Parents Who Choose Not to Vaccinate Children Upset with Some in the Medical Community

kcrg ^

[chance33_98]

Parents Who Choose Not to Vaccinate Children Upset with Some in the Medical Community

Friday, April 09, 2004, 9:49:53 PM

By KCRG-TV9 News Anchor/Reporter Renee Chou – TV9 Cedar Rapids Newsroom

Some eastern Iowa parents feel they're treated with hostility because they refuse to immunize their children. They've discovered that saying no to vaccines means that pediatric offices can say no to providing care to their children.

At 19 months old, Ambryia Mulnix has never felt a needle poke into her skin. Her mother, Arielle, says she's done her own research and comes to this conclusion on vaccines. Arielle told TV9, “I don't feel there's a need for them. And I’ve seen it can cause deaths too, so more safety, and my belief." But she soon discovered her belief shuts out pediatric care for Ambryia. Arielle says, "I’ve been turned down at pediatricians, I can only go to the emergency room, or family doctor."

Iowa Health Physicians Clinic has had a policy for three years now, it does not provide routine, pediatric care to non-immunized children. Ken Anderson told TV9, “It comes from the feeling that the immunizations are so important to children that it's such a strong feeling of ours, that if we can't come to an agreement of that fact, we feel it's unlikely we'll be a match on many other things."

Arielle says, "It's hurtful because I’d rather not be judged on my belief and what I believe is best for my child." As a result, Arielle uses her health insurance to cover emergency room and urgent care center visits when Ambryia's sick.

Arielle feels fighting off infections will only make her baby stronger. But pediatricians see it differently. One doctor says, “The germs are out there, and your body has to be able to fight it, if the body comes into contact. The immunizations are a way for your body to recognize that in a very safe way."

But this mom feels her beliefs, even if it means no pediatric care, are the safest for her child. “It's better than getting pressured into getting her shots, and not being judged going in there."

Mercy Care Community Physicians do not have pediatricians, but say their family doctors provide routine care to non-immunized children.

[ApplegateRanch]

You are right; eventually that 'critical mass' will be reached. And with all the immigration, new strains of old diseases, as well as diseases that are new to the U.S. that are cropping up, it will happen. Also, how many illegals are adding to that 'critical mass', but out of sight. It may happen sooner than we think.

Personally, I couldn't give a hoot what they do, in that it doesn't affect me. We had our vaccinations, and kept them up; and don't have kids to be affected either way. That is my selfish side.

OTOH, there is my social responsibility side. I hate to see the innocent suffer through no fault of their own. I am old enough to have seen first hand the results of not having vaccinations. I certainly didn't like 'the needle' any more than any other kid; but it didn't kill me either. Polio did dang near kill my aunt, though. I've seen shingles up close & personal enough to be glad I don't need to worry about that.

Mumps, we didn't have a vaccine in time for me; I had them--twice--once on each side; the second time involved the scrotum as well. It is not to be preferred over a shot. Same for whooping cough.

I also lost a few dogs to Corona & Parvo before vaccinations were available; and saw dogs die of heart worm because owners thought the preventatives were 'too dangerous'. I don't understand why peole who would not even consider not getting their dog or cat vaccinated, won't do the same for their children.

I've read too many journal entries and seen too many grave markers of infants and toddlers lost to smallpox, chickenpox, measles, polio, and other childhood diseases.

Yes, we CAN--usually--treat them now, but at what cost, both to the wallet; and more importantly, what cost to the victim? What cost in heart ache?

And why should the public pick up the cost of expensive treatment, when cheap prevention was available and rejected?

Even 'mild' diseases can have lasting effects; just because we rarely see the grossly disfigured from pox anymore is no excuse to allow it to happen.

We live in a civilized society; we should avail ourselves of its benefits. Oh, well; most are responsible; the rest will not be convinced, no matter what arguments or evidence is presented.

[Conservababe]

Whether the value if immunizations if merited or not, I am having a problem understanding pediatricians and school systems demands.

My daughter was born in 1973 and was given the MMP two days before her first birthday on a scheduled appointment with a pediatrician.

All was fine, until a school nurse in junior high school discovered that she had it "too early" and had to be immunized again because of revised guidlines of the AMA. Well, I fought that battle and won, and she finished high school without further immunizations.

But, when she was admitted to a nursing school, they told her that her high school transcripts showed that she needed a measles immunization.

So, in order to get into nursing school, she had to take it again.

The AMA can kiss my arse. LOL

[I got the rope]

50% by weight:

A vaccine containing 0.01% thimerosal as a preservative contains 50 micrograms of thimerosal per 0.5 mL dose or approximately 25 micrograms of mercury per 0.5 mL dose.

[timydnuc]

I'm in medicine (doc). You can't make a parent let you give a child a vaccination. It's THEIR child. There is nothing wrong with that. What you do is do your best at explaining the situation. I understand the fears of parents. Introducing a foreign vaccine into a child is a thoughtful thing. 100% of a population doesn't need vaccination. If you can get 70, even 60% you're doing good.

[I got the rope]

My guess is that she was exposed a lot more than she let on. Her toxicity level was pretty dang high.

[cadmus-maui]

http://www.healthcentral.com/news/NewsFullText.cfm?id=8007568

[I got the rope]

I am going to research this further. This would be a perfect case study. Surely someone is doing working on this. I sure would like to know the lot #'s of the vaccines that these children were given. Placebo or live viruses...hmmm.

[bigjoesaddle]

The anti-vaccine people should be forced to view films of third world children dying of childhood diseases.

Heres a web site for you to see, the Parents of Vaccine Damaged Children

http://groups.msn.com/ParentsofVaccineDamagedChildren

Side note, Polio was on its way down BEFORE the vaccine came out, in fact, is SPIKED UP right after it was.

[I got the rope]

http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/news/2004/NEW01038.html

[I got the rope]

I have doctors telling me one thing and the gubmint telling me another. Interesting.

[Conservababe]

I can give you the name of our Public Health nurse and number by Freepmail. I have never heard a follow-up of this in our local newspaper.

[cadmus-maui]

Yeah, know how you feel. Give up-WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!

Let's join with the green-weenies. If we destroy all this techno-scientoid perversion we will live forever in a perfect world!

[I got the rope]

Well you figured me out. We are all going to die. There's nothing in the Constitution that mandates that everyone has to live forever. How are we to pay for Social Security if everyone lives to a 120?

Personally, I believe we would all (whole world) be a lot healthier and live a lot longer if we ate better, excercised, and didn't follow the tenets of Islam.

Why do we need a federal subsidized vaccine for every disease that pops up? It's getting downright ridiculas.

[jocon307]

"My son is 11, and he has somehow avoided catching chicken pox even tho he's been exposed to classmates with it over the years."

My daughter never got chicken pox until she was 12 years old. She'd been in daycare/school since age 2 1/2. For a long time I thought she was immune, my mother was immune, never got it. Even when me and my two brothers had it and my father had shingles, all at the same time. Still my mother never came down with chicken pox.

My kid finally did get it, but it was a pretty mild case. I don't think there was a vacination for it at that time.

Now she's got to get that Hep. B vac, and also the one against menengitis, before she goes to college.

[Paleo Conservative]

We don't quite have a big enough "critical mass" of idiots that don't vaccinate their kids in the US for a real epidemic of one of these old childhood diseases to break out and sustain itself.

We will eventually, though, I suspect.

Well that would weed out some of the stupid genes and memes from the population.

[jnarcus]

Obviously this woman has never seen a polio ward, a whooping cough case, the devastation of measels , mumps, nad chicken pox....It is so easy for those too young to remember what those diseases are like to ignore vaccanation. TYoo bad they are scientifically illiterate

[Paleo Conservative]

I am a scientist and I could never get away with the type of studies that these bozos put out.

What kind of scientist?

[Cate]

She's lucky the family docs agree to see her child. My biggest beef with most of these parents who refuse to get their kids vaccinated is that most do not ACTUALLY do the research on what the diseases are like that the docs are trying to prevent.

[tortoise]

Karen E. Wetterhahn a chemist at Dartmouth died after only being exposed to only a couple drops of dimethylmercury on her gloved hand.

That sounds low.

There is not insignificant evidence that a small percentage of the population has a genetic defect that effectively eliminates the natural defenses that most humans have against small doses of mercury compounds. People without this protection would accumulate damage from environmental exposure, whereas the same exposure would not affect most people with the natural ability to sequester small quantities of mercury. Not only would this explain anomalies like this, but it is completely consistent with toxicological patterns for chemicals in general.

[tortoise]

My daughter was born in 1973 and was given the MMP two days before her first birthday on a scheduled appointment with a pediatrician.

Heh. The same thing happened to me. I had all my immunizations, and then at some point in the future, they decided that I didn't have them on the right week or something and I had to have them again. Complete bureaucratic nonsense.

Of course, then I got into the military. They don't believe in bothering with records and immunization histories, they just give you everything all over again. Sometimes more than once because it is more expedient than checking their records a couple years later.

Not that I ever had any adverse reactions to any of the vaccines I ever had.