Anti-Vaxx Group Upset their Funded Study Showed No Link to Autism

Roxxsmom said:

I think you're right here. I know a number of people who aren't hard core anti vaxxers, but they think the need for them is overstated. They think Measles are just something that make a kid break out in spots and stay home from school for a few days, right?

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Yeah, there are people that think that definition works for chicken pox. They must not remember what that was like. I have a picture of me as a toddler sitting in the bath sobbing because my rash itched so badly it hurt.

Why the hell is that better than a chicken pox vaccine again?

I think this is also true, and in fact, the number of parents opting out of vaccines dropped in CA following that outbreak at Disneyland a couple of years ago. It probably won't be long before people forget again, though.

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No, not long at all.

I was born before most of the vaccines were available. I had both kinds of measles, chicken pox, and mumps. In my case they were unpleasant, but not horrendous. I did have the DPT vaccines, a tetanus booster periodically, and got a booster for the whole thing about 4 years ago. Also had polio vaccine as a small child. My aunt (about 70 at the time) got whooping cough when they were having an outbreak in the Seattle area. Brought it home to Phoenix, and gave it to her husband. They were both pretty sick. The next time I saw my primary physician he said the immunization wore off over time, and I got the booster. A friend of hubby's had polio as a small child in the early fifties. Thirty years or so later he had a recurrence of symptoms.

To me, unless the child has other medical issues, or there are specific religious objections, there is no excuse for not vaccinating children.

MM

LittlePinto said:

Why the hell is that better than a chicken pox vaccine again?

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Because if you don't get chicken pox you don't have shingles to look forward to.

MaryMumsy said:

The next time I saw my primary physician he said the immunization wore off over time, and I got the booster. A friend of hubby's had polio as a small child in the early fifties. Thirty years or so later he had a recurrence of symptoms.
MM

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Whooping cough (pertussis) and diphtheria are often included with the tetanus vaccines, given every ten years (more often when people are at higher risk). DPT vaccine, it's called. Some doctors stop including the diphtheria and pertussis components in adult tetanus boosters, but with whooping cough outbreaks becoming more common, and concern that the immunity isn't lifelong for diphtheria as well, there's more interest in immunizing adults. It's especially important if one has contact with infants, as pertussis is very dangerous for them

I'm not sure religious exemptions are good enough in my books either. If people want to skip health care for themselves and are willing to accept the restrictions imposed on them for being potential disease vectors, then that's their business. But kids aren't property, and they're not old enough to understand the risks or decide for themselves whether they agree with that aspect of their parents' religion.

It's a thorny issue, because of religious freedom. But to me it's one of those freedom to practice your religion ends when it hurts someone else.

LittlePinto said:

Sometimes I get the impression that the success of vaccination is what allowed the anti-vaccine movement to really take hold. Disease organisms just aren't as frightening as they used to be and so now it's possible to believe the vaccine is worse than whatever it is you're vaccinating for.

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Yeah, it's like one of the ultimate forms of privilege—you're so disconnected from how bad disease is that you've lost your fear of it, lost all fear of things that have slaughtered large swaths of the population in the past.