AIDS no more

[celeritas]

I know my daughter is up to date.

you are my hero.

And my case, although the particular antibodies which were my downfall were no longer detectable upon my diagnosis, probably had nothing to do with a vaccination.

well, it does assume that you had an underlying break in self-tolerance, but it doesn't necessarily mean that symptoms will present. so you bring up a very good point because it is possible for an infection or even an attenuated vaccine (even vaccine components) to trigger autoimmunity. as a result, it is extremely important that the correct antigen targets are chosen very carefully for vaccine targets.

Obviously, Celeritas is much more well versed in this area than am I - and knows at least a little Latin too.

i hope well versed enough that i don't flunk out of school! (**nervous laugh**) and i only know enough latin to impress the girls (which, incidentally, isn't going over so well).

Personally I think if your using your religion as an excuse not to get vaccinated than your an idiot and you deserve what you get. The really sad thing about this is that they are risking their kids lives. The objections that I see from Muslims most often however is not religion based but rather that the West is using the vaccines to sterilize their woman. Unfortunatly the loons are risking the herd immunity as well with their bullshit.

Precisely what i wanted to say! people who don't get vaccinated can become potential carriers of the disease, which can strike back at the immunosuppressed and immunoincompetent, such as the very young and the very old. so in essence, when a person chooses not to get vaccinated or chooses not to vaccinate their kids, they make a decision that doesn't just affect that one individual, but could potentially put the vaccinated population at risk. So there's quite a tug-a-war between defending a person's right to his/her beliefs, and acting on the good of society as a whole. but our society (i.e., western society) defends the patient's right to choose, and we are ethically bound to respect a patient's choice, even if they intend to place themselves in danger's way and drag us in with them.

[Aaron]

I may have to respect that the law grants them that privelage but I don't have to respect the fact that their basing their decisions on illogical or harmful beliefs.

[Mikey]

You're walking down a slippery slope there. Here's an example:

I believe as I was taught by Conservative Judaism that abortion is NOT a practice to be used except in the case of pregnancy via rape a/o incest; additionally, an abortion is MANDATED when carrying the pregnancy would endanger the life of the mother.

Now, many Catholics would disagree with me, but to them their views are not illogical, or even subject to logic - they are based on faith. However, even more germane to this topic, is the fact that I know that I have no right whatsoever to try to impress my view (no matter how strongly I believe it) on anyone else.