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Strollerderby
There might be more unvaccinated kids than we realize.
Wow. I just read one of the best pieces I’ve ever come across on the great vaccine debate, Western vs. Holistic medicine, Big Pharma and our addict culture. And get this — it wasn’t some nine-page dissertation in the Times — all of those topics were covered and addressed thoroughly and logically in a two-page blog post on Mommyish.
The post I’m referring to was written in response to another Mommyish piece titled, Your Unvaccinated Kid is Not Welcome to Play With Mine. Angela Arsenault says in this, the original essay, that parents of unvaccinated children are “responsible for the unnecessary illness of babies who were too young to yet be vaccinated.” She then adds, “I definitely blame you for your own child’s sickness – and I just have to remind you that it was preventable.”
Okay, there’s some truth to those statements, sure. We know about “herd immunity” and how unvaccinated children — and adults, for that matter — put infants at risk for disease. But let me say that Arsenault jumped to this conclusion (50 days ago, it should be noted) because her daughter caught a cold at pre-school and it got passed to Arsenault’s 16-month-old son. The “sound of his phlegmy coughs” led Arsenault to “mind-Google” the symptoms of whooping cough. (Are you following this so far?) Then Arsenault realized her son was vaccinated against whooping cough, so he was fine. (Arsenault doesn’t suggest, by the way, that her daughter was infected by an unimmunized child, so I have no idea why she drew the connection between a common cold and vaccinations, but, that’s neither here nor there.)
Because here’s the real kicker: Arsenault is chastising parents for not vaccinating their children against viruses like pertussis when she herself used Dr. Sears’ modified vaccination schedule for her children — and — she admits that she doesn’t like the flu vaccine and has never had her children immunized against influenza.
Umm… projecting much, lady? Continue reading »
Does your pediatrician enforce a vaccination policy?
The American Academy of Pediatrics is calling out Delta Airlines for allowing in-flight advertising from the National Vaccine Information Center, an organization that bills itself as a vaccine “watchdog.”
The nearly 3-minute NVIC video on influenza seems harmless enough. It shares various flu symptoms and talks about how to prevent respiratory infections and flu by things like washing hands and drinking lots of water. It even mentions getting the flu shot. If you follow up on their website, though, which the video encourages you to do, you’ll find the NVIC is very negative about the flu vaccine.
Forbes reports that the AAP released a statement asking Delta to remove the advertising from its flights: ”In the letter to Delta, the AAP writes that the NVIC ‘opposes the nation’s recommended childhood immunization schedule and promotes the unscientific practice of delaying or skipping vaccines altogether’ and that this leaves children unprotected from vaccine-preventable diseases.” According to the AAP, 115 children died last year from complications of the flu.
Keeping hands clean is a big step in preventing the flu.
At my daughter’s appointment to get her stitches removed after a recent bedtime accident, our new-to-us pediatrician asked if we’d like to schedule a flu shot. My eyes widened while I explained that we don’t vaccinate.
Her face softened as she said, “Oh! That’s right!” And she kindly went on to remind me how to naturally keep the flu out of our home this flu season without vaccinating. Continue reading »
This year's seasonal flu strain is the same as last year's. But pediatricians recommend getting vaccinated again this year.
This year’s strain of seasonal flu is the same as last year’s, but the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends most children get the vaccine again this year.
Flu shots provide optimal protection against the seasonal and highly contagious virus for only six to 12 months, so parents are advised to take kids in for another round of vaccinations before flu season kicks in later this year. The good news is, some kids might only need a single dose of the vaccine, rather than the two separate doses required last year and the year before. Continue reading »
A universal flu vaccine has been tested and could be the holy grail of influenza prevention
My heart breaks when I see a sick baby, even if the child isn’t mine. After all, little ones often struggle to express what aches they’re experiencing, so often times all they can do is moan or cry, and it can be tough to help them without really knowing what’s wrong.
What makes me even sadder is knowing a child is sick, but the illness was preventable. Take, for instance, the flu. A shot is available annually that protects against the most common strains of influenza, but many parents opt against getting it for their kids due to unfounded fears of vaccinations.
Hopefully it’ll be good news for all parents upon hearing that a new vaccine has been tested that would prevent against all strains of influenza for 10 years at a time, and could be used to prevent around a billion people a year from contracting the disease.
Federal health officials are looking into reports of an uptick in febrile seizures after children ages 6 months to 2 years were given this year’s seasonal flu shot Fluzone, made by drug manufacturer Sanofi-Aventis.
Fluzone is the only flu shot available this season for kids in this age range. On Thursday the CDC reported a higher incidence of seizures in little kids after getting this flu vaccination. Here’s the latest on the reported seizures:
Pregnant women are particularly vulnerable to swine flu
Not to be a downer, but here’s your friendly reminder that the Happy Holidays Season has an evil twin: flu season. Health experts are urging everyone to get this season’s flu vaccine and, in some parts of the world, they’re once again pushing H1N1 shots.
This year alone, 10 people in the U.K. died from the swine flu, all of them under 65 years old. In Northern Ireland, three pregnant women have been diagnosed with the so-called swine flu already, according to the BBC. Health officials there are urging all pregnant women, regardless of how far along their pregnancies are, to get an H1N1 shot if they didn’t get one last year. Continue reading »
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