As H1N1 Hits Home, A Debate on the Ethics of Vaccination
Tyler Stearns
Issue date: 9/10/09 Section: Opinion
What will happen if vaccination is not generally accepted? Many of the healthcare professionals cited above said they might not get the vaccine because this strain seems to be relatively mild. Paul has noted this and added that the government could be hyping the situation to gain more control. President Obama has declared that vaccination is voluntary but "highly recommended." Some believe mandatory vaccination is not too far off. This may be unlikely, but the government's portrayal of swine flu as a national emergency could have the same effect.
It is not much of a stretch to imagine government officials using the swine flu scare as a means to usurp more powers from the citizenry. As H.L. Mencken famously remarked, "The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." This becomes particularly clear during wartime. Governments use an enemy from without to force oppressive measures upon the populace. One need look no further than the Cold War, the lead-up to the Iraq War and the current demonization of Iran and North Korea.
Mandatory vaccination is not an unheard-of practice, either. Historically, many governments have adopted compulsory vaccination programs, most notably for children entering school. Given the near-monopoly of the public school system, there are many who are compulsorily vaccinated. This practice is absurd and slavish. It denies the right of every human being to the ownership of his or her body. In the name of some fictitious public good or social benefit, vaccines are made mandatory. If we can be forced to receive chemicals into our bodies for our own good, what else can we be coerced into doing for the sake of our own safety?
I say all of this in the hope that you will be more skeptical of the orthodox view passed down from on high. Certainly vaccines have been a boon to mankind: look to the eradication of smallpox. But it is important to remember to look not only at the benefits of a certain decision, but at the costs as well. What is lost may be more than what is gained.
It is not much of a stretch to imagine government officials using the swine flu scare as a means to usurp more powers from the citizenry. As H.L. Mencken famously remarked, "The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." This becomes particularly clear during wartime. Governments use an enemy from without to force oppressive measures upon the populace. One need look no further than the Cold War, the lead-up to the Iraq War and the current demonization of Iran and North Korea.
Mandatory vaccination is not an unheard-of practice, either. Historically, many governments have adopted compulsory vaccination programs, most notably for children entering school. Given the near-monopoly of the public school system, there are many who are compulsorily vaccinated. This practice is absurd and slavish. It denies the right of every human being to the ownership of his or her body. In the name of some fictitious public good or social benefit, vaccines are made mandatory. If we can be forced to receive chemicals into our bodies for our own good, what else can we be coerced into doing for the sake of our own safety?
I say all of this in the hope that you will be more skeptical of the orthodox view passed down from on high. Certainly vaccines have been a boon to mankind: look to the eradication of smallpox. But it is important to remember to look not only at the benefits of a certain decision, but at the costs as well. What is lost may be more than what is gained.
Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 14
SteveMartin
Steve Martin
posted 9/12/09 @ 7:56 AM EST
Huge kudos to Tyler Stearns for pointing out some of the potential dangers of this untested vaccine.
For more information on just how deadly this H1N1 pandemic scare and correlating vaccine MIGHT be, please visit the archives of our radio program by clicking "Archives" at nofda. (Continued…)
Henry Miller
posted 9/12/09 @ 9:04 AM EST
Governments always seem to have the collective IQ of an amoeba, going straight from stimulus to reaction with no thought at all of the implications of either of those two factors. (Continued…)
Professor Obvious
posted 9/14/09 @ 2:39 PM EST
The author tells us how many people had serious complications from the vaccine, but not how many people received the vaccine. He says it is more deaths than from the flu itself, but doesn't say how many of those there were. (Continued…)
Steve Martin
posted 9/14/09 @ 3:29 PM EST
Maybe Kenyon should have a "do a little investigation" requirement before posting too?
The evidence that this vaccine is UNTESTED AND DANGEROUS IS EVERYWHERE on the net and confirmed by dozens of respected doctors and scientists. (Continued…)
Columbus Alumnus
posted 9/30/09 @ 4:11 PM EST
Before a vaccine is released to the general public it must undergo significant tests and scrutiny. It isn't just willy nilly released upon completion and manufacture. (Continued…)
SteveMartin
posted 9/30/09 @ 4:45 PM EST
Unfortunately, the potentially deadly side effects (esp. immune system degradation caused by squalene) take many months to assess, and this vaccine will be given to millions of people after cursory testing of subjects for just a few weeks with NO DIAGNOSTIC FOLLOWUP! All they are doing is calling and asking, "So how do you feel". (Continued…)
Professor Obvious
posted 10/01/09 @ 3:06 PM EST
It's reasonable to think hard about the risks and benefits of any vaccine - but squalene isn't one of them in the United States. This compound has never been approved for adjuvant use in the US, and is not part of the 4 H1N1 vaccines which have been approved by the FDA. (Continued…)
New Jersey Movers
posted 10/01/09 @ 4:50 PM EST
You bring up some interesting points but the truth is that vaccines now are developed and tested in a much more thorough way than they were 30 years ago. (Continued…)
SteveMartin
posted 10/01/09 @ 8:00 PM EST
So they say....
However, one doctor yesterday said on Fox News that there will be "high levels of squalene" in what we are actually given, notwithstanding what has been tested. (Continued…)
Kenyon Alum
posted 10/06/09 @ 1:02 AM EST
When I was at Kenyon, Tyler Stearns repeatedly spammed the allstus with unproven garbage. His thorough lack of understanding for science is a disgrace. (Continued…)
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