Pox Parties, Lollipops, etc.

[marilyndeutsch]

My name is Marilyn Deutsch.  I am a reporter at Fox 12 in Portland, Oregon and I am trying to do a story on chicken pox parties and folks trying to expose their kids to the pox for health reasons.  If any of you are in the area, please contact me -- either through this string or feel free to use my work email:[e-mail].  I am not going to "out" anyone who doesn't want to talk about this, but as i do a lot of medical stories (and i am a mom) i think it's a fascinating story about moms taking this issue into their own hands.  Thanks for your time. Marilyn

[Thursday Girl]

and generally when moms get on shows like these it's just the reporters trying to make us look bad and we get railroaded and partially quoted to sound ignorant and like we don't care about our kids. good luck.

[marilyndeutsch]

I'm sorry you feel that way.  You obviously don't know me. 

[Thursday Girl]

No, I don't, but I have seen a number of people from this website invited to share their view on the news and basically been lead to slaughter.

[bookwormommy]

It feels a little strange to have a reporter posting here in their professional capacity, rather than as a fellow mom looking for advice or support.  I agree w/ the PP that I've never seen or read a sympathetic news report on this in any mainstream media, so it's hard to believe this story will be any different by the time it airs, even if you (Marilyn) are approaching it with an open mind. 

[Turquesa]

Originally Posted by marilyndeutsch 

I'm sorry you feel that way.  You obviously don't know me. 

Don't take it personally.  News outlets have had multiple chances to earn the trust of non-vaxxing and selectively vaxxing parents.  We're unfortunately past the point of trusting big media with this issue.  The target of our frustration is not you, but the System that you represent.  Here's the usual course of a story that we see.

1. The "uneducated" Jane Smith doesn't vaccinate and wants to expose her kids to chicken pox at a "pox party."

2. The highly educated John Jones, who is a doctor or public health big-wig "expert," says that's a bad idea, portrays chicken pox like it's the bubonic plague, and finger-wags at parents who do pox parties.

3. Journalist writes that parents are "scared" (instead of skeptical) of vaccines, but doctors are here to quell those "fears." 

4. Journalist reminds public that "vaccines don't cause autism."  Never mind that Jane Smith never even mentioned autism as a concern...

5. Article gets posted online.

6. Hateful posts in the comment section ensue, accusing Jane Smith and her ilk of "child abuse."

To be fair, you may have had something different in mind.  On the off-chance that you have found a trusting parent to interview, please try to change the aforementioned six steps.  You could instead mention the following:

1. The vaccine was originally developed exclusively for immunocompromised children.

2. Before the varicella vaccine was added to the universal schedule, the mortality rate from chicken pox was %0.00000041.  http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011/07/26/138683207/chicken-pox-deaths-plummet-with-help-of-vaccine  Hardly a raging public health emergency, ce n'est pas? 

3. Parents hoping to expose their children to chicken pox at a young age cite the fact that this vaccine provides immunity for only a limited and unknown period of time, leaving grown children and adults vulnerable to catching chicken pox at an age at which the disease is *definitely* dangerous. 

[kitandkaboodle]

Marilyn, I have to agree with others that I almost never (maybe never) have seen decent coverage of this topic in typical news sources such as yours.

The topic is pitted as "Emotional Moms vs. Rational Docs". First, this just makes for a boring formula "news angle". but the irony is that there is no shortage of MDs, NDs, and research PHDs who have called vaccine safety into question. There is no shortage of hard science pointing to the risks of individual vaccines as well as the compound risks of getting more and more of them. There's also a lot of science on the ineffectiveness of some vaccines. However, the medical professionals who are critical of vaccine policy are never allowed to speak in the media, it seems.