Vaccines... Government / Big Pharma conspiracy?

I have heard this particular line of nonsense before, usually from anti-vaxers, but occasionally from well meaning if misinformed people. I mean, really, who doesn't want to mistrust the government? Buncha taxing jerks, and they're in bed with the Big Pharma jerks who want to poke us with expensive needles, right?

First, look at this from the view of the greedy government types. They get money from us via taxes, and boy howdy do they get our money. But that one important prerequisite of getting that money? The people they are taxing have to not only be alive, but live long enough to get some serious cash. And the higher quality of life those people have, the longer they live, the more taxes they pay. So in the view of the greedy government, those vaccines better work really well. Therefore, in this case, it is in the government's best interests to make sure Big Pharma is getting those vaccines to everyone they can.

Now, Big Pharma is clearly in it for the money, right? So they're charging thousands of dollars per dose of vaccine, right? Well, actually, no. If you really want to squeeze all the money you can out of not only America but indeed the entire world, you have to make that vaccine as cheap as possible. A $5 injection is a tiny deal here, but in poverty ridden Africa? If we are really going to reach those millions of potential customers then those vaccines have to be as cheap as humanly possible. And if one pharma company puts out a vaccine cheaper than yours, you scramble to find a cheaper way to get your vaccine made.

Oh no! Cutting corners is a clear sign of shoddy and even dangerous vaccines, right? Did you forget about the greedy government? They want their people alive and taxable, and Big Pharma damn well better keep people alive or the government will remove your funding and give it to the other guys making the cheap yet still effective vaccines. On top of that, cheaper vaccines mean more Americans to tax, so the government is pushing on Big Pharma to cut costs as well.

How does that big pharma government conspiracy sound now? Two huge greedy groups who both benefit from cheaper and more effective vaccines. They may be greedy jerks, but there's no money to be made unless the vaccines work and are affordable.

Again with the personal anecdote ending... My old Capoeira instructor, Gorilla, don't ask, got his PhD in micro biology, or something similar, and got a job with a pharmaceuticaal company shortly thereafter. His job was to find a way to reduce an already cheap vaccine to less than $.05 a dose. Big Pharma reducing costs, not at government behest, but in an effort to make the vaccine so affordable that they could help prevent that disease in as many people as possible. Making money? No. Helping people acoss the globe. That is what the real goal is: saving lives by preventing horrible diseases. You can take that to the bank.

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It's Vaccine Awareness Week!

Hopefully you've either never heard or this or at least heard about it from either sciencebasedmedicine.org or scienceblogs.com/insolence/. See what's going on is there's this Anti-Vaccine/Anti-Science, trying to be polite here, person by the name of Joe Mercola (to whom I will not link for fear of speading his lies) who has dubbed this week the title above in an attempt to bombard the Internet with his misinformation and falsehoods regarding the dangers and efficacy of vaccines. The doctors at SBM and Respectful Insolence decided to mirror that... Guy's idea by trying to spread as much truth about vaccines this week. While I am aware that like three people actually read this blog, I'm still going to throw my hat in the pro-science/pro-evidence side of this little online tussle.

Vaccines work. Want proof? Find me a case of Smallpox. Go ahead and look! I'll wait... Note how the only Smallpox on the planet is frozen in researcher's labs under high security? That there is proof that vaccines work. There's other evidence, but it doesn't get better than Smallpox, a horrifying disease that was completely eradicated by vaccines. If you insist on more proof, SMB and RI both have dozens if not hundreds of posts on vaccine efficacy that you can check out.

Don't vaccines cause autism or something? No, they don't, but if you've heard this there's a good chance it's because of Mercola or Jenny McCarthy by way of Oprah. Not only is this false, but it's the most pernicious attack on science, relying on emotion fueled rants from parents who believe their children were thusly affected by vaccination. Science and studies don't make these parents feel better, and all the evidence in the world won't change the mind of a parent who "knows" what really happened. That Mercola and his ilk use these poor people's tragedies to fuel their weapons is deplorable. Vaccines do not cause autism. Parents beliefs aside, the evidence clearly shows this. Again, SBM and RI have all the information you need.

I implore you to read the evidence about vaccines. Not just from the shrieking people, but also the calm doctors and medical professionals who really are helping people and aren't the "big pharma" schills they are being made out to be.

As a final point, a personal anecdote. My father is having some health issues and can't afford a bout with the flu because he might die from it. Because of this, for the first time in my life, I am getting a flu vaccination. I'm doing this because it might save my father's life. Does this seem reasonable to you? I sure hope so.

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