Steve is no stranger to vaccinations or advanced degrees. I rarely meet someone with so many letters after his name.
Steve currently works in the emergency department at a community hospital in the San Francisco Bay Area, but is a jack-of-all-trades, specializing in not only emergency room medicine, but tropical diseases/travel medicine and acupuncture. Before stepping into his roll in the emergency department, he had a clinic for over a decade where he catered to travelers, both pre- and post-travel.
As you may already know, overseas travelers may be recommended or required to get additional vaccinations to what we need here in the US. This precaution may be due to an outbreak of the disease in the travel destination.
At his clinic, he regularly immunized travelers, as well as gave necessary required boosters. Due to his training at UCLA medical school and his tropical medicine training in the UK, he has a well-formed foundation in vaccine theory and education.
Steve says patients bring up vaccination concerns all the time.
Most often I hear arguments that immunizations induce autism or autoimmune diseases and that parents who have these views are often quite dogmatic about their beliefs.
Steve
He believes in informed decision-making.
Essentially, I believe in the Golden Mean, meaning all things in moderation and all things dutifully considered and examined before making a decision. Immunizations are vitally important, but there are cases where not indicated or the risks are greater than the benefit.
Due to the firm beliefs they have, I try to explain that immunizations are one of the main reasons we have good health today, that we have long lives today.
Steve
Steve acknowledges risks, such as Guillain-Barre syndrome or using live immunizations in the immunocompromised or women who are pregnant. But he explains to his patients that those complications are rare, but the complications of catching a vaccine-preventable disease can be quite significant or even fatal.
Unfortunately, some patients fail to heed the warning and decide against vaccinations. Steve says that the anti-vaccine movement is an unfortunate phenomenon.
I think that certain politicians and celebrities have not just incited people, but have created a snowball which grows larger as it rolls down the hill of the public mind. It can almost be compared with the mass hysteria events that occurred in the Middle Ages or even in our modern era.
Steve
The truth is that vaccines minimize disease and death. Because he firmly believes this, he has no hesitation in getting immunizations for himself or recommending them for his family.
Immunizations are overwhelmingly safe, and the diseases they are designed to protect against are not. Please take an objective look at the evidence and don’t listen to the hearsay of people who don’t know all the facts.
Steve