors get paid by pharmaceutical companies.  They “hope for the best” and pray that their doctor is not one of the many out there who can be bought.  They just want to be ignorant and trust their doctor and let that be the end of it.  And since that’s what the majority of doctors seem to love best, (a patient who does not challenge everything they say) it all works out for everyone.  

Until it doesn’t. 

 Many anti-vax people started out that way until their child suffered a reaction from a vaccine.  The typical order of events is; vaccines are fine, get them.  Child has an injury, doctor denies it.  Parent begins to research.  They find other parents who have had the same experiences.  Authorities claim no correlation.  Doctor recommends more vaccinations, parents reluctantly agree because there is no proof that they are right.  Another reaction happens.  “Just coincidence” they are told, again.  Parents begin to question.  They dig deeper.  They discover Doctor Sears.  They find the VAERS site and discover just how much was not being said, how much they were not told or explained prior to being told they were necessary or, “standard procedure” by their child’s doctor. They discover that what IS being said to support vaccines and explain away every reaction.  They begin to see a clear paper trail behind it, right back to every source telling them they shouldn’t worry.  They learn that it all leads back to the companies who create them, the doctors who profit from them and the lawmakers who benefit from them, so it makes it especially difficult to know the truth.  Eventually it becomes an “us vs. them” situation where a parent has a child who cannot tolerate a vaccine, but no one believes them.

They are considered irresponsible and negligent, paranoid and foolish.  They are cast out and ignored.  The doctor moves on, no research is done, everyone goes back to normal and everyone forgets.  No documentation is done, no injuries recorded.  Just a parent feeling like the medical community let them down and nowhere to go but home, never to vaccinate their children again, left with a child with a lasting injury that will be with them forever.

If a parent is lucky enough to get a doctor who can verify the injury, it goes on medical record that a child is not able to receive vaccinations but this is only done if the injury is so great that there is absolutely no question, no possibility that it could have been caused by anything else. 

It’s a fact that most injuries go ignored or explained away as pure coincidence.  Even grave injuries and reactions can sometimes be dismissed as completely coincidental, like SIDS, even though it is listed as a possible complication on the vaccine insert, simply because it happens to children who have not been vaccine injured, too.  Therefore, it must never be the fault of vaccines and it’s very unfortunate, but that doesn’t mean it’s the vaccine’s fault.

The negligence of a system designed to protect itself makes parents angry.  It divides us.  It causes us to question everything we thought we knew about who to trust and where to go for help.

In the end, we are, no matter where we stand, all faced with the same reality that we don’t really know what the right answer is, we only HOPE we do and we each simply do our best with what we have available.  We make the decision that helps us sleep best at night.

We are all adrift in the sea of confusion on this and many other parenting topics and we all hope we find land of some sort and that our children all make it, happy and healthy, to adulthood. 

 So, what if we all washed up on the same shore after being tossed in this sea of uncertainty and were able to have a rational conversation about this?  

What if we could, for just a moment, forget that our children’s lives are at stake here, take the personal attacks away, take the hateful, condescending comments and throw them away and just be a collection of people who all want the same thing?

Couldn’t we reach some sort of agreement?  

Couldn’t we have an open discussion? 

I still believe, at the heart of this, that we are all TRULY fighting together on the same side- we just don’t know it.  We can’t see it because we are so close to the front lines, so deeply entrenched in the smoke of war that we can’t see who we are really fighting and I hate to sound like I’m beating a dead horse here, but we really need to stop, step back and look at the big picture.  We are fighting for the same cause.  

We want transparency.  We want safety for our families.  We want our children to grow up healthy.

So, who we are fighting, truly, are the companies who manufacture these vaccines.  

When I say that, people tend to roll their eyes and do the whole, “oh lord another conspiracy crazy person, bla bla bla…” under their breath, but it seems a simple truth that if they could just manufacture something that could inoculate our children without also putting them at risk, I don’t know a single person who wouldn’t get them. 

 Do you hear me?  

Are you really listening? 

Let me say that again- EVERY CHILD WOULD BE VACCINATED if they could make them safer and not pull this “well, only x% of children suffer reaction so it’s okay”… with us all just praying that our children are not part of that x%, being told it’s perfectly safe to play roulette with our children’s health and even if they do suffer a reaction, it’s for the greater good, so we should still feel good about it, even if it completely violates our religion.

I don’t know a single parent of a child who suffered a vaccine injury who feels good about protecting the greater good when they see their child suffer every day with a lasting injury that will effect their ability to live independent, full lives.  I believe to ignore their pain, their trials and the lives they must live as a result of vaccine injury is not only cruel, but inhumain.  It shows the darkest part of human nature- the “every man for himself” mentality masked in a cloak of “compassion” for all people. We’ve heard this before too, you realize… “we are protecting you, because without us, you would be lost- just do what we tell you because we know better.”  The Cherokee Nation was told such lies… so were the Hebrews of Egypt and the Celts of Ireland before they were mass-murdered and their culture destroyed.  This has even happened with vaccines in the past, too- research for yourself; look up: Queen Victoria, Small Pox, Vaccine Mandate of 1853.  You will see for yourself what happens when restrictions of this nature are placed upon a people.  

So while we bicker back and forth about who is the terrible parent and who loves their kids more, these companies are still raking in the dough one shot at a time and don’t have to change their processes for anyone because NO one is making them change.

As long as the focus of disease prevention rests on parents who are supposedly “irresponsible” for not vaccinating, allowing their little disease factories to wander around the country contaminating people, the companies who manufacture those vaccines don’t have to take responsibility. 

 To me, this shows a clear scapegoat.  I mean, it seems SO OBVIOUS to me that I don’t understand why no one else sees it.

Here’s what I see;

I see the history books in 50-100 years.  I see them discussing the timeline of the decline of our social structure.  I see this issue, among many including gun control, racism and GMOs, being part of what is cited under “corporate manipulation of the free world” and part of what caused derision amongst American families and separated them on a deep level.

I see an increase in home school, as parents search for ways to continue to not vaccinate.  I see them moving into areas where they won’t be harassed, surrounded by like-minded individuals seeking a community they can feel safe in.  I see the misunderstanding and incorrectly placed anger growing as rights are removed, people get scared and begin to lash out in more ways than just violent and biting rants on social media.

All the while, the companies continue to make their product, exactly as they always have, because the focus is never where it belongs.

I think the more we opt for choosing a side and demanding compliance of one another instead of coming together and demanding a better product from manufactures, the divide will continue to widen.

It will push out and far beyond vaccines into areas like home birthing and birthing centers, midwifery, refusal of epidurals or the request for a VBAC.  I could see it blanketing things like breastfeeding in public because that might cause a stranger emotional trauma and confusion about sexuality and bodily function, so for the greater good, women must cover when nursing and are encouraged not to do it in public.

Sidenote; Do you know that many doctors refuse to perform VBACs for women because the risk percentage is too high? Do you know that a child’s risk percentage of a vaccine injury is EXACTLY THE SAME risk percentage of a VBAC, according to the CDC? (About 1 in 100)  Doesn’t that seem even a little bit strange to anyone?  I think it cannot go without mentioning that we at least consider the motivation behind these types of decisions.

I could see the divide pushing outward, shifting to include public and government mandated education regulations on private, charter and home schools because people cannot be allowed to attempt to educate without a government’s authority.  Because the greater good must be protected and the government cannot control what a mother teaches her children in the home.

I could see it branching out, this canyon of segregation… to alienate parents of special needs children, demanding they be placed on synthetic medications because oils, proper nutrition and social integration programs are all just “witch doctor” solutions with no scientific backing or history of verified success.

So, is this just crazy?

Is this all just the insanity of a paranoid mother?  Should I, as one reader suggested… just take some xanax and call it a day?

Perhaps I read too much Vonnegut and I took Huxley’s warning to heart as a kid.  Maybe it’s nothing.

Or could it be possible that we are being manipulated?  Being pitted against one another to turn the focus away from the real cause of all these issues?  Is it possible, that if we were able to just stop fighting for a moment to see the truth, we might find we have a common enemy pulling our strings, making it look like we are one another’s enemy and taking the focus off of themselves?  Is it even rational to consider there is a smoke screen of gentle lies covering us, leading us “in love” to make the decisions they want us to?

I believe it is not only possible, but is actually and absolutely happening.

So, when you enter this war with both fists and a handful of resources bared to prove your point and everyone else wrong, take a moment to stop and consider;

If these companies would make a safer product that did not violate our fundamental beliefs, put our children at risk or make us question the morality of our medical community, none of this would even be necessary.

I challenge all of you to bridge that gap and close the divide before it gets worse.  Put the blame where it belongs.  Not on parents trying to do their best for their children, making sound decisions after sifting through oceans of research.  Not on trusting mothers who want to believe in their medical system.

That blame belongs to Pfizer, Novartis, Merck, Sanofi, GlaxoSmithKline and countless others who will make BILLIONS of dollars on each of their products this year, just in the American market alone.  They are the ones pulling all our strings in this argument and they are where your anger should be focused.

I truly believe if we all just stopped fighting and started working together to fight the true cause instead of each other, there would BE NO VACCINE WARS, only a collection of loving parents, coming together to demand action and a better product from some of the richest, largest and most powerful corporations on the planet who are all fully capable of making that happen.

So, when you start to get your feathers ruffled and your feelings of violation begin to take over like a white-hot rage, focus that anger where it belongs.  Not on another parent. Please- I’m begging you- stop before you post your rage, perpetuating that divide.  Stop reposting those hateful statements, those memes that encourage rage.  Instead, be the voice of reason.  Encourage everyone, on either side, to start blaming the people who make these vaccines.

They are the real reason for this epidemic.  They are the real reason the divide exists in the first place.  Stop fighting.  Start cooperating.  Start working together to fix the problem, place blame where it belongs and protect our children.

Oh, and as a side note; I am a pro-vax mom.  If I lived in a world where my children could be given a little shot, a few moments of pain and a tiny fever in exchange for a lifetime of immunity with no side effects or worry of complication, injury or even death, I would do it, no question, hands down, this minute- I would take them today.  

I have never read a book by Jenny McCarthy.  I don’t believe vaccines “cause” autism because it truly is not as simple as that and I wholeheartedly agree- anyone who believes it is, is uninformed.  I don’t believe they are safe for everyone.  I don’t believe they will injure EVERY child. I do believe vaccines injure children every day and those injuries are largely ignored and parents are bullied or shamed into silence and second-guessing themselves.  I don’t read “hype” websites or anything that is run by a website with the word “TRUTH” in the URL. I don’t buy into mass-hysteria or take my advice from a website that also has a UFO cover-up section.  I read medical journals.  I talk to ER doctors.  I listen to nurses who left the field because they saw their doctors abusing the power, ignoring injuries and collecting their money. I also listen to the scientists who believe, wholeheartedly that vaccines are the right answer and I listen to the reasons why they believe the risk is worth it. I consider each angle, each statistic and I try my best to do the right thing for MY CHILDREN.  I listen to both sides and I believe there is truth in each camp.  I do not have all the answers and would never claim to, as some people do.

I will always hold the vaccine industry 100% responsible for every complication and every death or spread of disease they blame on the anti-vaccination “movement”.  Without their unwillingness to find better ways to protect people, their pointing the finger at loving parents instead of their own processes, none of this would be happening in the first place.  This is fact.  This is absolute truth, no matter which side of the divide you live on.  It cannot be ignored.  Please help the GREATER GOOD by choosing to no longer ignore this reality.  

Whether or not vaccines cause autism is far from the point and if you are a “pro-vax” supporter, you need to understand the bigger picture.  The point is, our rights as Americans are hanging in the balance because the blame is being placed on the wrong issue.  It’s not about autism.  It’s not about vaccine injury and it’s not about herd immunity or even the spread of unwanted, scary disease.

Stop blaming cautious parents and shine the light where it belongs.  We CAN find a better way, but we have to come together to do it.

It’s about an industry that refuses to change when it is within their power to do so and the manipulation of the people, through fear, to remove parental rights and place them in the hands of our government.  Children are getting sick.. Children are dying and at risk for terrible complications from both vaccines AND diseases and this industry continues to do NOTHING, while we sit here blaming one another instead of the ones who have the power to fix ALL OF IT if only they would take responsibility and try.

Some may be jumping at the bit to sign petitions in support of these government mandates, but I warn you, what happens when it’s something you believe in on the table?  The right to choose?  The right to smoke a pipe on your own property?  The right to bear arms?  The right to take yoga instead of steroids for joint pain?  The right to see a therapist and learn to meditate so you can refuse psychotropics?  Where will it end and what will happen, if we support this now, when it happens again?

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.