[Momto2]

My daughter got the vaccination and at about the age of 4 contracted Whooping Cough. Her pediatrician didn't seem surprised and said it happens all of the time.

[grania]

Yeah, let’s poison our kids with even more vaccines. Better yet, how about controlling our borders and who is in the US so these diseases don’t re-emerge?

[oh8eleven]

create a better vaccine
My guess is that there's nothing wrong with the current vaccine.
Too many whackos won't vaccinate their kids - and the border is still OPEN!!

[Don Corleone]

UNLIMITED illegal immigration is the culprit. We had Whooping Cough pretty much under control a generation ago.

[Don Corleone]

UNLIMITED illegal immigration is the culprit. We had Whooping Cough pretty much under control a generation ago.

[exDemMom]

Some of the diseases currently prevented by vaccinations are always around us, and many of us even carry the causative germs. Although I agree that allowing illegal immigration to continue unabated is probably bringing in a lot of new diseases, it is not responsible for the resurgence of whooping cough. That is a direct consequence of parents refusing to vaccinate their children.

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

"Our Diversity Is Our Strength" This epidemic is only a tiny taste of what is to come. Diseases about which Americans have never heard.

It is hard to believe that people are so enamored with equality that they will subject themselves and their loved ones to death by disease and violence.

[BenLurkin]

Try closing the borders.

[JohnBovenmyer]

No research was done at the Post! We already have a new, improved Pertussis vaccine. The first acellular Pertussis vaccines started to arrive in 1991. Actually eight such new vaccines were licensed from 1997 to 2008 as replacements for the old DPT vaccines. All are acellular Pertussis vaccines. The older cellular Pertussis components caused most of the reactions to the old DPTs. Even in the "good old days," where Pertussis was (inaccurately) perceived to be nearly absent, the risk of death or serious injury from those vaccines were far less than the risk of same from Pertussis. In addition to no longer having the risk of reactions to Pertussis cellular debris, these new vaccines are also thimerosal free, removing another falsely maligned issue. The "vaccines containing thimerosal cause autism" myth has been disproven by the lack of a fall in European autism rates 20+ (IIRC) years after removing thimerosal from all vaccines there. And more dramatically disproven by the recent admission that the original article claiming an autism-thimerosal link was fraudulent.

The anti-vaccine crowd has no more legs to stand on than the global warming crowd, but is equally actively treading water in many forums, including this one. My own community, in eastern Iowa, isn't known for our illegal immigrant population but has had multiple large Pertussis outbreaks. We are known for hosting the founding institution of the largest alternative medicine "profession" in the country. One that is well known in the medical community here for advising parents against vaccination. Pertussis is a miserable disease for most and a life-threatening one for a few. I blame my local anti-vaccine crowd for a lot of needless suffering.

[The Great RJ]

"...Given the expense of developing and testing vaccines and the facts that the vaccines are used once or a few times in an individual's life and therefore create much less revenue than everyday drugs, there are few incentives for developing a better vaccine. "

The expense of developing and testing a vaccine also has to include the cost of law suits claiming the vaccine caused some harm. What company would want to spend the millions and years needed to get new vaccine approved by government regulators then have to run a gauntlet of trial lawyers looking for millions in claims.

[happygrl]

I dunno, it seems this vaccine was pretty effective for many years.

There is an increasingly large pool of non-vaccinated adults and children in California, due, in part, to illgal immigration.

There’s also a number of parents who are declining vaccination for thier children , due to fear of autism.

I’ll bet that whooping cough is resurgent in those groups.

[metmom]

ping