Parenting article on vaccines

[whosnext]

Anyone see this month's article on vaccines? An online version of the story is here: http://www.parenting.com/article/Bab...-and-Fiction/1

[fresh_water]

Yes, it was very one-sided.

[Sheryl1678]

It is scary to think about the numbers of parents who trust Parenting magazine.

[chambom]

It said that whooping cough is most dangerous for babies under 6 months, but then it also said that they are not immune UNTIL the 6 month shot...ummm so what's the point?

It also stressed the adults getting the shot, but that doesn't stop you from carrying it and spreading it.

Also, they mentioned the side effects of each disease, but not the shots- encephalitis- a side of effect of both measles and vaccines.

[Pariah]

I disregard anything from that magazine...it is just a pharma mouth piece, on pretty much every topic.

[katheek77]

Beyond the magazine itself, people should research the patents Dr. Offit holds and the money he receives everytime someone gets a vaccine.

[goodheartedmama]

Why are they bringing up a less than week old with pertussis? How does that pertain to vaccines at all, since a week old cannot be vaxed against it?

And is it wrong to LOL at the chicken pox/measles part?

[KLM99]

Originally Posted by goodheartedmama

Why are they bringing up a less than week old with pertussis? How does that pertain to vaccines at all, since a week old cannot be vaxed against it?

And is it wrong to LOL at the chicken pox/measles part?

Although obviously *I* know that giving the vaccine to adults and making sure older children are vaccinated has not been proven to prevent transmission to the unvaccinated, the reason they bring up the one-week-old is so people can blame the unvaccinated for getting this poor, helpless, not-old-enough-to-be-vaccinated baby sick. A woman on this moms group I'm in sent in a similar plea about a 2-month-old who was in the hospital pretty much not breathing on his own because of pertussis - she sent it as a plea for all of us to make sure we had our kids vaccinated and blamed the increase in not vaccinating for the baby getting pertussis. It's a common argument I've found.

Obviously, very few seem to realize that the vaccine doesn't prevent transmission...but I don't need to go into that here, I'm sure

[KLM99]

and seriously - EVERY SINGLE article I read that is pro-vax quotes Paul Offitt - they can't find someone else??? Perhaps someone without the conflicts of interest??? Anyone???

[KLM99]

"We live thirty years longer now than we did a century ago, thanks to purified water -- and vaccines," says Paul Offit, M.D., chief of infectious diseases at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

I like this too - we live thirty years longer now because of purified water, sewage systems, health care, nutrition, adequate food, etc. etc. etc.... NOT just water and vaccines.

[KLM99]

Ah, and this:

"But as soon as compliance wanes, the protection we have against many devastating, and sometimes fatal, diseases wanes right along with it. This year's measles outbreak -- the biggest in nearly a decade -- may be the first warning shot, says Dr. Offit. Nearly all of the 131 people affected so far, many of them children, were purposely not vaccinated against the disease, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in Atlanta. "We have to take this seriously," says Anne Schuchat, M.D., director of the CDC National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. "I do not want to see the day where thousands of kids get this disease and die when we have the tools to prevent it.""

So 131 reported that they had measles (not to mention the others that didn't report it of course). What was the outcome for these 131 people? Did they die? Were they hospitalized? Notice how they say nothing about what the outcome for these 131 people was and then they say that the next thing that will happen is that thousands of kids will die.

[goodheartedmama]

I love how they also poo-poo the idea that immunity can be built naturally. Seriously?

[Deborah]

Yeah, they'll say at one and the same time that babies are incredibly vulnerable to disease and need every possible vaccine as early as possible AND that they are born with a fully operational immune system which can handle every possible vaccine as early as possible.

Which makes sense in a weird sort of way...but at the same time...doesn't.

[honeybunch2k8]

Originally Posted by goodheartedmama

Why are they bringing up a less than week old with pertussis? How does that pertain to vaccines at all, since a week old cannot be vaxed against it?

And is it wrong to LOL at the chicken pox/measles part?

I LOL'd at that part,too. I mean seriously, chickenpox??? Measles??? I know that they can cause complications for a few, but it's not some deadly plague.

I read that article at work (some brought the magazine). It says there that thimerosal is not fat soluble. But seriously, does that make is safe? And why is there even a debate about whether or not mercury is safe when we've known for over 1000 yrs mercury is poison???

[Turquesa]

I just found it interesting that an article claiming to put parents fears to rest relied on a lot of fear-mongering to get its point across.

[cadejaxellamom]

Ridiculous I despise Paul Offit :

[faithful2]

So Sad!

It's so sad that so much of the "information" out there is so biased. It's no wonder why so many parents just go with whatever the doctor says or do what their parents did.