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Thanks, Anti-Vaxxers. You Just Brought Back Measles in NYC.

kenny

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http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/03/13/thanks-anti-vaxxers-you-just-brought-back-measles-in-nyc.html

SNIP
"Measles was considered eliminated at the turn of the millennium. Now it’s back, thanks to the loons who refuse to vaccinate their children.
Of all the things to be nostalgic for, infectious diseases probably don’t make it onto many lists.

However, if you happen to pine for the good old days when measles was an active public health threat, I have good news for you.
The anti-vaccine crowd is bringing it back.

There is currently an outbreak of measles in New York City.
Considered eliminated in the United States in 2000, last year saw a record number of outbreaks around the country
It’s only three months into 2014, and not only is the nation’s largest city seeing cases in several boroughs, but other major metropolitan areas are warning of new cases as well.

This is not some inconvenience to be laughed off.
Measles is a highly-contagious illness caused by a virus.
It usually presents with a combination of rash, fevers, cough and runny nose, as well as characteristic spots in the mouth.
Most patients recover after an unpleasant but relatively uneventful period of sickness.
Unfortunately, about one patient in every 1,000 develops inflammation of the brain, and one to three cases per 1000 in the United States result in death.

Vaccine-deniers are responsible to the resurgence of once-eliminated illnesses.
Their movement is responsible for sickening people.
They are to blame for the word “outbreak” appearing in headlines from coast to coast.

Reports from New York note that several people have been hospitalized, and infected patients include infants too young to be vaccinated themselves.
Because the American public hasn’t needed to worry much about this once-contained threat in quite some time, most people probably don’t know that measles can kill, or leave children permanently disabled.

We vaccinate people for a reason.

It is because I never want patients in my office to contract vaccine-preventable illnesses (like at least two unlucky people in the New York City outbreak, who got the disease from visiting their own doctors) that patients whose parents refuse to vaccinate them are not welcome in my practice.
I cannot entirely eliminate the potential for disease exposure between children who come to see me, but I can do my best to mitigate it.
I never want to know that a child was sickened or killed because I let the recklessness of a vaccine-refusing parent jeopardize their health.

But now, shoppers in Boston-area supermarkets get to worry that they may have been exposed when they stopped by for groceries.
Commuters in the Bay Area now have to contend with the possibility that they or their children may contract the illness because they happened to get on the wrong train.
Over a dozen people around Los Angeles have been diagnosed with measles already this year, nearly half of them intentionally unvaccinated.

This is sheer lunacy.
Just over a dozen years ago this illness was considered eliminated in our country, and this year people are being hospitalized for it.
All due to the hysteria about a safe, effective vaccine.
All based on nothing.

There is no legitimate scientific controversy about whether or not vaccines are safe.
The original study that started us down this insane path by linking the MMR vaccine to autism has been retracted outright.
The evidence against administering the MMR vaccine to healthy individuals is utterly without merit.

But people continue to make the utterly baffling choice to refuse it anyway.
Dispiriting new information seems to indicate that they are immune to persuasion when confronted with facts inconvenient to their worldview.
Indeed, writers at prominent online media outlets chide us for “demeaning” vaccine-deniers, saying to do so “defies explanation.”

The explanation is simple, and is as accessible as the nightly news.
Vaccine-deniers are responsible to the resurgence of once-eliminated illnesses.
Their movement is responsible for sickening people.
They are to blame for the word “outbreak” appearing in headlines from coast to coast.

The anti-vaccine crowd may think they’re only making a decision for their own family.
In fact, they’re threatening to make the rest of us sick.
Refusing to vaccinate your children means you are contributing to a worsening public health crisis.
There is no denying it, and there is no point in sugar-coating it.

I hope the anti-vaccine movement somehow loses steam.
Perhaps America will take note of the return of long-gone illnesses and will stop treating vaccine denialism as a viewpoint worth considering.
Perhaps vaccine-refusing parents will consider whether it’s worth the anxiety of knowing that a person who coughed in their grocery store two hours earlier could infect their kids as they do the week’s shopping together, and will reconsider their choices.

There is no good reason for there to be a measles outbreak in New York.
Or Boston.
Or LA.
But there they are.
If you missed measles and are glad it’s back, thank a vaccine-denier.
 
Re: Thanks, Anti-Vaxxers. You Just Brought Back Measles in N

Thank you for posting this.
 
Re: Thanks, Anti-Vaxxers. You Just Brought Back Measles in N

There was an outbreak in Wales a little while ago. There were queues of parents with their children frantically trying to get their unvaccinated kids vaccinated.
 
Re: Thanks, Anti-Vaxxers. You Just Brought Back Measles in N

We had it in our area a few years back as well. It was all over the news, people just went wild about it. There was a little boy who either died or almost died b/c of it. They had a tracking map on the news, showing where infected people were and where they'd been, etc. I'd never seen anything like it on the news before.
 
Re: Thanks, Anti-Vaxxers. You Just Brought Back Measles in N

I know. It sucks. I hated vaccinating my kids, but I felt that it was the responsible thing to do not just for my family, but for the greater good.
 
Re: Thanks, Anti-Vaxxers. You Just Brought Back Measles in N

Argh! Don't get me started. I want to punch people who think there is a link between measles and autism on the basis of a very poor underpowered and irresponsible so called study. Kids die of measles, some people have forgotten how deadly a disease it can be.
 
Re: Thanks, Anti-Vaxxers. You Just Brought Back Measles in N

momhappy|1394929684|3634841 said:
I know. It sucks. I hated vaccinating my kids, but I felt that it was the responsible thing to do not just for my family, but for the greater good.


So why did you hate it?
 
Re: Thanks, Anti-Vaxxers. You Just Brought Back Measles in N

rosetta|1394930048|3634846 said:
Argh! Don't get me started. I want to punch people who think there is a link between measles and autism on the basis of a very poor underpowered and irresponsible so called study. Kids die of measles, some people have forgotten how deadly a disease it can be.

When I had my one of my older kids vaccinated the nurse was the one who warned me that there was a report out saying there was a link with Autism. I still had him vaccinated. Nothing happened. When I had my youngest vaccinated there was no such warning and he is Autistic. I don't blame the vaccine.
 
Re: Thanks, Anti-Vaxxers. You Just Brought Back Measles in N

Where is my popcorn...this should be a good thread!
 
Re: Thanks, Anti-Vaxxers. You Just Brought Back Measles in N

tyty333|1394934435|3634904 said:
Where is my popcorn...this should be a good thread!

I highly doubt that anyone who is anti-vax on these boards would even bother with this thread with a 10 foot pole. Considering the title alone pretty much sums up how many people feel about the topic.
 
Re: Thanks, Anti-Vaxxers. You Just Brought Back Measles in N

rosetta|1394930048|3634846 said:
Argh! Don't get me started. I want to punch people who think there is a link between measles and autism on the basis of a very poor underpowered and irresponsible so called study. Kids die of measles, some people have forgotten how deadly a disease it can be.

A big fat ditto. The vax debate is the only one that I am like a hungry dog with a bone - I can't walk away. It's a level of irrationality and blatant ignorance that I can't ignore. People are so comfortable with the blessed morbidity and mortality rates we have now, they are blocking their minds to the reality of the past: a past that could easily become the future, with a high enough prevalence of stupidity.
 
Re: Thanks, Anti-Vaxxers. You Just Brought Back Measles in N

The resurgence of those diseases we thought of as "eliminated" to the point of them seeming "antique" is scary.
It's the same with TB.
 
Re: Thanks, Anti-Vaxxers. You Just Brought Back Measles in N

We get these kinds of anti-scientific attitudes all the time in our line of work, from our clients.
Yes, it is surprising just how litle understanding there is of science and scientific method.
I guess a lot of people weren't really paying attention in science class in school.
But the wilful ignorance is disturbing...

I guess philosophically, bigger picture it is good to have a questioning public as it helps science to address any gaps and evolve that much quicker.

But...I actually have 'friends' who tell me with a straight face they don't believe in evolution as a reality!
I tell them that evidence is right in front of them, as evolution is why resistance to antibiotics is a reality.

I guess it's nice 'knowing' that God created you just as you are, and made you in to the special person you are.
But...I would like to work some facts in there.
Science is truth! Religion should not be afraid of truth!
 
Re: Thanks, Anti-Vaxxers. You Just Brought Back Measles in N

kenny|1394930432|3634849 said:
momhappy|1394929684|3634841 said:
I know. It sucks. I hated vaccinating my kids, but I felt that it was the responsible thing to do not just for my family, but for the greater good.


So why did you hate it?


B/c it hurts. They're little and they don't understand why mom is just sitting there while they get a needle jabbed into them. Impossible to explain to a baby that it's the right thing to do. And it's impossible to explain to your 2 year old who looks at you w/such an expression of betrayal and hurt. But you do it b/c it's right and they get over it and it's fine. But it still hurts at the time.

ETA I should've said heck I didn't hate it at all, I dressed up like a clown and made balloon animals. Shots are fun! I take my kids up even when they're not due for anything and let the nurses practice. C'mon Kenny, you know better'n that.
 
Re: Thanks, Anti-Vaxxers. You Just Brought Back Measles in N

I'm in this group. I'm an immigrant who moved from the US to the UK where vaccinations are different. I have yet to get vaccinated for certain things that are coming back into the UK because of people who refuse to vaccinate. I would assume this applies to people who don't vaccinate their children and immigrants like me. I must be honest, I know I should, and I don't want to hurt the natives, but I'm torn on what to do. If I had children I'd vaccinate them, these populations of children and immigrants, myself included, have the potential for substantial harm.
 
Re: Thanks, Anti-Vaxxers. You Just Brought Back Measles in N

Ugh this came up at a party last week. A friend isn't going to vaccinate her child because her Mil thinks it causes autism.

Friend is upset because no daycares will take her child un vaccinated.

Me: "Well hope she doesn't get measels"

Her: "the other kids are vaccinated so it's ok"

Too many people have this attitude and there's the problem.
 
Re: Thanks, Anti-Vaxxers. You Just Brought Back Measles in N

chemgirl said:
Ugh this came up at a party last week. A friend isn't going to vaccinate her child because her Mil thinks it causes autism. Friend is upset because no daycares will take her child un vaccinated. Me: "Well hope she doesn't get measels" Her: "the other kids are vaccinated so it's ok" Too many people have this attitude and there's the problem.

Here, most pediatricians won't take an unvaccinated kid either.
 
Re: Thanks, Anti-Vaxxers. You Just Brought Back Measles in N

packrat|1394938827|3634962 said:
kenny|1394930432|3634849 said:
momhappy|1394929684|3634841 said:
I know. It sucks. I hated vaccinating my kids, but I felt that it was the responsible thing to do not just for my family, but for the greater good.


So why did you hate it?


B/c it hurts. They're little and they don't understand why mom is just sitting there while they get a needle jabbed into them. Impossible to explain to a baby that it's the right thing to do. And it's impossible to explain to your 2 year old who looks at you w/such an expression of betrayal and hurt. But you do it b/c it's right and they get over it and it's fine. But it still hurts at the time.

ETA I should've said heck I didn't hate it at all, I dressed up like a clown and made balloon animals. Shots are fun! I take my kids up even when they're not due for anything and let the nurses practice. C'mon Kenny, you know better'n that.

Even when you KNOW know know it's the right thing to do, it still feels scary in a silly non-scientific way.
And of course the nurses go through all the worst-case scenarios wrt what 'could happen' eg high temp.
You have to wait in the waiting room for 10 minutes before leaving the medical centre in case your child turns into Incredible Hulk...

The pain is the worst side of it emotionally for a mum because for 6 months after your four-year-old might refuse to go to the doctor, thinking that another shot is coming... but I have hardened up remarkably since my first child. The first time I took a baby to be vaccinated, i thought I might faint.

Do I hold it against my mother that she 'tricked' me into being vaccinated? No, I am grateful that she had the commonsense to do the right thing by me. I look at vaccines as our sci-fi method of becoming superhuman... I love the very concept of vaccines...
 
Re: Thanks, Anti-Vaxxers. You Just Brought Back Measles in N

chemgirl|1394940084|3634966 said:
Ugh this came up at a party last week. A friend isn't going to vaccinate her child because her Mil thinks it causes autism.
Cynical LOL. Freeloading on the system is annoying!!
An 'aquaintance' of mine had her children 'immunised' with natural vaccines.
Homeopathics!! What an 18th century idea that is! embarrassing.

Unfortunately her child nearly died of whooping cough.
She.Is.A.Dummy.
And I was annoyed that she wanted my children to play with her child.
 
Re: Thanks, Anti-Vaxxers. You Just Brought Back Measles in N

chemgirl|1394940084|3634966 said:
Ugh this came up at a party last week. A friend isn't going to vaccinate her child because her Mil thinks it causes autism.

Friend is upset because no daycares will take her child un vaccinated.

Me: "Well hope she doesn't get measels"

Her: "the other kids are vaccinated so it's ok"

Too many people have this attitude and there's the problem.

And the worst part of the vaccine-autism argument is that the studies done by Andrew Wakefield that started all this were proven to be falsified. But once it's out there the damage is done.

Doctors need to explain how herd immunity works when people give the "the other kids are vaccinated" excuse, if there are enough unimmunized people it allows the virus/bacteria to mutate and then the vaccine won't be effective for anyone. Not to mention that kids that are too young to be vaccinated or the immunocompromised are put at risk due to someone's decision to not vaccinate.
 
Re: Thanks, Anti-Vaxxers. You Just Brought Back Measles in N

And something for the rest of us, as adults, it doesn't hurt to have yourself checked to see if your vaccinations actually worked and you are immune. I was checked for immunity for the MMR and I wasn't immune to measles or rubella so I had to do the vaccine again. Same goes for whooping cough. I didn't realize that you should get booster shots and I actually got it my second year working in a school. Now I stay on top of all of my vaccinations actively. I teach children with Autism and I will make sure that my own children are fully vaccinated.
 
Re: Thanks, Anti-Vaxxers. You Just Brought Back Measles in N

Rhapsody|1394947017|3635025 said:
Not to mention that kids that are too young to be vaccinated or the immunocompromised are put at risk due to someone's decision to not vaccinate.

Yes, there are pockets and townships in Australia where whooping cough and measles are a real concern, not the place to take your grandmother or your newborn!! Darn those hippies lol. :rolleyes:
 
Re: Thanks, Anti-Vaxxers. You Just Brought Back Measles in N

Thank you for posting this, Kenny.

In South Africa vaccinations are compulsory and very cheap. You can do it privately (at a cost of about US$30, if you don't have medical insurance) or you can go to a state facility at no cost.

Whenever one of these threads comes up I am once again absolutely flabbergasted by some people's sheer, wilful ignorance and stupidity.

Not a single anti-vaccer has been able to present a cogent argument for why they choose not to vaccinate. And no, religion is not an argument.

The cynic in me wouldn't mind too much if the only people affected were the children of the non-vaccers. In that case, I'd say sure, go ahead, wipe yourselves out.

Unfortunately, their reckless stupidity and bloody mindedness in the face of scientific fact is endangering the lives of countless other people.

LaraOnline said:
We get these kinds of anti-scientific attitudes all the time in our line of work, from our clients.
Yes, it is surprising just how litle understanding there is of science and scientific method.
I guess a lot of people weren't really paying attention in science class in school.
But the wilful ignorance is disturbing...

I guess philosophically, bigger picture it is good to have a questioning public as it helps science to address any gaps and evolve that much quicker.

But...I actually have 'friends' who tell me with a straight face they don't believe in evolution as a reality!
I tell them that evidence is right in front of them, as evolution is why resistance to antibiotics is a reality.

I guess it's nice 'knowing' that God created you just as you are, and made you in to the special person you are.
But...I would like to work some facts in there.
Science is truth! Religion should not be afraid of truth!

We recently had dinner with a very well known, well respected pharmacy professor. He told us about how, just last year, he asked his final year pharmacy students how many of them believed in evolution. More than half of them did not, even though it is taught in their first year biology classes.

How on earth these people can cling to their ignorance in the face of fact is just beyond me.
 
Re: Thanks, Anti-Vaxxers. You Just Brought Back Measles in N

My kids were born in Mexico. My oldest was born in 2005. I remember being a new mom who spent way too much time reading mothering websites and not enough on actually feeding my brain. I asked the pediatrician whether he thought that the MMR vaccine was unsafe. His response? "This is a third world country. I have seen too many kids in public hospitals who are now deaf because the parents were too ignorant to vaccinate the child and the kid got the measles."

My darlings are fully vaccinated.

I'll be back home in NY once I wrap up custody and relocation litigation against the psychopath I was married to. Any crunchy non-vaxxing family I meet there, I'll be more than happy to have them text our pediatrician here. He'll set them straight.
 
Re: Thanks, Anti-Vaxxers. You Just Brought Back Measles in N

packrat|1394938827|3634962 said:
kenny|1394930432|3634849 said:
momhappy|1394929684|3634841 said:
I know. It sucks. I hated vaccinating my kids, but I felt that it was the responsible thing to do not just for my family, but for the greater good.


So why did you hate it?


B/c it hurts. They're little and they don't understand why mom is just sitting there while they get a needle jabbed into them. Impossible to explain to a baby that it's the right thing to do. And it's impossible to explain to your 2 year old who looks at you w/such an expression of betrayal and hurt. But you do it b/c it's right and they get over it and it's fine. But it still hurts at the time.

ETA I should've said heck I didn't hate it at all, I dressed up like a clown and made balloon animals. Shots are fun! I take my kids up even when they're not due for anything and let the nurses practice. C'mon Kenny, you know better'n that.

In "The Story of San Michele" Dr. Axel Munthe describes in gut-wrenching, harrowing detail what it is to pick out membranes from the throats of children suffering from diphtheria during an outbreak in Naples, let's say some 80 to 100 years ago.

Jab my kids. It's over in a matter of seconds, and they'll forgive anything if they're bribed with lollipops.
 
Re: Thanks, Anti-Vaxxers. You Just Brought Back Measles in N

I don't get how people manage to Not vaccinate their kids. :confused:

Every school my kids have ever been to demand vac records on hand on day one, or they won't let the kids in. Every year they check the records. From elementary all the way to college, officials WANT those records, signed by the pediatrician.

How are they getting away with it?
 
Re: Thanks, Anti-Vaxxers. You Just Brought Back Measles in N

ilander, I think a lot of them do a "religious" exemption or something. Personally, I think you should have to prove that you actually practice whatever religion you're using to claim exemption. There were puh-leeeenty of people here when I worked at the office who wanted our providers to sign that exemption form for the schools and I knew for a fact they hadn't stepped foot in a church in years, probably couldn't tell you the first thing *about* the religion.
 
Re: Thanks, Anti-Vaxxers. You Just Brought Back Measles in N

Here in Canada you can file a philosophical objection with your local Health Unit and get examption papers. A Toronto based anti-vax group actually has a template of the letter posted online.

In ny province schools have the right to suspend unvaccinated children for a maximum of 20 days so parents will just take the suspension.

Our friends who are choosing not to vaccinate want us to try and get pregnant so our kids will be in the same school. DH and I don't want our future kids to have any contact with them until we're through year one of vaccinations so that'll be an interesting talk.
 
Re: Thanks, Anti-Vaxxers. You Just Brought Back Measles in N

I thought the thread was about anti the brand of Vax that makes good vacuum cleaners, DOH!

DK :))
 
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