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'The Greater Good' - a documentary on vaccines

16 replies

rumple · 30/10/2011 21:34

This is a link to the documentary called 'The Greater Good' about the vaccine debate.
vimeo.com/31036452

It's only free to watch this week because it's Mercola.com?s Vaccine Awareness Week from October 30th through November 5th

The Greater Good looks behind the fear, hype and politics that polarize people into emotionally charged pro-vaccine or anti-vaccine camps with no room for middle ground. Exploring the cultural intersection where parenting meets modern medicine and individual rights collide with politics, this character driven documentary weaves together the stories of three families whose lives have been forever changed by vaccination. By reframing the vaccine debate and offering, for the first time, the opportunity to have a rational and scientific discussion on how to create a safer and more effective vaccine program in America today, The Greater Good challenges viewers to think again.

OP posts:
seaside72 · 02/11/2011 21:05

I just watched this film today online - it is excellent, I would highly recommend it.

CatherinaJTV · 02/11/2011 21:23

it is totally biased and anti-vaccine... Mercola is a quack sales site - the best frame for "The greater good"

rumple · 03/11/2011 15:34

Have you actually watch it? I thought the main theme of the film is people are being pitched as either pro or against vaccinations with no grey areas allowed. Where the majority just want safe well tested vaccines. If you are critical about any part of the vaccination process you are labelled anti vaccinations. The fact that in the US the people making the decisions about which vaccines are safe are linked with the pharmaceutical companies making money selling them is worrying. I am not anti vaccination I am anti corruption....follow the money.

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Tricey · 07/11/2011 18:54

We've watched it and it is very good. It's balanced; it's getting the message across to be wise and be careful - to open your eyes and see how very much control greed (and probably corruption - though they don't come out and say that) has in developing the vaccines and their schedules. It also talks about the fact that it's not only about mercury or autism in particular, it's about ALL kinds of ailments (asthma, allergies, neurological effects, etc.) and a bunch of ingredients including mercury - in the vaccines. It's good. It's not going to the extreme, partly I think so not to alienate people on the fence; instead it provides facts and sheds light on approval processes that need to be changed.

It's free online again for several days -- the extended it to positive demand. It is very much a good documentary for people to watch, especial those on the fence or completely for vaccines.

Tricey · 07/11/2011 18:57

BTW, we went to the screening and met the producers and some of the doctors in the film and had a Q&A session with them. All individuals, no corporations talking, just non-convoluted answers to the audience's questions.

CatherinaJTV · 07/11/2011 20:09

pure unadulterated anti-vaccine propaganda claim some

www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/the-greater-good-pure-unadulterated-anti-vaccine-propagand/

Solo · 07/11/2011 22:47

Wow! just watched that vimeo.com and it just enforces what I already thought/believed about vaccines.

CatherinaJTV · 08/11/2011 14:47

that was the intention, Solo, the movie was never meant to inform, just to polarize...

Tabitha8 · 08/11/2011 14:56

But all I ever get from the medical profession is pro-vaccine propaganda. Is that acceptable?

Solo · 08/11/2011 16:20

I don't think it's acceptable, but I suppose they're being pushed to promote/enforce it. I have vaccine damaged children in my family. One from the MMR and one from the flu jab. Both children were normally developed children until then. My own Ds has several ASD markers which my Db picked up on because he'd watched his own Ds become severely affected. My Db would've been dx'd with Asperger's had it been recognised 40+ years ago, but he was just labelled a 'naughty boy'. My Dad had traits as does his brother and his brother's son.

If I hadn't felt so pressured into giving my Ds the MMR, I certainly would not have done so at 18 months...my Dd only had it at just before 4 years old and I'd been made to feel guilty about not letting her have it as a baby.
I really think that Wakefield was right. MY opinion.

sarahgee · 08/11/2011 16:41

Mercola's research is often based on epidemiological studies. Here's why (and it's not because Mercola's a quack)!
The gold standard of medical research is a placebo controlled double blind cross over trial. This is not possible to effect when studying factors such as nutrition, because people have to eat and it would be unethical to have people eat in such a way that to prove a hypothesis, which has a basis for benefit or detriment, could cause harm. Evidence is largely drawn from observational, epidemiological studies. As a qualitative approach to observation of influences in a real environment, these do not provide a rigourous measure of a single variable?s cause and effect. A parachute has never had a double blind cross over trial (it would be unethical to do one), but most people would recognise a trend in deciding whether to use one.

The same principles can be applied to proving a vaccine response, you cannot isolate all the factors which could cause an underlying disorder, you can only look at trends and take a pragmatic approach. As the video says "There is no placebo controlled trial of the health outcomes of vaccinated children versus the health outcomes of unvaccinated children". Why not? Science is continually evolving, so why do so many scientific principles become set in stone? Nothing is ever proven beyond ALL doubt, only reasonable doubt. We can only draw conclusions from data, not facts. For many people (myself included 10 years ago) I felt the medical profession were more able to draw those conclusions). Now I know, that while they may be more qualified to do so, their agenda is entirely different to mine (theirs is population based, mine is individual) and none of them are accountable to me in years to come if a link between vaccines long term consequences is made apparent. Have they read the data and the research? Most are just toeing the party line. So I do my own research and make my own mind up.

This video is about choices. It is not anti-vaccine. Medicine's primary premises are "do no harm" and "informed consent". I have given my children plenty of vaccines, but I have never given "INFORMED consent". I have no idea if we are causing harm on an individual level (acute or chronic - to appear later in life). As long as we are informed we can decide whichever way we want to, but the problem is we're not informed, we're given the party line. The mainstream propeganda?

If we follow America (as we do in alot of things) we will not be allowed to decide and frankly, how many of us are truly choosing, without duress from doctors, practice nurses, from society and the views of people who are minds are closed to assimilating all the information available.

Tabitha8 · 08/11/2011 19:47

Catherine What makes you describe the video as totally biased and anti-vaccine?

CatherinaJTV · 08/11/2011 21:39

the (lack of) balance between anti-vaccine sources and evidence based doctors. The kind of sources they recommend. The post hoc ergo propter hoc (after the fact, therefore because of the fact) presentation of the "adverse events"...

Tabitha8 · 09/11/2011 17:21

Catherina The point is that these people (myself included) are NOT anti-vaccine.
Where is the evidence that vaccines are safe? Please do not quote epidemiological studies. Or, is that all that is available from the "evidence based doctors"?
If I took my child along to a doc's tomorrow for a jab, what tests would they do on him to make sure he wouldn't suffer any permanent harm? Answer: None. Not one test.

CatherinaJTV · 09/11/2011 19:26

What tests would you do to know that your child is not going to be the one with measles encephalitis, chicken pox stroke or the like? There are none, but the risk with vaccination is 1000x lower than with the wild disease.

Tabitha8 · 10/11/2011 18:00

Catherina Why do we not test to find out which children may suffer as a result of vaccination?
To my knowledge, a stroke after a bout of chicken pox is an extremely rare occurrence. In any event, we do not vaccinate for it here.

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