The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1934-04-27
gQ YOUR
CHILDREN


There IN a matter being discussed
nv heath authorities today that
believe Is important to all Of US.
This is how to gain the conf
dence of parents IN preventive
therapy.
Ut has long been a problem and
still remains on. Many parents op-
feet to serums and VACCINATIONS
them compulsory. -r
Everyone has q right TO be
conscientious objector in this war
against disease. have, at times,
had my own misgivings when
something happened and a. child
had to be pumped full OF that
stuff"-"stuft" was suspicious of
and to whose door was inclined
to lay all manner of evil. I Under
stand the doubts or other parents
who hate to see a strange concoc-
ton being injected into an arm or
a leg Just because Johnny might
get diphtheria or something when
there isn't q chance In a million.
as they think.
In Case OF Diphtheria
But let US try to look at II from
a different point of view Tor the
moment. am not representing any
chemical company or spreading
laboratory propaganda. My conclu-
sions are my own and no one needs
to agree with me. 1t is merely that
1 see things more clearly today.
There are three ways of treating
diphtheria, for instance, now that
we are speaking of 1t.
One is to LET the child alone.
once he contracts it, and trust that
God won't let him choke to death
or stop his heart. The poison at
tacks the heart as well as the
throat. The second is to allow the
doctor to give him hypodermics
Of antitoxin Ito which no sane per-
son objects), which may save MIN
and probably wifi. However. even
antitoxin may not bring back heart
system even though It does save
life. The third way is to let the
child have the anti-diphtheria ser
um, as given in the schools, and
forget there is such disease. 1t
would soon be real enough If we
let down the guard.
Vaccination we haven't much say
about. 1t is rarely optional. 1t must
be done because the only way to
stamp out any vile disease such as
smallpox is to stop it before 1t
starts. And 1t would start in hur-
nv, as it has always done, before
| the vaccine and its method Of ap-
plication were discovered, IL We
trusted to luck instead of virus.
Serum Treatments
Then there is the prophyiaxis for
scarlet fever, and for typhoid but
as q rule these are not used unless
the child is exposed, or there Is an
epidemic.
Also Pasteur treatments. or anti
| rabies serum is injected now over
a period Of days in almost every
case Of dog bite whether the dog Is
known to be mad or not. Hydro
phobia was common before Pasteur
lived.
We could go on.
| NY argument is that we parents
will have to take these advances In
| life-saving on faith. We cannot pos
sibly hope to know one ten-thous-
| andth part of the reason why. We
cannot set up our prejudice against
demonstrated truths, the results Of
years of slow serious work that sci
entists have given their lives to
prove. In other words believe We
have to be saved in spite Of our
selves. @ a>t
One thing however, I do think
is our privilege and this is to have
the family doctor vaccinate the
child, because he knows his history
and condition. Sometime, perhaps.
the family doctor will give. most Of
the preventive treatments. or at
least the physician doing the work
will be given a chart Of the child's
| former illnesses,