Today we are celebrating some BIG news!
Aaron has been promoted to Senior Buyer!
Goodbye fruitsnacks and ice cream toppings, helloooo juice aisle. Way to go, Aaron!
I have a feeling that words like Acai and Pom will be joining our vocabularies.
I love you and I am so proud of you!
Good luck with the Cran-man.
I'm totally stoked about this one. The floor is mine for 10-15 minutes, and I get to spend the entire time giving the cold hard facts about why we should vaccinate ourselves and our children.
I have a captive audience of 25 people.
I don't know what their opinions are right now, but I sincerely hope that when I am done speaking, they will all consider (if they don't already) immunization for better health and prevention of communicable diseases.
False:
-vaccines are toxic and cause mercury poisoning
-vaccines are linked to Autism Spectrum Disorder
It seems that everyone has heard a form of these rumors.
NOT everyone has heard Facts:
-thimerisol (the organic mercury-based preservative used in the flu vaccine) has not been used in vaccines since 2001, with the exception of the flu vaccine and trace amounts in others. And even IF the full amount of thimerisol was still in as many vaccines as it used to be, the total amount given over the US infant immunization schedule is still no where near the dangerous level of toxicity. But since advances in medicine allowed for it's removal, it was taken out or the level was reduced as much as possible, as part of a legislative campaign to take out as many unecessary ingredients from vaccines as possible.
-there is no proven link between Autism and vaccines
-the sick weasel that started these Autism/ rumors:
1) had a private agenda to discredit the MMR vaccine to promote his own product
2) was found guilty for publishing fraudulent information as fact
3) has been under investigation for over 10 years
4) has no medical evidence to support his theories and multiple studies that were performed to back up his theories were unsuccessful in doing so.
5) was paid £55,000 in addition to £150/hr to support an attack on the MMR vaccine, and later, £800,00o to perform tests (which he gave false evidence for) to prove his research.
6) had his studies removed from medical records, and is no longer allowed to practice medicine.
So there ya go. Vaccines do not cause mercury poisoning. Vaccines do not cause Autism.
Scare tactics used by anti-vaccine groups are primarily based on a lie...actually a BUNCH of lies.
Andrew Wakefield is a quack that is no longer respected in the medical community.
Unfortunately, justice really hasn't been served, as there is now a growing population of individuals who still believe the theories he imagined.
Meanwhile, while immunization rates went down, the number of communicable diseases went up. Way up. Oh, and so did the number of Autism cases in unvaccinated children, so there goes that theory as well.
These individuals who have beliefs based on false information are choosing not to vaccinate themselves or their children.
That decision does not just affect their own health or their kid's health.
It affects my health.
It affects my kids' health. Vaccines require the collaborative effort of a community to be most effective. Vaccines provide immunity from communicable diseases (Um, Pertussis, anyone? Been there, done that. It is a nightmare by the way) by way of blanket protection....meaning that immunity is possible as long as more than 85% of the population has the vaccine.
The 15% of the community that is NOT vaccinated should really only consist of infants who are not yet old enough to receive the full series of vaccines, and unfortunate individuals who have circumstances (allergies) or health conditions that prevent them from receiving the vaccines.
The rest of us should be doing our best to protect those people, who cannot protect themselves from very harmful, crippling, and fatal illness that CAN be prevented.
So for whatever reason it might be...
-they were misinformed due to poor media coverage
-they failed to do proper research
-they were fed a load of false and fabricated information by a company running a private agenda
-they are scared because they have a neighbor's brother's best friend's kid that had a classmate with Autism and the parents blame vaccines to no end
-they assume they don't need a vaccine because 'everyone else' got it.
-or perhaps because they are simply a victim of ignorance and honestly do not know about the good news that is the beauty of modern medicine available to us all
...whatever the reason, when an individual that is a good candidate for immunization chooses not to vaccinate (a decision based on theories and emotions, rather than facts, because if it were based on facts, they would immunize.) it affects me, my community, and global health. Rather than standing with the 85+% that is working toward better health and protection from disease in the community, they are tearing a hole in the blanket of protection and letting in a draft.
I know that sounds harsh. I am trying to provide an analogy to explain that the decision to not immunize is not just a personal decision.
Vaccines DO prevent communicable diseases, and there IS actual proof of that.
It is our resonsibility to share the news. My goal is to share information with as many people as possible. Information, facts...truth will become the patch that changes attitudes and mends our broken blanket of immunity.
Huh, well... I didn't really plan to write that much when I sat down, but I have so much to say on this topic (as you all know). I probably need to narrow this down a bit and make this more interesting (I mean, it is interesting to me, but half of you are asleep just from reading this) to make it work for my assignment and get full credit.
...and maybe I'll cut out the slam on people who know better but still choose not to vaccinate. That part is more of a personal vendetta. But seriously, peeps. Vaccinate your kids if you plan to take them out in public. It is your civic responsibility.
a few sources:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article7134903.ece
http://briandeer.com/mmr/lancet-summary.htm
http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/idepc/immunize/hcp/thimerosalfs.pdf
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article7134893.ece
and plenty more available upon request.
and a side note....locals: did you hear about the meningococcal meningitis death in January? Tragic. Totally could have been prevented with vaccines.
We circled at Meg's house Friday at noon to hit the road.
Baskets full of candy grams and giant DUDE bunny
(are we cold, praying, or begging the weather for mercy? Answer: yes!)
(where meg freaks out)
Between mile 8 and 9 we take photo opps.
(thanks, K.)
It was a lonely trail for a big part of the race, but fun to see the leaders come running back after the turn-around.
Getting tired by mile 18, but excited we are super close to the turn.
The U-turn! Light at the end of the tunnel.
We got to see this lion on the way out AND back. We figured out on our second pass that he is deaf...not creepy. Lions and Tigers and Bears!
Chocolate dipped strawberries in the lounge
The 3 of us could hardly eat Saturday night. We ordered a ton of food at Cheesecake Factory and all we could stomach was edamame. Tragedy.
What a fun weekend and awesome experience that I will never forget!