Parents Ordered to Court for Kids' Shots

The Associated Press ^ | Nov 17, 2007 | MATTHEW BARAKAT

[Baladas]

Hundreds of grumbling parents facing a threat of jail lined up at a courthouse Saturday to either prove that their school-age kids already had their required vaccinations or see that the youngsters submitted to the needle.

The get-tough policy in the Washington suburbs of Prince George's County was one of the strongest efforts made by any U.S. school system to ensure its youngsters receive their required immunizations.

[AnAmericanMother]

It was the flea shot that had some incidents of necrosis and skin cancer at the injection site. Our cats had it (because we have indoor/outdoor dogs even though our cats are indoor only) and had no problems. One did die of lung cancer years later after the shots were discontinued, but it had nothing to do with skin cancer at the site of the injection, and unfortunately Siamese cats seem to have a genetic component for cancer in any event. :-(

A long time ago, there were similar problems with injectable ivermectin (worm medicine) in horses. It also tended to colic the horses if they had a large parasite load, because it killed every worm instantly and the horse's digestive system took a big hit of dead and decaying parasites all at once . . . so they took it off the market and substituted an oral paste.

[AnAmericanMother]

Chickenpox CAN have serious side effects, especially if it gets in your eyes. My daughter had a close shave with that, she had dozens of the pustules on her eyelids and around the eye socket. But even though she was only six she faithfully followed my instructions not to rub her eyes . . . . And chickenpox contracted later in life can be fatal, and certainly VERY painful because shingles will almost certainly result. My great aunt contracted chicken pox in her sixties, it went straight on into shingles. She almost died and was in excruciating pain for weeks.

That's why we all had chickenpox parties before the advent of the vaccine -- the kids have an easier time with the virus, and it's less likely to pop up as shingles for some reason. If you can't get your kid infected at a c.p. party, the vaccine will just have to do.

[brytlea]

No, this was the feline leukemia vacc. Here is an article (altho it may be old, I didn’t keep up with how all of this turned out).

http://www.wgnradio.com/shows/pet/felinevaccines.htm

susie

[Aggie Mama]

Check out the amino acid lysine for shingles. My husband had a bad episode of shingles in college and every once in a blue moon his scars will hurt him. His new doctor recommended lysine and it’s made a huge difference for him.

[AnAmericanMother]

I’m sure it was both, because my cats stopped getting the feleuk vaccine when I quit showing. . . . which was many, many years ago. I was thinking of the flea injection my cats got within the last 5-8 years, before it was pulled off the market.

[shhrubbery!]

Not spread by casual contact doesn't mean not spread at all. Kids get cuts. Kids bite each other. Kids get raped. Later, kids turn into teenagers and most of them get tattoos and have sex. Maybe even your kids.

Note I said "little children," not teenagers.

The chances that my little kid is gonna get "raped" or bitten by someone with Hep B --or that someone with Hep B is gonna rub HIS blood into a cut on MY kid's finger-- are infinitesimally small.

When your kid becomes a teenager, and you think he or she is likely to be promiscuous or to get tattooed, then YOU get him or her vaccinated.

You have your choice as a parent. Let me have mine.

[brytlea]

I hadn’t heard about the flea injection problem. Really frustrating trying to figure out how to do the best for your kids and pets.
susie

[brytlea]

While I am very ambivalent about having these things mandated, I gotta say that I was amazed last year (my first year working with 4th graders) how often they bleed at school. I opted not to have the hep shot myself thinking I wouldn’t be at risk. Now, I’m not so sure. The kids constantly pick scabs, have bloody noses, get cut on the playground, etc. Much scarier now that I know about all of the diseases out there.
susie

[AnAmericanMother]

About the best thing you can do is find the best vet you can lay your hands on, and then trust him or her to keep up with the literature (and play the odds as best he or she can).

I drive all the way across town to get to my vet. We used to live much closer to her. She was highly recommended by my mentor in the cat show business - she also owns dogs and competes in agility and obedience trials, so she understands canine athletes well. She's been our vet for almost 30 years now -- since November of 1978.

She was the one who recommended I stop the feleuk vaccine when I quit showing cats back in the 90s . . . and ditto on stopping the flea injection a few years ago.

[cricket]

Thanks for the update on 'autisim'. . .

There is no question that when the 'Government' gets involved and money is on consignment that there is a 'MO' in place for whatever is the ailment and it's proscribed solution.

The truth for me is that all vaccines, cannot 'all' be trusted - all of the time. Perhaps, better; none of the time; but just have to weigh options & probabilities here; including one's own heredity as well. (That said, do not know why we must bunch them and then overload them into babies as per the earliest of schedules.)

And something is wrong - no matter what they say and IMHO - when they want 'newborns' to receive a 'flu shot' before leaving hospital. Think these 'baby care standards' have been 'downgraded' to include and assume. . .that the child will receive the lowest level of care; because their Parents are stupid idiots. . .and abusive as well.

The other side of the coin - again - 'how many people died from bird flu last year. . .or from a mosquito in Florida or New Jersey. . .How many people really die of 'influenza' each year (?) How many died of 'flu' - irrespective of whether they had a 'flu shot'? The numbers are greatly exagerated. . .but then, no 'numbers'. . .no fear. . .no control and worst; no self-serving Government program to fix the Government's 'chicken/egg' problem.

Meantime, of course, the stats re ADD and ADHD - surely another Government fraud - is out there and off the charts. . .)

[AnAmericanMother]

Interestingly enough, ADD and ADHD also have been a 'growth industry' because of the federal money . . . AGAIN . . . public schools get Xtra bux for every "Special Ed" kid, the kids get accommodations on test taking, etc. So those numbers just blossom.

That said, I have one child who is definitely ADHD . . . he could be the poster child, in fact. Medication was a tremendous help in grade school, but he hasn't needed it in high school as he is more mature and able to use strategies to work around his learning disabilities. And no, nobody got any Xtra $$ because he was in private school . . .

It's silly for newborns to receive immunizations -- they have mom's immunity for quite awhile, and retain some as long as they're breastfeeding. But the DPT and the polio vaccine are old as the hills and can be safely administered in the 2-8 month range. My daughter had a high temperature on the second DPT dose, but an anxious night with the Tylenol and warm sponge baths and it was over. Diphtheria and whooping cough are far, far worse . . . especially in babies under a year old. And tetanus . . . once you see the symptoms you're a dead critter, no matter your age or your species. I saw a horse die from tetanus once, no thanks.

The newer vaccines I don't know much about, since my kids are older they don't directly concern me. But it seems that the early doses of HepB vaccine are mostly recommended for babies whose mothers test positive for HepB . . . and that would seem to be QUITE sensible . . . .

[Frangibled]

Cervical cancer has shown no genetic or increased risk of abnormal pap tests, or cervical cancer for daughters and grand-daughters of cervical cancer patients. HPV cancer does not fall into the same pattern as some other cancers, such as bowel cancer and breast cancer which do run in families.

[Greg F]

Nana,

The problem is this. Many people believe, and there are a minority of doctors that believe, that the innoculations required today have some impact on the number of autistic children. The number of autistic kids has risen dramatically recently. The number of “required” vaccinations have as well. We avoided innoculating our daughter as long as “possible” (we finally gave her the big innoculation that is suspected when we saw a story that there was a minor outbreak of measles or mumps or some such in the mid-west). We might not have made the same choice if our child was a boy since they are more prone to autism than girls. That’s what the shooting is about.

[cricket]

Thanks for the input. As for ADD, I too was the poster child for this. . .and for sure; when I was growing up. . .and up. . .and older. When I told my kids they 'could leave me in a field' should I end up with Alzheimers the first response was. . .'how will we know?'

That and being a Saggitarrius has makes for particular 'challenges'/lol.

[AnAmericanMother]

Thanks for the info! I have a friend whose mother had cervical cancer, and she’s always been worried about it.

[AnAmericanMother]

LOL!

I think a lot of ADD is the product of geek-on-geek marriages . . . guess that says something about dear husband and me!

[AnAmericanMother]

Greg, I think the problem with both aspects that you mention is that there isn't any actual correlation that ties autism with vaccinations.

In the first aspect, the number of autistic kids has risen for two reasons: the definition of what constitutes "autism" has been dramatically expanded, and federal moneys are allocated for kids diagnosed with autism, thus encouraging reports of borderline cases or outright fraud. Applying Occam's Razor, either or both of these circumstances are far more likely to have an effect on the number of kids labelled as "autistic" than inoculations. Moreover, since the diagnosis has been significantly refined as well, kids with the same symptoms who were formerly labelled as retarded have been reclassified as autistic.

In the second, coincidence in time does not equal cause and effect. Autism usually begins to show its first symptoms right around the same time kids get their early immunizations . . . and this was true before kids were routinely immunized.

When you add to this the fact that a couple of studies have been unable to show an actual link, it's not as scary as it looks. Not easy to persuade worried parents of that, but there you are.

[Greg F]

I agree with you in a sense. I looked carefully at the information on vaccinations and their correlation with autism when it came “time” to vaccinate our child. Our pediatrician agrees with you 100% and gave the same reasons. The CDC also is strongly supportive of vaccinations. That said some MD’s and researches do see a correlation and it is the parents call not the school boards.

[AnAmericanMother]

True that it's ultimately the parent's call -- BUT, given the public health risks, if that's the case then the public school has the right to refuse to register the child. If it's on purely prudential grounds, you can't get a religious exemption (although I might well come up with my own homegrown Religion of Prudence, I suppose). And you can't put the kid in private school because they will demand the immunizations (and since usually there are 10 applicants for every place they don't have to deal with the annoyance). So home school is the only alternative if the schools refuse to accommodate ones concerns. If only one or two kids aren't immunized, they might well work with you -- but if there's a groundswell of anti-vaccination parents, there's going to be a problem.

I think taking out a truancy warrant against the parents is pretty extreme, it shouldn't come to that, but that's how a bureacracy thinks.

[Greg F]

If enough kids aren’t immunized it creates a vector for an epidemic. However, if enough kids aren’t immunized it also creates an incentive for further research to more definitively answer the question of whether there is a correlation or not and to determine the causes of autism . . . which is an epidemic in and of itself.