Free Republic

So with all the discussions about vaccines, I did some more studying on the subject and vaccines go way back in time. Government has also mandated them for as long. So what would be the current population be if we never had a created a vaccine for anything, ever? Any epidemiologist slash statistician want to take a stab?

ALBANY, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) — Sen. Charles Schumer is urging the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to make measles shots free and widely available, like the flu vaccine. Schumer, D-N.Y., made the recommendation Sunday, noting that the CDC says at least 102 people have contracted measles in 14 states, including New York and New Jersey, so far this year. There was a record number of cases last year — 644 in 27 states. “It’s clear that we need to get on top of this highly contagious disease before it becomes too big for us to control,” Schumer told reporters, including...

More than 120 lawmakers reached by NBC News said that their children have all been vaccinated, as politicians continue to clarify their stances with a measles outbreak spreading across the western United States.NBC found that 121 lawmakers had vaccinated their children, while 33 additional do not have any kids. The rest, outside of seven who declined to share the information, did not respond.Public health officials continue to fight a measles outbreak that’s spread to 14 states, according to the CDC, most of them linked to exposure from Disneyland Park in California.Officials and doctors have urged parents to vaccinate their children...

The Montgomery County Health Department said on Friday it is investigating a report of a possible measles case. They call it a case of "physician-suspected measles." The patient is a 15-year-old boy. There was no immediate word as to where the boy lives, with the health department is only saying he is from Montgomery County. "The patient has been evaluated and testing has been conducted in order to determine if this is a true case of measles. Specimens are currently being delivered to the State Public Health Laboratory," the health department said in a statement. "The patient is self-isolating at...

Five children at a KinderCare Learning Center in northwest suburban Palatine have been diagnosed with measles, Illinois and Cook County health officials announced Thursday. Public health officials are investigating the cluster of measles cases at KinderCare Learning Center, 929 E. Palatine Road, according to a statement. Two of the cases have been confirmed with laboratory testing while the other three diagnoses are pending test results, according to a joint statement from health officials. All five children are under the age of 1. The announcement comes about a week after Cook County officials announced the state’s first confirmed case this year...

"...Walker was asked Wednesday if he has ever done the same. His answer: "No," Walker said. "The wildest thing I did in college was have a beer." Also this week, two other GOP presidential wannabes — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky — have suggested parents should have the option of having their children vaccinated. Walker said Wednesday that he is a big supporter of vaccinations to prevent serious health issues. He noted that he and his children have received vaccines. "My wife and I send out a card to all newborns, in conjunction...

Democrats were gleeful when Republicans Chris Christie and Rand Paul got tangled this week in the debate over the Disneyland measles outbreak, until similar words from the pasts of President Obama and 2016 front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton came out. Mr. Christie walked back his recent comments calling for “balance” and a role for “parental choice” on childhood vaccines, saying in a Monday statement that “with a disease like measles, there’s no question kids should be vaccinated.” But the Democratic posturing as the party of science was short-lived. Several websites promptly dug up a comment from Mr. Obama during the 2008...

A critic of mandatory child vaccinations made no apologies for her views in an appearance on Newsmax TV Tuesday, and said that public anger over the Disneyland measles outbreak should be directed at pharmaceutical companies and the federal government, not people like her. "What's happening is people are freaking out about measles outbreaks," Louise Kuo Habakus said ina combative interview with "MidPoint" host Ed Berliner. "They're pointing the finger at unvaccinated children and non-vaccinated families, when really what needs to happen is people need to be pointing the finger at industry and at Congress." Habakus, co-founder of a group called...

ulture: An unlikely issue has entered the infant 2016 presidential campaign: Vaccines and required vaccinations. Let's hope the fact there's no scientific link to autism or anything else isn't lost in the political fray. Candidates will often look for an edge over their opponents. Thus, both New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky recently suggested that, while vaccinations are good, forcing parents to vaccinate their children might be too much. We believe vaccines are safe and should be routine, but concern about parents' rights is not unreasonable. What really gripes us, however, is listening to the...

The media think they have discovered another issue to beat Republicans over the heads with—vaccines. But the media have no credibility on this, or any other major health issue. They do have, and often demonstrate, a partisan political bias on such controversial matters. “Vaccination debate flares in GOP presidential race, alarming medical experts,” states The Washington Post in horror. It’s yet another attempt to portray Republicans as “anti-science.” This follows the “climate change denier” mantra used against conservatives and Republicans for supporting pro-growth economic policies. In the measles case, NBC news is attacking Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky for...

Public Health: In their ongoing effort to politicize everything, liberals are trying to blame Republicans for the measles outbreak. But it was left-wingers who drove the anti-vaccine crusade that contributed to the outbreak.

Mayer Eisenstein, MD, JD, MPH, is a graduate of the University of Illinois Medical School, the Medical College of Wisconsin School of Public Health, and the John Marshall Law School. In his 42 years in medicine, he and his practice have cared for over 75,000, children, parents, and grandparents. He is the founder and Medical Director of the Eisenstein Medical Centers. He is Board Certified by the American Board of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, and the American Board of Quality Assurance and Utilization Review Physicians. He is a member of the Illinois Bar. His latest book, Making An...

Rand Paul: Most vaccines should be ‘voluntary’ By ADAM B. LERNER 2/2/15 2:42 PM EST Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) waded into the debate over vaccinations Monday, telling conservative talk show host Laura Ingraham that he thinks most vaccines should be “voluntary.” Paul, an ophthamologist and likely 2016 White House hopeful, expressed particular concern over mandatory vaccinations for sexually transmitted diseases. He criticized former Texas Gov. Rick Perry for his executive order mandating that Texas children receive the HPV vaccine. “I’m not anti-vaccine at all,” Paul said, but “I think that’s a personal decision.” Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/02/rand-paul-vaccines-114834.html#ixzz3QhA3J7zr

Apparently anything Rand Paul says is “controversial” these days, and that was certainly the case during a recent interview he did on Closing Bell this week. The subject at hand was the exhausting topic of vaccinations, (which the media can’t get enough of) but during the discussion, the Kentucky Senator said something which deserves more attention, and not just regarding vaccinations. Why this is controversial I don’t know. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) doubled down on his position that most vaccines should be voluntary, suggesting Monday that mandated immunization is an example of government overreach.“The state doesn’t own your children,”...

The Wall Street Journal’s influential editorial board rapped New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on the knuckles for “meandering” on vaccines. “The real public health problem isn’t a lack of parental choice but a lack of common sense about vaccines,” the Journal said in a late-Monday editorial. It added that lawmakers should do more to promote vaccine use.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE-AUGUST 27,2014 STATEMENT OF WILLIAM W. THOMPSON, Ph.D., REGARDING THE 2004 ARTICLE EXAMINING THE POSSIBILITY OF A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MMR VACCINE AND AUTISM My name is William Thompson. I am a Senior Scientist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where I have worked since 1998. I regret that my coauthors and I omitted statistically significant information in our 2004 article published in the journal Pediatrics. The omitted data suggested that African American males who received the MMR vaccine before age 36 months were at increased risk for autism. Decisions were made regarding which findings to report...

Republican Sen. Rand Paul is standing by his statement that most vaccinations should be "voluntary," telling CNBC that a parent's choice not to vaccinate a child is "an issue of freedom." In an interview with the network Monday, Paul said that vaccines are "a good thing" but that parents "should have some input" into whether or not their children must get them. And he gave credence to the idea - disputed by the majority of the scientific community - that vaccination can lead to mental disabilities. "I have heard of many tragic cases of walking, talking normal children who wound...

California's measles outbreak has climbed to 91 confirmed cases, prompting a vicious attack from USA Today contributor Alex Berezow against "anti-vaxxers." He blames them for the epidemic that CDC officials say was introduced at the Disneyland theme park by a person infected with measles overseas. Berezow's knee-jerk reaction is to declare, "Parents who do not vaccinate their children should go to jail." He erroneously maintains that measles could not spread in a fully vaccinated society and discredits as "ludicrous" concerns regarding the safety and effectiveness of vaccines. Claiming there is a "mountain of data" proving otherwise, his one and only...

AS THOMAS PEEBLES jabbed a needle into the arm of a sick student in 1954, he told him, “Young man, you are standing on the frontiers of science.” Indeed he was. Using blood collected at the boy’s school, Peebles was able to isolate the measles virus, which John Enders then used to craft a vaccine in 1963. That year there were around 400,000 cases of measles in America. In the decade to 2013 the average number of annual cases dropped below 100. The disease is no longer endemic in America (though it still kills thousands abroad). The measles vaccine, now...

The measles outbreak continues to spread in California and beyond, with a case confirmed Wednesday in Fresno County. Fresno health officials say the man visited the area recently and may have had contact with county residents in public locations, including an area medical center and its maternity ward, potentially exposing babies to the extremely contagious disease.