How has "Do your own research" become a sneer?

Some points about chicken pox and the varicella vaccine in particular, and being silenced in general

I’m not sure how becoming informed is now the sign of being a conspiracy theorist; maybe it’s how propaganda protects itself? “Oh, now they say ‘do your own research’!!” And you know who they are — insane people who want to know more, who won’t do exactly as the medical establishment insists.

Seriously, do your own research.

Figure things out yourself. Experts become expert by studying — or they did, until they didn’t. Today, sadly, having a scientific degree does not mean the person has done any research at all.

But you should, especially if the subject matter is an injection you are consenting to on behalf of your healthy child.

In general

You have to have some familiarity with reading scientific literature. It’s not hard to get that familiarity. An important distinction: Some papers are surveys of the literature on a topic, with conclusions drawn by the person or persons aggregating the material. Some papers are original research. It helps to know that and the more you read, the more you will learn about that. One is not necessarily better than the other, but it’s good to be aware that sometimes you have to look at the original research to be sure the conclusions of the meta (aggregating) study are valid.

Early on in the lockdown, when I was arguing against masking, an interlocutor demanded I read a study she claimed showed that nurses are just fine wearing N95 masks their entire shifts. So I did read it. Even though the introduction of the study did indeed vaguely indicate that the nurses were okay, the actual study showed the opposite: that they suffered from headaches, dizziness, low oxygen rates, and the need to take more breaks. When I told her what the study said, she still insisted on her original interpretation. Reading is hard, I guess.

You need to be familiar with some of the language. Know that “human diploid cell cultures” means “tissue/cells from aborted babies.” Look up things you don’t quite understand.

You might have to look up some of your questions on a browser other than Google. I think we learned that during the lockdown when we had questions about treatments previously known to be safe, effective, and inexpensive.

When it comes to vaccines, start with the inserts provided with the manufacturer. It’s hard for someone to claim that your concern is an anti-vaxx conspiracy when the information comes from the insert itself. This site provides the inserts for you, since opening up that big sheet folded many times to fit into the box the vial comes in isn’t always practicable. That said, I was blocked from my town’s main (unofficial but most popular) Facebook page for quoting the CDC on the effects of the Covid shot on young men, so I don’t think being rational is the strong point of those pushing shots.

You should also know that pediatricians have a legal obligation to provide you with all the information regarding any treatment, which of course includes the inserts.

Some sites are helpful in that they have organized information about vaccines for you. Do you need to know if the shot is ethically (i.e. not from aborted fetal tissue) sourced? Go to Children of God for Life. Here is a helpful PDF with lots of information as well.

Speaking of being informed —You should also know that most pediatricians get paid when your child gets a shot. For example, see this typical Performance Recognition Program from the Michigan Blue Cross Blue Shield network.

Chicken pox in particular

Okay, I wrote about the illogical actions taken by a board of health near me on the subject of a chicken pox “outbreak” here.

I want to delve into it all a bit more, because the received “wisdom” is that chicken pox is a dangerous (false) highly contagious (true) illness that must be avoided at all costs, but as always, lots of things involve a risk/benefit calculation, and to do a proper one, the parent must be informed.

The varicella vaccine was the first time (in the 90s) that I began to question whether the medical love-affair with vaccines is valid. Up until then I followed what my doctor recommended, though in my defense, the shots were relatively very few.

However, I started to question. I saw no reason to avoid chicken pox. But crucially, I was not going to give anything to my child derived from aborted fetal tissue. It seemed very strange to me that I was having to resist this on these two grounds of triviality and gravity.

The shot is not without risk (apart from that of the babies whose bodies were/are used to make it) by the way. Read the insert. Do the costs outweight the benefits?

But there’s more

Turns out that there is a lot of evidence that getting “wild” chicken pox has benefits and the risk is very low. I’ll just quickly run down some of the things to consider:

The claims about deaths from chicken pox are highly misleading.

There seems to be research showing that childhood chicken pox guards against some types of heart disease. A search offers this, AI generated, but the studies I saw are paywalled:

What are the specific cardiovascular conditions that are less likely to develop in individuals with a history of chickenpox?

Atherosclerosis: Research suggests that VZV infection can trigger an immune response that may help prevent the development of atherosclerosis, a condition characterized by the buildup of plaque in the arteries.

Heart failure: The immune response triggered by VZV infection may also help reduce the risk of heart failure, a condition in which the heart is unable to pump enough blood to meet the body’s needs.

Staphylococcal endocarditis: A study found that individuals who had a history of chickenpox were less likely to develop staphylococcal endocarditis, a serious bacterial infection of the heart valves.

The effect of the combination shot against childhood diseases (including chicken pox) on febrile seizures. Because vaccines are known to increase febrile seizures, pediatricians downplay their danger. I believe we should use common sense about this and something that causes a high level of concern in parents should not be lightly dismissed. But science is catching up: Here’s one paper. Here’s another.

There’s a lot of evidence that these relatively benign illnesses actually protect against later diseases, including Parkinson’s.

Chicken pox in the wild definitely boosts the population’s resistance to shingles. With the advent of the shot, shingles has become a serious health concern among the elderly, necessitating, you guessed it, more shots.

Conclusion

There’s a lot more research to show that chicken pox just isn’t a big deal for children, though of course it results in costs to the economy and stress on families when mothers have to leave work for three weeks.

But it doesn’t make sense to me to incur the serious health cost of getting the shot: remember, the immunity conveyed by the shot is probably not lifelong, making things even more risky for adults (mainly the unborn babies of women who do not have immunity when they get pregnant).

I’m not sure how to get out of this somewhat ironic (in the Greek tragedy sense) situation. I will just say, if I were having children these days, I would definitely try to confer immunity “in the wild” on them if possible, and I would still not consent to the shot.