What is the deal with anti-vaxxers anyway?

[JaneV2.0]

You know me--I think the less medical intervention, the better.

Every child in my small town school had measles, mumps, and chicken pox, and back then they weren't considered on a par with ebola. I was highly annoyed because I wasn't allowed to read for fear it would put too much strain on my eyes; I was bored to death.I also remember an outbreak of Guillain-barre associated with swine flu immunizations.

I see both sides of this issue. Immunizations should be made as safe as possible with attention to the quality of adjuvants and people should consult with their health care professional to stagger doses, if that's a concern. Their safety should be studied and studied again. And we shouldn't be so ready to turn over our agency to Pharma or the government. We don't really know yet what sets off tendencies toward autism, or why its incidence has skyrocketed in the last decades.

At any rate, I don't have to worry (yet) about having to be forced to submit to medical treatment, so I can worry (and I do) about other things.

[Teacher Terry]

My friend’s husband got the mumps at 18 back in 1971 and it left him sterile.

[JaneV2.0]

My friend’s husband got the mumps at 18 back in 1971 and it left him sterile.

That would be a feature, not a bug, for some of us.

[rosarugosa]

That would be a feature, not a bug, for some of us.

I was thinking the very same thing - what a catch!

[Teacher Terry]

Heartbreaking for them actually.

[KayLR]

Everyone who is living in fear of their child or grandchild or friend becoming autistic due to measles vaccine should read this--I loved it.
https://www.spectrumlife.org/blog/th...of-measles-385

An excerpt:
No-one is including in their coverage the reminder that kids and adults on the autism spectrum are not to be feared. No one is saying that a byproduct of this measles outbreak is that misinformation about autism is being spread. Maybe they just don’t see how their articles could have that effect but for someone who thinks in patterns, it is clear to see the negative correlation this coverage has with the increased stress levels of many of our local autistic youth and adults.


A young boy in elementary school recently came home from school in tears. People in the school knew he was on the autism spectrum because he had done a presentation in his class. About a week after the measles outbreak, a girl on the playground approached him and asked if she could catch his autism if she didn’t get her vaccines. A third child said no but you could catch his “special needs”, which was “way worse”. (These were third graders. Who do you think may have influenced their opinions?)

[Chicken lady]

Severe autism is bad. It limits people’s lives. I do not believe there is any “evidence” beyond timing to implicate vaccines (my child got these vaccines at the same time the autism symptoms showed up - as it is a common time for both, coincidence does not prove causality)

my high functioning autistic students (the ones who used to be labelled “aspberger’s” ) are some of the coolest people I know.

my kids had some of their vaccines delayed because it seemed like a lot to do to their immune systems all at once, and my girls were not vaccinated for some things. Ds has “optional” vaccines and looked into preventative rabies but decided against. (choices made by kids). None of them ever got flu shots. None of them got the chicken pox vaccine because it was new and I was concerned about lasting immunity - I figured they could get it between ages ten and twelve if it had proved itself, but instead they all got chicken pox. We were exposed the day after Halloween, and they had it one at a time, and we homeschooled, so I kept them all in the house until almost Christmas. I thought I would go insane by the time the last one was no longer contagious!

[jp1]

As someone who got chicken pox at age 30, 2 years after the vaccine became available I have this to say. "VACCINATE YOUR DAMN KIDS." I spent a week home alone with a fever that regularly got up to 104. I was too sick and too tired to realize that I was too sick and too tired to be home alone safely. Yes, I survived. But it could have just as easily gone the other way and they'd've found my dead body, partly eaten by my no longer fed cat.

As for rabies, not sure about dogs but apparently there are two vaccines for cats. One that's hard on their bodies and one that's not. Our cats have had the bad one. Our current vet only gives the better one and doesn't recommend more than one of it for indoor cats like ours. I imagine every municipality is different but in San Francisco it's apparently necessary for a pet to have had at least one rabies shot in their life. If they get caught by animal control after biting or scratching someone and the owner can't show proof of that it's a problem likely to result in the pet being euthanized. If they can show proof of at least one rabies shot the pet will just get quarantined for long enough to confirm that they don't have rabies. (or something to that effect. This was ten years ago, shortly after we moved here, so my memory is a bit sketchy.)

[jp1]

My, completely subjective, guess is that the whole anti-vaxxer foolishness will end when it's not measles going around, but something like polio. I can remember my dad talking about how he hustled to get vaccinated for it as soon as the vaccine came out. Not surprising since his grandfather had been paralyzed from it for many years.

[Gardnr]

My, completely subjective, guess is that the whole anti-vaxxer foolishness will end when it's not measles going around, but something like polio. I can remember my dad talking about how he hustled to get vaccinated for it as soon as the vaccine came out. Not surprising since his grandfather had been paralyzed from it for many years.

Agreed. Hubby has an Aunt with a severely affected arm (she was lucky that was it!). Imagine your forearm rotated 180 degrees? And yes, she considers herself lucky.