Discussion»Statements» Bottom line. If you are sincere and passoinate enough not to VAX your kid, then be sincere and passionate enough to HOME SCHOOL THEM.
Not just home school them - keep them away from others in any public space. Measles can be transmitted via air, so you just have to not them breathe around others.
These anti-vaxxers just don't know what kind of "fire" they're playing with when they don't vaccinate their kids. They probably haven't lived through measles/mumps/chicken pox and other diseases that we just don't see anymore BECAUSE of the vaccines that have been invented to avoid them. My baby brother died shortly after birth due to birth defects attributed to my Mom having been exposed to measles when she was pregnant! They are being so irresponsible to their own kids and other innocent people!
I don't generally vaccinate. Some of it is because my kids are allergic to the MMR. Another dose could literally kill them. But, there are other vaccines I simply don't give because I think the cons outweigh the pros, like the flu shot or the chicken pox. There are some shots I have given my kids, like polio. It varies. Because of this, some people don't feel like I fit into the "anti-vax" crowd. Regardless, I defend their right not to vaccinate.
1) Vaccines haven't really impacted the death rate.
2) Many of the things we vaccinate against were on the decline before vaccines were introduced.
3) Despite the 600+ cases in the US so far this year, there have been NO deaths. None. If we're going to argue about prevention, then where's the outcry for taking licenses from those who don't wear seat belts or make their passengers wear seat belts, which kills more than 10,000 each year? Where's the outcry over coming down hard on people with DUIs, since hundreds of thousands go on to have a repeat occurrence? Where's the outcry over our food producers and restaurants who kill more than 3,000 each year with food poisoning? Or the 100,000+ who die every year from accidental gunshot wounds? Where's the outcry for the more than 6,000 people who received settlements from the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) because they were harmed by vaccines?
4) Yes, people die from these diseases, even here in the United States. Believe it or not, they die from toothaches too. Also preventable. And, we have more deaths from confirmed tooth abscesses in this country than we do from measles. More than 800,000 yearly visits to emergency rooms each year over teeth. Outcry? Anyone? Medicaid and public health programs don't cover dental for adults, but we do foot the bill when these folks wind up with related complications. I'm not going to diminish the tragedy a family feels when a loved one dies or is injured due to a medical condition they feel could have been prevented. It's horrible. No doubt. But, let's put this in perspective and stop demonizing anti-vaxers. They're not the hazard people are making them out to be and they have not created any kind of crisis. Not by any stretch of the word. Measles, comparatively, are a drop of water in the ocean.
5) As a mother of children who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons, I feel no ill will to anti-vaxers. I do not expect them to keep their kids home all the time. However, I do expect them (and everyone else) to stay home and keep their kids home when they have symptoms of any illness. Annual hospitalizations for flu approach one million each year, with more 80,000 or so deaths. Outcry? Anyone? If you're sick, stay home. If you're healthy, go out. Seems reasonable enough to me.
6) If your doctor screws up or if a medical device harms you, you have recourse in the US. You can sue the company or individual. You can't do that with vaccines. Manufacturers and providers are the only ones "immune" to being sued. Frankly, that should scare the hell out of anyone, especially since many vaccines get fast-tracked and don't have to go through the same protocols and safety checks other devices and medications do.
7) Pro-vax providers go off-label. They give more doses than recommended and give them in circumstances even the vaccine companies say are not appropriate. For example, they are not supposed to be given to someone who has recently been ill. Yet, nurses discharging people from the hospital are encouraged to vaccinate. Some hospitals even have quotas. There is a major disconnect here. And, what recourse does the person have if the vaccine injures them? Virtually none, because you have to be able to prove it was the vaccine. Ergo, you release someone from the hospital who has been gravely ill with the flu and pneumonia and you give them a vaccine their body cannot handle, that person has to be able to prove it was the vaccine and not the other illnesses that caused the issue in order to get compensation through the current system.
8) Seriously, this has become a witch hunt of epic proportions. We have people who do not account for a large part of the population and a problem that's smaller than toothaches or dozens of preventable/ spreadable deaths, and yet we're vilifying parents and insisting they home school their kids? It does not make any sense. Not when you know the numbers or are familiar with the actual risks.
Benedict Arnold 