The risks for anesthesia aren't very high, but there's still risks. However, I'm one of those people who believe in order to deal with a fear, you have to face it at some point. A fear of needles is no reason not to have your kid vaccinated. Yes, I know every time I took my daughter to the doctors I was going to have to hold her down, but I'd much rather subject her to a few minutes of fear than a possible lifetime of scars that she could get if she ended up with measles or chicken pox, or the chance she could end up paralyzed if she happened to catch Polio.
Whenever they give you an immunization, they give you a pamphlet on the possible risks and side effects of it, both common and rare. There is, as there is with all medication, always a chance of death. There are things that someone can be allergic to and not aware of, there are always possibilities for things to go wrong. But the chances of those things happening as so small that people tend to not to even think of the possibility. As a parent, I was more worried about the fevers and swelling than I ever was about sudden blindness or death. Not that the fear wasn't always in the back of my mind, but you rarely hear stories of things like that happening.
I'm not saying that it isn't worth the risk -- I'm saying that, if grown-ass adults are deciding that they can't handle the awful anxiety of going through with an immunization, then they shouldn't be given grief about it. And it
definitely shouldn't be said that they're
contributing to the problem of anti-vaccers, which is A) insulting, for people who
want to be vaccinated and hate the anti-vaccine movement as much as they next guy but just
can't bring themselves to do it, and B) inaccurate, since, if anti-vaccers didn't exist, herd immunity would be effective enough that not only would people with phobias be protected, but they also wouldn't be causing any harm to anyone else. The fact that
anyone is at risk right now for diseases like measles and polio is because of anti-vaccers, not because of people with phobias.
My point was that saying people are contributing to the problem just because they can't man up and do it is
insulting. It's a complicated problem, and I don't think it should be as simple as saying "well, people with phobias should just find some way to suck it up and make it work", because unless you've experienced that same level of fear, I don't think it's fair for anyone to act as if it's an easy thing for other people to do*.
*Bear in mind, however, that I'm talking about giving
adults grief over this. Whether or not you should force your children to get vaccinated if they have a fear of needles is a totally different debate that I'm not even going to get into. I'm only talking about adults, capable of making their own decisions, who hate the anti-vaccine movement and who
want to get vaccines, but just can't bring themselves to do it because it's just too awful of an experience -- and telling those people that they're to blame all because they can't face their fear... >_> Phobias aren't as simple as a "just face your fear and get over it" sort of thing. Honestly, I see them as being pretty much akin to mental illness -- something that a person can't control and can make certain things
very difficult to someone despite it being so seemingly easy to everyone else. And, just like mental illnesses, I just don't think it's right to judge other people and say that it's as easy as "just do it" when it
isn't. If an adult with a fear of needles says that they
wish they could get vaccinated but that their fear is just too much for them, I don't think we should give them grief for it.
Throwing the public safety aspect of vaccines makes this a more complicated issue, I'll admit. But, at the very least, all I was trying to say is that it should be accepted as
a complicated issue -- and not as simple as "nah, having a phobia isn't an excuse -- people should either have to face their fear or knock themselves out or something". If you still think that not getting vaccinated leaves risks for a person and everyone around them, then, yeah,
I agree with you -- but I also think that, well... if I was a person who had a crippling fear of needles and who wasn't getting vaccinations because of it, even though I already hate the anti-vaccine movement, and I know that I'm putting myself and others at risk and I already feel
guilty about that... well, being called "part of the problem" all because of a phobia that I wish wasn't an issue for me and that I've already tried and failed to overcome would probably sound
incredibly insulting, and even damaging. >_>
And if someone can find a way to get vaccinated despite their fears, then, that's great -- I wish it were that easy for everyone. But unfortunately it
isn't. And if an adult decides that their fear is just too crippling, then I don't think they should be given grief about it or act like they're a bad person for not being able to overcome a
crippling, irrational fear.
Not to mention the whole fact that, if anti-vaccers didn't exist, then people with phobias could remain un-vaccinated and diseases like measles would
still be on the path to extinction because herd immunity would be effective enough that people with phobias would still be protected and not present a risk to anyone else, so... yeah.
But, I know, anti-vaccers
do exist, which makes this a more complicated problem -- I just don't think people with phobias should have the blame shouldered onto them just because they've tried and failed to overcome a fear that they can't control. So, while it's unfortunate that people with phobias aren't being vaccinated, I don't think they should be blamed for it -- if anything, we should be blaming anti-vaccers, because, once again, if they didn't exist, then people with phobias wouldn't be presenting a problem by remaining un-vaccinated.
That's all I was trying to get at.