Thank Jenny McCarthy
As Dario Ringach asked on Facebook, "What happens when you follow the medical/scientific advice of celebrities?" From NPR, "Deadly Whooping Cough, Once Wiped Out, Is Back":
California is in the midst of its worst outbreak of whooping cough in a half-century. More than 2,700 cases have been reported so far this year -- eight times last year's number at this point. Seven of the victims, all infants, have died.And here's what really worries pediatricians like USC's Harvey Karp: Doctors thought they wiped out whooping cough when they developed vaccines decades ago.
The disease hits young children hardest, especially ones who are not vaccinated or who have not yet built up full immunity. The prescribed vaccination regimen begins with a shot at two months and continues until children are 5 years old. For many children, it can take that long for complete immunity to develop -- and until then, they're vulnerable.
The California epidemic has raised plenty of questions about the role of vaccination and the increasing numbers of parents who decide not to vaccinate their children. California's Department of Public Health cites three schools in the state where 80 percent of parents have signed a "personal belief exemption" to keep their children from being vaccinated.
Without "herd immunity," babies are going to die.
This drives me absolutely insane. The hysteria about the autism/vaccine link (which has not been proven to actually exist, btw) is blinding parents to the real danger: the absolutely real chance that their child could die if left exposed to the multiple serious diseases these vaccines prevent. The diseases aren't gone--we just don't see them in the U.S. because the last few generations have been VACCINATED AGAINST THEM. And the assholes who refuse to vaccinate their kids potentially endanger every other child they come in contact with.
Personally, I think the view from up their own ass is obscuring the big picture. Would you rather your child be autistic or dead?
mse at August 21, 2010 7:58 AM
Well, autism in itself where the kid doesn't speak, is truly alone in a world of his own, is devastating to those who love the child. I don't know the cause, but no research has ever proven a link between vaccines and autism.
From my experience high functioning autism is hereditary. Believe me, I married into a family of them --only various members never adopted the words high functioning autism, but could be aptly described as misfits, rebels, wacky dressers, and awkward. They are also passionate about causes, and many are very successful when they find their niche. In old days, we called some of them --the high functioning ones, "eccentrics."
So their determination to avoid autism by deciding to take on Whooping cough is based solely on social concerns. They don't want to be RELATED to that person who hums his own tune during the homily at church, nor have a child he screams and kicks in class. No, they'd rather have a kid come down with pertussis, measles, varicella instead and maybe --dies, or infects other kids so they will die instead. Anything, anything to not deal with having a kid who is different and will take a lot more time.
My friend John Robison --he's done wonders just being different.
Kanani at August 21, 2010 8:11 AM
Kanani, very interesting point. Another tidbit on the autism/vaccinations thing: Thimeserol (sp?), the vaccine ingredient which supposedly causes autism, was eliminated from all vaccines in North America in the 1990s. Since then, the rate of autism has gone up.
Cousin Dave at August 21, 2010 9:08 AM
I despise Jenny McCarthy and her ilk with a pure blue flame of loathing. One of my daughters hinted she might not fully vaccinate her baby and I told her I'd wait til I was babysitting one day and go do it. Fortunately her dr. -- whom she loves -- told her he would no longer treat her child if she didn't have him vaccinated.
casey at August 21, 2010 9:10 AM
The anti vaxer position is not the simple and straight-forward woo-woo as sometimes portrayed -- for some there is a moral component. Several vaccines (not for pertussis AFAIK) are derived from virii cultured in the fetal cell lines known as WI-38 and MRC-5. The WI-38 cell culture was developed from a three-month female fetus therapeutically aborted in Sweden in 1962. The MRC-5 cell line was developed from lung tissue taken from a 14-week fetus aborted for psychiatric reasons in England in 1966. The PER C6 line used in research to culture Ebola and HIV vaccines was derived from the retina cells of a fetus aborted in 1985.
That poses an ethical problem for some "pro-lifers". The vaccines work but the genesis is "evil". I don't have any moral qualms over it but I know people who do.
parabarbarian at August 21, 2010 10:31 AM
As a person with chronic health issues that contribute to a weakened immune system I hate these people with the hot burning passion of a thousand things that burn both hotly and also passionately.
Yes, I have all my immunizations current. However, herd immunity also helps keep my ass alive. And yes, every kid that gets whooping cough and then dies is on Jenny McCarthy's head. I hope the families of any sick or dead kids write her letters. "Thanks for convincing people not to immunize so my infant could get a deadly diseas."
If there's no hell, it should be invented for people like her.
DragonHawk at August 21, 2010 10:35 AM
Casey, if my mother told me that about my child I'd ban her from my and my child's life.
Sio at August 21, 2010 10:36 AM
well, I'd risk alienation to protect my grandchildren's lives--I lost friends to polio and measles---almost died of measles myself the Christmas I was five.
I read an article by Dr Nancy Snyderman that said this no-vaccination madness is setting us on the road to the return of polio.
casey at August 21, 2010 10:46 AM
"we just don't see them in the U.S. because the last few generations have been VACCINATED AGAINST THEM"
Please repeat this again, and again, and again, until the idealist, purist airheaded idiots finally get it
bradley13 at August 21, 2010 11:03 AM
So, parabarbarian, what you are saying, in essence, is that the pro-lifers are more concerned from a moral standpoint about decades-old dead fetal tissue than endangering the lives of their own children?!?
Fuck me. We've truly reached the end of rational thought. Anyone who applies this sort of shit logic which then results in the death of a child should be criminally prosecuted.
mse at August 21, 2010 11:14 AM
ALl 4 of mine got it last fall (williamson county was very hard hit here) and all 4 had been vac'd. The toddler woke up one night completely unable to breathe. Scary as hell. Parents who don't vac (for reasons other than kid had a severe allergic reaction to the first set, or are immune-suppressed) are idiots. Period.
I have a good (very intelligent and geeky) friend with autistic twins. She lost an Uncle to polio. When people ask her about vac's (assuming they're going to hear agreement about the autism thing) she says "we fully vaccinate. period. Better autistic than dead." I love her.
momof4 at August 21, 2010 1:08 PM
Sio, some things are worth taking a stand on. I'm with you, Casey.
momof4 at August 21, 2010 1:16 PM
plus, even Sio would forgive me eventually as I am Super Gigi--I babysit--not just for hours but for days. I deliver gourmet dinners for the parents. I am lavish with presents. Trust me, Sio, my occasional dictatorial ways are worth it. ;-)
My 7-year-old granddaughter recently asked me: "Gigi, what are you?"
"Why, I'm your grandmother."
"But you're not like a regular grandmother. You're much funner."
Best compliment ever.
casey at August 21, 2010 1:31 PM
I'm definitely pro-vaccination. But even if I wasn't, I have never let myself be influenced by mediocre actresses. Only really, really good ones.
I wonder, what would Bette Davis do? Or WWBDD?
Pricklypear at August 21, 2010 2:06 PM
Evolution in action. How sad to be born to idiots.
DaveG at August 21, 2010 3:33 PM
On the subject of vaccines, abortions and pro-lifers:
http://www.ncbcenter.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=434
Quotes of note:
One is morally free to use the vaccine regardless of its historical association with abortion. The reason is that the risk to public health, if one chooses not to vaccinate, outweighs the legitimate concern about the origins of the vaccine. This is especially important for parents, who have a moral obligation to protect the life and health of their children and those around them.
and:
One must follow a certain conscience even if it errs, but there is a responsibility to inform one's conscience properly. There would seem to be no proper grounds for refusing immunization against dangerous contagious disease, for example, rubella, especially in light of the concern that we should all have for the health of our children, public health, and the common good.
I know that not everyone who opposes abortion is Catholic, but I figure the arguments are good in general. The site says that alternatives to the vaccines derived from fetal cells should be used when available, and that people should communicate to pharmaceutical companies their desire that the companies seek alternate methods of culturing vaccines, but in general the message is that *not* vaccinating your child carries serious moral implications as well.
marion at August 21, 2010 4:43 PM
Quite frankly parents who refuse to vacinate their children should be required to inform the public.
Their kids should not be allowed in schools or public parks and docotrs should be required to inform their other paitents of the health risks their own children face if one of the patients is not vacinated
If science ever crack the perpetual energy problem $20 bucks says it will be powerd in some part by human stupidity.
At least animals have a good excuse for not thinking
lujlp at August 21, 2010 5:49 PM
Heres a thought. Remember the ADD "epidemic" of the mid to late 90's?
Ever consider that alot of these kids arent really autistic? They might just be nerotic form the way their wack-a-doo parents over schedual and micro manage every aspect of their lives to the point that their natural emotional development is retarded.
Think about it, their parents have them preforming all sort of activites, the interview potenail freids as though it were a job or a life and death decision. The only time their ever alone is while taking a shit or sleeping. I'd go fucking nuts - kids these days have less free time and freedom of movment then a majority of americas prison inmates.
lujlp at August 21, 2010 5:54 PM
Reading about the issue from this angle, I now have no problem with Public Skrewels demanding that children be vaccinated before coming to class.
mpetrie98 at August 21, 2010 8:03 PM
@parabarbarian: I am staunchly pro-life, but I would not be surprised if I received "evil" vaccines during my lifetime. I'm not sure that I'm going to question further vaccinations, either.
Hey, I know, let's not use the Autobahns, since Hitler originally created them for invading other countries.
mpetrie98 at August 21, 2010 8:06 PM
Those parents who refuse to vaccinate their kids will just have to learn the hard way that nature is a beatch when it comes to whether their darling offspring will make it to adulthood.
Tony at August 22, 2010 10:53 AM
It really angers me when parents choose not to vaccinate and all the stupid rationales given for it like their kid was really fussy afterward or they got a slight fever, et cetera. I had a neighbor that insisted the 18-month vaccines caused her child's autism, despite it being plainly obvious for several months beforehand that there was something wrong with the kid (she had epilepsy diagnosed when she was a few weeks old). I don't want to have to worry that some asshat is going to get me or my child sick because they were too stupid and selfish to vaccinate their own children, and then sit up on their moral high horse looking down on the rest of us. I work at Kaiser and more and more parents are refusing to vaccinate their children and more and more are coming in with things they never would have caught had people been vaccinating. I realize not everyone can receive vaccines due to other health reasons but feel everyone able to should. I have an autoimmune disorder so have needed to more carefully consider vaccine risks per vaccine as it would apply to my condition. I've been fully vaccinated for everything with the exception of seasonal flu vaccines (I get them sometimes but more often I do not).
BunnyGirl at August 22, 2010 3:05 PM
@Tony - That would be fine if that was the only risk, but it isn't. What we're going to see (if we haven't already) is new variants of old diseases that render the vaccines meaningless, requiring new research and new vaccinations.
Plus it destroys "herd immunity" where the small number of people for whom the original vaccines didn't take are protected.
I doubt that the requirement for the measles vaccine would have been waived during the 1991 outbreak for someone with stupid ideas about vaccines and autism.
brian at August 22, 2010 3:43 PM
I realize not everyone can receive vaccines due to other health reasons but feel everyone able to should.
Yup. There is a small percentage of kids who can't receive some or all vaccines because of rare disorders -- typically autoimmune stuff. They *need* herd immunity if they want to have a good chance of making it to adulthood. Parents who don't vaccinate because they have the vapors about autism aren't just putting their own kids at risk.
marion at August 22, 2010 6:36 PM
I'm not very old, and the vaccine schedule has changed a lot just since I had mine. Kids get a lot more shots right now, mostly all before they are 24 months. I don't believe vaccines cause autism, but those bodies are little and sensitive, so I think any medical action can be a risk and that you should be thoughtful about the risks you take as a parent.
Polio, measles, whooping cough - I'm comfortable with those, the benefits for the child and for the population are clear. But it's also required that kids get vaccinated for flu and chicken pox, and the benefits are less clear to me. I'm pretty sure flu shots are given to kids in order to protect the elderly, for whom the flu is more deadly. I think I'd object to submitting my hypothetical kid to medical treatment only for that reason. I thought chicken pox was relatively harmless for kids so I don't understand that requirement at all. It is possible to feel conflicted about some vaccinations without being a complete anti-science wacko....
Sam at August 22, 2010 9:57 PM
Not everyone who doesn't vaccinate is avoiding it because of the autism link, which I also believe is genetic. The outbreaks of mumps in college have involved fully vaccinated young adults. These viruses are going to mutate around the vaccines and I think they already have. That and my oldest was left unable to walk after her polio vaccine. I was told to absolutely not take her to the hospital. They told me to alternate Tylenol and Morton drops when she ran a temp of 103. The treatment my children received left me believing something else was going on. Something that had nothing to do with keeping my children healthy.
I would like to add that I had 2 sons who had croup(whooping cough) neither of them were hospitaled. I had to give them medicine and slept sitting up with them in a recliner for a week. It sucked and I hated it but we can treat many of these diseases without vax. Chicken pox for instance. What will you all be saying when everyone has shingles I wonder?
Josephinemo6 at August 23, 2010 11:19 AM
Sorry about the weird wording my touch is replacing my words with stuff I don't intend to write?
Josephinemo6 at August 23, 2010 11:27 AM
Sam, chicken pox can develop into something called Reye's syndrome, a serious heart ailment. I am well aware that previous generations went through the childhood diseases, but we tend to not remember the problem cases. My mom was eight months pregnant with my brother when I came down with mumps. And she had already had a difficult pregnancy at that point. I had to be removed from the household; I was shipped off to relatives for three months. Mom was lucky that it didn't cause her further problems.
Cousin Dave at August 23, 2010 8:32 PM
Lemme tell ya a little bit about chicken pox.
I had that when I was 10.
At 41 I got shingles, which is what everyone who has ever had chicken pox is at risk of as they get older.
Shingles is a skin rash, similar to chicken pox. But it HURTS LIKE A MOTHERFUCKER. Also, if untreated, the risks of permanent nerve damage are high. Get the outbreak on your face, and you could lose your vision. Oh, and anyone who has neither had chickenpox nor been vaccinated from it? If they come into contact with any fluid weeping from the sores, they get chicken pox.
Other than the Flu vaccination (which nobody with a strong immune system should bother with, save it for the elderly and infants), get your shots people.
brian at August 24, 2010 8:17 AM
Ben Goldacre has written many articles about the vaccine-autism myth.
http://www.badscience.net/
Ingrid at August 25, 2010 1:30 PM
I love the comment from the mom about how all her kids were vaccinated but got the disease anyways, and then goes on to call parents who don't vaccinate their kids, "idiots."
From the comments it seems that I am the only one who sees the irony of someone who paid money and risked her childs health only to receive no protection calling those who don't go through all that idiots.
DoubleMindedMan at August 28, 2010 9:01 AM
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