14 February 2008

Measles

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_8250788

A baby on a flight had measles, and now everyone is panicking. Eek! The measles!

Know what? I'm much, much more concerned about TB, the flu, or severe chest congestion being spread about on an airplane. I've gotten the measles in college despite being vaccinated at least twice against every disease then known to mankind. I wasn't sick. I just had some spots. There really wasn't any reason to quarantine me because it was hardly a deadly disease and I obviously got it from SOMEWHERE and that SOMETHING is still "out there," right?

I think so long as I didn't wander about the nursing home kissing the patients (yiiw!), we'd have all been fine letting me return to class or shopping at the local grocery store. But whatever.

One thing is bothering me: our physician's office tells us that they now combine a buncha vaccines together into one shot that baby S should have at her two-month checkup. We were hoping to skip the polio vaccine. I mean, the chances of her contracting polio are there, but not as great in our opinion as the chances for a bad reaction to the shot. I want the OPV given instead, because I'm figuring it offers BETTER protection against polio even if it is slightly more risky. I mean, if we need to vaccinate against polio because polio is bad, shouldn't we use the more EFFECTIVE vaccine?? And if we don't need the more effective vaccine, surely we don't need to vaccinate against polio...

The logic of these people astounds me, but I suppose it shouldn't. It must be that someone is making more money the way they've structured it now. No, I'm not one of those parents who entirely blames my children's autism on the vaccines and is suspicious of a conspiracy 'round every corner. But I will say that sticking thimerosol in a vaccine is a stupid idea. Did they think anything good would come of it? What else is in there, and would the executives of the companies that make the vaccines like it stuck into the flesh of their small children?

Nevermind VAERS; let's just print up the vaccination rates of the vaccine executives' children. And the children of physicians. And if you REALLY want to build up trust in parents so that they give their children the recommended immunizations, you'll make it easy for them to sue the crap out of these companies when something goes wrong. No fair having a government fund to shush up the suffering families. I want to see EVERY case on my evening news.

We received notice from the local health department through the schools that there is a very bad, deadly flu going around and we ought to get the vaccine. I considered it, but it has thimerosol in it! And can you imagine me taking my two-week-old child in with everyone else while we sit in a germ-infested waiting room to get the vaccine while my children touch the armrests of chairs that have been sneezed on? The county health department serves the PRISON population as well. I think we're staying home instead.

4 comments:

  1. If it makes you feel any better, I waited until my kids were 2 yo to start vaccinations. With our lifestyle, my kids aren't 'at risk' until they are a bit older. I also space out the immunizations, and ask specifically for shots that are NOT a combination shot, except for the DTP. I have only had one pediatrician give me a hard time about it- so I changed docs.

    When my oldest went into the Army, he got EVERY SINGLE ONE of his immunizations again- including a tetanus booster, even though he had gotten a tetanus booster less than a year before he went in. What is up with that? And he puked and fainted for 2 days.

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  2. Thanks,sunniemom. I agree that the DTP is very important. There was an outbreak in our town about a year and a half ago and despite the risks of the shot, I think we're more at risk not taking that particular vaccination.

    The Army thing is confusing b/c our pediatrician's office says they CAN'T give more than four things at once!!

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  3. I just starting refusing to get my kids vaccinated within the last year. And guess what? I just got a call from the doc's office saying that Little brother needs at least 3 more shots before he turns 3. Now my dh thinks we are on the bad list, because we don't completely agree with the docs.
    I think parents should have the final word on what they want going into their kids. Period. I hope you find someone that will work with what you want.

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  4. As a parent, you do have the final word, and when it comes to my kids, I have told more than one health care professional to take a flying bite at Mars.

    When my dd was little, I knew instinctively that the DTP was causing her to have asthmatic symptoms. I stopped all her shots, and within a few months, her asthma symptoms cleared up completely. The doc insisted that it couldn't be so, that there must be other environmental factors, but sorry, doc- I am the one living in her environment, keeping track of her eating and sleeping habits, and the only time she had problems was in the weeks following a shot.

    The doctor did come around, and waited patiently for me to decide when she was ready to start shots again. I waited until she was 6 yo. and I still spaced shots out several months to a year apart.

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