The Real Victims

Mr. Shiny Shorts (NOT a victim)

I was thinking about innocent victims the other day and it seems very clear that vaccination conspiracy theorists like Mr Hubbs don't really care about others.  They would rather get their way regardless of how much science and evidence exists that prove that vaccines do far, far more good than harm.  They could care less about the millions of lives saved by vaccines, or the millions of humans who are protected from contracting diseases each and every year.

One only has to examine the published data from the World Health Organization (WHO) to clearly see those countries who have the highest rates of vaccination have a much lower infant mortality rates than those counties who have much lower vaccination rates.  Case in point, if you were to compare the US, Sweden, and Norway with countries like Niger, Nigeria, and Somalia here is what you would find:

United States:
Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): 7
Under-five mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): 8

Sweden:
Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): 2
Under-five mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): 3

Norway:
Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): 3
Under-five mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): 4

Chad:
Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births):  124
Under-five mortality rate (per 1,000 live births):  209

Nigeria:
Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): 96
Under-five mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): 186

Somalia:
Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): 119
Under-five mortality rate (per 1,000 live births): 200

Obviously vaccines are not the only determining factor when it comes to infant mortality.  There are other factors such as access to clean water and quality medical care as well as adequate supplies of food.  However if you examine the numbers you will find a direct correlation between vaccinations and child mortality rates regardless of these other factors.

If you really take the time to examine the numbers - no matter what countries you examine, the trends are clear.  Those countries who vaccinate the greatest portion of their population have fewer children dying while those countries who have not had as much success in vaccinating their populations have many more children dying each and every year from preventable diseases like measles (which according to the 2008 figures killed 164,000 people globally).

Think of that - 164,000 people dying from a disease we have a known and proven vaccine to prevent.  450 deaths every single day simply because our vaccination rates are not where they need to be worldwide.  However there is some good news - measles vaccination programs have reduced deaths 78% from 2000 to 2008 worldwide.  Those are indisputable facts and prove that higher vaccination rates lead to fewer deaths, yet people like Lowell Hubbs still refuse to accept these facts and act as if the WHO, UNICEF, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Red Cross, and dozens of other agencies are all in on some vast conspiracy to push vaccines for the sake of personal profit.

Perhaps even more shocking than the number of children who die from measles is the number of children who contract measles but don't die.  It is estimated that between 1%- 5% of those children with measles die from complications from the disease, which tells us that 95%-99% recover and live.  That equates to over 16,000,000 children who contract measles each and ever year.  That is 16 million children that have to suffer in pain while their bodies fight against the virus.  Apparently in the mind of a vaccine conspiracy theorist like Lowell Hubbs, 16 million children suffering for two to three weeks is much better than those same 16 million children receiving a single dose of the measles vaccine.

So let me ask: Are those 164,000 children who die from the measles the true victims, or is it the children who receive vaccines in countries such as the US?  Is it the millions of other children who contracted measles but didn't die, or is it people like Lowell Hubbs who pretend to understand issues of medicine even though he has never set foot in a research lab or taken so much as a remedial biology or immunology course in any college or university worldwide?

It seems clear when you really examine the facts, people like Mr. Hubbs don't care about these people at all.  They might claim to care and they might pretend that what drives their insanity is a desire to protect others, but the truth is Mr. Hubbs and his ilk are only interested in one thing and one thing alone.  They wish to ban all vaccines - and by doing so they wish to prevent people from making informed decisions on their own. 

The antivaxxers would be more than happy to see millions of children die each and ever year if it meant there were no vaccines, because in their minds vaccines are responsible for autism.  Aside from the fact that is zero scientific evidence to support this theory, and although there never has been any scientific evidence to support such a theory,  even if it were true antivaxxers like Mr. Hubbs would have us believe millions of dead children are better than a few thousand with autism, even though the vast majority of children who fall within the autism spectrum go on to lead relatively normal or near-normal lives.

Yea that makes sense.  Sounds like a great trade off... provided you or your children aren't the ones suffering.  These types are arguments are always easy for the antivaxxers to make when they realize they have already been vaccinated so they are safe from the diseases they wish to push onto the world's populace.

With all of this said, there is another smaller group who suffers negative impacts from anything and everything Mr. Hubbs stands for, and that group includes other people who just so happen to share the name "Lowell Hubbs".  Imagine sharing a name with a prolific vaccination conspiracy theorist who spends dozens upon dozens of hours each and every week writing on blogs and forums and websites and discussion groups all about various conspiracy theories. 

Imaging interviewing for a job only to have the potential employer type your name into Google and see all of this quackery associated with your name.  Imagine people emailing you or calling you and asking if you are the nutcase on the Internet who believes all vaccines are harmful or that science should be determined based upon wild theory or fabricated evidence or perhaps even nothing more than a strong opinion?

There are a lot of victims here, but I dare say anyone who shares the name Lowell Hubbs is harmed (at least on an emotional and psychological level) as much as anyone who has ever suffered from a disease treated or eradicated by a vaccine.

But Lowell Kevin Hubbs from Sioux Falls, South Dakota doesn't care about anyone else.  He merely cares about himself and meeting his goal of convincing the rest of the world to believe what he believes.  Because in the mind of a crazed conspiracy theorist, collateral damage or side effects imposed upon others just doesn't matter.  The end goal is a complete and total eradication of anything and everything related to vaccinations - innocent victims and anyone else who gets in the way be damned.