Agree
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Professor of Infectious Diseases
Agree
Opposition to mass childhood vaccination is a world-wide phenomenon, particularly in industrialised countries. Unfounded claims about vaccination are perpetuated by parental lobby groups and individual spokespeople, some of whom have a medical or scientific background. This article focuses on one such spokesperson who has achieved particular notoriety. Dr. Viera Scheibner is a retired micropalaeontologist, without any formal training in health-related sciences...
Inventor of Cervical Cancer Vaccine
Agree
A quarter of all cancers are caused by infections, including hepatitis B and C andthe Epstein Barr virus. If we could prevent these infections, we could think about getting rid of these cancers... We, on average, live 25 years longer than we did 100 years ago and most of that extra 25 years is due to the control of infectious diseases and most of that control is due to vaccinations.
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(HHS) Government Department
Agree
Vaccines have been so successful in preventing disease in the US that in recent years, the annual number of reports to VAERS have exceeded the total number of reports of routine childhood vaccine-preventable disease. This may lead some people to believe that the vaccines are dangerous. [In reality] the risk of a serious adverse reaction to an immunization is extremely small. The risk of the disease itself is substantially more serious than the risk of the immunization.
Medical Journalist
Agree
Much of this refusal [to vaccinate] has to do with perceived vaccine safety issues, such as purported associations between vaccines and autism, attention deficit disorder, seizures and epilepsy. None of these concerns have been upheld in research. In fact, all scientific studies show vaccines to be highly effective and safe, with only rare, moderate, adverse side effects.
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Founding Father of United States
Agree
In 1736 I lost one of my sons, a fine boy of four years old, by the small-pox, taken in the common way. I long regretted 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 that, therefore, the safer should be chosen.
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Microsoft Cofounder, Philanthropist
Agree
Providing greater access to existing vaccines and making new vaccines available quickly could save 8 million lives by 2020. ... I’ve given kids the polio vaccine myself – it’s just a couple drops in the mouth. It’s quite magical knowing you are helping prevent a terrible, disfiguring disease. As a parent, I have a choice to provide my children with something that has the potential to prevent illness or even death. I want parents everywhere to have that same chance.
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Disagree
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Geology Professor; Prominent Modern Medicine Skeptic
Disagree
I did not find it difficult to conclude that there is no evidence whatsoever that vaccines or any kind are effective in preventing the infectious diseases they are supposed to prevent. Further, adverse effects are amply documented and are far more significant to public health than any adverse effects of infectious diseases. Immunizations not only [were ineffective], they caused more suffering and more deaths than has any other human activity in the entire history of medical intervention.
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Homeopathist, Osteopath
Disagree
A benchmark in a civilized society is the absence of infectious diseases, a doctrine that emerged during the pre-antibiotic era. Public health officials attribute low infection rates to mandatory vaccination policies rather than giving credit to improved personal hygiene and modern conveniences such as indoor plumbing. It is time for the truth about vaccines to be widely known. Vaccine safety has not been proven. Vaccines provide false security about protection. Vaccines can cause harm.
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Actress
Mostly Disagree
I do believe sadly it's going to take some diseases coming back to realize that we need to change and develop vaccines that are safe. If the vaccine companies are not listening to us, it's their f___ing fault that the diseases are coming back. They're making a product that's s___. If you give us a safe vaccine, we'll use it. It shouldn't be polio versus autism.
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Homeopathist
Disagree
What emerges is a consensus that vaccination is not consistent with the principles of homeopathy, even if it is a crude application of the law of similars. Clinical evidence further suggests that vaccination holds serious short and long-term consequences both because of its effect upon the miasms, and because some constitutional types are particularly susceptible to vaccination shock.
Homeopathist
Disagree
There is a belief generally that the usual flu vaccine is still worth it despite the obvious drawbacks. However, there is little or no acknowledgement of a safer and more effective alternative, mainly because of ignorance, prejudice and the power of drug companies (in terms of advertising and control over expensive research). There IS an alternative. Homeopathy - the safe, effective medicine.
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Political T.V. Host, Comedian
Disagree
(Larry King interview) Maher: the defense against disease is to have a strong immune system. A flu shot just compromises your immune system. King: So you don't take any western medicine, don’t take an aspirin? Maher: Never, an aspirin no. Thousands of people die from aspirin every year.
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Neutral
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U.S. Politician, Libertarian
Neutral
A controversy over vaccines, specifically the smallpox vaccine, is brewing in Washington. The administration is considering ordering mass inoculations for more than one million military personnel and civilian medical workers, ostensibly to thwart a smallpox outbreak before it occurs. Yet dangerous side-effects from the vaccine – ranging from mild flu symptoms to gangrene, encephalitis, and even death – cause many to question the wisdom and need for such inoculations.
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