2011-02-03, 03:41 PM
I hate to underscore Eos and Shidoshi's comments, but what they've said is true: it's better to have less people die than more. Ultimately, yes, lives were lost, and that's a horrible thing, but unless completely proven as the result of the drug, it can't be held accountable.
Take again the Gardasil vaccine as an example, as Talia says she'd rather "take a gamble" then risk death at the hands of the vaccine. Based on the figures in the Vaccine Monitoring section, over the period of June 2006 through December 31, 2008, 23 million doses of vaccine were sent out, with 32 deaths occurring some time after taking a dose.
32/23 million = 0.00014% chance of death.
As opposed to a 10.6% chance of contracting HPV whenever engaged in sexual contact.
All this example is here to prove is that medical drugs are developed and used across the world because, believe it or not, they work. They do what they say they'll do, and protect people from illness or death at a rate far greater than had such drugs not been used; in other words, more people die from not being protected than die from the drugs themselves. You don't even need data to prove that - just the fact that the world continues to use medicine, and continues to survive longer and longer.
The contention was raised earlier as to how our ancestors lived without vaccines, without medicine. Shidoshi mentioned that they pumped out a ton more children than we do now, and while that's true, it's not the most important fact: the average life expectancy of our ancestors, even 100,000 years ago, was a mere fraction of what human beings are capable of now. Medicine, like proper hygiene, health, and living conditions, played a huge role in that change of human history.
My last comment goes to those, like Talia, who I'm guessing are still skeptical, still willing to gamble with their childs' lives. Let me just say this: you will be hard pressed to find a drug on the market that does not have a least one death associated with the time after taking a dose. In other words, if you're worried about the potential 0.00014% chance of death from taking Gardasil, I highly suggest you stop giving your children Tylenol or Pepto Bismol, because I'm sure more have died taking those than the HPV vaccine.
Take again the Gardasil vaccine as an example, as Talia says she'd rather "take a gamble" then risk death at the hands of the vaccine. Based on the figures in the Vaccine Monitoring section, over the period of June 2006 through December 31, 2008, 23 million doses of vaccine were sent out, with 32 deaths occurring some time after taking a dose.
32/23 million = 0.00014% chance of death.
As opposed to a 10.6% chance of contracting HPV whenever engaged in sexual contact.
All this example is here to prove is that medical drugs are developed and used across the world because, believe it or not, they work. They do what they say they'll do, and protect people from illness or death at a rate far greater than had such drugs not been used; in other words, more people die from not being protected than die from the drugs themselves. You don't even need data to prove that - just the fact that the world continues to use medicine, and continues to survive longer and longer.
The contention was raised earlier as to how our ancestors lived without vaccines, without medicine. Shidoshi mentioned that they pumped out a ton more children than we do now, and while that's true, it's not the most important fact: the average life expectancy of our ancestors, even 100,000 years ago, was a mere fraction of what human beings are capable of now. Medicine, like proper hygiene, health, and living conditions, played a huge role in that change of human history.
My last comment goes to those, like Talia, who I'm guessing are still skeptical, still willing to gamble with their childs' lives. Let me just say this: you will be hard pressed to find a drug on the market that does not have a least one death associated with the time after taking a dose. In other words, if you're worried about the potential 0.00014% chance of death from taking Gardasil, I highly suggest you stop giving your children Tylenol or Pepto Bismol, because I'm sure more have died taking those than the HPV vaccine.