Orac brings us a report from the front line of the anti-vaccination movement and shows how it's becoming even more hysterical. I'm very pleased to see that Time last week had a cover story about how the anti-vaccination movement is putting us all at risk.
How much do you think solving the world's worst problem would cost? Would you believe only $60 million a year? Eight hours of Iraq. That's how much it would cost to prevent the cognitive developmental diseases related to being malnourished in beta carotene and zinc to the 140 million children worldwide who lack them. Malnutrition, disease control, and access to education-- all relatively economically cheap (but sometimes politically expensive) problems that don't have quite the same cachet as worrying about carbon footprints. This is like exercise... we know how to stay healthy, we're just fatigued of hearing it.
Darwinism "serves the goals of global Jewery." And "When the Clinton White House made statements that they didn't like, what did Zionism do-- they sent him the Jewish Monica."
Because, you know, nothing is more important than bringing little Iraqi kids to Jesus. Yeah, that'll help our cause. I think any soldiers found doing this should be discharged immediately and dishonorably for failing to take their Soldier's Oath seriously.
A case from Tennessee of parents who created a proseltyzing parents group at public schools has been settled. Some of the quotes Ed Brayton collected are quite telling.
Brad DeLong brings us the greatest hits of the Republican spin machine explaining to us how McClellan was always a poor representative of the President's magnificent and eloquent leadership.
Wow. Apparently, there's a huge kerfluffle in the world of vertebrate paleontology, where a respected member of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History is accused of intellectual theft and publishing material without permission from the specimen holders-- and it looks like the professional review was stacked. It's a fascinating look at the ugly underbelly of the politics of science, the ferocious battle over grants and prestige.
Reagan's Director of the Budget brings us his tales of the Reagan White House, and how out of it Reagan really was. Cabinet members would regularly bring him a bamboozling array of facts and figures, and then point to one anecdote that would please him and point him in the direction of approving whatever it was that cabinet member wanted. The "magic asterisks" were footnotes that hid the actual costs of any operation from Reagan's eyes. (via Brad Delong)
If the majority of medical professionals are going to tell me to avoid mercury (including shots with thimerosol) while I'm pregnant, it seems illogical to give a vaccine containing it to my still developing baby (whenever it is born). There are plenty of studies linking mercury to fetal development and I don't understand how those can exist but there not be links after birth. It isn't as if something magical happens outside the womb to give a higher tolerance to mercury.
I recently took a look at all the vaccines that are required these days for kids. I don't recall nearly that many for when I was a kid and wonder exactly what is spurring these requirements. Hep B? Why if mom doesn't have it? Varicella? It's a fricken live vaccine! Why not get it the natural route? It doesn't completely prevent it anyway and when I got it the natural route, I didn't get a bad case of it then either.
[edit] Additionally, before I was pregnant, I informed the medical staff of my intention to get pregnant (when they asked if I was) and they put me down for a thimerosol free flu shot. That was the first I'd even heard about it (in 2006, CA actually signed into law the prevention of giving children and pregnant mothers shots with mercury as a study showed babies getting 86 times the recommended daily intake of mercury from fish via vaccinations). Went in, got a shot. Walked away with a niggling feeling in my head. Asked them to check what the shot was and they confirmed... it was the thimerosol one. They told me then to delay getting pregnant by three months. I'm kind of glad this happened as now I intend to be extra diligent in double checking what shots are being given to me and my family.
Life is lethal. You'll never get out of it alive. End of story.
Speaking on behalf of all the OTHER monkeys who were willing to take their chances on the ground, get your kids vaccinated. I don't care that you imagine you might be putting your kids at risk, you're putting the rest of us at risk.
Suck it up, cock the hammer back and pull the trigger like the rest of us. It's a very, VERY big gun, and there's plenty of empty chambers.
If you can find a way to get them "safely" vaccinated, then by all means, go for it. Japanese method? Hey, awesome. Shoot em' up at 2, that's perfect.
But if you're just going to try and avoid the issue altogether because you don't want to take the risks the rest of are, then please go back in the trees.
As a parent, my feeling on the matter has always been this: if you don't want to have vaccinations for your children until a certain again, fine. But please keep them out of school, out of the grocery store, out of day care, and away from my kids. Perhaps we could have special armbands these "organic, free range" children wear, so that it would be easy to spot and avoid them. And little masks for them. Oh, and their body wastes would have be treated as biohazard material. It sounds difficult, but I'm sure that parents who really *care* about their children's safety would have no problem agreeing to those limitations, for the good of all children.
I'm not sure where you got the idea that I wasn't going to do *any* vaccinations or even that I was avoiding issues but it is incorrect. In fact, if you actual read my post, you would see that I was going to double-check shots.. meaning someone's gotta get a shot.
Sure life is lethal. Doesn't mean I'm going to drink antifreeze just because I'm going to die anyway. But I suggest you do some research as to how many empty chambers there are before asking everyone to participate. Again, there is no magic of birth that allows a child to be safe from 87 times the RDI of mercury outside the womb rather than inside. I'm fortunate that California prohibited the stuff two years ago.
Do you have vaccinations for Hep A? Hep B? HPV? Malaria? If you answer no to any of those, why not? They all exist in the world.
I'm not sure where you got the idea that I wasn't going to do *any* vaccinations...
Ah yes. My apologies, mouth-or fingers-engaged before brain.
Do you have vaccinations for Hep A? Hep B? HPV? Malaria?
Hah! Actually, yes, yes, no vaccine and prophylaxis for 60 days. Also got smallpox, too. (Boy, was THAT fun. *stab*stab*stab* 20 friggen times with a bifuricated needle.)
I was on a supply ship, and we were in the Gulf and Africa.
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re: vaccines
Date: 2008-06-03 04:37 pm (UTC)I recently took a look at all the vaccines that are required these days for kids. I don't recall nearly that many for when I was a kid and wonder exactly what is spurring these requirements. Hep B? Why if mom doesn't have it? Varicella? It's a fricken live vaccine! Why not get it the natural route? It doesn't completely prevent it anyway and when I got it the natural route, I didn't get a bad case of it then either.
[edit] Additionally, before I was pregnant, I informed the medical staff of my intention to get pregnant (when they asked if I was) and they put me down for a thimerosol free flu shot. That was the first I'd even heard about it (in 2006, CA actually signed into law the prevention of giving children and pregnant mothers shots with mercury as a study showed babies getting 86 times the recommended daily intake of mercury from fish via vaccinations). Went in, got a shot. Walked away with a niggling feeling in my head. Asked them to check what the shot was and they confirmed... it was the thimerosol one. They told me then to delay getting pregnant by three months. I'm kind of glad this happened as now I intend to be extra diligent in double checking what shots are being given to me and my family.
Re: vaccines
Date: 2008-06-03 06:11 pm (UTC)Speaking on behalf of all the OTHER monkeys who were willing to take their chances on the ground, get your kids vaccinated. I don't care that you imagine you might be putting your kids at risk, you're putting the rest of us at risk.
Suck it up, cock the hammer back and pull the trigger like the rest of us. It's a very, VERY big gun, and there's plenty of empty chambers.
If you can find a way to get them "safely" vaccinated, then by all means, go for it. Japanese method? Hey, awesome. Shoot em' up at 2, that's perfect.
But if you're just going to try and avoid the issue altogether because you don't want to take the risks the rest of are, then please go back in the trees.
Re: vaccines
Date: 2008-06-03 06:30 pm (UTC)Just a modest proposal. ;-)
Re: vaccines
Date: 2008-06-03 07:07 pm (UTC)Sure life is lethal. Doesn't mean I'm going to drink antifreeze just because I'm going to die anyway. But I suggest you do some research as to how many empty chambers there are before asking everyone to participate. Again, there is no magic of birth that allows a child to be safe from 87 times the RDI of mercury outside the womb rather than inside. I'm fortunate that California prohibited the stuff two years ago.
Do you have vaccinations for Hep A? Hep B? HPV? Malaria? If you answer no to any of those, why not? They all exist in the world.
Re: vaccines
Date: 2008-06-04 04:45 am (UTC)Ah yes. My apologies, mouth-or fingers-engaged before brain.
Do you have vaccinations for Hep A? Hep B? HPV? Malaria?
Hah! Actually, yes, yes, no vaccine and prophylaxis for 60 days. Also got smallpox, too. (Boy, was THAT fun. *stab*stab*stab* 20 friggen times with a bifuricated needle.)
I was on a supply ship, and we were in the Gulf and Africa.