Pro-Vaccine

For the record, I am not a fan of Rick Perry. Before the debate at the Regan Library, all I heard about him was he likes to pray for jobs, and pray for rain. I prefer problems be solved thorough rationality. In my opinion, reason and logic are much better tools for solving problems than asking the Flying Spaghetti Monster(assuming that’s the god you believe in, although it may not be) to solve them for you.
So I started watching the debate with a preconceived notion of Rick Perry. I still disagree with his fundamental mystic philosophy and I think he could have answered some of his attacks better if he started out with a better premise. What really upset me however were not so much Rick Perry’s comments, but Ron Paul’s attack on Rick Perry’s vaccination mandate. Ron, along with basically every other Republican (with the exception of Romney’s half ass objection) said that parents should have the choice. It is wrong for the government to impose what they think they should do to inoculate their children.
I can not believe the anti-vaccination movement in this country. It is dangerous that someone can lie about a study and the idea still takes off, poisoning the intellectual wealth of a nation. I also can’t believe “pro-lifers” can be against vaccination. These people are against the parents right to choose abortion, but they are for parents choosing to increase cancer risk for their children. This is not the same thing as mandating helmets for motorcyclists. If someone choses to ride a Harley without a helmet, they do so at their own risk. If a parent decides they don’t want the government telling them they need a car seat, only the child is at risk. If a parent says they don’t want their kid to have the HPV vaccine—they are endangering the lives of everyone by propagating the virus and weakening the immunity of society..
The fact is the HPV vaccine only works in about 95% of the women who are inoculated with it. Let’s say a man with HPV has sex with someone with the HPV vaccine that did work. Now she has sex with another man—a man without HPV. Now, that same man has sex with a woman who does not build anti-bodies against HPV even though she had the vaccination. She still doesn’t get the disease because the guy banged a gal who did have the antibodies against HPV.
This is called herd immunity. A country has the right to defend itself against biological warfare. We have the right to create laws telling people they can’t send anthrax in the mail. By that same right, we have the right to protect ourselves from HPV by requiring vaccinations for everyone. We have the right to quarantine people with the Ebola virus. To me there is not difference between the person with the Antrax in the envelope and the person that wishes to spread cancer causing viruses because they chose not to get vaccinated. To say this is an attack on freedom is like saying the second amendment protects your right to manufacture biological weapons.
I actually like that Rick Perry created an executive order to have 12 year old girls vaccinated for HPV. I would have preferred he did not leave an opt-out option for parents. I wish he would have defended this position better.
This makes me question the anti-abortion movement. I’m sure there are some people that oppose abortion because it ends a “human life.” You know what else ends a human life—Fucking cancer. IF you are so against terminating cells the size of a hang nail then you better be for preventing cancer terminating the life of a grown woman. I can respect the argument against the pro-choice movement, but not if those who argue against are okay with parents choosing CANCER over vaccination. It almost seems that they’re not so much against offspring dying as a result of their parent’s actions—they’re just more concerned with people staying abstinent. Let’s face it if you had to have a kid every time you had sex—you might think twice about it.
Michelle Bachman has no problem screening immigrants for diseases, Why is this any different? Are diseases spread by citizens better than disease spread by immigrants? In my opinion viruses don’t discriminate. Would it be better to screen potential sex partners before they are allowed to have sex than to require a vaccination? Should we issue sex licenses? This is why I refuse to join the Republican party—they are so inconsistent. Consequently, I also refuse to join the Democrats for the same reason.