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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 »
A CDC panel has expanded their recommendation on the HPV vaccine to include boys. Finally.
After all the furor over giving this shot to girls, it’s great to see the CDC do the right thing and recommend it to boys as well. The virus can affect boys as well as girls, it’s only right that they also be vaccinated for it.
In case you’ve been living under a rock: the HPV vaccine protects against cancer-causing strains of the human papilloma virus. Because it’s usually sexually transmitted, some Republicans have made a big stink about the vaccine being a license for free sex.
Do your kids get shots at their Well Baby visits?
One of my colleagues over at Being Pregnant has just written a passionate post about the 5 worst myths about unvaccinated kids.
She makes the case that vaccination is a very personal decision, and one that every family should be free to make on their own. Her goal is to debunk myths like “parents who don’t vaccinate don’t really love their kids” and “your unvaccinated child will make my kid sick”.
The thing is, while a lot of her particular arguments are good, she’s missing the larger point. Vaccination isn’t just a personal decision. It’s also a public health issue.
In the p
ast I’ve absolutely jumped right in on any debate about the dangers of vaccinations. I was ready for it with the pediatrician, on my blog, with family, and moms at the playgroup: Bring It On. But over time as the years have gone by and the debate is, surprise surprise, never ending, I’m tired of it. Seriously, it’s not anyone’s business but MINE if I vaccinate my kids or not.
Rabies could have easily killed a California girl, who realized she had contracted the disease after it was too late for the life-saving vaccine.
The grandmother of Precious Reynolds thought the 8-year-old had a severe flu — and possibly polio — when she brought the California girl to the hospital this spring. The hospital ran many tests and concluded that it wasn’t the flu. The girl had contracted rabies, possibly from a feral cat, weeks before.
Following Centers for Disease Control protocol, Precious Reynolds did not get the series of 4 rabies shots, since doctors couldn’t determine how long ago she had contracted rabies. Continue reading »
Parents still unsure vaccines are safe.
While American children are being vaccinated in record numbers, a survey published in the June issue of Health Affairs reports that 77% of parents have at least one concern about the safety of vaccines. The most common concern among parents – unsurprisingly – is that their children will feel physical pain as a result of getting shots. But the second and third most common worries about vaccines that parents confessed to in the survey reflect the belief that vaccines may be unsafe for children under age 2. 36 percent of parents surveyed “worried that their children were getting too many vaccines in a single visit, while 34 percent fret they are getting too many shots in the first two years,” ABC News reports.
They go on to say, “Concerns of resultant fevers from the vaccines were mentioned by 32 percent, and the fear that the vaccines could cause learning disabilities like autism remains among 30 percent. Others, 26 percent, have a general worry that the ingredients in the vaccines are unsafe, the survey found.” While only 5% of the 376 households surveyed admitted to skipping some vaccines and a mere 2% said they would not vaccinate at all, there is one state where anti-vaccine sentiment is much higher.
Which state leads the nation in an unwillingness to prevent childhood disease through vaccination? Continue reading »
Affluent parents are forgoing vaccines more often.
Middle-class and upper-class parents typically have better access to health care than low-income mommies and daddies. Yet more affluent parents are skipping vaccines for their little ones.
A new report shows a sharp drop in the vaccination rate among privately insured kids, while those on Medicaid continue to get their shots at a gradually improving rate.
What’s causing the drop? It’s not lack of access or education, the usual barricades to good medical care.
Instead, doctors worry that parents are being taken in by anti-vaccine activists like Jenny McCarthy. They fear more and more people are deliberately going vaccines because of needless safety fears.
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