I was born in 1961. When I was about eight years old, I spent a month in the hospital due to measles complications - no child should go through that. Thank you for sharing your stories. Hopefully some will listen.
Many years ago, a neighbour’s two-year-old child suffered a seizure of unknown origin in the weeks following a set of immunizations. When my neighbour asked the neurologist whether they should hold off on further doses of the MMR vaccine, the doctor replied, “ Absolutely not. I treat the kids who develop encephalitis from measles. You do not want to be one of those families.” The seizures tapered off and my neighbour continued to immunize. You are right in saying that we have been protected from seeing the effects of these diseases because of immunization and we have become complacent. Thank you for reminding us of what some of the consequences of vaccine “hesitancy”might be.
The current parental anxiety over dangers of interacting with strangers over the internet doesn’t compare to the worry of previous generations over disability and death from the common infectious disease we can now prevent through universal immunization
Healthcare is only available in the US to those who can afford it. That men's less and less knowledge about immunizations benefits among many. This administration prefers ignorance.
Your stories and facts are undeniable - your warnings fair and considerate.
This anti-vaccine mentality is symptomatic of other trends infecting Canadians and citizens around the globe - spread by the Internet and now "Trumpeted" by the US administration.
Denial of science relating to health and the ecosystem, distrust that is fomented and targeted at people with empathy (as Musk claims - empathy is the weakness of the Western world), promotion of colonial, misogynistic and racist supremacy, and a winner-take-all approach to war and economics are the threads of thought woven together in this export from the USA and supported by autocrats arouind the globe.
Thanks again for your specific insights and I hope that people can consider the environmental culture that has allowed this type of anti-intellectual thinking to fester and take hold - how can we immunize against that?
Robert, doctors like you are key to spreading the word to the skeptical as to why we have vaccines. Hoping Postcards helps your vital message resonate with at least one person who might be sitting in the fence. Thank you.
Thanks Kristin - it is my sincere hope that parents can learn from our collective history rather than have to learn these bitter lessons for themselves
The overt common sense and intelligence in this piece is so grounding, well presented and a timely reminder. Thank you. I remain grateful every day to be living in Canada as a Canadian.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience. The fear of vaccine injury, overstated by junk science and cultivated by grifters, has no competing fear in younger parents of diseases they have never experienced. But nobody in our generation (I am of a similar age) was untouched by them - in my case my own frightening bout of measles, the mumps that robbed a family member of the ability to have children, the limbs of classmates damaged by polio; I could go on. We would never willingly inflict these illnesses on our children and it’s hard to understand or empathize with those who would.
Thank you for endorsing that these painful experiences were not uncommon. I well remember summers where we were kept indoors by parents trying to prevent us from catching polio
It is hard to watch the American Empire in decline, politically, medically, economically, intellectually and finally ethically. The disease that threatens them most - wilful stupidity- has no vaccine.
I was born in 1961. When I was about eight years old, I spent a month in the hospital due to measles complications - no child should go through that. Thank you for sharing your stories. Hopefully some will listen.
Always the same Witches and Wizards and ignorant fools… they belong in the pre-science dark ages…..
Many years ago, a neighbour’s two-year-old child suffered a seizure of unknown origin in the weeks following a set of immunizations. When my neighbour asked the neurologist whether they should hold off on further doses of the MMR vaccine, the doctor replied, “ Absolutely not. I treat the kids who develop encephalitis from measles. You do not want to be one of those families.” The seizures tapered off and my neighbour continued to immunize. You are right in saying that we have been protected from seeing the effects of these diseases because of immunization and we have become complacent. Thank you for reminding us of what some of the consequences of vaccine “hesitancy”might be.
The current parental anxiety over dangers of interacting with strangers over the internet doesn’t compare to the worry of previous generations over disability and death from the common infectious disease we can now prevent through universal immunization
I agree that younger parents who have not experienced the horrors of severe childhood diseases are naive and susceptible.
Healthcare is only available in the US to those who can afford it. That men's less and less knowledge about immunizations benefits among many. This administration prefers ignorance.
Your article inspired mine, thank you.
https://johnstokdijk538.substack.com/p/sharing-postcards-from-canada
Thank you Dr. Issenman,
Your stories and facts are undeniable - your warnings fair and considerate.
This anti-vaccine mentality is symptomatic of other trends infecting Canadians and citizens around the globe - spread by the Internet and now "Trumpeted" by the US administration.
Denial of science relating to health and the ecosystem, distrust that is fomented and targeted at people with empathy (as Musk claims - empathy is the weakness of the Western world), promotion of colonial, misogynistic and racist supremacy, and a winner-take-all approach to war and economics are the threads of thought woven together in this export from the USA and supported by autocrats arouind the globe.
Thanks again for your specific insights and I hope that people can consider the environmental culture that has allowed this type of anti-intellectual thinking to fester and take hold - how can we immunize against that?
Robert, doctors like you are key to spreading the word to the skeptical as to why we have vaccines. Hoping Postcards helps your vital message resonate with at least one person who might be sitting in the fence. Thank you.
Thanks Kristin - it is my sincere hope that parents can learn from our collective history rather than have to learn these bitter lessons for themselves
Thank you. These stories can help closed minds listen.
Thank you for sharing your
experience.
Thankyou for this -
Great and sober piece. Thank you.
May it reach and touch parents who are hanging on to a belief system that threatens their children.
The overt common sense and intelligence in this piece is so grounding, well presented and a timely reminder. Thank you. I remain grateful every day to be living in Canada as a Canadian.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience. The fear of vaccine injury, overstated by junk science and cultivated by grifters, has no competing fear in younger parents of diseases they have never experienced. But nobody in our generation (I am of a similar age) was untouched by them - in my case my own frightening bout of measles, the mumps that robbed a family member of the ability to have children, the limbs of classmates damaged by polio; I could go on. We would never willingly inflict these illnesses on our children and it’s hard to understand or empathize with those who would.
Thank you for endorsing that these painful experiences were not uncommon. I well remember summers where we were kept indoors by parents trying to prevent us from catching polio
It is hard to watch the American Empire in decline, politically, medically, economically, intellectually and finally ethically. The disease that threatens them most - wilful stupidity- has no vaccine.