The bullying I've seen both in the media and on Facebook lately regarding vaccination has been horrific. From a case of measles at Disney that has spread to less than 200 people total around the country, the response has been absurd.
Measles, you know, the disease most of us had as children, which involved some spots, a few days off school and lifelong immunity. Not to say that there aren't sometimes complications, but, on the whole, for healthy children, measles is not a problem. I even had it myself. Not dead yet.
But, the response and vile comments from the public at large would have us believe it is something more akin to Ebola.
Also being debated on every news show is the issue of exemptions from vaccination for school attendance. Most states have multiple exemptions available to children and their parents.
It seems, the common consensus is that unvaccinated children are a public health menace and need to be quarantined, their parents fined or even jailed and them forcibly inoculated. Yeah, seriously. In the "Land of the Free" and the home of the "Brave", grown adults are advocating for parents to be jailed for deciding that the MMR vaccine is too much of a risk for their child, regardless it seems of any concern for that child's other medical issues. Where do we live again? North Korea? Did our children suddenly become the property of the state? Did our rights as parents disappear? Are all parents who decide they aren't comfortable with a particular vaccine complete idiots who must be removed from that responsibility immediately to save the human race from immediate destruction?
What a load of absolute nonsense.
The general picture being painted by the media right now is this -
- Measles is a virulent deadly disease that had been wiped out and now these unvaccinated children are bringing it back and it will kill any child it comes into contact with.
- The MMR vaccine is perfectly safe and perfectly effective. Vaccine injuries are massively rare. In fact unheard of, because when something is perfect, there are no problems. Ever. Get your kid vaccinated. Now.
- Parents who don't vaccinate are evil and want your child to die from measles or some other horrific disease. They must be stopped. They are dangerous and shouldn't have children. They are the "anti-vaxxers". And they are stupid and misinformed.
- Andrew Wakefield started this and is the devil.
- Anti-vaxxers are Wakefield devotees.
- Measles will kill your child. Get them vaccinated.
It sounds ridiculous, no? But, turn on most news stations and that's pretty much the picture that will be painted.
So, a few comments from yours truly on this subject and a few of these points,..
- Measles IS a very virulent disease, but it has never been truly wiped out and there are cases in the United States each year. Don't believe me? You can check the CDC numbers for yourself. Unvaccinated children however are not always the cause. Measles is not spontaneous, it does not just appear. It could've come from a child or adult from another country, or from a child or adult that travelled to an area where measles was active and brought it back to the United States. Additionally, the MMR is a live virus vaccine, which means that for a few weeks after vaccination, children and adults can transmit the virus to others. This is not my opinion, it is a fact. Measles rarely kills healthy people. Indeed, there hasn't been a death from measles in the United States for 10 years.
The MMR vaccine is neither perfectly safe nor perfectly effective. Why? Because nothing is. There are risks with any vaccine. Are they rare? Yes. Mostly. Although, it has been estimated that the real reporting numbers for vaccine reactions are approximately 10% of the actual reactions that occur. So, maybe they're not as rare as you might think. The US government actually set up a whole separate legal process for vaccine injuries, so, clearly there must be a need for it. They pay money to families who have a loved one who is injured or killed (yes, I did say killed) by a vaccine reaction. If vaccine reactions are so rare, why do the vaccine manufacturers need a separate process (in closed hearing rooms not open court) for claims against them? Why the secrecy? What the media doesn't report too often on in the mass hysteria we've seen recently is that many cases are in vaccinated individuals. So, the vaccine doesn't always work and produce the protection it is supposed to. But, let's be clear here, with every vaccine comes a risk and it comes with no guarantee that it will protect against the disease itself. Additionally, the immunity from the vaccine does not last forever as it does when you actually get the disease, it is temporary and it varies for each person.
Parents who don't vaccinate are evil. Well, yes, sometimes. Aren't we all? But, here is the truth. Try talking to parents who don't vaccinate and ask them why. Instead of wondering where their 666 tattoo is, talk to them. EVERY parent I know who either no longer vaccinates or who has chosen a different vaccination schedule has usually reached that position by experience. They almost all started as believers in vaccination. Then something happened to their child. They saw their child get sick, maybe develop seizures (which are listed as adverse reactions to vaccines), maybe the child developed gastrointestinal problems, maybe they were listless or screamed after the shot, for days on end. Maybe nothing major happened, but the child gradually got sicker and sicker, picking up ear infection after ear infection, developed awful diarrhea, maybe they stopped talking, maybe they stopped responding to their name. The parents saw a sick child and asked for help. As someone who experienced many of these issues, including a head growth surge in infancy that was NEVER mentioned that it could be a vaccine reaction (it was) by a pediatrician, let me tell you - when your child gets sick for no reason and then starts going backwards and all the doctors can tell you is that it's "definitely not the shots", frankly, you don't believe them. You realize that your child's immune system has something terribly wrong and how on earth can adding more vaccinations be a sensible option for a sick child. Even the vaccine inserts instruct against vaccinating a sick child.
Here's the truth. Parents who don't vaccinate are terrified. Their children are sick and they more than anything, don't want other parents to experience the same. No-one would wish their experiences on anyone. Whilst they are terrified, they are not crazy. What do they gain by saying "be careful, take your time, don't vaccinate when sick, don't use tylenol"? Nothing. They gain nothing. Whereas, your pediatrician gains, the pharmaceutical company gains, the patent holder gains. Who do you trust more? Just asking.
Some of the smartest people I know have stopped vaccinating, or changed the schedule, or selectively vaccinate. I'm talking lawyers, doctors, teachers. Not your average imbecile. Many of the parents I know have at least a bachelor's degree and many have postgraduate degrees. They are educated, rational, reasonable people.
No-one wants anyone's child to get sick from a preventable illness, but, as parents, our first responsibility is to OUR OWN children. They are sick, they are those children who cannot be further vaccinated. Trust me, an outbreak is the last thing anyone wants. But, right now we have a far bigger epidemic on our hands and it kills daily. It's called autism. These kids wander and drown all the time and yet, what makes the news? Not the little guy found in a pond, but the outbreak of a disease that hasn't killed anyone in 10 years at Disney. I don't understand it and I regularly wonder if I'm living in the Twilight Zone.
For those who shout about Andrew Wakefield, the vast majority of the people have NEVER read the paper he wrote. It NEVER said MMR caused autism. It said that the children with autism had bowel disease and the parents had reported onset after vaccination with MMR. Go ahead and read it for yourself. I'm not lying to you. It called for further investigation into bowel disease and MMR. Interestingly, bowel disease is now one of those things that even the AAP recommends investigation for in children with autism, because it is so prevalent in the condition. My own son had horrible bowel problems. The parents who witnessed these problems in their children went to Wakefield, not the other way around. Additionally, Wakefield is NOT anti-vaccine. He actually recommended that if parents are concerned that they vaccinate with each component of MMR separately and space them out, although, he doesn't support the mumps vaccine. Why? Because mumps is a risk to males of reproductive age. If males get mumps whilst a child, it gives lifelong immunity and does no harm. Our problem now is that the MMR wears off right around the time of when mumps could cause reproductive damage to males.
Merck's response to this? Instead of saying "we understand parents are concerned and we want to show we support choice and flexibility in the schedule", they discontinued the single measles vaccine. Nice huh?
Many parents saw issues with their children before the paper came out. Many people of this generation hardly know what the fuss is about. We saw some problems with our son prior to MMR. I don't think MMR helped though. His immune system was already crashing and MMR pretty much finished it off. It's funny that people say that these so-called anti-vaxxers are Wakefield devotees though, since, he's not anti-vaccine.
- Measles will, in all likelihood, NOT kill your child. Stop panicking. We panicked less over a potential Ebola outbreak in this country than we have over measles. Ebola really does kill.
So, here's my little summary on this and I'm going to bullet point it for you.
- Stop with the hating. We all make different choices that we believe are best for our children.
- Want to vaccinate on schedule? Go ahead. I really don't care what you choose to do because your children are your children. It's your right to do that. We vaccinated on schedule, until our son got sick.
- Stop with the absolute illogical argument that the unvaccinated are a risk. If anything, it's the other way around. They are the ones AT RISK. If the vaccine works, your children are protected, you have nothing to worry about. If it doesn't, well, take that argument to the vaccine maker and try and get a refund. In the meantime, my child is at risk from yours.
- Stop dragging up Wakefield. Please. It's old news. There is a proven association between GI issues and autism. Just ask the AAP.
- Have some compassion for parents who have children with special needs, whether from vaccine injury or not. Their lives truly suck sometimes. The last thing they need is to be patronized by those who have escaped the difficulties their children experience on a daily basis.
- If you don't know anything about autism, or don't have a child with autism, then please, shut up on the issue of 'vaccines don't cause autism'. You don't have a dog in the fight. You have NO clue what these parents saw, or no idea how they struggle, or of the guilt they feel. Don't pile on.
- Use the old saying your mother (hopefully) taught you - "If you don't have anything nice to say, then say nothing". Please. Don't spout off some hateful judgmental nonsense just because you can. Think if you would have the guts to say that in person. If you don't, then, stop yourself.
- Don't assume that parents who don't vaccinate are anti-vaccine. They're (we're) not. We just don't feel it is a prudent choice for OUR children.
- Accept that live virus vaccines shed. This is fact. It is science. If anything, a vaccinated child or adult) should be quarantined to protect others, since for about 3 weeks, they are a walking transmission factory. Live virus vaccines include flu (intranasal), varicella, vaccinia (smallpox) and MMR.
- There has never been thimerosal in live vaccines, they can't, because it would kill it. So, if you bring up MMR, don't mention thimerosal in the shot, it's not there. Parents who have researched this know this and if you don't and you're trying to pick a fight, this is a sure fire way to show you don't have a clue what you're talking about. Also, thimerosal is still in some shots (multi-dose flu shot vials). It is also a neurotoxin, whichever way you look at it. If it's not safe to roll around in your hands, it's not safe to inject into people at all.
Want to know what we would do if our son didn't have issues? We would still vaccinate. But, given all that I know about his impaired immune system, we would go slowly. Very slowly. We wouldn't bother with Hep A or B. We would never do a flu shot. We would not have done rotavirus. We would delay MMR until after the age of 4. We would still not vaccinate for chicken pox.
We are not the devil, really. We are just parents who were unlucky and our kids crashed. And we're struggling to get back to normal. Instead of attacking us with nonsense, try having some compassion and support our choices, as we support yours.
Parents - here's my advice. If the news out there right now is getting you down, honestly, the best thing to do is disengage from it. Or write a blog post to vent....
Finally, I moderate all comments. So, anything nasty won't be published. You'll be wasting both your time and mine, but, it's a lot quicker for me to press 'delete' than it is for you to type it. Again, if you have nothing nice to say.....
