In case you missed them….

There were some rollicking comment threads this week - the discussion on paid content which started on Monday is still going on and you can see it here. But for a pick of reader comments, here’s an observation from Betelnut in a discussion childhood immunisation.

This tragic story pretty much sums it all up.

Reality is, vaccinating your child puts your child at risk. Not vaccinating your child puts all children at risk. 

At some point, you have to take one for the team and put your children at risk, or the tragedy of the commons dictates that vaccination rates will fall, herd immunity wanes and the children that end up dying are the ones too young to be given vaccine induced protection.

Of note, the most unsafe vaccination program ever given (Vaccinia - Smallpox) was also the deadliest, with a rate of death and serious complications that would sink any new vaccines developed to date.  That said, and whilst a thought needs to be spared for those that died during the smallpox vaccination campaigns in the 60s and 70s, their (and their parents) sacrifice has saved untold millions on people.  Such a shame it seems we continue the retreat from selflessness to selffishness with each passing year.

And some selected articles, in no particular order:

David Penberthy: Extra, extra, pay for your content
Clive Mathieson: What recession?
Leo Shanahan: The secret plane that found Tim Holding
Tory Maguire: Leave Belinda Neal alone, just for a day
Paul Colgan: Interactive map of Australian weather records in August
Mark Colvin: If I lived in the US, I’d be dead or dead broke
High School Teacher: Teachers are powerless to top school violence
Miranda Ryan: Call me old-fashioned, but it’s OK to marry young
Anthony Albanese: The despair of being a Souths supporter
Lucy Kippist: I saw a dead man at the bus stop
Luke Mcilveen: Ben Cousins still drinks?
David Penberthy: Della’s sex shame - NSW politics is now Melrose Place
Andrew Laming: The Rudd-free account of how we dodged the downturn
Leslie Nassar: Not all media dinosaurs have small brains