KimCrawley.com- Bright Ideas: Get your shots!

I had a doctor's appointment yesterday. Among the matters I took care of was making sure I got my flu shot for this season.

I'm not afraid of getting influenza myself. Chances are that I'd be in bed for several days, and then I'd be relatively fine. I got my flu shot as a public duty.

I'm generally healthy, but the others you may pass the virus to may not be. You may be a carrier even before you have symptoms. Consider the elderly. Consider people with AIDS. Consider cancer patients.

Maybe you'll pass the virus to someone else who IS healthy, but they'll pass the virus to someone who isn't.

My father, like me, understands the importance of immunization and herd immunity. He got his general flu shot AND his swine flu shots last year. But over New Years, he was hospitalized with ANOTHER strain of the flu virus, and he came down with pneumonia, as well. We were afraid that he wasn't going to make it. He's 73 years old and he has type two diabetes, in a rather severe form.

But thanks to the good folks at the hospital, he survived and lived to tell the tale! Sure, you can't be immunized for every single viral disease out there, or every single strain. But the more immunizations you get, the better.

Listen to mainstream medicine. DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, LISTEN TO JENNY MCCARTHY.

A lot of people do get unpleasant side effects from vaccines, but that's no reason to shun them. Nothing in any vaccine 'causes' autism, and autism isn't something to be banished, either. Autism does a lot of good for humanity.

I can tell you what DOESN'T do good for humanity. Measles! Mumps! Rubella! Polio!

My father remembers when polio was a big deal. His cousin and best friend died from the disease in the 1940s, I believe. Polio is now very rare in the developed world, but polio still exists. All it takes is for some people from the developed world to visit the developing world and NOT get their shots, and then BINGO! We'd have a polio epidemic again!

Measles, mumps, and rubella, all diseases that can be deadly, even in otherwise healthy people, are all on the rise in the United States and Canada.

You wanna know why? Because far too many parents watch that Oprah and listen to that Jenny McCarthy.

I try to refrain from too much profanity on this blog, but now I'm so pissed off I can barely contain myself.

wesome website.

These are real lives and real people who are being affected. People are DYING because of Oprah and Jenny's stupidity. If you lost a loved one to rubella, you'd be mad, too.

We can totally eradicate certain deadly diseases, but only if as many people, adults and children, get their shots as possible!

Do the whole entire world a favour, and get as many immunizations as possible. Immunize your children. Tell adults to do the same. Spread the word!

Get informed, and read these links. Especially the Jenny McCarthy Body Count. That's an awesome website.

I've got a busy week ahead of me! I'll try to continue my 'A Brief History of the Web' series by Friday, at the latest. In the meanwhile, check out Blogcritics and Dragon Blogger. TTFN!