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[quote=”maravilla”]you guys can have all the vac’s you want. i pass, so you can have my share.
[/quote]Gee, maravilla, does this mean you’ll pay for our annual flu shots??
[quote=”maravilla”]if vacs were so effective, how come people who have been vac’d against those diseases then come down with them?
there used to be a time when nobody got vac’d for so many things. there have been many infant deaths reported from the multitude of vacs given at birth.[/quote]
First, as I explained previously, vaccines are formulated to prevent the most common strains of diseases. There are, as I wrote, hundreds of strains of influenza. It would not be practical to produce a single vaccine that would afford protection against them all, so the public health community directs the manufacturers to produce vaccines that will protect the greatest number of people against the greatest number of likely strains in any given flu season.
And as for “. . .many infant deaths reported from the multitude of vacs given at birth”, just how many is this “many”? What are the numbers? And who has reported them over what period of time?
The question you should be asking is not “how come people who have been vac’d . . then come down with them?” The question you should be asking is how many people who are vaccinated [u]do not[/u] come down with them?
And when you write that “there used to be a time when nobody got vac’d for so many things.” you fail to tell the whole story.
It’s true, in years gone by, not many folks were vaccinated against any or very many things. What you’ve left out, however, is that the death rates caused by those (now preventable) illnesses were vastly higher than today.
A large part of the increase in life expectancy in the past hundred years or so has come not at the end of life but at the beginning. The elimination of (now preventable) childhood diseases is a primary factor in the increase in longevity.
You can always make a weak case based on the outliers with regard to almost anything. For example, there’s good evidence that some folks have died in car accidents even though they were wearing seat belts. Some small number may have died [u]on account[/u] of the seat belts. But the smart money, borne out by mountains of actual scientific data, is on wearing your seat belts.
Similarly, I know of a case where an electrician was electrocuted while installing a ground wire. Does that suggest to you that we should eliminate grounded circuitry? What about water purification? Food sanitation? Sterile surgical procedure?
Victoria, you wrote, “The vaccination-autism link was originally attributed to a stabilizer in the vaccine. The pharm companies removed the stabilizer about 15-20 years ago and the rate of autism [i]continued to climb![/i]”
That’s an important point, Victoria. I have previously reflected on the experience in Michigan. Prior to the time when autism was one of the conditions which qualified affected children for special education programs, many of those children were diagnosed as mentally retarded in order to qualify them for special ed. Then, when the policy changed, genuinely autistic children were formally diagnosed as such. The reported rate increased dramatically, but the incidence did not. Merely changing the public policy did not, of itself, cause autism.
Too, the medical community has become more sensitive to autism in recent years. Any time diagnosticians become attuned to something new and different, the reported incidence goes up. One need look no farther than the increasing rates of ADHD among school children (and the subsequent “need” to medicate them) for a perfect example.
[quote=”maravilla”] when i was growing up i had measles, mumps, whooping cough, chicken pox — as an adult, i haven’t ever been sick except for a cold every ten years. [/quote]
So, maravilla, are you saying that, based upon the self-reported life experience of one eight billionth of the world’s population, we can safely (scientifically) conclude that contracting measles, mumps, whooping cough and chicken pox is protective against the common cold in later life?
Is it your scientific conclusion that it’s the combination of the all diseases you suffered, just one, or some subset of the list that conferred this immunity? Can you point to someone else with a similar life experience? Someone else who was so protected? Or might your good health be attributable to something entirely unrelated? Have you excluded all the variables?
And what can we say about all those who have died of these and other preventable diseases? What does their life experience tell us? You may be superwoman when it comes to immunity from communicable disease (or maybe you’re just antisocial and don’t come into contact with many other people), but can we base public health policy on the life experience of just one person?
And as for the hepatitis B vaccine . . .
First, it’s important to realize that we’re all losing and replacing liver cells all the time. The increase in that cell loss and the long-term deleterious effect are what need to be measured and, as always, the other variables excluded.
Further, what is the benefit tradeoff for vaccinating against hepatitis B? Lose some liver cells . . . don’t suffer hepatitis B. Maybe that’s a good tradeoff. Remember, when the surgeon removes your infected appendix, he first cuts into your abdomen and makes you bleed. And runs the risk of post-operative infection.
[quote=”davidd”]
52 years old!!!!!!Scott you look 35 🙂
[/quote]
The picture was taken when he was 16.
[quote=”Scott”]
[url=http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/11/vaccine-bombshell-baby-monkeys-develop-autism-symptoms-after-obtaining-doses-of-popular-vaccines/]Vaccine bombshell: Baby monkeys develop autism symptoms after obtaining doses of popular vaccines[/url]
Scott
[/quote]The article you point to, Scott, reports mostly on the administrative and scientific practices of the Centers for Disease Control and does not reflect upon the actual data (which the writer acknowledges is still unpublished). So we cannot investigate the facts for ourselves. Nor can the author.
In the meantime, no responsible scientific study has demonstrated a concrete relationship between vaccination and increased incidences of autism. The data, the actual numbers, do not support the assertions of a cause-and-effect relationship.
In the past day or two, new research has revealed a relationship between influenza during pregnancy and subsequent diagnosis of autism. Until that influence is ruled out, along with many others, you cannot draw the conclusion that vaccines are the culprits.
To focus on a single influence without correcting for all the other potential influences is simply bad science. One could argue, for example, that children born with club feet are so afflicted because their mothers watched Oprah during gestation. It might be true, but it would be bad science. Watching Oprah does does not cause club feet.
Medical decisions, especially in the public health sphere, should be based upon the best scientific evidence and not upon unsubstantiated anecdotal accounts.
[quote=”Scott”]As you probably know, not all vaccines are proven to be effective…
Scott
[/quote]Scott, you have it exactly right. Not all vaccines are 100% effective, and that is the most compelling argument in favor of being vaccinated.
When a person is vaccinated against any communicable disease (tetanus is one exception), not only do they acquire pretty effective protection against that disease for themselves but, because they are now unlikely to contract it, they are also unlikely to transmit it to someone else. So a vaccine protects the recipient and everyone they come into contact with. Vaccinating the population against likely risks has enormous advantages even if it’s not perfect.
Every year, the public health community does its best to predict which strains of influenza will be prevalent in the coming flu season and the vaccine manufacturers tailor their vaccines to protect against those strains. There a scores or hundreds of strains. So when you or I get vaccinated, we not only protect ourselves against the most likely strains to get but we also protect all those we contact because we cannot transmit a disease we don’t have.
It is also true, of course, that we may be infected by a strain of influenza that this year’s vaccine was not produced to protect us against. That’s what happens when you are vaccinated and subsequently get the flu. You’ve contracted something relatively rare or unforeseen that wasn’t covered by the vaccine. You cannot get the flu from the vaccine itself because it does not contain live viruses.
Because children in school, people in the military, those in hospitals and nursing homes, inmates in prisons, and others live in such close proximity, the argument in favor of vaccinating them is compelling.
Some will argue, based on anecdotal evidence from their own or someone else’s experience, that pertussis (whooping cough) or influenza aren’t so bad because someone they knew survived one or both, but we have only to look at the epidemiological data to learn otherwise. These are chronic killers of children and adults and, like polio, tetanus, diptheria, cholera, yellow fever and many other communicable diseases, they’re highly preventable. If you’re skeptical about influenza, just Google “flu epidemic of 1918”.
Every time this question comes up, whether you’re talking about one person living on $2,000 per month in San Jose or a six-person family living on $5,000 per month in a beach community, the answer is the same.
It all depends on a combination of individual circumstances, individual needs and wants, and what you mean by a “comfortable lifestyle”. One person’s comfortable lifestyle consisting of three meals of rice and beans a day would be untenable to another. Needs and wants are individual.
The best answer anyone can offer you is that your sister come for an extended visit without cutting all her ties to wherever she’s living now and try it out. She alone can answer your question.
We have some churchgoing Protestant friends in Grecia who attend church in or near Guachipelin(sp?). That’s in the vicinity of the MultiPlaza in Escazu.
[quote=”davidd”]Scott
I have never met you personally because I would probably give you a knuckle sandwich due to your presumptuous personality. 😀
[/quote]
Some clarification is in order. Which one is the pot and which one is the kettle?
[quote=”costaricafinca”]. . .there is [i]no way[/i] that this [$1,000] would be enough for a family of 6 to live on.
[/quote]That is the understatement of the week. Especially if you have visions of sending your children to private schools or owning a car, the minimum income requirement would never cover basic needs.
[i]Pensionado[/i] residency approvals normally DO include all members of the immediate family — spouse and minor children. But to qualify, you must be able to demonstrate current receipt of an income in the amount of $1,000 per month which is [u]guaranteed for life[/u]. Many folks qualify on the basis of their Social Security Old Age benefit, or other governmental pension. Some lifetime annuities and private pensions are acceptable to Costa Rican Immigration on a case-by-case basis.
crbill, I think it’s important to bear in mind that resources here are limited, just as they are everywhere else. There just aren’t enough colones to address every problem with the optimal solution. Given the option of a Bailey bridge or no bridge at all, I’d opt for the lesser of the two evils (unless, of course, I was driving a 90 ton crane).
The notion of a c25 toll to cross the river is tempting, but can you imagine the morning rush hour traffic backup? It’s bad enough driving into San Jose on the General Cañas when thing are moving freely. Put in a toll gate and see what happens. Really, a better approach would be to increase the toll in the outbound lanes shortly before you get to the airport. Of course, that wouldn’t provide any protection against another overweight vehicle.
[i]”Satire”[/i] . . . schmatire. This is an appaling prospect.
I recalled yesterday that he’d threatened this before, during the debate over the health care reform which has so ruined his life and destroyed his happiness, so I wrote to him and begged him again not to do this.
