Posted on 06/11/2015 11:23:50 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
The rash of tough pro-vaccine bills that infected state legislatures after the Disneyland measles outbreak has largely faded, and based on the uproar in California, it’s not hard to see why.
The state capitol has been flooded off and on for months with parental-choice advocates drawing thousands for protests against Senate Bill 277, which would eliminate personal belief or religious exemptions and require all children without a medical exemption to be vaccinated before entering public school.
And the outcry has only grown louder as the bill nears passage, spreading beyond the issue of vaccination safety and morphing into a full-blown revolt against government intrusion into civil liberties.
At a rally Tuesday in Sacramento that drew a crowd of more than 1,000, Republican assembly member Shannon Grove told the sign-waving crowd that California state legislators “have forgotten who they work for.”
“There is no public health crisis here that warrants this law. These politicians don’t want you to think for yourself,” said Ms. Grove to enthusiastic cheers. “They think they are better parents than you are and they are annoyed that you are clogging up their hallways. They are annoyed that you are demanding to be left alone. They are annoyed that you are not compliant.”
Even so, Democrats on the Assembly Health Committee approved the measure Tuesday on a 12-6 party-line vote, placing the measure on a glide path to the Democrat-controlled Assembly and the desk of Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
“Do California schools actually teach reading, writing and arithmetic in addition to indoctrinating the kids?”
Not at all. They implemented a high school exit exam because kids were ‘graduating’ high school without being able to read or write! Pathetic. The exam is only at a middle school level, but the liberals are saying how unfair it is.
The voters have 90 days to gather enough signatures to place a veto referendum on the ballot for 2016.
Just so all you pro-vaxxers know, from one tiny little step bigger, what you’re all supporting is the right of the government to forcibly inject your body with whatever it wants for... for...
...how did Hillary put it?... oh yeah, “for the common good.”
Now roll up your sleeve, citizen. This won’t hurt a bit.
Wrong. Kids who are too young to be vaccinated can die from a disease that may make an older child only moderately ill.
Pregnant women are also at risk from the unvaccinated, as are people whose immune systems are compromised--like people with cancer, or have a genetic flaw in their immune system. Older people whose immune systems are becoming weak with age can also become dangerously ill. In addition, not everyone becomes fully immune in response to every vaccination.
The thing is, if refusal to vaccinate only endangered your unvaccinated child, the rest of us wouldn't care. But your unprotected child endangers a lot of people who do not consent to being exposed to dangerous diseases, and that is why *we* care.
Illegal immigration is not responsible for the recent Disneyland outbreak. That case of measles was probably imported by a visitor from the Philippines, where there has been a huge outbreak. Outbreaks have also occurred when unvaccinated Americans visited some place where measles is endemic and brought it back.
The problem with measles is that it is contagious days before symptoms appear. It is also one of the most contagious diseases known. So not only is the airport fever sensor *not* going to detect someone who is contagious with measles, when that contagious person walks through the airport, he exposes everyone who walks in the same areas as long as 2 hours later. And anyone who is unvaccinated *will* get measles.
Another "benefit" of catching measles is that it wipes out immunity to other diseases you have already had. For about two years, you will be more likely to die of any infectious disease because of the suppressive effect measles has on the immune system.
How many deaths have resulted thus far from the much ballyhooed and media trumpeted "Disneyland outbreak"?
Let me suggest that in recent history more children have died from reactions to the measles vaccine than have died from measles.
Now compare and contrast the earth shattering Disneyland outbreak with among others, the less publicized Enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) outbreak responsible for at least 11 deaths I am aware of.
Why the difference in coverage and difference in response by big GOV death to individual liberty Leftists? You already know the answer to that...
I am not aware of a single death due to measles vaccination. However, there were 145,700 deaths from measles in 2013 (the last year for which there is complete data). And if it weren't for the high-tech, expensive ICU care that we have in this country, that Disneyland outbreak would have resulted in quite a few deaths. Even with the care, some of the patients may still end up brain damaged. A fifth of the people who got measles in that outbreak ended up hospitalized--they would have been very likely to die in an area with less advanced medical care.
FYI, you won't have much luck getting me to go along with the anti-vax conspiracy mongering, and I'm never going to do anything but provide the facts about vaccines and vaccine-preventable diseases. I work in public health, so I live and breathe this stuff.
Let talk apples; not apples and oranges. I am only discussing U.S. measles deaths and side effects.
You are not aware. Don't feel bad, many are not aware of many things -the "hands up don't shoot" crowd comes to mind. The free marketplace of information and ideas is becoming less and less free everyday. However, you and others; regardless, 'feel' you can dictate what another individual aware parent chooses to do regarding vaccinations as long as the mob is on your side.
Using the MedAlerts search engine, which facilitates an online search of the federal Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) database, as of December 14, 2014 there have been 7,060 serious adverse events reported to the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) in connection with measles vaccine since 1990, with over half of those occurring in children three years old and under. Of these events 336 were deaths, with over half of the deaths occurring in children under three years of age. Adverse events following MMR vaccination reported to VAERS include:
FYI, you won't have much luck getting me to go along with the anti-vax conspiracy mongering, and I'm never going to do anything but provide the facts about vaccines and vaccine-preventable diseases.
I think you are confused. I am not making an argument to force you or anyone else to to do anything; nor am I fear mongering. In fact, I myself choose to vaccinate. Unlike Leftists who 'feel' choice is only allowed when killing children by aborting them; I am pro-choice when it comes to things such as this that involve not only personal choice but parental rights. IF vaccines are the sacred cow that many claim then ONLY those not vaccinated actually have skin in the risk game and only they should determine such choices weighing potential adverse effects versus potential benefits.
I work in public health, so I live and breathe this stuff.
LOL The government employs many 'experts' that support the many things they impose for a myriad of reasons. Thank God the stupid people have such experts to lend creditability to those who must impose their will upon others...
There have been plenty of U.S. measles deaths. Vaccine deaths, OTOH, are non-existent.
You are not aware. Don't feel bad, many are not aware of many things -the "hands up don't shoot" crowd comes to mind. The free marketplace of information and ideas is becoming less and less free everyday. However, you and others; regardless, 'feel' you can dictate what another individual aware parent chooses to do regarding vaccinations as long as the mob is on your side.
Like any scientist, when I say that I am unaware of something, it means that I have looked exhaustively for that very thing. Documented evidence of serious harm or death resulting from vaccines simply does not exist. (By "evidence", I mean reports published in peer-reviewed journals or on credible sites like the CDC website.) OTOH, the evidence of serious harm and death from the diseases that are vaccine-preventable is abundant.
Using the MedAlerts search engine, which facilitates an online search of the federal Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) database, as of December 14, 2014 there have been 7,060 serious adverse events reported to the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) in connection with measles vaccine since 1990, with over half of those occurring in children three years old and under. Of these events 336 were deaths, with over half of the deaths occurring in children under three years of age. Adverse events following MMR vaccination reported to VAERS include:
The VAERS system is extremely misused by anti-vax disinformation peddlers. Most people who fall for anti-vax propaganda do not have any understanding of what the VAERS system is, nor do they have any fundamental comprehension of the principle behind the adage that correlation does not equal causation.
People die every single day. In 2011, about 53 per 100,000 children died, or a total of 44,226 children below age 19, died. In addition, about 6 babies per 1,000 born die before their first birthday. It is inevitable that some of these deaths, by coincidence alone, will occur soon after the child has received a vaccination. Furthermore, as these authors state in their review of VAERS data, "making general assumptions and drawing conclusions about vaccinations causing deaths based on spontaneous reports to VAERS – some of which might be anecdotal or second-hand – or from case reports in the media, is not a scientifically valid practice [emphasis mine]." In other words, the VAERS data alone indicates nothing. In order to pull any real data from VAERS, every report entered into the system must be investigated in order to determine its validity and the actual cause of the adverse event (which, in most cases, has nothing to do with a vaccine).
IF vaccines are the sacred cow that many claim then ONLY those not vaccinated actually have skin in the risk game and only they should determine such choices weighing potential adverse effects versus potential benefits.
Every person who chooses not to vaccinate is, in fact, making that choice on behalf of people who do not consent to having that choice made for them. Those unvaccinated children are a danger to children too young to be vaccinated, to people with compromised immune systems, to elderly people whose immune system function is declining, to pregnant women, and others who cannot be vaccinated due to valid medical reasons. Vaccination is a population--not personal, but population--health issue. And since the majority of the population wants to be protected against those deadly diseases, they are not very supportive of anti-vaxxers' choice to spread disease.
There are many examples of "choice" being limited where other people's health and safety are concerned. You are not allowed to drive drunk, you can't shoot firearms willy-nilly in your neighborhood, you can't go into a restaurant kitchen to taste what's cooking, you can't hold a bonfire in the middle of a freeway, etc. In order for a civilization to function, there are limits on personal behavior--and some of those limits abridge your "right" to spread potentially deadly disease to others.
LOL The government employs many 'experts' that support the many things they impose for a myriad of reasons. Thank God the stupid people have such experts to lend creditability to those who must impose their will upon others...
What I find utterly amazing is that people believe that their ability to read and memorize whole tracts of anti-vax propaganda makes them more knowledgeable about vaccines, immune system function, risk analysis, etc., than the scientists and physicians who actually spend years studying human immune function and infectious diseases. The ability to copy-paste pseudoscience does not confer knowledge equal to that of a PhD.
“If vaccines actually work, then if you do not vaccinate your kids who is hurt - ONLY your kids.”
I will not defend compulsory vaccinations...especially when persons have genuine religious convictions against them.
However, you need to understand that there is such a thing as “herd immunity.” Not having “your children” vaccinated does affect others. If your children are not vaccinated and get sick with a contagious disease, they can pass it along to others. For vaccinations to work well, then you need almost the entire population to be vaccinated. There are always those in a group that will not develop immunity even if vaccinated. They are still prone to infection. IF the rest that will develop immunity are vaccinated, they provide a protection to those with weak immunity as mentioned.
You can ONLY get an infectious disease IF you are exposed to someone with the disease. IF the super majority of the population is immune via vaccination, it protects those that cannot develop immunity via vaccination. Because the disease WILL NOT be transmitted easily through an immune population. This what “herd immunity” means.
Therefore, your children being vaccinated does affect others - you detract from “herd immunity.” Recently, too many parents have opted out and created a population that is susceptible to infections that were once well controlled. Measules is an example, as is whoping chough and others that had become rare, but are now resurgent.
There are always risks associated with vaccinations (not the nonsense about developing autism one reads) or ANY medical procedure to include taking aspirin. The question is if the risk is far outweighed by the benefits to be gained. For most vaccinations routinely given to children the risk is very small, but the benefits are very great.
Vaccines are not 100% effective, but for now they are the best thing we have to protect against infectious diseases that can harm or kill.
Should any government force children to be vaccinated? I cannot answer that question (at least not for every case/disease/situation). There are too many variables that come into play and this power can be abused (like forcing all teenage girls to be vaccinated against a STD).
I can only confidently say that most childhood disease vaccinations are 99.99% safe, and effective in stopping the spread of these diseases. Having your children vaccinated helps protect both them and others.
What I find amazing is the number of people who feel they are everyones better and know better what others must do. Some call themselves scientists with PHDs LOL. Simply put, there are risks associated with any medication/vaccine and when one reads about such that are required to be published for INFORMED CONSENT, NOT IMPOSED CONSENT they then weigh the risks and make a choice. A choice that some do not like and justify negating by citing their own risk criteria -YES me must protect the herd at the expense of the few.... WHY do they not publish these herd risks on medicine/vaccine required risk disclosures?
LOL -the risk to the herd of catching measles and dying from measles IS the 'what if' and 'sky is falling' fear mongering. The actual risks published and provided with the medicine/vaccine -that IS the science that those who may take the medicine/vaccine use to make an informed consent.
It is ironic that anti-vaxxers dismiss discussion of the very real risks of disability and death from vaccine-preventable diseases while hysterically hyping the minor side effects of vaccines as being intolerably dangerous and wildly exaggerating the 1 in a million chance of a serious side effect.
Measles eradication is within our reach. But anti-vaxxers who would rather children die than receive a vaccine threaten that eradication. And make no mistake about it: the first anti-vaxxers' motivation for opposing smallpox vaccination was that preventing deadly illness goes against the will of God. They no longer claim to represent the will of God--nowadays, they are more likely to claim that preventing deadly disease is "unnatural" (because they worship Gaia instead of God now)--but the fact that they want children to die is unchanged.
Very good point.
Are you sure you're an exDem? LOL
Your argument sounds like that of the judge who overturned Prop 8 in California by claiming that Religion provided no rational basis for choice and as such all votes or groups premised upon such were irrelevant to the decision he made against the will of the people.
Since when does ANYONE have to justify to self-appointed betters why they choose what they choose. AND where do you get off with your vitriolic hatred on the as you call them "anti-vaxxers". Get a life -Individual Freedom & Liberty is what the issue is here; regardless, how the mob that actually wishes to dismiss discussion and impose what it 'feels' is best on individuals... Individuals do NOT have to justify God-given rights to ANYONE.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.