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Roald Dahl’s Message to Anti-vaccination Groups
“Olivia, my eldest daughter, caught measles when she was seven years old. As the illness took its usual course I can remember reading to her often in bed and not feeling particularly alarmed about it. Then one morning, when she was well on the road to recovery, I was sitting on her bed showing her how to fashion little animals out of coloured pipe-cleaners, and when it came to her turn to make one herself, I noticed that her fingers and her mind were not working together and she couldn’t do anything.
‘Are you feeling all right?’ I asked her.
‘I feel all sleepy,’ she said.
In an hour, she was unconscious. In twelve hours she was dead.
The measles had turned into a terrible thing called measles encephalitis and there was nothing the doctors could do to save her. That was…in 1962, but even now, if a child with measles happens to develop the same deadly reaction from measles as Olivia did, there would still be nothing the doctors could do to help her. On the other hand, there is today something that parents can do to make sure that this sort of tragedy does not happen to a child of theirs. They can insist that their child is immunised against measles.
…I dedicated two of my books to Olivia, the first was ‘James and the Giant Peach’. That was when she was still alive. The second was ‘The BFG’, dedicated to her memory after she had died from measles. You will see her name at the beginning of each of these books. And I know how happy she would be if only she could know that her death had helped to save a good deal of illness and death among other children.”
– Roald Dahl, 1986
Published in General
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Apparently, we’ll need to embrace the power of ‘and’ on that.
I think it’s a bit misleading to keep calling mRNA vaccines “experimental.”
The person who invented mRNA vaccines, Dr Robert Malone, is very worried about the COVID mRNA vaccines because they inject an artificial version of the strike protein, which is very toxic, into you. The COVID mRNA vaccines are very experimental and have not been thoroughly tested which will take years. The negative reactions to these “vaccines” are not fully known at all. To suggest otherwise is ridiculous.
No, it’s the same immunotherapy in development for cancer treatment and wasn’t created ex nihilo last year. And we’ve already been around on Dr. Malone. I think making people fearful of the possible, undemonstrated, long term negative reactions to the vaccine rather than the known and demonstrated long term negative reactions to the virus is ridiculous. But, again, YMMV.
Yes, I think we’ll all eventually be exposed. It’s just some of us won’t have the protection afforded by the vaccine. Still, people should be free to choose is my position.
If it turns out that the covid vaccines don’t have any serious long term effects then vaccination is its own benefit. The question is always about tradeoffs.
Currently, as I understand it, on the one hand we have a segment (most segments probably) with no serious risk, we have non-vaccine and long-term-effect-tested treatments (like ivermectin).
On the other hand we have vaccines most of which were derived from aborted fetus cell lines, none of which have completed the usual vetting process (understandably, considering the high risk to some few segments), all of which carry some risk themselves (though admittedly very small), whose efficacy is to be determined (how do vaccinated people contract covid?).
Depends which vax you’re referring to. I’m not anti-vax in general. I’ve never gotten the flu shot though, and I probably never will. To me, we probably need another word for whatever the flu shot is. Flu shot does not equal polio vaccine or MMR or others. We also need a national conversation that actually discusses things like tradeoffs instead of propagandizing, baby-fying, and suppressing.
I think it’s yet to be determined whether the covid shots are in one of these categories or in some other category. I also think it’s yet to be determined if the tradeoff involved with the covid shots is worth it. For some segment of the population it’s worth it right now – we know that much. For others we can afford to wait for the usual long term effects analysis. If it turns out that the covid shots are safer and/or more effective than the risk of getting the virus and getting the non-vaccine treatments, then I’ll be all for the covid shots.
Measles is a terrible disease that needed no propaganda campaign to convince people how bad it was. Even then, the vaccine started development in 1954 and wasn’t available to the public until the early 1960s. I was one of the first kids to get it. I’m thankful for it.
COVID is a virus that does not pose a significant threat to young, healthy members of the population. Or even to healthy, fit individuals in their 50’s like me. That’s why – unlike the measles or polio – COVID needs a propaganda campaign to keep the fear alive. If you are elderly and/or unhealthy then, sure, get the vaccines that were rushed into production. I’m not going to be stampeded into it.
There’s a book on the development of the Salk polio vaccine (A Splendid Solution, by Jeffrey Kluger) which is well worth reading in the light of present controversies. Daniel Greenfield (‘Sultan Knish’) may have read the same book; he covers much of this history in his post here, in which he also points out the misrepresentation of the polio vaccine history by Fauci.
Roald Dahl was a virulent anti-Semite. Too bad they have yet to find a vaccine for Jew hatred, which has been compared to a mutating virus: Jews have been reviled for their religion, for their race, for being capitalists, for being communists, and now for wanting to live in their age-old homeland.
Most people are not anti-vaccine. We could not start school in the US unless we were vaccinated. Many vaccines save lives, and even kids pouring into our borders, who may be carriers or susceptible to old diseases that have been eradicated thanks to vaccines, need vaccines, but that doesn’t mean the COVID shot is in the same league. Vaccines are traditionally researched and developed, through traditional trials, and careful documentations of side effects and overall effectiveness before being used on the public. Of course, nothing is perfect and side effects occur.
The COVID shots were rushed into production, bypassing these safety methods and can only be made using a very strict and strange process – that’s why only a small handful of companies are equipped to do it. There is not a central database for tracking side effects. There is also more info coming out about the disease’s origins and it is looking man-made, not emerging from nature. They have not “isolated” it, but have developed the vaccine and delivery system from it’s string of messaging only. So this is new territory on so many levels. It has not been approved by the FDA as a vaccine for these reasons, only as “emergency use”.
Also people have always had the freedom to choose, and those freedoms are being censored and controlled, on all levels, not just COVID.
I’ve already given my thoughts on Covid vaccinations, so I’m not going to repeat that here. But outside of a few religious nuts, which account for maybe one percent of one percent of one percent of the population, I do not know of anyone who is completely against all forms of vaccination. If we suddenly get a massive Ebola outbreak in America, then please, sign me up for the Ebola vaccine. I’ll be the first in line.
I also don’t believe in magic bean solutions. Our obesity epidemic is much more serious and it is a huge contributor to weak immune systems. I haven’t heard a single politician or “expert” encourage Americans to get back into shape since this thing started. Not a lot of pockets to line if you go down that road. Even if the risk is small, I do not need to increase my risk by any percentage to pay for the poor decisions of others. That’s not selfish, that’s just reality.
You make an excellent point and here’s an observation: It has been stated that people of color have suffered more because of somehow not being able to access the COVID vaccine or enough of it, at least initially. Michelle Obama made fitness and eating healthy her theme as First Lady. They installed a garden at the WH and completely changed the school menus. Exercise was a big part of it. I thought it was a good idea. Yet I see more obese people of color than anyone else – it’s almost a trend. It seems to be more women than men, and it is never discussed. It’s more about love yourself, accept yourself as is, even though your risk of disease and early death goes way up. Why is this? There is also the same health issues in the South overall, and in rural areas.
Yes and why aren’t the authorities screaming about getting your Vitamin D levels up if they’re low. I’ve been taking supplements for a decade. My wife started taking them last summer. She got COVID in December and it was a bad case of the flu apart from losing her sense of taste and smell for a while. She’s not getting the jab. It’s experimental and she already has better immunity than it provides. This one size fits all approach is preposterous. Are the authorities interesting in fighting COVID or are they pushing control of people. The lockdowns may have killed more people than they’ve saved though increased suicides and people not getting screenings against cancer. Fauci and company appear oblivious to these pernicious affects of their policies.
Lastly and then I’ll shut up…….why are the vaccinated being told to mask up? Are they not supposedly protected? What is the point of all this vaccinating then??????????
I have two funerals to attend in the next two weeks. A 60 year old who got diagnosed with liver cancer two weeks ago and died last Sunday. And A 55 year old woman (who I used to babysit) who committed suicide.
This will be our fourth funeral this year. None from Covid. One was an 80 year old who died alone in her nursing home. A stately woman with a massive, comforting bosom. She weighed only 85 lbs when she died. The nursing home protected her from Covid but she died anyway. “Failure to thrive” is just another word for loneliness.
The cost of the lockdowns and the over reaction to Covid is incalculable
Big ethical difference between vaccines derived (manufactured — J&J) using aborted fetal cell lines and those tested using aborted fetal cell lines (Pfizer, Moderna). Even the Church recognizes the far remove of the latter from the grave evil of abortion and permits them.
data out of Israel show that natural immunization is about 7 times better than vaccine immunity. But some of that could be survivor bias.
If vaccine immunity is 95% or thereabouts, how do you get “7 times better” than that? I think there’s a lot of confusing information out there. Or, maybe it’s just me being confused.
Assuming 95% is accurate, that would mean 5% non-immunity. 7 times better would be about .7% non-immunity.
The same sorts of voices against this one are being driven by the same people against all of them.
So, not as impressive as it sounds.
Well that has no bearing on anything.
I love it! Conservatives upset that the bloated, bureaucratic, expense government controlled process is the gold standard!
It is not “experimental” but if you people want to cling to that fiction, go right ahead.
Yeah, it reminds me of the conservatives I know who are all about the “organic” gardening standards — out of California!!!
I trust Pfizer over the FDA. The FDA has gotten a lot more people killed than Pfizer ever will (often by delaying or withholding approval on lifesaving drugs). Every adult person should be given information about risks and then decide for himself. Many will choose unwisely because people are generally so terrible at accurately assessing risk (I don’t exclude myself in that assessment — I’m not fond of flying, but I’ll drive around town at 50 mph without a second thought). But, that’s freedom for you.
I’m not sure that’s true. Me, my husband, our kids and four grand kids are all fully vaccinated. But none of us feel the need to get the Covid shot. I’m not even against the Covid shot – if I was older, or in poor health, or 100 lbs heavier, I’m pretty sure I’d get it. And I think it’s an amazing achievement that it was developed so quickly.
Bret Weinstein, for instance, has gotten many more-than-the-usual amount of vaxes.
Agreed that those who are anti-all-vax would also be against the Covid shot. I didn’t get the Gardisol vax, as there was no point. I don’t plan on getting the Covid shot, because I don’t see a point.
Plus – there’s treatments for Covid.
Edited to add: one minor correction. Son #1 got the Covid shot. But as a member of the military, who was about to be in close confines with hundreds of others and visit many foreign countries, that makes sense to me.
I think the situation in which we find ourselves is complicated and painting with a broad brush is unwise. And unhelpful.
No one needs your permission, Bryan.
I don’t know if the Covid shot is technically “experimental” or not. But I do know there’s no long term data.
It’s a little late now. The PR people and their spokespeople have compromised their credibility so much, there is not one thing they will say that I can believe. (and this may be permanent.)
I will continue to navigate my immediate world with my best astute observations, intution, instincts and action.
If that doesn’t work, I’l Go with G-d.
See how that works?
Eyes Open. No Fear.
Well, at least they don’t have covid. /sarc off
I don’t get the sense there is interest in sorting or showing anything. At least not out in the public, that is uncensored.
Maybe our focus and rejection should be on the media and their willingness to choose a narrative, and stick with it, do or die.
Fourteen months ago I would have been willing to be open minded. I was not an anti-vaxxer. I’m a tepid-vaxxer for things that have been used for years, but I am staunchly in the camp of personal and family autonomy.
I am anti-covid-vaxxer, because of what I have observed and experienced in the past 14 months.
I’m pretty sure my neighbor had it in January 2020, before it was a thing.
I’m pretty sure I had it back in March 2020, but my most horrendous symptom, a horrible horrible rash, was not on the publicized list. So I am not sure if I had it and am no longer willing to participate in any component of this charade.
In the first 15 days the “15-days to slow the spread” was reasonable, but what followed from day 16 to today has been sheer insanity.
I’m also not convinced that wasn’t EXACTLY the plan: Forced Insanity.