And this is not the only place that anti-vaxxers are unwelcome, they are also being asked to stay the hell away from the happiest place on earth:
It may be the happiest place on Earth, but California health officials are warning people to stay away from Disneyland unless they're vaccinated.
I myself am somebody who has avoided the flu vaccination for the last twelve years, relying on my own good health and strong natural resistance to see me through the season. And so far so good.
However as somebody who caught both measles and chicken pox as a kid I made sure my daughter got all of her shots and booster shots right on time. Because I love her.
As Americans we are famous for our independent spirit, but when our personal choices put others at terrible risk we have an obligation to put our stubbornness on hold for the good of everybody.
Simply put there is simply NO real scientifically proven connection between vaccinations and autism, despite what disgraced British doctor named Andrew Wakefield and Jenny McCarthy might have you believe.
We put chlorine in our pool water to fight bacteria, pasteurize our milk, and vaccinate our children. And we have never been healthier or safer.
And those are the facts.
Penn and Teller on vaccination:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfdZTZQvuCo
I have a family member who is profoundly autistic--non-verbal, non-toilet-trainable, hand-flapping, etc. Of course I looked into the link between vaccinations and autism while I was pregnant with my own kids, and I learned there is ZERO link between autism and vaccinations. Both my kids are healthy and neurotypical with *all* their vaccinations.
ReplyDeleteI am very glad to see that doctor's sign. I hope they pop up all over my town and that school officials go back to the requirement that children have their proper shots before starting school. Our home town, Traverse City MI, had a small-scale "epidemic" of whooping cough before the holidays, one of the three diseases covered by the DPT shots, given in a series of three, that most of us received as infants. We were very lucky that excellent medical care and the timing of the holidays limited the scope of the spread of the disease here and we were even more lucky that the disease that cropped up was not diphtheria which can be an alarmingly fatal disease. And imagine if lots of children developed tetanus after a nasty cut just because their parents neglected to get them the proper shots.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was young, my parents were thrilled that there was finally a vaccine for polio. I remember lining up outside the local public school on weekends for the polio vaccine sugar cubes. Are these parents denying their children the vaccine against polio too? And then there's smallpox which decimated entire populations or left its surviving victims with permanent scars. And yes, measles, chicken pox and mumps can do serious damage to their victims.
Because education has fallen in such disrepute, parents of youngsters today frequently have not got a clue what dreadful damage these diseases can do. And also, let's fact it, the values of community and civic responsibility have fallen on hard times because, along with the move to the right in this country, many people don't care about what might happen to the rest of the population.
Get your children vaccinated. It used to be that children could not start school without their shots. What has happened to us as a nation that we do not care if disease runs rampant when it does not have to?
Beaglemom
Thank God for Dr. Jonas Salk who developed the polio vaccine. (later on Albert Sabin developed the oral polio vaccine)
DeletePolio is a devastating disease, it cripples and kills. It was greatly feared by parents. This is why you saw parents lined up with their children to get them vaccinated against polio.
Now, thanks to Dr. Jonas Salk polio has been irradiated in the US, and around the world.
When I grew up in the 50's, I had a childhood friend who was crippled by polio (he had not been vaccinated against it).
I bet FDR would have loved to have gotten vaccinated for polio. Read his son Elliott's book The Roosevelts of Hyde Park. Elliott gave graphics details of what his dad went through.
DeleteNow, if the educated doctor would just remove that unnecessary
ReplyDeleteapostrophe from the first 'patients,' all would be well. So happy to see this. Even the Fox doc called them out the other day, saying that measles are far more dangerous to us than ebola ever was.
I caught that apostrophe first off and cringed even before I'd read the whole note, thinking "ok, another low-brow anti-vaxer". Funny that, eh?
DeleteHa, I spotted that too.
DeleteI have to think that the physician didn't type the notice, but a low level admin assistant.
DeleteBristol?
DeleteI am total agreement. Two daughters and six grandsons....all vaccinated and no autism. I think currently, there is a thought that pollution is connected to autism. Makes a lot more sense to me.
ReplyDeleteI used to think "measles" was just a funny-sounding virus.
ReplyDeleteThen I discovered that it can kill -- or leave victims blind or paralyzed.
There's no excuse not to eradicate this disease, and we can do it, if self-educated-on-google parents who think they're M.D.s will stop thinking it's harmless to ignore measles.
Mumps can leave adult men sterile.
If you believe in God, you have to believe that he gave humans the brains to solve problems and make life better on earth. The MMR vaccine is product of our intelligence, and his.
I had a terrible case of measles when I was 4. My optic nerves were so damaged that I am beyond legally blind, even with both contacts and glasses (worn at the same time, always.)
DeleteI can't play sports. I can't ski. I can't ride a bike. I can't drive a car....the list of things I can't do, or can only do poorly, goes on.
I'm far, far from the only one, and many suffered worse.
It makes me sick to hear people like Jenny McCarthy claiming that diseases like measles are "really no big deal".
Educate yourselves in a little history, anti-vaxxers!!!
Profound deafness is also another common result of measles, as is brain damage. It's a horrible disease that we had eradicated from the USA until the anti vaxers rose up with their ignorance to endanger everyone.
DeleteRoald Dahl's daughter died in 1962 from encephalitis caused by measles.
Delete8:40 -
DeleteI've worked with deaf children and adults for almost 30 years. As vaccines and treatments for diseases such as measles and meningitis have become commonplace, the population of children with hearing loss has steadily decreased in my city, which has one of the largest deaf/HIH populations in the country.
Even within the past 17 years, since I've been teaching and interpreting in the public schools here, I've seen a tremendous reduction in the number of students we serve.
While there will always be children with hearing losses caused by genetics, trauma, congenital malformations, untreated infections, etc, many of the causes of hearing loss that affected my students a mere couple of decades ago have become far less common.
I had mumps when I was a little girl, shortly before there was a vaccine in common usage. While it was extremely uncomfortable for me, it was far more serious for my father, who caught it from me and ended up in the hospital. Fortunately, there were no long-term effects, but he was a very sick man for a while.
DeleteFor some reason, he was always very susceptible to any illness I had, and I always felt especially guilty about passing that particular one on to him.
: (
DeleteI get the flu shot because I am around old people and very young people that are at risk.
ReplyDeleteGryphen, are you listening? I seriously don't understand how anyone can criticize parents for not getting their children vaccinated while claiming he himself relies, essentially, on his special super powers instead of the flu vaccine. Sorry, but that's a bullshit justification, especially when you have regular close contact with a vulnerable population. It's one thing to take a chance with your own health, but what about theirs?
DeleteGranted, the flu vaccination this year has not been very effective. They don't always get it right, there are too many variables and the vaccination can't always keep up with them. But since that's not usually the case, I have to say that I'm actually shocked by the normally scientific Gryphen's anti-scientific attitude on this issue.
One last thing, Gryphen. You mentioned chicken pox as a kid.
DeleteTell you what "superman", first google shingles and read it well.
Then you might consider a shingles vaccination.
Shingles is no joke and however great a shape you may be in, shingles don't care.
I work in an elementary school and am very susceptible to respiratory illnesses. Based on my doctor's recommendation, I get a flu shot every year. Both my agency (BOCES) and the district where I work offer flu shot clinics to all employees so we don't even have to go to our doctor's offices.
DeleteLuckily, we haven't had bad flu epidemics in my building in the past few years, but I know of other schools that have been closed for several days or a week in order to break the transmission cycle and allow teams from the maintenance departments to go through and thoroughly disinfect the buildings.
Pasteurizing all our milk and milk products isn't such a hot idea thoough. Overkill on that one.
ReplyDeleteBullshit. Unless you milk your own cow so have access to very fresh raw milk you can consume right after milking it, drinking raw milk is a very bad idea that is likely to make you very sick. Raw milk is an excellent medium for lots of nasty microbes to grow in. And they do.
DeleteCenters for Disease Control:
DeleteEven healthy animals may carry germs that can contaminate milk. Milk may be contaminated with bacteria during the milk collection process. Small numbers of bacteria might multiply and grow in the milk before someone drinks it if it is raw. Dairying methods have impr oved over the years but are still no substitute for pasteurization in assuring that milk is safe to drink. Raw milk supplied by “certified,” “organic,” or “local” dairies has no guarantee of being safe.
http://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/rawmilk/raw-milk-questions-and-answers.html#sanitary
Unless you get your milk from a large scale milk manufacturer where just one cow out of a thousand could end up spreading illness through 10's of thousands of people in our population. Now if you milk your own cow( like I do) and make sure that cow or few cows are never exposed to any outside sources of illness like more cattle then you are fine.
DeleteAnon at 8:38: I agree. I had dairy goats. Each goat was tested for TB and brucelosis and quarantined before being added to the herd. When I had enough goats, I maintained a closed herd, no new additions at all. Every year, at breeding season, I had the herd re-tested. I followed all the safe milking routines. Best milk I ever drank; fantastic yogurt, too.
DeleteI have four children (all adults now in their 30's, and 40's), and they all got their vaccinations on schedule, with NO problems.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand this anti-immunization some parents have.
As a child I got all my immunizations, my siblings did, my friends did, and when we grew up and had children of our own, they all got their immunizations, and NOTHING happened to any of us. NOBODY got autism.
The difference is that your kids maybe had a maximum of 10 vaccine injections by the time they were 3 yrs of age (doses starting at 2 months of age). Not to mention that was only 3 types of vaccines. Today, children start receiving injections the day they are born and end up with upwards of 40 by the time they are 3! (And that's 10 different types of vaccines). Not saying one way or the other but it should give us pause about so much foreign toxic substance going into a little being that has yet developed a fully functioning neurological system. Even 14 years ago, when I had my own kids, the max. recommended vaccines were about 24. By the way, the arguments aren't solely about autism, autoimmune disorders are suspect as well. Not picking on your comment just noticed the age of your children and I fall into that category:)
DeleteJMHO
You might have gotten your vaccinations in the second half of the 50's or first years of the 60's (depending on the age you had your kids). You yourself may need a booster, please call your Drs office. The first vaccines were not as good as those that followed and they are recommending boosters. Also please spread this info to anyone you know in that age category that may need a booster, it could save their lives.
Delete@anon @ 8:31am
DeleteNo, there is no difference, except for your own ignorance. Every healthcare worker gets more shots, everyone traveling abroad gets more shots. Now our children are protected with more shots.
If you are an anti vaxer, keep your ignorant self and your disease carrying children out of public places,
10 shots! Toxins! Chemicals!
DeleteHow scary!!
These are all fear tactics. We are lucky to be living at a time when we can protect ourselves from debilitating and deadly diseases.
To: Anonymous8:31 AM
DeleteI am Anonymous 5:35 AM. ...You are SO wrong. There is no difference in getting vaccinated today, than there was when I was a child growing up in the 50's.
And no child that I know of started getting vaccinated the day they were born, and I raised 4 children, helped raised many nieces and nephews, and have 2 grandchild.
Vaccinations saves children from crippling and sometimes fatal diseases.
The first hepatitis B vax is recommended to be given at birth, and the CDC has established a plan for vaccination so that, if followed, kids will be fully vaccinated while very young.
DeleteAnd the reason is that the majority of parents will take their infant/toddler to the doctor for their well-child checks, but when the child is older, well-child checks go by the wayside. Pediatricians are advised to vaccinate when you have your hands on the baby, because many, many parents will not follow through on vaccinations when the child is of school age. If parents weren't careless, and would follow a schedule, certain vaxes could be given at longer intervals.
However, some of these illnesses have not been seen in so long that people don't realize how dangerous they can be. Nobody sat down and said, "let's see how many shots we can give babies." They said, "How can we save lives?" instead.
The old grandmothers used to make sure grandchildren got vaccinated because they'd seen children die. Unfortunately, we either need to turn public opinion about vaccination around or children will be dying again.
Incidentally, I think if a child dies of a vaccine-preventable disease because the parent is a Jenny McCarthy wanna-be, that parent should be charged with negligent homicide.
I remember lining up for the polio sugar cube, too. I don't think any parents were so stupid they refused it. But Americans used to be better educated about science than they now are.
Please define "foreign toxic substances." Then tell us how much of these scary substances each vaccine contains and why exactly we should be frightened.
DeleteIvy, so good to see you and hear your thoughtful responses!
DeleteI too am old enough to remember these terrible illnesses. I made sure my children would never go through them. And I imade sure that all 10 of my grandchildren are vaccinated. It is the responsibility of all of us to protect them.
ReplyDeleteThis link explains a lot:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/27/us-amish-parents-idUSTRE75Q5SO20110627
My feeling has always been to vaccinate...love your kid a little more!
When I was working in San Francisco one of my adult employees got chicken pox. We all joked about it until he came back to work with, what looked like, burn scars the whole left side of his face. Not funny when adults get "childhood" diseases.
ReplyDeleteSince the Disneyland outbreak people seem to finally be waking up to the damage done by the anti-vaccination movement. They've depended on the herd immunity from all of the responsible people who do vaccinate while refusing to take any of what they perceive to be a risk for their own kids. Schools in my area are really cracking down on waivers, they're no longer handed out to anybody who requests one. Doctors and public health officials need to lead on this issue and the schools should enforce vaccination requirements for every child.
ReplyDeleteRemember, that as an adult, you may need a booster shot for the measles. With the current Disney outbreak, it's even more important to make sure you are as protected as possible.
ReplyDeleteI would also like to take this opportunity to remind any readers that if you got your MMR shots in the 50's or very early 60's that you may be in a time period where they want you to get a booster. There was a period of time where the vaccination was good, but then they changed it to be much better. Check with your local Dr. I booster can save your life. Also, that's to "ObamaCare" that vaccination will be free of charge with your insurance as well care. And yes I got the booster myself, last year when the religious kooks caused the outbreak in Texas.
ReplyDeleteTome for parents to also call their Ped's office and if they are seeing unvaccinated children to get a different Dr. With enough pressure you won't even have to change.
ReplyDeleteI don't quite understand why anto vaxers are taking their children to Drs anyway, since they obviously don't believe in modern medicine.
Unfortunately, too many parents who are "non-vaccers" are also those who homeschool their children. Tough to enforce the vaccination rules there.
ReplyDeleteIt's not just home schooling, 48 of the 50 states now allow children to enroll without being vaccinated based on their parents "belief system" and nothing more. BTW , their "belief system" doesn't have to be religion, but just that they heard an old Playboy nude model say it's bad.
DeleteAlthough I usually agree with most postings and statements made here I don't think the blanketed mindset that you don't love your child because you choose not to vaccinate is appropriate. Things are easy to say until you are personally confronted with them, a logical compassionate person should realize that.
ReplyDeleteI see over and over in this comment thread "I vacinated all my kids and they don't have autism (so therefor vacines don't have any part in Autism)" well good for you, I am so happy for you and your "normal" children. Statements like that is equated to saying "I have flown many times and our plane never crashed "(Therefore planes do not fall out of the sky)
With our own personally experience my first children are twins that were diagnosed with autism. Their documented progress sharply took a turn for the worse after their second set of shots. We have been heavily involved in their therapy as well as allowing them to be case study subjects at the Mind Institute at U.C Davis, CA. All their therapy comes out of our own pocket and forgo all luxuriates in life to make sure they will reach their most amazing potential. They still suffer in school being bullied and even spit upon. Secretly I die a little inside every time they come home wondering what they did wrong to be treated they way they do. If there was a sliver of a reason that I did this to my precious boys because of a choice that I made is my demon to wrestle.
My next son was not vaccinated until he came out of the "danger zone" range. My husband and I decided that would be the age of 7. Science is my life, I work in the field, but if there is even the slightest chance that putting a foreign substance into a child's body increases the chance of triggering Autism then I will weigh the consequences. I will humble myself to the fact that I, and the world in general, truly know so little about our wonderous body. Could it just be possible that putting toxins into our body could cause damage to some % of the population, kinda like putting toxins into our earth is causing damage? Many people deny both.
Ultimately measles would most likely be a temporary misery. Autism is forever. I love my children with every fiber in my being. I would trade my life for theirs without a nanosecond of pause
No vaccination caused your children's autism. You are ignorant and to spread such drivel is in my mind nothing less than dangerous.
DeleteYour ignorance is so profound and you are THE problem.
And if you were truly in "Science" you would have researched and would know that there is no link between autism and vaccinations except for some drivel that was spread by a woman who's greatest achievement has been posing in the nude.
@ 10:21, That was a well thought out, elegant retort to my comment. You brought up such thought provoking facts and examples. So heartwarming to see that I share the room with such a great mind.
DeleteNow if you would excuse me I am due at my twins Neurologist. I will share your words of wisdom with him.
I'm not 10:21, but if science is your life then read the empirical studies that completely discount any link between vaccines and autism.
DeleteMillions of vaccines millions of children and still no causal link. It's all lies, half-truths, anecdotes, and confirmation bias. That includes these mysterious "toxins" that actually equate to tiny amounts of chemicals that are around us at all times in larger quantities in our environment and even in our bodies. Again, if science is your life, do your research and look at what and how much is actually in the vaccines.
There is no comparison between vaccinating children and dumping dangerous, toxic chemicals into our water supply and our air.
I can only imagine your struggle, but don't compound that with guilt. Their autism was not caused or even worsened by immunization. Give yourself a break. You did nothing but protect them from disease.
@anon 10:40
DeleteI doubt your children are going to see a neurologist on a Saturday, so quit lying. And if you ask your neurologist if there is a link between autism and vaccines he will tell you there is no and has never been any scientific link.
But, please link me to any legitimate scientific studies showing the link. You must so soooo knowledgable to have access to all this knowledge the rest of us don't.
But do not insinuate that any neurologist said there is a link , oh and good luck with that Saturday appt with a specialist, like anyone would believe that crap.
Anyone who didn't vaccinate her child until age seven due to ignorant fear deserves her child to die. If you are so selfish that you would put other people's kids at that risk, you deserve the same.
DeleteNo child deserves to die because of the ignorance or obstinance of their parents.
DeleteThe children don't deserve it but the parents do. If they are willing to have other people's kids die, then if that happens to their kids, they deserve it.
DeleteI am just completely fed up with these idiotic anti vaxers.
I was in first or second grade when mandatory polio vaccination began in schools. We were marched into the auditorium, lined up, jabbed with a humongous (to me) needle, and went back to class. No mommies there to protest. They'd been through enough polio and other epidemics and scares that they'd have tied their kids down in order to be vaccinated.
ReplyDeleteToday's parents and possibly their parents have no clue what could happen to an un-vaccinated child.
I am confused. Wouldn't the people with measles (or other disease for which there is a vaccine) just infect other kids who weren't vaccinated? I would assume that the people who have been vaccinated are protected from this illness, otherwise, what would be the point? In some ways, they are spreading a preventable disease among a lot of vaccine deniers. Am I missing something here?
ReplyDeleteYes, you are missing something very big:
DeleteThere are babies too young to have their first vaccine. There are children and adults who have compromised immune systems from things like leukemia or other cancers who can't get vaccinated.
There are children and adults who have server allergic reactions to some of the ingredients in vaccines.
And there are the tiny proportion of those vaccinated who don't have complete immunity.
That's what herd immunity is all about.
No, the vaccine is about 90% affective and children under 6 months are not yet protected. Then we have a very small segment of our society that cannot be given vaccines that depend on "herd immunity", meaning they depend on those around them to stay disease free.
DeleteThe problem is that so many parents are Google scholars and think they know more about vaccines and disease than experts with years of education and training and experience under their belts. So many parents rely solely on their "gut-instincts" rather than science and valid information.
ReplyDeleteWe had an employee who had a low functioning Autistic boy. Both parents were super hyper, speaking quickly and talking over each other's yakking. The mom read Jenny McCarthy's book, and SWORE to god Jenny was on the cutting edge with chelation therapy, diet restrictions and mega mega super doses of certain vitamins taken at precisely the same time, among other means of torture. She was an avid anti vaxxer who swore an infant's body couldn't handle the mercury and other delivery fluids used. We discussed it with out doctor and put our kids on a schedule so their immune systems weren't overloaded, which was recommended by many pediatricians at the time.
ReplyDeleteFor awhile, I was convinced the parent's hyperactivity and fervent wish for a cure (and I'm not blaming them, everyone needs a hook to hang their coat on) BUT do your homework first. Jenny just read a bunch of articles, and cherry picked the ones that supported her "cure".
The employee and family ended up going to family counseling with a professional in the field, although there was little progress, each step taught them how to cope and deal in the realm of facts.
To "calm" her son's nerves, jenny had one of the calmest, steadiest men alive move in and play house. (snark off). If Jim Carey (sp?) moved in my house, we'd all be bouncing off the walls.
I was going to get a flu vaccine this year but I got sick (common head cold) and by the time I was well enough I heard on NPR that this year's vaccine is only about 20% effective. So I'll take my chances.
ReplyDeleteI am leary of flu vaccines as the year I got one I got sick as a dog with the worst flu I had ever had.
While I'm vaccinated for everything else including tetanus, flu is the one vaccine I don't trust for consistency and effectiveness.