posted on October 21, 2004 12:49:00 PM new
No, not the flu vaccinations--vaccinations in general.
I watched a program last night that talked about something that has bugged me for several years: people who do not vaccinate their children.
Some people refuse to do so because they believe that it causes autism--despite hundreds of studies & thousands of reports that show that it doesn't. And a study of autism done, I believe, in Denark that shows unvaccinated kids face the same percentage risk of autism as vaccinated ones.
Some refuse to do so because they think the diseases are dead or "gone" because they are seen so rarely. Duh! They aren't dead--we just don't get them because of the vaccinations. Idiots.
And some refuse to do so because they want their children "to build up natural immunities." There is no such "natural immunity" to things like whooping cough, diptheria & polio--if there were humans would have them, having suffered from them for thousands of years.
One idiot woman--and that is a statement of fact, not an insult--said that if her kids got measles that would be no problem because she didn't think it was a serious disease!!! Idiot!! Measles can kill (& I came very close to dying from them as a child) and they can leave a child blind. Not to mention convulsions and brain damage.
I just can't understand the mentality of people who would leave their children unprotected this way. It just goes to show how short a society's memory is. Just 50 years ago, thousands of children dies every year from whooping cough, diptheria, measles, mumps, etc. Deaths that stopped when vaccinations began.
There is a small risk of death with any vaccine. A chance of 1 in 10,000 or 1 in 100,000 of death seems negligible, until you or yours is that one. There is valid argument that if we save 1,000 people by causing the death of 10 it is to the greater good. The 1,000 saved is not tangible, the 10 lost are. So, Bunni, at what point does Russian Roulette become acceptable to you? Some people think it is never acceptable.
Then there are the scumbags out there (think lawyers, like VP hopeful Edwards) that hope to profit off of the grief of those unfortunate enough to experience this type of loss: http://www.monheit.com/dpt_vaccines/problem.shtml
posted on October 21, 2004 02:30:19 PM new
According to the CDC...
Just in the case of measles, the disease can be severe, with bronchopneumonia or brain inflammation leading to death in approximately 2 of every 1,000 cases.
The vaccination results in less than 1 case of encephalitis per million doses
posted on October 21, 2004 05:52:39 PM new
You said it, Parklane: a small risk. 1 in 100,000? The death rate of children before vaccinations became prevalent was much higher than that. If 1 in 100,000 is an unacceptable risk for you then why are worse odds favorable to you?
Because more people are refusing to vaccinate their children these diseases, which had become very uncommon in industrialized countries are on the rise again.
And parents who do not vaccinate their children aren't only taking risks with their own kids lives. The MMR vaccination also includes Rubella, or German measles--you do know what can happen if a pregnant woman is exposed to rubella in her first trimester, don't you? Birth defects in their babies: including deafness, eye defects, heart abnormalities and mental retardation.
____________________
"Bad temper is its own scourge. Few things are more bitter than to feel bitter. A man's venom poisons himself more than his victim." --Charles Buxton
posted on October 21, 2004 08:35:50 PM new
Twelve, it's still a "fee choice" as far as I know. It seems the bad outweighs the good with most vaccines, so maybe it's just a case of ignorance.
posted on October 21, 2004 09:08:05 PM new
I think parents have the right to refuse vaccinations for their children. I also think schools deserve the right to refuse admittance to unvaccinated kids, for the child's own safety. No unprotected kid should be forced to spend hours on end in a crowded classroom full of kids who are passing pathogens around like popcorn.
Are there any actual parents here who have consciously decided to forego vaccinating their kids?
I'll start. Mine are all vaccinated. Nobody's autistic or in any other way adversely affected.
____________________________________________
Dick Cheney: "I have not suggested there's a connection between Iraq and 9/11..."
posted on October 22, 2004 04:57:38 AM new
The only problem I've had with a vaccination with my children is the DTP shot. My son, as it turned out, is allergic to the "T" in DTP. He nearly died when he got his first shot. However, that's rare. My kids were vaccinated and so is my granddaughter.
Speaking of vaccines, does anyone remember getting the polio vaccine in a sugar cube? I remember standing in line as a child and getting that cube. What a treat that was at the time! My mother was none to happy because sweets weren't given out regularly. She never would have allowed me to eat a sugar cube!! It's funny the things we remember. I can remember back into my early childhood, but last month escapes me. LOL!
Cheryl
. . .if you still try to defend the infamies and horrors perpetrated by that Antichrist- I really believe he is Antichrist- I will have nothing more to do with you and you are no longer my friend.. . - War and Peace, Tolstoy
posted on October 22, 2004 07:38:09 AM new
Cheryl: Yes, I remember the sugar cube vaccination! There wasn't a single reluctant kid that day, as I recall We all wanted that sugar cube
____________________
"Bad temper is its own scourge. Few things are more bitter than to feel bitter. A man's venom poisons himself more than his victim." --Charles Buxton
posted on October 22, 2004 12:28:55 PM new
It used to be that you got your vaccinations in school, lined up in the auditorium or wherever. I remember the oral sugar one too (showing our age )
Now, though, (with the exeption of a child that is allegric, like Cheryls son) I think that parents are either lazy, or their religion won't allow it. Now I don't get that. I remember my kids, and the beginning of school, a sign was always there. No Shots. No School. Well that was BS, as there were 3 I knew of that got in school without vaccinations because of religous beliefs! What good is that? They should not be admitted. But they let them in.
Both my children had the full set of vaccinations, starting at the right age when infants, all the way through 6th grade I believe that is when they stopped.
posted on October 22, 2004 12:46:44 PM new
I'm not against vaccinations, it's one of the great benefits of modern civilization. My children got their vaccines, but we recognized that there was a possibility of complications.
My mother refused to get me vaccinated, not because of the vaccine, but because she had a severe phobia about needles. I read up on it, discussed it with my father, and had him take me for my shots. Yes, I've known how to read since I was two. They had a terrible time teaching me to print, because I already knew cursive and thought it was pointless to learn! My mother was diabetic and absolutely refused to take shots. She was one of the first people to ever take Orinais. She died when I was 15.
Yes, I remember the sugar cubes with the polio vaccine. My doctor gave me a number of medications that way, because of the needle thing. You would be surprised at the number of injectable medications that are available orally, or were.
)