Can someone explain passive immunity to me in terms of vaccines?

[Lookingup]

I got in a fight with a woman at church today. She's a school nurse, and in general a very stubborn woman. I walked away -- I'm not skilled in confrontation.  But she was loudly complaining about how the current pertussis epidemic is the fault of the unvaccinated.  When I pointed out that all of the children from the local day care who came down with pertussis were fully vaccinated, she started going on and on about passive immunity, and that everyone needs to be vaxed for it to work (maybe she was confusing herd immunity?)  She then told me that it was most definitely NOT the fault of vaccines that my son has PDD.  She's never met him and doesn't know his story, so at this point I walked away. 

If you have a good layman's article on passive immunity, or you want to try to explain it to me yourself, I'd appreciate it.  Thanks.

[MamaMunchkin]

... I don't know what to tell you ... there's such a deeply entrenched belief with this whole vax thing ... I pretty much expect it, out there in the real world and even here at MDC - though it's still downright unpleasant whenever it happens ... The guilt-tripping, shaming, judging, dismissing vax reaction ... etc etc ...

It does sound like she's confusing herd immunity and passive immunity.  Have you looked at this article?

http://www.historyofvaccines.org/content/articles/passive-immunization

[Lookingup]

Thank you.  My days of research were years ago (when my son went through this) so this was a good refresher.  And yes, I think she was confusing herd immunity with passive immunity.  

Thanks again for the link -- and the hug!  I feel better now that I don't have her messing with my head.  Also, it was a wake-up call that I should keep up with my vaccine and immunology reading.  It won't affect our decision to stop vaccinating, but it does make me feel more secure when I get attacked.

[Chloebelle]

I so hate those discussions. I avoid them like the plague, but when it does come up, it's mostly always total ignorance and lack of any personal research whatsoever. Just repeating the same garbage that has been shoved down their throats for decades.

Off topic a bit, but my husband has worked with 2 women on separate occasions recently, one is a nurse and the other is a highly paid pharmaceutical rep. He told both of them in conversation  that we don't vaccinate, (for the life of me, I don't know why he would bring up our vaccination choices to people), and both of them said "good for you, I wouldn't either." Refreshing.

[Lookingup]

That was indeed refreshing.

Was just at a party with a friend and we were discussing the whole mentality of repeating what's been shoved down one's throat by the media, pharmaceuticals... it's an epidemic of ignorance.
 

[Rrrrrachel]

Passive immunity generally means the kind of immunity you get from breastfeeding or placental transfer.  It's when antibodies are transferred from one person to another.  Sounds like she meant herd immunity.

I'm sorry it sounds like she was so rude.  That was surely unpleasant.