Pro-Vax Piece for This American Life

[boigrrrlwonder]

Generally I love the show, but I saw what they're airing this week. Look here.

[Scattershoot]

From the article:

When they decided not to vaccinate their son against measles, two San Diego parents thought they were making the best decision for their child. But when the 7-year-old came home from an overseas trip suffering from the disease, his family’s personal decision became a whole community’s problem.

Sounds like Dr. Proffit wrote this piece. This is what the vaccine movement has come down to. It's pretty pathetic. Forget the lack of science, the lack of safety studies, the lack of effectiveness, the massive vaccine injury cover-up, and the lack of common sense, it has now evolved into, "You are bad parents, even though you believe you are doing what is right, and you are going to hurt everyone else with your selfishness." You see, they can't win with the facts or the truth, instead they resort to "You have cooties."

It's the MEASLES. Besides the fact that the measles along with chicken pox. rubella and the mumps are normal childhood developmental stages, they are very harmless to almost anyone with at least a semi-functioning immune system. These nutjobs would like nothing more than to round people up in the name of "national security" and force jab these toxins.

[MountainMamaGC]

God forbid you have to stay home form work to take care of your child for a week or 2. Not to mention most of the complictions are a result of vitamin definciency. The media really gets under my skin sometimes.

[gardenmom]

Here's a link to an article that looks related, from The San Diego Union Tribune:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniont...13measles.html

Note that the article was written nearly one month after the kids were exposed.

Note that the article doesn't mention any horrible complications or deaths from the measles.

Note that the boy's doctor says this (bolding mine):
"Dr. Alisa Lawrie, a pediatrician at the clinic, said one child now known to have measles came in with only a fever and had not developed the characteristic rash. Because measles is so rare now, she said, “there was nothing to indicate it was more serious. We thought he just had a viral illness and sent him home".

Followed by this paragraph:
"Lawrie said the outbreak should send a clear message to parents about the danger of not vaccinating their children."

The "clear message" that I infer from that article is that kids with the measles (in most cases) would seem like they had a viral illness and could be taken care of at home.

and I especially love this paragraph:
**

[gardenmom]

I also wonder if these doctors were familiar with the measles and able to properly diagnose it due to experience, could they have limited the exposures that occurred instead of being ignorant about it?

[Arduinna]

BOOO to this american life!

[nicolebeth]

Originally Posted by gardenmom

I also wonder if these doctors were familiar with the measles and able to properly diagnose it due to experience, could they have limited the exposures that occurred instead of being ignorant about it?

Great point! I didn't think about that when I read the articles originally.

I'm disappointed that this is going to be the tone of the story, too. I know many people who would agree, though. (I probably would have several years ago, actually.)

[Gitti]

Moira and ...Allan are ...committed to having a healthy lifestyle.

When Ariel was 1 year old, Moira decided against the MMR vaccine.

When she was 2 years old, Ariel came down with measles. Ariel's fever did not go down after a couple of days and she was having trouble breathing.

Moira called her doctor, who advised her to get Ariel to an emergency room as soon as possible. When Ariel is admitted, the doctor diagnosed her with pneumonia as a complication of measles. The doctor explained that ... she could have developed brain damage or even died.
Ariel recovers ...

The CDC puts out those stories under "health care marketing". I call it fear mongering.

http://www.cdc.gov/healthmarketing/e...ps/measles.htm

[Gitti]

mmm.. InsideVaccines has a new article out that's sort of fitting -

http://insidevaccines.com/wordpress/...nts-dangerous/

[peainthepod]

A mild viral illness with no complications? Oh no!

[gardenmom]

Originally Posted by Gitti

mmm.. InsideVaccines has a new article out that's sort of fitting -

http://insidevaccines.com/wordpress/...nts-dangerous/

Fabulous article! I'm going to pass it around to everyone I know.
Thanks!

[Deborah]

More and more people are finding this sort of stuff unbelievable. The diseases = evil and vaccines = good dichotomy. Real parents have real questions about real individual vaccines.

[Gitti]

Originally Posted by peainthepod

A mild viral illness with no complications? Oh no!

And then life long immunity...Oh no! God help us all.

[Turquesa]

Why not write to them? I did. And I'd love some other letters to help bolster my effort: [e-mail]

[cynotgirl]

know of a link to listen?

I heard a bit of this on my way to work this morning. I actually was impressed with what i heard, from the mother who did not vaccinate. But, I did not hear the whole thing.

Does anyone know of a link to actually listen to the whole segment of that show?

Thanks!

[Bellejar]

I am listening to this right now. I feel sorry for the woman whose 10 month old who had measles. I can't imagine how horrible that would be. I do vaccinate my children and I respect peoples rights not to vaccinate. I am glad most people do vaccinate. I understand peoples concerns with vaccines. I do think the fact that most people vaccinate allows you that choice, if children routinely died from the measles you might feel that the risk of the vaccines were not as bad as the potential of death from one of diseases that we vaccinate for. Just MHO.

[Tracy]

didn't NPR get in trouble when they found out one of their contributors was on payroll with a Pharm?

I feel like it happened earlier this year, anyone remember?

[carriebft]

I don't agree with the idea that other people vaccinating allows me to choose not to do certain vaccine, and I also don't agree with generalizing about those who vaccinate either.

But if you don't want those generalizations, you shouldn't use them yourself and that might help in seeing the other possibilities out there.

So, when someone says "you can choose not to vaccinate because other do vaccinate" it sounds condescending to me. I choose not to do the rotavirus vaccine because I feel the risks are greater than the benefits and I feel it has not been studied enough (even the FDA says they are awaiting more testing results).

My kids have had rotavirus; it made me think twice about my decision for the baby, but, in the end, we decided against it. The fact that the experience of the disease has not changed my mind would seem to be a big chunk of evidence that we don't just choose not to do this one 'because everyone else does and it allows me to choose not to.'

[peainthepod]

The idea that those of us who choose not to inject vaccines into our babies are somehow beholden to those who do is laughable at best. If anything, the children with stronger immune systems are less likely to spread disease in the event of the widespread pandemic the pro-vaxers are always scaremongering about. Not to mention that many children who have been given live virus vaccines shed sickness wherever they go, putting vaccinated and unvaccinated people at potential risk.

Back on topic, at least one NPR host is a shill for pharmaceutical companies, so it doesn't surprise me that the show would have a pro-vax slant. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/22/health/22radio.html

[Bellejar]

We will just have to agree to disagree on this. Some children have horrible reactions to vaccinations and some have horrible reactions to Measles. I think it is up to every parent to decide for their own children which risks they deem bareable. The measles isn't per se bad, but even in developed countries the death rate from complications is 1 in 1000 cases. The problem comes that if there is an outbreak it is so highly contagious that the number of people who get it make the toll as far as complications very high.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Measles

Again, I am not trying to belittle your choices or sound condescending, that was not my intention but I really do believe a lot of people would have different feelings about vaccinations if some of these diseases were more prevalent. Again, right now the risks of getting the diseases are relatively low for individuals. I think it is easier to make the decision not to vaccinate when there is a low probability you will have a disease. Maybe I am stating this the wrong way. Think about how polio was before they had a vaccination.