More Media Scare Tactics

[cyberfish]

This one seems to be even more over the top than usual:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40280560/ns/health-infectious_diseases/?gt1=43001

With plenty of quotes from Paul Offit.  Just to make it more valid.

[Sileree]

This is not "news," its health marketing.

http://insidevaccines.com/wordpress/2008/08/07/health-marketing-risk-communication-and-the-media/

[Bokonon]

Uh, weren't like 95% of those measles and mumps outbreak sufferers vaccinated?

I just think the whole herd immunity argument is ridiculous.  Not only does the theory have holes in it, but why should I be responsible for other people's kids' health when many don't bother to attempt breastfeeding, stuff their babies with rice cereal at 6 weeks, and shun extended rear-facing, because that's how they were raised and "turned out fine".  Well, my grandmother never had most of the vaxes we have now and "turned out fine"!

In fact, my mom had measles as a toddler.  She turned out fine.  ;)

[siemeeers]

I don't understand how this is so ridiculous. If you are not vaccinated you have a significantly increased chance of contracting pertussis. Whether or not it ALWAYS causes a death should not be a issue. What the real issue is is that it very well COULD cause a death!! And putting your child's and other children's lives in danger is not so outrageous. One person turning out fine from measles is an anecdotal story that does not have scientific significance! Also, what holes in the herd immunity theory are you referencing?

[Bokonon]

Originally Posted by siemeeers 

I don't understand how this is so ridiculous. If you are not vaccinated you have a significantly increased chance of contracting pertussis. Whether or not it ALWAYS causes a death should not be a issue. What the real issue is is that it very well COULD cause a death!! And putting your child's and other children's lives in danger is not so outrageous. One person turning out fine from measles is an anecdotal story that does not have scientific significance! Also, what holes in the herd immunity theory are you referencing?

You may fare better posting in a pro-vaccination forum than one called "I'm Not Vaccinating".  I was being sarcastic when I used the anecdotal story, alluding to how people like to say "my child got the DTaP vaccine and turned out fine".

There are lots of diseases that COULD cause a death that we don't vaccinate for in the US.  Should we go ahead and give our kids every vaccine under the sun in the off chance that they may encounter the illness?  Tuberculosis?  Anthrax?  Plague?  Typhoid?  Japanese Encephalitis?

The DTaP vaccine is highly reactive and has been associated with over 49,000 reported adverse reactions since 2000 in the U.S., and 862 deaths.  

[tanyalynn]

Originally Posted by siemeeers 

I don't understand how this is so ridiculous. If you are not vaccinated you have a significantly increased chance of contracting pertussis. Whether or not it ALWAYS causes a death should not be a issue. What the real issue is is that it very well COULD cause a death!! And putting your child's and other children's lives in danger is not so outrageous. One person turning out fine from measles is an anecdotal story that does not have scientific significance! Also, what holes in the herd immunity theory are you referencing?

We don't all agree on this.  Getting a diagnosis of pertussis is influenced by a lot of factors, one of which seems to be whether one has been vaccinated.  It does look like vaccinated people have milder symptoms--but it's not clear that they actually don't get pertussis, so it's plausible that they still spread it just as much. 

The AAP's journal had a really helpful (to me anyway) article on pertussis--the jist of it was that even doctors expecting to see pertussis had a very, very difficult time distinguishing coughs caused by pertussis from coughs due to other reasons--and since most doctors in this US, until this past year, haven't considered pertussis much, well, it really puts the officially reported CDC numbers in question.

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/100/6/e10

There have been a lot of thoughtful, well-researched threads on this board on the topic of pertussis exploring what we know and what we don't.  It's not as simple as "unvaccinated kids/adults are spreading all this illness putting everyone else at risk." 

[laohaire]

Originally Posted by siemeeers 

I don't understand how this is so ridiculous. If you are not vaccinated you have a significantly increased chance of contracting pertussis. Whether or not it ALWAYS causes a death should not be a issue. What the real issue is is that it very well COULD cause a death!! And putting your child's and other children's lives in danger is not so outrageous. One person turning out fine from measles is an anecdotal story that does not have scientific significance! Also, what holes in the herd immunity theory are you referencing?

[elus0814]

I just barely skimmed the first article. Yes, it's very sad that her child was injured as a result of meningitis but this mother would likely be spearheading the campaign AGAINST vaccines if her child had been injured by one. Everything has risks, you just have to choose which set of risks are most acceptable to you.

For what it's worth - my dad had polio and he's ok now (not that I think polio is a minor illness, just to illustrate that these diseases, even the worst ones, aren't as bad as the vaccine pushers would have you believe). 

They bring up herd immunity but they neglect to mention that everyone has a different herd. We live on an air force base where my four kids are only four of approximately ten people on base to not be fully vaccinated but this is a small base. The ped told me my kids are the only ones on base she knows of to not have any. Yes, we travel sometimes but our daily risk is very, very low.

Edited by elus0814 - 12/7/10 at 3:53pm

[laohaire]

That's the second time it's happened to me that I had a post in reply to something but it got eaten. Bah. No, I did not just reply to quote someone :)

[stacey05]

When I read a tragic story like this, I always wonder if the child was fully vaccinated for other things...like hib, prevnar, mmr, dtap, etc.  I immediately think that vaccines of any sort suppress the immune system and make it easier for kids to get meningitis, etc.  I wish they would tell you the whole story and what they were vaccinated for.  Like you read about cases of nthi, hia and hif and I wonder if they got hib and prevnar and if that threw off the balance, etc.  Plus according to Dr. Scheibner, meningitis rates rose 399% when dpt was mass marketed.  Something is going on here and I just don't think they tell the whole story.  I also keep reading about how these men. vaccines don't last very long.  One college age girl got the disease she was vaccinated for a couple of years ago and they said her immunity wore off.  Meningitis is very scary and I wish the vaccines worked without having to worry about serotype replacement, transference, side effects or all the other bacteria that aren't covered in vaccines and can cause meningitis...I would get if for sure, then.

[Marnica]

Originally Posted by siemeeers 

I don't understand how this is so ridiculous. If you are not vaccinated you have a significantly increased chance of contracting pertussis. Whether or not it ALWAYS causes a death should not be a issue. What the real issue is is that it very well COULD cause a death!! And putting your child's and other children's lives in danger is not so outrageous. One person turning out fine from measles is an anecdotal story that does not have scientific significance! Also, what holes in the herd immunity theory are you referencing?

 yeah, not so much http://www.mothering.com/community/forum/thread/1284822/how-many-kids-that-get-wc-are-vaxed

and I feel if I vaccinated my child with Dtap I would be putting his life at risk so go figure

[Shanesmom]

Well, that poor kid!!! I feel sorry for him and sorry for his poor mom who had to watch him suffer through this.

However, if I read the story right, this was an accident that in no way could have been prevented. The kid was too young to get the vaccine. It's not his fault, the parents fault......anyones.

Yeah, it didn't convince me of anything.