Vaccinations

I believe in vaccinations. They have eradicated diseases. Medicine will become even more advanced in the next decade with perhaps a better balance with health and wellness becoming front and center.

There has been a measles outbreak in Washington State, one of the most infectuous diseases. One in ten children had not been vaccinated for measles because those parents refuse to vaccinate their child. It is ignorant and utterly ridiculous.

I remember when the chicken pox vaccination came out. Our kids were all under 5. After all, chicken pox is not a horrific virus although it can be when you are an adult. I took the kids over to homes where one of the kids we knew had chicken pox hoping that our kids would get it and it would run through their system. It is one of those strange viruses that if you get it once you rarely get it again. Unfortunately they didn’t get it so I opted for the vaccination because the more kids that get vaccinated the less kids get chicken pox and if you don’t get it, you can get it as an adult and that isn’t good.

Years ago I was meeting with a founder who told me that she did not allow her two children who were then 9 and 7 to get vaccinated. It wasn’t for religious reasons but she believed every insane thing she read around the link between autism and vaccinations. I literally picked up my stuff, ended the conversation immediately.

Each state deals with this differently but in order to enroll your child in school, you must show that they have all their vaccinations up to date. When it comes to this, I am incapable of seeing any other side of the fence. Schools should not allow children to attend unless they have been vaccinated, period. Perhaps there should be a federal law. Shame on these parents putting their children and others are risk. Vaccinate your children!

Comments (Archived):

  1. Sunchowder

    Very polarizing issue. It is not the vaccinations themselves, but the mercury preservative thimerosol that is used in the vaccines that is the objection. At this time, according to the CDC (1999) I believe Thimerosol has been removed or reduced as a preservative. As well, the silver fillings that we all got have contributed to mercury along with the mercury that has been passed on via in utero exposure. All have contributed to a growing problem that I believe we will see come clear in the future. I have children as well and they were all vaccinated. I have a lot of questions around why silver fillings are not recommended during pregnancy, etc. at this time, but when we were getting them it was fine. At least 90% of dentists don’t believe that mercury is a problem (including my fabulous dentist), but I still believe we are going to see in the future that metal toxicity is contributing to many neurological diseases that are exploding in our population. It will boil down to genetics, mutations, those who are healthy are able to detoxify on their own without intervention. There is a lot more to come on this. Again, I DID vaccinate all of my children and don’t believe in putting others health at risk, but I also understand the fear these parents have because the information is out there (whether it meets with a high percentage of belief) that mercury and metal toxicity will hurt their children and that it is worth the risk to not vaccinate. (Hope we’re still friends after this XOXO)

    1. Gotham Gal

      I get it but data proves that getting vaccinated outweighs all other risks.

    2. Sierra Choi

      Mercury was used because it causes an immune response. A weakened virus is often not recognised by the immune system, hence why it becomes ineffective in inserting itself into the DNA of the host. Nowadays, scientists use HIV as a vector, in addition, many other experimental vaccines (recombinant, polysaccharide etc) are used to change the DNA of the host/ patient.

    3. PhilipSugar

      I knew this guy well. Health nut, money no object. Teeth (sorry Brits) but like a bad Brit:Aimia confirmed that its long-time CEO, Rupert Duchesne – who had been on a leave of absence due to a medical issue, as he was being treated for chronic mercury poisoningTeeth yes, vaccines no. See my other comment.

  2. Laura Yecies

    The part that gets me crazy, beyond the ignorance, is the selfishness of all of it – putting others at risk.

    1. Gotham Gal

      100%

    2. LE

      To start and to be clear agree with vaccinations obviously (I get all of them got zostavax a few years ago even and some others as well).Anyway they don’t think it’s selfish. It involves their child and they think they are protecting their child at all costs by (in their mind) preventing harm. And if you notice anytime something revolves around children the entire world (and especially parents) go emotionally bonkers and rationality (what you are thinking should be happening) goes out the window.Look at Megan’s law as an example. Predators have to report where they are and can’t live in certain places (near school etc.). Murderers, rapists and other criminals? No such requirement (even though there are 1000x of them and obviously there is danger just the same).Think about it in those terms and the behavior actually makes sense, right? Fear of unknown leads to irrational behavior that magnifies risk.So once again when something is emotional information is magnified in a way that you can’t rationally process the true risk.I remember when their were anthrax envelope stories. I would get envelopes know that those envelopes almost certainly didn’t contain anthtrax but I was still for a short period of time fearful of opening them. And wouldn’t you have a bit more fear flying on a day out of an airport in the same airline and airplane where on that very day there was a major airplane crash? Most people would (not everyone but many no doubt). It seems more possible. Rationally you are probably less at risk (everyone is more careful after an accident).That said the way to deal with this is with psychology not with providing more information (that proves them wrong) and definitely not by making someone think what they are doing is selfish.

  3. LE

    disqus is messing up…I will repost

  4. LE

    Personally I don’t even understand why this should matter at all. It’s one thing ‘for religious reasons’ for airlines to have kosher food (do they still do that? – They did when I was growing up). It’s another thing entirely to not follow generally well accepted medical advice as a result of the hocus pocus of religion.How can the government allow religion to impact the welfare of a child? What does it even matter what the parents think or want?

  5. Susan Rubinsky

    I met a guy on online dating last year who was an anti-vaxxer. He brought this topic up during our date and tried to convince me that he was correct in his thinking. He had built what he saw as a rational framework around his position. It was fairly complex. He was sitting in the center of a big giant Escher sketch and I just sat there and watched in amazement as he constructed it around himself. I then asked him if he had ever met anyone who had polio. He said he had not. I told him that he should make a point of doing that and that he should ask that person what life is like with the body damage. I told him I had a close friend who, in fact, had polio as a small child and that I could arrange for him to sit down and talk with her. He passed on that opportunity. There is a lot of willful ignorance in our culture and breaking through that is extremely difficult. Facts are truths that people don’t want to believe. That guy didn’t want to meet my friend because he knew that connecting on a personal level with someone who is a living example of why he is wrong would undermine his emotional attachment to his false idea.

    1. Gotham Gal

      Willful ignorance is a great saying. It’s awful but explains a lot of what is happening in our country.

  6. William Mougayar

    True. We are more strict on pets vaccination than humans!

    1. awaldstein

      Absolutely correct.

  7. Sierra Choi

    I’ve read that “10% of general pediatricians and 21% of pediatric specialists” will not follow the CDC vaccination schedule for their own children. It made me wonder why? I’ve also read that nations such as Japan have stopped many of the vaccinations that the US gives to their newborns. I was quite surprised to learn this.In regards to the eradication of diseases, I’ve read that it was actually access to clean water that actually stopped the spread of many diseases in the past. Nurses in the UK discovered that if they kept giving their patients buckets of water on a 4-6 hour cycle, typhoid patients would all survive, as the disease caused diarrhea and most died from dehydration.In the past, water was not sanitized, and many drank from water sources that were contaminated with feces. Luckily, we live in an era in which clean water sources are abundant.

    1. Cam MacRae

      I’ve read that “10% of general pediatricians and 21% of pediatric specialists” will not follow the CDC vaccination schedule for their own children. It made me wonder why?You can read why as it’s in the paper: http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/o…In regards to the eradication of diseases, I’ve read that it was actually access to clean water that actually stopped the spread of many diseases in the past.Waterborne diseases and partially those transmitted by the fecal-oral route (mind you that still leaves fingers, flies, fields, and food). Not a lot of help for airborne diseases. Still, in areas where the disease is locally present your best bet is immunisation.Luckily, we live in an era in which clean water sources are abundant.Lucky for some. Not so lucky for over 2 billion others.

    2. Gotham Gal

      I find it hard to believe that doctors do not vaccinate their children.

  8. Pointsandfigures

    This vaccination thing that started years ago is so crazy I almost can’t believe it. Vaccinations do not cause autism. Ironically I saw a study that said women postponing childbirth until their later 30’s might be the cause of increased autism. https://www.livescience.com… But, having children later in life increases all kinds of adverse events.I am going to get vaccinated for shingles and anything else they have a vaccination for. I should have gotten the flu shot this year but didn’t. Wound up with the flu. Maybe I would have gotten the flu anyway but I bet my odds would have been better with the shot. And when you go to the doctor if you haven’t had a tetanus shot get one….

    1. PhilipSugar

      Ok. Here is some country common sense coming at you.Note I am NOT saying correlation equals causation.But let’s see antidepressant use increased about 400% during the last several years: https://www.health.harvard….Hmm…what else increased by about 400%? Autism: https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/…If I had to take a guess at what might cause autism might it be a brain altering drug in the mother versus vaccinations after the child was born?Btw: There really wasn’t such a diagnosis as autism in the 1970’s before antidepressants were first introduced. (could be they just didn’t identify it as that)Also look at this from Harvard review of the CDC cited above:23% of women in their 40s and 50s take antidepressants, a higher percentage than any other group (by age or sex)Women are 2½ times more likely to be taking an antidepressant than men (click here to read a May 2011 article in the Harvard Mental Health Letter about women and depression)14% of non-Hispanic white people take antidepressants compared with just 4% of non-Hispanic blacks and 3% of Mexican AmericansLook who has less autism according to CDC: ADDM reports have consistently noted that more white children are identified with ASD than black or Hispanic children. https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/…Now let’s say I am a conspiracy theorist. Might the drug companies want to keep 23% of women on a high margin drug they take every day versus a low margin vaccine taken once? The best way to prevent something getting pinned on you is pin it on someone else.Actually I did piss Richard Florida off when he said video games decreased crime, and I showed him the perfect inverse match between prison population and decrease in crime. Take people off of the streets and they don’t commit crimes.Sorry Occam’s Razor: Sometimes the obvious is really the cause.

      1. Gotham Gal

        I read that autism is linked to old sperm too

        1. PhilipSugar

          In no way is this meant as a slight to women. It seems you took it that way. Maybe you are responding to Jeff?It is a sucky fact of life that what a woman does during pregnancy affects the baby. That cannot be disputed. If you are hooked on Heroin, Meth, or Alcohol there are going to be issues.

  9. jason wright

    I’m surprised each state deals with the threat of infectious disease differently. I’m no friend of federal power, but it has its uses.

    1. Gotham Gal

      For sure

  10. johndodds

    Many readers probably know this but the Wakefield study that started all this anti-vaccination stuff was predicated on a correlation derived from dependent probabilities that Wakefield wrongly asserted were independent.