The Way Roald Dahl Shut Down Anti-Vaxxers After Losing His Daughter To Measles Is Surprisingly Relevant Today
My favorite author as a child, Roald Dahl’s books filled my imagination with tales of wonder and adventure while teaching me important life lessons about kindness, independent thought, and humility. Nearly 20 years after his passing, this brilliantly insightful man is still inspiring the minds of people young and old, and his writing is just as relevant as ever.
Image credits: Shutterstock
As well as whimsical classics such as The BFG, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda, Dahl penned a few essays in the interest of public health and safety. This heartbreaking letter about the tragic death of his daughter Olivia, who passed away in 1962 from complications of the measles virus, is essential reading for those of you in doubt about vaccinating your children.
Image credits: wikipedia
Here’s what people had to say about the powerful letter
People, please, please, please vaccinate. You may not get sick, but you can still be a carrier for the disease, and (unwillingly) spread it around, especially to those who have a compromised immune system. And to those people, it can be fatal.
@fuggnuggins https://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/do-vaccines-cause-autism#1 The research is clear: Vaccines don’t cause autism. So stfu.
@fuggnuggins, you are a fucking moron. I apologize if that offends you but there is no nicer way to state your idiocy. I'm guessing that you have something to say about chemtrails and Yetis as well.
@fuggnuggins That seems credible at first, but I did a little more digging. Dr. Zimmerman made a statement that children with mitochondrial dysfunction MAY BE at risk for regression ("with features of autism") when exposed to factors that stress their mitochondrial reserve. Those factors include vaccines, but they also include infections. These children are 1) very rare and 2) would almost certainly have developed autism anyway. (Can you imagine the Heruclean feat of preventing a child from *ever getting sick*?) It is also, at this point, pure speculation compared to the vast quantities of evidence of the good that vaccines do - and Dr. Zimmerman himself remains pro-vaccines. Snopes, among other places, contains a link to Zimmerman's 2018 statement about the mis-representation of his comments. (https://www.snopes.com/news/2019/01/21/witness-view-vaccines-autism/)
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
CDC's Expert Vaccine Court Witness: Vaccines Can Cause Autism https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdXRX30RjBM Who do you believe? Some outraged mum, or CDC's own former expert witness?
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
People who have depression sometimes kill lots of other people. Therefore everyone needs to consume medicine and risk the severe side effects, while weakening their own immune systems and strengthening the virus against medicine due to a response of the immune system, in which people who have had a virus will develop an immunity, but when they come into contact with a slightly different version of said virus later on then the immune system can't kill it because it thinks it's the other guy and can't figure out where the door knob is. It get's rather confused. Thus, vaccines are setting up a scene for disaster. But, pro-big-pharma people would understand all of this already. As well as the CDC whistleblowers coming out in force against vaccines, and all of the medical professionals warning against vaccines. A medicine with zero trial process, and you all think it's a great idea to just give it to everyone. Put all of your eggs in one basket. Talk about cosmically stupid.
Vaccines introduce a small amount of dead or weakened strains of the virus into your body so your body can learn to produce antibodies against the disease. It's like learning martial arts in case you're ever in a situation where you need to defend yourself. You might never be in that situation but your body will have the knowledge of how to deal with it. Without a vaccination you're going without any training or knowledge and it's why people that get the disease after they are immunized have it less severely, as their body still has to fight it off like an unvaccinated person but they know how to fight it. Your comparison of vaccinations to antidepressants is like comparing an egg and an elephant and saying they're the same thing because they start with "e". They aren't even remotely comparable.
Antivaxxers have no credible medical reports upon which to base their decisions. It began with Wakefield's (now retracted) inaccurate paper, was spead by idiotic celebrities (much like herpes), and has been embraced by the portion of the US who believe everything celebs tell them. The children are the ones who suffer.
You're right. I just realized that the first time I heard about it was when Jenny McCarthy started talking about it!
It is hard for me to understand why she is still on tv.
I still can't look at her on any program without being disgusted. She profited from this ignorant stance via book sales and appearances spreading her stupidity. Jim Carrey, her SO at the time, still spouts this garbage.
I was in Autism groups since 2003, my first time hearing about it was also when Jenny McQuack spewed her nonsense. Her son isn't even autistic. He has a seizure disorder. I feel bad for him. The things he's had to endure and will have to endure for years to come.
tits that is why she is still on tv it's her tits
She's still profiting off her nonsense. She has been promoting her antivax business partners book on Autism. So incredibly ableist that she was dropped as a sponsor at special Olympics. Here's a link to the story. https://falseprophets635728819.wordpress.com/2018/08/21/anti-vaxxers-start-end-autism-now-campaign-it-doesnt-go-well/
I'd really like to know where she went to medical school.
I hate then even after it came out that her son didn't have autism she never retracted what she said. I didn't know about so that explains what her angle was.
This comment has been deleted.
This comment has been deleted.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
CDC's Expert Vaccine Court Witness: Vaccines Can Cause Autism https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdXRX30RjBM Who do you believe? Some outraged mum, or CDC's own former expert witness?
Longer response under troufaki13's comment above, but here's the short reply again: https://www.snopes.com/news/2019/01/21/witness-view-vaccines-autism/
I like it how he uses the word "immunisation". Language matters a lot, as particular words help shaping particular thoughts. "Vaccine" doesn't sound friendly indeed. If you know what it is, you'll percieve the term as merely "medicine". But it does bring cold images of laboratories, experiments, etc. "Immunisation", on the other hand, is very specific about its objective. It brings senses of trust and a positive curiosity, the one that makes you wanna try. Interesting, really. Maybe we should re-adopt this word into common speech.
Daria B is referring to the use of the word 'immunisation (or immunization) as opposed to the word 'vaccination'...not the difference in spelling between the US and Britain.
Thanks, AnnaB.
LOL Grumblepig. Reading is Fundamental.
As an English parent, I found most of the people I encountered in the NHS (our universal health care) referred to them as immunisations or just as 'jabs' which sounds almost cute. My son was a preemie and was born unable to feed and needed C-Pap. Spending 2 weeks in the NICU was torture. Some parents had been there much longer. My boy has Autism which I know isn't from his jabs but to be honest, even if it was, I'd still have given them. After you experience your child close to death with tubes and wires all over, you take all rational steps you can to prevent it ever happening again.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
The problem is that vaccines prevent the body from being immunised. You get the vaccine, introduce the virus to your body. Your body learns to recognise it, develops defence against it. Later, come into contact again, but the virus has changed a little. Still, the body recognises it. But, it doesn't know how to kill the different version. It thinks it's the old version. Doesn't know the difference. You are now reliant upon constant injections throughout your life, with ingredients including aluminium, mercury, human embryo... So, vaccine is somewhat anti-immunisation. It is a second-rate replacement of immunisation. And: CDC's Expert Vaccine Court Witness: Vaccines Can Cause Autism https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdXRX30RjBM Who do you believe? Some outraged mum, or CDC's own former expert witness? And, there's not enough space to continue. You'll have to burst your own bubble. Sorry. I do love bursting bubbles. Maybe another time.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
It's a British spelling, it happens a lot where the US English uses a z or zed and the British English (perhaps Commonwealth, really) uses and s.
People, please, please, please vaccinate. You may not get sick, but you can still be a carrier for the disease, and (unwillingly) spread it around, especially to those who have a compromised immune system. And to those people, it can be fatal.
@fuggnuggins https://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/do-vaccines-cause-autism#1 The research is clear: Vaccines don’t cause autism. So stfu.
@fuggnuggins, you are a fucking moron. I apologize if that offends you but there is no nicer way to state your idiocy. I'm guessing that you have something to say about chemtrails and Yetis as well.
@fuggnuggins That seems credible at first, but I did a little more digging. Dr. Zimmerman made a statement that children with mitochondrial dysfunction MAY BE at risk for regression ("with features of autism") when exposed to factors that stress their mitochondrial reserve. Those factors include vaccines, but they also include infections. These children are 1) very rare and 2) would almost certainly have developed autism anyway. (Can you imagine the Heruclean feat of preventing a child from *ever getting sick*?) It is also, at this point, pure speculation compared to the vast quantities of evidence of the good that vaccines do - and Dr. Zimmerman himself remains pro-vaccines. Snopes, among other places, contains a link to Zimmerman's 2018 statement about the mis-representation of his comments. (https://www.snopes.com/news/2019/01/21/witness-view-vaccines-autism/)
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
CDC's Expert Vaccine Court Witness: Vaccines Can Cause Autism https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdXRX30RjBM Who do you believe? Some outraged mum, or CDC's own former expert witness?
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
People who have depression sometimes kill lots of other people. Therefore everyone needs to consume medicine and risk the severe side effects, while weakening their own immune systems and strengthening the virus against medicine due to a response of the immune system, in which people who have had a virus will develop an immunity, but when they come into contact with a slightly different version of said virus later on then the immune system can't kill it because it thinks it's the other guy and can't figure out where the door knob is. It get's rather confused. Thus, vaccines are setting up a scene for disaster. But, pro-big-pharma people would understand all of this already. As well as the CDC whistleblowers coming out in force against vaccines, and all of the medical professionals warning against vaccines. A medicine with zero trial process, and you all think it's a great idea to just give it to everyone. Put all of your eggs in one basket. Talk about cosmically stupid.
Vaccines introduce a small amount of dead or weakened strains of the virus into your body so your body can learn to produce antibodies against the disease. It's like learning martial arts in case you're ever in a situation where you need to defend yourself. You might never be in that situation but your body will have the knowledge of how to deal with it. Without a vaccination you're going without any training or knowledge and it's why people that get the disease after they are immunized have it less severely, as their body still has to fight it off like an unvaccinated person but they know how to fight it. Your comparison of vaccinations to antidepressants is like comparing an egg and an elephant and saying they're the same thing because they start with "e". They aren't even remotely comparable.
Antivaxxers have no credible medical reports upon which to base their decisions. It began with Wakefield's (now retracted) inaccurate paper, was spead by idiotic celebrities (much like herpes), and has been embraced by the portion of the US who believe everything celebs tell them. The children are the ones who suffer.
You're right. I just realized that the first time I heard about it was when Jenny McCarthy started talking about it!
It is hard for me to understand why she is still on tv.
I still can't look at her on any program without being disgusted. She profited from this ignorant stance via book sales and appearances spreading her stupidity. Jim Carrey, her SO at the time, still spouts this garbage.
I was in Autism groups since 2003, my first time hearing about it was also when Jenny McQuack spewed her nonsense. Her son isn't even autistic. He has a seizure disorder. I feel bad for him. The things he's had to endure and will have to endure for years to come.
tits that is why she is still on tv it's her tits
She's still profiting off her nonsense. She has been promoting her antivax business partners book on Autism. So incredibly ableist that she was dropped as a sponsor at special Olympics. Here's a link to the story. https://falseprophets635728819.wordpress.com/2018/08/21/anti-vaxxers-start-end-autism-now-campaign-it-doesnt-go-well/
I'd really like to know where she went to medical school.
I hate then even after it came out that her son didn't have autism she never retracted what she said. I didn't know about so that explains what her angle was.
This comment has been deleted.
This comment has been deleted.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
CDC's Expert Vaccine Court Witness: Vaccines Can Cause Autism https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdXRX30RjBM Who do you believe? Some outraged mum, or CDC's own former expert witness?
Longer response under troufaki13's comment above, but here's the short reply again: https://www.snopes.com/news/2019/01/21/witness-view-vaccines-autism/
I like it how he uses the word "immunisation". Language matters a lot, as particular words help shaping particular thoughts. "Vaccine" doesn't sound friendly indeed. If you know what it is, you'll percieve the term as merely "medicine". But it does bring cold images of laboratories, experiments, etc. "Immunisation", on the other hand, is very specific about its objective. It brings senses of trust and a positive curiosity, the one that makes you wanna try. Interesting, really. Maybe we should re-adopt this word into common speech.
Daria B is referring to the use of the word 'immunisation (or immunization) as opposed to the word 'vaccination'...not the difference in spelling between the US and Britain.
Thanks, AnnaB.
LOL Grumblepig. Reading is Fundamental.
As an English parent, I found most of the people I encountered in the NHS (our universal health care) referred to them as immunisations or just as 'jabs' which sounds almost cute. My son was a preemie and was born unable to feed and needed C-Pap. Spending 2 weeks in the NICU was torture. Some parents had been there much longer. My boy has Autism which I know isn't from his jabs but to be honest, even if it was, I'd still have given them. After you experience your child close to death with tubes and wires all over, you take all rational steps you can to prevent it ever happening again.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
The problem is that vaccines prevent the body from being immunised. You get the vaccine, introduce the virus to your body. Your body learns to recognise it, develops defence against it. Later, come into contact again, but the virus has changed a little. Still, the body recognises it. But, it doesn't know how to kill the different version. It thinks it's the old version. Doesn't know the difference. You are now reliant upon constant injections throughout your life, with ingredients including aluminium, mercury, human embryo... So, vaccine is somewhat anti-immunisation. It is a second-rate replacement of immunisation. And: CDC's Expert Vaccine Court Witness: Vaccines Can Cause Autism https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdXRX30RjBM Who do you believe? Some outraged mum, or CDC's own former expert witness? And, there's not enough space to continue. You'll have to burst your own bubble. Sorry. I do love bursting bubbles. Maybe another time.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
It's a British spelling, it happens a lot where the US English uses a z or zed and the British English (perhaps Commonwealth, really) uses and s.