Anyone on here never been vaccinated?

[WildApples]

I'm interested to know if anyone on here has NEVER been vaccinated, I haven't, for anything , and consider myself to be one of the healthiest people I know. Yes, I did have the usual childhood measles, mumps, chickenpox etc, but I have quite a strong belief that having these has made my immune system far stronger.
My doctor commented on how little I have on my medical records, and barely any of it is virus/disease related, its all physical stuff like a waxy ear, constipation, and one time when my left boob went numb because I'd trapped a nerve.
Anyway, I'd just like to hear from people (fairly sure I will with such a controversial topic...) And please don't just say things like "get it done" without offering your own reasons why/why not, I'm not interested in just blithely agreeing with whatever the media/government/pharmaceuticals tell me. Though tempted as I was to go stock up on Tamiflu...
So, I'm off to work now, in advance appreciation of your responses....

Mexican Springtime

You "have read so much you would not know where to begin"

You "subscribe to the Arnica UK facebook page" and "through it [you] have been able to link to other documents"

Have you read and undertaken research to the equivalent of post doctoral level? Are you in any way medically qualified? I'm guessing no. Please do correct me if I'm wrong.

Arnica UK is a group devoted to "promoting natural immunity". Read away if you like, but don't offer it as as some sort of credible source for impartial research or evidence.

The "facts" you cite are not even correct. Thimerosal, the mercury containing compound present in some vaccines has not been resent in vaccines given to children under 6 since 2001. In any case, thimerosal is not the mercury compound that has ever been shown to cause damage to the nervous system - that's ethyl mercury. But with all your "research", you'd know the difference wouldn't you?

I am more than happy to accept that natural remedies have their place - my own sleeping issues were very much helped by a holistic doctor (properly medically trained with naturopathy qualifications) suggesting of a magnesium supplement. I would never accept (and no would said doctor have "prescribed") natural supplements as an alternative to vaccinations.

I wouldn't care if your choice not to vaccinate only affected you. Sure, it would be horrible for you to die an agonising and avoidable death from tetanus after cutting yourself, but that would be a risk you chose to take.

What really annoys me is people like you cling stubbornly to your ignorance and fairytales and put other vulnerable people at risk.

Gennz, so I assume you are post doctoral level or are medically qualified?

I actually spend my life translating scientific and medical documents and have become more and more distrustful of the pharmaceutical companies as a result.

I am also vaccinated as is my daughter and she is the one who will decide whether or not to vaccinate her child. You sneer because thiomersal is no longer used in the UK, We live in Mexico.

All vaccinated in our family. You were just very lucky OP because 1) others are vaccinated so you never caught stuff like diphtheria (yet) which I have seen unvaccinated people from abroad die of - painfully too. 2) You were also lucky that your measles, mumps and chickenpox illnesses were not serious - to this day those who are not vaccinated against them (for any reason) and contract them can get life-threatening brain inflammation or disabling lung damage - and mumps can make a man sterile. The most serious thing about not getting vaccinated of course is catching the disease and passing it to another person's newborn baby (who is too young to be vaccinated) or a pregnant woman. Eg rubella - which can lead to a baby being born deaf and blind as well as brain damaged. (For a real life example just look up actress Gene Tierney's entry on wikipedia to see what disastrous consequences it can lead to). You are the most contagious just before you start to show symptoms like spots or a fever. Don't be THAT person who harms someone else irrevocably for the sake of an opinion.

By the way- you can still catch polio as an adult. It's horrible. Not fun being paralysed or not being able to walk straight or quickly when you used to have the luxury of being able to sprint for a bus. And all for the sake of an opinion.

No I'm not post doctorally qualified. My point is that I'd expect anyone who wants to discredit a medical programme which has saved thousands - possibly millions - of lives worldwide to have at least the same level of expertise and education as the people who support the science behind the programme. Not just have read some naturopathy articles on a Facebook group. Translating medical literature does not make you an immunisation expert.

Often in this kind of argument you end up with one side holding out their scientific evidence and one side holding out their feelings, anecdotes and not very scientific evidence. To one party the factual science is vital, while the other party have a great mistrust of science so the arguments are pointless because neither side can see things from the standpoint of the other because it is so far removed from them.

Tamiflu isn't a vaccine, it's an oral tablet.

So right, Jayne! There was a similar issue on a recent thread about homeopathy. It became very clear that for a lot of people homeopathy = synonym for complementary medicine, herbalism etc etc, which makes discussion tricky, because first you have to clear up what people think they're talking about.

The plural of anecdote is not data.

That is interesting MidnightRose. I think most people subscribe to the view that whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

I was born in the late 1950s when it was common to see young people walking around wearing leg callipers as a result of polio. I agree that better sanitation and living conditions has helped enormously to eradicate polio in the UK, but it was the mass vaccination programme that was the main reason. I think young people don't realise this because they never see polio victims these days.

Also, how do the non vaccinators think smallpox was eradicated?

I have had whooping cough, measles (which has affected my eyesight), german measles (why is it called german?) and chicken pox. I have had all the vaccinations that were available at the time, plus any others required for travelling, so I predate the MMR, and at 55 am a pretty healthy individual.

DD has had all her vaccinations as well.

Incidentally, the Thackray Medical Museum in Leeds has a very interesting and informative section on vaccination.

Apparently, bunbaker, polio and smallpox were in decline anyway and it's just a coincidence that the massive decrease in cases of polio and the disappearance of smallpox happened at the same time as the mass vaccination programmes..................

mexicanspringtime
You do realise there is about 500% more formaldehyde in a pear or a mushroom than a vaccine don't you? Or that tuna contains roughly the same ammount of mercury as a vaccine? Yeah bet 'your sites' didn't tell you that!

(I doubt the difference in 'levels' would be that different in Mexico btw......)

Here. this should explain things to anyone still unsure. Might take a while to read everything, but that's how you find things out. By going into things in depth, not by reading the first page of a website written by somebody who's read the first page of someone else's website.

Interesting reading Martorana, especially some of the comments

The tamiflu vaccine is just in the news as being ineffective, for example. Pandemrix, which they used in Scandanavia for the H1N1 in 2009, caused a rise in narcolepsy.

A case of someone not looking at all the facts as usual.

Flu is a cause of narcolepsy, the vaccine may cause narcoplepsy but at a lesser rate. In china where they didnt vaccinate against H1N1 they had a big rise of narcoplexy after the flu season. If you look back to the 1920s there was a sleeping sickness epidemic after the flu 1918-1920

Ok bruffin, so flu causes narcolepsy, but I live in Mexico City and was living here when the whole H1N1 hysteria started. There was no vaccine at the time and I didn't get the flu nor did anyone I know and I don't have to live with the consequences of narcolepsy.

What is the benefit of taking a vaccine that would cause narcolepsy? Even if the illness it is to prevent can also, on rare occasions, cause narcolepsy

Tamiflu isn't a vaccine.

There are lots of other conditions that flu can cause, it can and does kill healthy young adults.

OP do you think that the more often you stab yourself with a rusty nail the more likely you are to overcome tetanus?

I agree with your scepticism, MoreSnowPlease. Maybe this site will be useful as it is a vaccination clinic but gives you the information to pick and choose: www.babyjabs.co.uk/

DramaQueen, you do have a very snide way of writing, is that how you normally exchange information with other people?

Babyjabs is not reliable. It makes money out if scaremongering.
Mexican
The vacvine has less of a risk of narcolepsy than getting flu.

mexicanspringtime I'm sorry if I come across as blunt/snide - it's just I like to get to the point and not sugar coat stuff. When talking about important issues I do tend to be like that I'm afraid, though I'm not usually like that in general if you get me. I guess it's just a subject that's close to my heart which tends to make me blunt - I know too many people with repressed immune systems due to various illnesses.