I got an email from a friend about my last post on well child checks and I realized I may have not given them the good "shake" they deserve. The truth is that while well child checks are extremely boring...so are vaccines...you never get to run down the hall shouting "QUICK THIS CHILD NEEDS 50 CC'S OF THE FLU VACCINE STAT!!!" That's because if your kid already has the flu, the vaccine isn't going to help diddly. It's preventative medicine...it is in a way pretty boring, but if I asked you what the single greatest medical miracle of the 20th century was...it's not the heart transplant, the gene transfer, or even the invention of antibiotics...it's mass distribution of vaccines to the public...boring, quiet, unassuming vaccines. It's also well child checks that catch childhood heart defects before the little guy drops dead on the base ball field. It's prevention-medicine that stops mom from giving her baby girl 8 sippy-cups of apple juice a day...if you help a child live a healthy childhood you can do all sorts of amazing things that McDreamy could only Mcdream of...you can, in effect, "cure" diabetes, cut out heart disease, and even in some instances prevent cancer. The truth is that although preventative medicine is the single strongest "pill" we have against disease, there will likely never be a TV show drama "Vaccine Central" or "Preventative Medicine: Miami" (as catchy as those names may be). Preventative medicine saves life and even gives it in a way, I hope this young, immature doc didn't put to much of a bad spin on it in his last post, and if he did, hopefully this will set things straighter.
Newbie Doc
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