Posted on 02/04/2015 11:01:19 AM PST by Kaslin
This week, controversy broke out over whether state governments have the power to require parents to have their children vaccinated. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, no stranger to compelling his citizens to stay off the roads during blizzards, announced that he had some sympathy for the anti-vaccination position: "I also understand that parents need to have some measure of choice in things as well. So that's the balance the government has to decide." Kentucky Senator Rand Paul doubled down on Christie's remarks, stating, "I have heard of many tragic cases of walking, talking, normal children who wound up with profound mental orders after vaccines. ...The state doesn't own your children."
Christie and Paul aren't the only politicians sympathizing with anti-vaccination fanatics; in 2008, then-Senator Barack Obama repeated widely debunked claims of links between autism and vaccination. Skepticism of vaccination crosses party lines, unfortunately -- although the most organized anti-vaccination resistance comes from the New Agey left in places like Santa Monica and Marin County, who worry more about infinitesimal amounts of formaldehyde in vaccines than about death by polio.
Unsurprisingly, older Americans believe that children should be vaccinated against diseases like measles, mumps and whopping cough, by a 73 percent to 21 percent margin. Americans 18-29, by contrast, believe by a 43 percent to 42 percent plurality that government should not mandate such vaccinations.
That's because young people don't remember a time when such diseases claimed lives. They don't remember a time when the vast majority of Americans weren't vaccinated. Older people do. Many of them lost loved ones to polio and measles and mumps and rubella. In 1952, over 3,000 Americans died of polio and well over 21,000 were left with mild or severe paralysis. Thanks to Dr. Jonas Salk's vaccine, there have been zero cases of natural polio in the United States since 1979.
The same is true of measles. According to Dr. Mark Papania of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 90 percent of Americans suffered from the measles by age 15 before widespread vaccination beginning in 1962. From 1956 to 1960, he reports, "an average of 542,000 cases were reported annually." That included 450 deaths per year, as well as 150,000 cases of respiratory complications and 4,000 cases of consequent encephalitis per year, many of which resulted in later death. Then mandatory vaccination kicked in. Until a major upswing in 2014, we averaged less than 100 cases of measles per year in the United States since 2000.
The point of mandatory vaccinations is not merely to protect those who are vaccinated. When it comes to measles, mumps and rubella, for example, children cannot be vaccinated until 1 year of age. The only way to prevent them from getting diseases is to ensure that those who surround them do not have those diseases. The same is true for children with diseases like leukemia, as well as pregnant women. Herd immunity is designed to protect third parties.
But Americans have short memories and enormous confidence in junk science. Parents will ignore vaccinations but ensure that their kids are stocked up with the latest homeopathic remedies, Kabbalah bracelets and crystals. St. John's wort, red string and crystals all existed before 1962. They didn't stop the measles. Vaccination did.
That doesn't mean that all vaccinations should be compulsory, of course. There are certain diseases that can only be transmitted by behavior, like HPV. There are others that are too varied for effective herd vaccination, like the flu shot. But when it comes to measles and mumps and rubella and polio, your right to be free of vaccination -- and your right to be a dope with the health of your child because you believe Jenny McCarthy's idiocy -- ends where my child's right to live begins.
Your post is 100% lefty liberal moon battery.
More in line with DU or other left wing conspiracies.
“These anti-vaccine people against these vaccines for measles, mumps, whooping cough, etc ... ARE ABSOLUTELY CRAZY!”
Not only are they absolutely crazy, but they endanger their children’s lives and even the lives if other children who are vaccinated.
Just out of curiosity, if your kids have been vaccinated then what is the problem with them being around someone who has not been vaccinated?
I have no idea what you are talking about.
Did you see what I posted ... measles, mumps, whooping cough, etc ... ?
Absolutely. My youngest had her vaccines. When our life-long pediatrician switched to another company, the first MMR record did not come over and for some reason, was written in the wrong spot on the Vaccine record book. Our Doctor knew that our youngest had her first vaccine so for the kinder MMR, they recorded that as her second MMR. Come University time last year. Wouldn’t let kid in unless: her first MMR was in the State database, or in the book. They would NOT allow the Dr. to write a letter. She either had to have a 30 minute “consultation” with the University to understand that she would be forced OUT of school if an “outbreak” occurred or we had two other choices: (1) a THIRD MMR which the DR. DID NOT RECOMMEND and nor did I want or (2) a blood titer to prove immunity which we had to pay for. I chose (2) and she proved immunity.
[ Never mind that vaccines are impure and contain Hg, Al, formaldehyde,SV40 virus.
Obama has come out in favor of taking vaccines.
That should tell you all you need to know.
I’m not opposed to vaccination as long as the vaccine has been shown to be effective and does not contain impurities.
Why is this so controversial? No one wants to take impure and unsafe medications and food. ]
Be Careful, The Boot Licking Freeper Brigade is gonna call you an AXE CRAZY LOONATIC...
What I find funny is people who have vaccinated their kids whining about how their kids may catch X diseas from an unvaccinated kid, even though they already vaccinated kid against X disease.
Shouldn’t their kid be just fine because they have been vaccinated against disease X?
That is unless they are afraid that vaccines don’t work, but wouldn’ that make them anti-vaccine?????
Seriously, because I really want to know: How do unvaccinated kids endanger the lives of those who have been vaccinated?
My son had bad allergies as a baby. We chose to delay and spread his vaccine out over a long period of time for his health. We had a choice Thank God!
You’re right ... diseases don’t play favorites with political parties ... :-) ...
No!U.S.government policies kill.Failure to protect our borders from the entry of illegal immigrants and not checking for communicable diseases is the reason for the spread of measles and other diseases that are cropping up today.
Our stupid government even decided to import a nonnative disease to the U.S. In the form of Ebola.
I forgot about the disease that is mimicking polio that just suddenly appeared in our country that is also attack kids.
This is all dictator Obama’s fault.
I had the measles and the mumps when I was a kid. My sons had the measles to when they 7 and 10
This push to stampede people is outrageous. And you know it benefits Obama somehow.
I can understand if there are specific health issues that a few people have to deal with.
There is a good reason for that.
Sometimes these articles are just too easy - we should at least have to work for it:
“Dr. Mark Papania of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention”
“Aerosol technique ‘could transform measles vaccination”
“Aerosol Vaccination Device Inventor - Dr. Mark Papania”
It’s kind of like the six degrees of separation game. Search every one of these straw-man, cheer-leading, pro vaccination articles and at the bottom of it all you will always find somebody with a financial dog in the fight.
We all made out pretty well. Also, I shared a room with a 95 year old woman who had been taking Lisinipril since the year I was born 1962. I decided that day(20 years ago) that if it kept her healthy then I would take it for my high blood pressure.
Big Phara is like any other business. They spend a lot of money researching medications that have saved lives. They need to be reimbursed too. Its funny how people think everything should be free for them. And of course this industry has been demonized we see here how people misunderstand so much.
Well, if you believe the CDC. MMR vaccination rates in Mexico & Central America are higher then the US.
Every one here would do well to remember that prior to running for president BOTH obama and hillary (& RFK jr. and pretty much the entire dimocrat army) was anti vaccine and parents choice. NOW they are trying to paint the entire issue as a republican/conservative anti science thing and the media is carrying their water relentlessly. You have to ask yourself what is really going on and what is the endgame. The duplicity on this issue is staggering.
Then don’t label all “CRAZY”
You comments were “insensitive”
I was thankful that all his friends were immunized and he was in a safe environment. But the choice must be left to family and doctor not the government
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