The anti-vaccination movement has gained momentum over the past decade, because some people do not want to risk side effects or simply do not trust governments or drug companies, Yamiche Alcindor writes for USA Today. "People assume this will never happen to them until it happens to them," said Paul Offit, chief of infectious diseases at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. "It's a shame that's the way we have to learn the lesson. There's a human price for that lesson."
Most vulnerable are babies who might be too young for vaccination, young children who do not have strong immune systems and people who cannot be vaccinated because of medical issues, according to scientists. Kathryn Riffenburg's son died of whooping cough (pertussis). Though she was inoculated long before his birth, she later learned that a booster shot during the pregnancy could have saved her son's life. Two other preventable diseases that have recently made a comeback, perhaps because of the anti-immunization movement are measles and meningitis.
Outbreaks of measles in New York, California and Texas are warning signs of a bigger spread that could happen if more people refuse vaccinations. Officials said in 2000 that measles shouldn't be a problem anymore, but this year the disease is expected to affect three times as many people as it did in 2009. "Vaccination rates against most diseases are about 90 percent," said Anne Schuchat, the CDC's director of immunizations and respiratory diseases.
When 10-year-old Jeremiah Mitchell was 6, he was infected with meningitis, and doctors had to remove his arms and legs and parts of his eyelids, jaw and ears to get rid of the disease. He caught meningitis at school, where two children died and four others also got the illness. His mother, Michaela Mitchell, said that her son was not vaccinated against meningitis because the school didn't require it for children his age.
Some doctors have taken their own measures to safeguard their patients from people who refuse vaccinations. For example, doctors working at Old Towne Pediatrics in Mannassas, Va., will not accept new patients if the parents will not vaccinate their children. "We don't want to put our patients at risk because people for their own personal reasons don't want to vaccinate," said Anastasia Williams, a managing partner of the practice. "We are doing our due diligence to protect our children who wait in our waiting room." In Colorado, 4 percent of kindergarteners did not get vaccinated for non-medical reasons. State Rep. Dan Pabon sponsored a proposed bill necessitating parents to either get a doctor's note or view a video about risks before deciding against vaccination, Alcindor writes.
Sarah Pope decided against vaccinating her three children. All of them got whooping cough in 2006, but they recovered through treatments from a holistic doctor and natural supplements. "People only see the bad in infectious diseases," said Pope, who runs a health living website and blogs about vaccines. "But infectious diseases do help children strengthen their bodies." She says she knows vaccines are not 100 percent effective and doesn't want to be pressured into vaccinating her children (Read more)
Most vulnerable are babies who might be too young for vaccination, young children who do not have strong immune systems and people who cannot be vaccinated because of medical issues, according to scientists. Kathryn Riffenburg's son died of whooping cough (pertussis). Though she was inoculated long before his birth, she later learned that a booster shot during the pregnancy could have saved her son's life. Two other preventable diseases that have recently made a comeback, perhaps because of the anti-immunization movement are measles and meningitis.
Outbreaks of measles in New York, California and Texas are warning signs of a bigger spread that could happen if more people refuse vaccinations. Officials said in 2000 that measles shouldn't be a problem anymore, but this year the disease is expected to affect three times as many people as it did in 2009. "Vaccination rates against most diseases are about 90 percent," said Anne Schuchat, the CDC's director of immunizations and respiratory diseases.
When 10-year-old Jeremiah Mitchell was 6, he was infected with meningitis, and doctors had to remove his arms and legs and parts of his eyelids, jaw and ears to get rid of the disease. He caught meningitis at school, where two children died and four others also got the illness. His mother, Michaela Mitchell, said that her son was not vaccinated against meningitis because the school didn't require it for children his age.
Some doctors have taken their own measures to safeguard their patients from people who refuse vaccinations. For example, doctors working at Old Towne Pediatrics in Mannassas, Va., will not accept new patients if the parents will not vaccinate their children. "We don't want to put our patients at risk because people for their own personal reasons don't want to vaccinate," said Anastasia Williams, a managing partner of the practice. "We are doing our due diligence to protect our children who wait in our waiting room." In Colorado, 4 percent of kindergarteners did not get vaccinated for non-medical reasons. State Rep. Dan Pabon sponsored a proposed bill necessitating parents to either get a doctor's note or view a video about risks before deciding against vaccination, Alcindor writes.
Sarah Pope decided against vaccinating her three children. All of them got whooping cough in 2006, but they recovered through treatments from a holistic doctor and natural supplements. "People only see the bad in infectious diseases," said Pope, who runs a health living website and blogs about vaccines. "But infectious diseases do help children strengthen their bodies." She says she knows vaccines are not 100 percent effective and doesn't want to be pressured into vaccinating her children (Read more)
2 comments:
How about we make the doctor, read the ingredients label on the vaccine, and listen to testimony from congress on how little he knows about the lack of safety studies done on vaccines, and the over 100 million a year paid out for vaccine injuries, and that's just a drop in the bucket if it were to go to a real court. How about we make those pushing vaccines liable if our children get injured, that would be a start, let's get everyone educated here and not just the parents, it seems like they're the only ones that knows what's going on here.
ANY bacterial/viral infection can result in meningitis, which is an infection of the brain. Those bacterial/viral infections common in kids are most likely to cause meningitis.
WebMD page on meningitis - www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/understanding-meningitis-basics
READ IT if the original post here has made you fearful.
WebMD states even virus that cause diarrhea can cause meningitis. Pneumonia bacteria/virus can also cause meningitis.
Meningitis is an infection of the covering of the brain. Since all of us get bacterial & viral infections that get into our bloodstream, why is meningitis so rare (as WebMD states)?
Because it takes a compromised immune system to get meningitis.
Vaccinations cannot repair immune problems.
Vaccines provide live virus/bacteria (or inactive antigens) for a working immune system to recognize, destroy & remember. If any of those 3 functions of your immune system is not working then vaccines are useless for you.
Even if you were healthy at vaccination w/ a properly working immune system, if your immunity becomes impaired months or years after vaccination you could be at risk for infection/injury/death for a disease you had been vaccinated against.
What happened to Jeremy is horrible, but amputation of his limbs and eyelids had nothing to do with his meningitis.
Jeremy had severe immune problems. That is the only way a bacteria or virus could invade his limbs, eyelids and other organs... if his immune system was not stopping the pathogen.
It is fear-mongering of the worst sort to use Jeremy's condition as an excuse to vaccinate. Convincing everyone to vaccinate through fear will injure or kill kids who have compromised immune systems & should never receive a live vaccine.
The rest of us, w/ good immunity & good health, MUST to be vaccinated to PARTIALLY protect kids w/ bad immune systems from ordinary childhood diseases.
The PARTIAL protection for kids & adults who can't be vaccinated is called herd immunity. The more people who are vaccinated, the higher the herd immunity, the less likely it will be that kids like Jeremy will be infected.
However, before you go out vaccinating your kids assuming they are healthy enough to be vaccinated, there are precautions you must take as a parent.
YOU MUST READ AND UNDERSTAND VACCINE PACKAGE INSERTS!!!
You & your healthcare provider must screen your child before vaccinations. You must be involved to ensure your child is properly screened, in accordance w/ vaccine directions (the package inserts).
Just read the MMR package insert -
www.merck.com/product/usa/pi_circulars/m/mmr_ii/mmr_ii_pi.pdf
11 pages of reasons to not vaccinate your child along w/ pages of what could happen if you don't take the time to read & understand the package insert.
Improperly screening leads to kids being injured by vaccinations.
Vaccines that are safer & more effective would lead to higher herd immunity & less active disease.
Safer vaccinations would lead to more kids being able to be vaccinated.
More kids vaccinated leads to higher herd immunity & better PARTIAL protection for the smaller # of kids who can't be vaccinated.
Did you know that if your child is using Nasonex or Flonase at higher than medium dose or longer than 2 weeks (at any dose) they should not receive MMR or ANY live vaccine?!
I spoke to Merck & FDA about that. Merck has a case pending, based on my call, about changing the package inserts of both Nasonex & MMR to mutually contraindicate (can't use both at the same time).
The MMR package insert is a great place to start reading & protecting your kids.
It's not easy to get through, but Merck states in the insert that parents & people getting vaccinated need to be made aware of the entire set of warnings, precautions & contraindications.
READ, get informed & see how UNSAFE our vaccination program actually is for kids w/ immune problems.
As Always,
For the protection of children,
In the interests of truth & science,
Michael Polidori
Post a Comment