> >Two links for you:
> >
> >http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_%26_Melinda_Gates_Foundation
> >http://www.businessweek.com/interactive_reports/philanthropy_individual.=
html
>
> I am strongly against vaccines, so these are the wrong links to show me. =
;)
>
> And I am strongly against vaccines because my son has been seriously dama=
ged by them.. so I am well informed.

Vaccines were only a part of that list - and not the majority part.
If everyone has to meet 100% with our approval in all they do to be
worthwhile at all then vanishingly few would make the grade.

Vaccines can do great harm, especially to individuals.
My son was put in hospital due to a vaccine - and left hospital almost
instantly due to the effects of the same vaccine :-).
No harm done - measles !!! The wholly safe and inactive measles
vaccine [almost certainly] gave him measles and he wasadmitted to
hospital because of his mysterious condition. When he came out in red
spots they discharged him more rapidly than you've ever seen a
hospital act.

And it is undoubted that some individuals  are badly harmed or killed
by vaccines.
That doesn't make them "bad" from an overall point of view  - just
horrendously unfortunate in their worst case effects rather than their
general effects. Certainly there are some vaccines and programs which
are ill advised or based more on commercial gain than on rational
justification. BUT look at Bill G's vaccine list and you'll find some
very very major ones there which undoubtedly have a  vast net benefit.

TB vaccine -  would you seriously suggest that that is a bad idea overall?
Mabe you would.
If so, why?

Japanese encephalitis?

GAVI alliance: ... diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough),
hepatitis B, Hib and yellow fever, and more than five million future
deaths have been prevented (2010 WHO estimation).[3] GAVI has the
opportunity to help countries save more lives with the introduction of
two new vaccines. Pneumonia and diarrhoea ...

Diarrhoea is THE biggest killer of young children in developing countries.

Some people will simply dispute the claims that vaccines in general
save a vast net number of  lives in the manner that they do. But such
people are in danger of falling off the edge of their flat earth or of
dying from diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis , hepatitis B, Hib,  yellow
fever, pneumonia ,  diarrhoea etc.

Smallpox has been eliminated from the world. A stunning achievement.
Vaccination works.

In many areas and countries Polio is as good as gone. Including my
country. When cases do occur we look to find where else in the world
they have come from. Vaccination works.

Those who don't vaccinate in a community where others largely do,
benefit from a "freeloader" effect as long as too large a %age do not
free load. If say 90% vaccinate and 10% don't the net reduction in the
disease concerned protects the freeloaders. The freeloaders get the
benefits without the undoubted risks. Something for nothing. Good
value if you can manage it.

So, disliking Bill because he has saved and will continue to save
literally millions of children's lives is an allowable personal
choice, but not one which you may expect the majority to share.



   Russell
--=20
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