Culture & Medicine 23 Jul 2008 04:59 pm
Benjamin Franklin on vaccination
Ben Franklin is one of my all-time favorite historical figures; there are few people who have been universally successful in all they've done: business, politics, science, and humanitarianism. Franklin was one of these, and he's left a guidebook for those who wish to follow in his footsteps. (And really, how can you beat $2.50 for a brand-new book?)
I've been reading through it lately, and while it's easy reading, it's so chock-full of wisdom that I find it slow going. Lunchtimes and evenings find me with pencil in hand, underlining and annotating the bits that especially speak to me, and there are many.
I came across this paragraph, and I was astonished. With the anti-vaccination crazies gaining influence and mindshare, this earthy bit of common sense was a breath of fresh air, written in the 1700s by someone who knew a world without vaccines, and saw the devastation caused by these diseases — smallpox, polio, and many others — first-hand.
In 1736, I lost one of my sons, a fine boy of four years old, by smallpox, taken in the common way. I long regretted him bitterly and still regret that I had not given it to him by inoculation. This I mention for the sake of parents who omit that operation on the supposition that they should never forgive themselves if a child died under it, my example showing that the regret may be the same either way, and therefore that the safer should be chosen.
Simple and profound. Alas, I don't think the anti-vaccination types will take his advice to heart, and we are all the poorer for it.
on 04 Aug 2008 at 10:03 pm 1.ac said …
Yes….but which *IS* safer..? That is the true question here.
Ahhh, and they lived in such a different time. A time of less knowledge of the nutrient value of different foods. They weren't as hygienic, and they were subject to the elements more as well.
I am not saying that vaccinations are the end-all evil of the world. I am saying, however, that everyone should have the right to decide whether they want to inject them into their children, freely, without being called a "crazy". Just as children die when they may have possibly been saved had they been vaccinated, children die because of being vaccinated as well. The choice then, is - how can you live with yourself best as a parent if either one were to happen? Personally, I would much rather risk the disease, which may never come, and if it does, subject the child to treatment, rather than inject the poisons and hope it causes no harm.
on 05 Aug 2008 at 9:25 am 2.Rian said …
Yours is the only comment that I will allow on this entry that has any remotely anti-vaccine bent to it. And that's only so I can respond to it.
Vaccines only work through herd immunity. The only reason you even think this way is because you've grown up in a world without polio. Without smallpox. Without measles, mumps, or rubella. These diseases mean nothing to you because you've not seen the ravages caused by them first hand.
There is no cure for polio, so you can't exactly "treat" them, now can you? No, if your child contracts the disease, they end up crippled, paralyzed, or dead. Unfortunately, jail time for you isn't part of that equation, even though what you've done is basically criminal neglect and child endangerment.
Polio has NOT been eradicated.
We already have herd immunity for most disease. My mother's generation did not, and she suffered from pertussis, which we now vaccinate against. It's people like you that are going to compromise the health of the rest of the world, but ironically, it's only your unvaccinated children that will pay the price. It's just too bad that they don't have any say in the matter.