Updated news about the current conversations around vaccine medicine...coming to you from me, March Twisdale. I spoke with Nina Shapiro of Seattle Weekly earlier in the week...and I was interviewed by King 5 News today.
Watch here: http://www.king5.com/story/news/local/2015/02/11/vashon-island-measles-immunization-vaccination/23263843/
Overall, excellent conversations around the various issues that come up around Vaccine Medicine.
Also talking with The Seattle Times on Thursday and another journalist is interviewing both Karen and I for a magazine that discusses issues important to medical doctors...that's on Wednesday. (Karen is a lovely interview candidate, but news agencies seem to like to focus on Vashon Island, so she gets less calls...wish they delved into her mind a bit more often!)
A busy week, all told!
So...you might be wondering...
WHAT do I focus on, when being interviewed?
(2) The importance of acknowledging the growing epidemic of neurological conditions, auto-immune conditions, and other chronic illnesses, including - but most definitely not limited to - Autism Spectrum Disorder. Given the increase in these conditions, overall parental concerns deserve our respect.
(3) The validity of being concerned about "environmental factors" with regard to this epidemic. We go to great lengths to discourage tuna & alcohol for pregnant women, smoking in homes with children, washing fruits & vegetables to decrease pesticide residues, etc. But, for some reason, we don't validate concerns about the increased number of vaccines being injected into newborns and very young children who are still developing both their brains and their immune system. Why?
(4) Focusing our attention on HOW people make their decisions rather than WHAT they decide, because our thinking process matters. Whether you inherently question everything or prefer to delegate to an authority figure or simply believe what your trusted childhood doctor told you...how we arrive at a decision matters.
(5) The negative impact of polarization, including "birds of a feather flocking together," which results in people being offered consistently re-affirming information for their particular perspective. This lack of diversity reduces our ability to grow and evolve in our understanding, etc.
(6) Bringing the focus back to SCIENCE. When I was asked, "why do you think people on Vashon believe as they do?" I corrected the question, saying we shouldn't assume that people act upon a "belief." People are making a "choice" and the question is, "what has led to their decision?"
Remember...vaccine science is science, and that means
questions are always a good idea!
NOTE: this post is written by March about her week's experiences and has not
been co-written with Karen Crisalli Winter. As such, March is solely responsible
for the content of this post.
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Welcome to the conversation. Knowledge changes. People respond best when this truism is kept in mind. In community, March & Karen