Are You Vaccinated? I don't know... Were You Breastfed As A Child?
Good Answer to "Are You Vaccinated?"
12/3/2021
We should go back to realizing that HIPAA is a thing and that asking an acquaintance, neighbor, or stranger medical information is not that cool. I was thinking of the best response to the person that asked me the vaccination question to show the privacy intrusion.
My initial thought was “Are you HIV positive?” to that that question. This does not work well as it is overly personal. We have been taught that this status reflects your sex life or drug use (turns out that might not be true, but that is a four hour discussion).
My next thought was “Are you on antibiotics?”. This is not personal enough. No one cares about your antibiotic use. The question “Why are you taking antibiotics?” is closer, but that would have to be a second question.
The next question was “Have you scheduled your colonoscopy?”. This question is more personal than it needs to be and is only applies to those that know how to use a rotary phone.
Finally my clever younger sister came up with the most applicable response question yet. “Were you breastfed as a child?”. I think this is the best response to that question. It eludes to some intimate details, but not an overly embarrassing one (after all you were an infant). It also has a similar change in the scientific and medical knowledge that was effected by corporate interests. Brief breastfeeding history overview. First, as humans, nearly every kid was breastfed, it was natural. Then around the turn of the 20th century formula and wet nurses started to become a thing. Breastfeeding your own child became a stigma of being poor. Formula was created with powdered milk that came out of the Civil War. Then in the middle of the 20th century, companies started to make and sell formula and in turn got the medical industry to say that was better than breast milk, that it had more nutrients. Finally, at the end of the 20th century it was observed that breastfed children seem to have slightly better outcomes than the formula fed babies.
Now, doctors and hospitals have returned to encouraging breastfeeding. It is as if they are saying “mother nature know best”. They realize there is slightly higher IQs, antibodies past on from the mother to child, and it is the perfect amount of nutrition for our children.
It is the same cycle as this vaccine. First, we didn’t have it and we were fighting Covid as best we could with our immune systems. Then we thought that somehow, these vaccines were better than our body’s natural immune system. Now, we are realizing they are inferior to natural immunity and the vaccines are in fact dangerous (formula is completely safe now, but there were issues in the middle of the last century). I predict that like breastfeeding, the doctors and hospitals will realize they were cheated by corporate interests and recommend against the vaccine once again. Many of them already have started saying this.
It should be noted that while doctors and nurses encourage breastfeeding, it is ultimately up to the parents. If a woman cannot or does not want to breastfeed, it is not the business of neighbors or friends to judge that mother either way, just like getting the jab. There may be some misconceptions of breastfeeding that the medical personnel might help with. Just like with the vaccine, there might be misconceptions (though I think they are more on the medical personnel side at this moment in time) ultimately it is up to the individual to decide what is best for them and their children. Just like with breastfeeding, Covid vaccination status should be of no concern of neighbors and friends. The idea that it is of concern, because you can give it to me has been debunked by several studies. Study #2 Study #3 Turns out vaccinated and unvaccinated spread this at equal rates. Some argue that if you are less likely to show symptom because of the spike protein antibodies running through your blood, you might be spreading it more because you are unaware of you contagious status.
The last comparison is that you cannot tell if someone is breastfed or formula fed, just like Covid vaccination status (without some card that doesn’t fit in your wallet). Your childhood nutrition is not relevant in a doctors discussion. Soon your vaccination status will not matter when diagnosing a patient presenting Covid like symptoms as there effectiveness will be zero or negative. You can only see trends in vaccination status outcomes over the entire population, not the individual, just like your infant nourishment status.
So the next time a rando ask “Are you vaccinated?” respond with “Were you breastfed?”