EVERYDAY #3813

I don’t know how I feel on the issue of vaccines. On the one hand, the flu and pneumonia vaccines are vital due to my damaged heart. On the other hand, I had the usual childhood diseases — measles, mumps, chicken pox — and came through them unscathed. There may well be too much vaccinating going on.

The one thing that I don’t agree with is this constant barrage of criticism of “Big Pharma.” Here again, I think there is a lot of overmedicating going on due to a tendency by doctors to treat symptoms rather than extol preventive medicine. But there are going to be times when medication will literally save lives. That’s true in my case. An alternative remedy may work well for a cold. It doesn’t work so well for cancer. So I can’t see avoiding pharmaceuticals entirely if you want to stay alive.

Much drug research has been focused on effectiveness. Fine. But there also has to be consideration for safety. If drugs are going to effectively treat or cure an illness, but then produce an array of potentially debilitating side effects — some of which may be permanent — what good are they?