I had chicken pox when I was 8. It sucked. I had a belt of pox around my waist that itched so much it made me want to crawl out of my skin. If I had had the opportunity to have a vaccine rather than go through the intense itching, I would have jumped on it. Now there IS a vaccine for chicken pox. Huzzah! It's 85-90% effective, and even if you do catch chicken pox after getting the vaccine, you'll only get a very mild case of it! That's great news, right? Right?? Well...
Unfortunately, some blithering idiots have something against vaccines because another blithering idiot falsified his data to make it look like the MMR vaccine was linked to autism. That wasn't just a little bit of data-massaging, it was outright, bald-faced FRAUD. But some parents still believe that vaccines are bad, so they turn to, well let's say other methods of getting their kids immune to the chicken pox virus.
Some geniuses on Facebook have started forming groups that either look for pox parties (to share the virus, thereby purposefully infecting everyone) or to MAIL A LOLLIPOP THAT AN INFECTED CHILD HAS LICKED. Yes, seriously. What the ever-loving fuck is wrong with these people?
Fortunately, sending diseases through the mail is illegal. I hope these morons go to prison and pick up some colorful diseases of their own.
Monday 7 November 2011
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I think of myself as a very secure person. I endure a lot of stress at work, and despite sometimes overwhelming circumstances, I always man...
My little sister who is not so little anymore (18) is the same way, she's terrified of getting a vaccination. It's my first time hearing about a Facebook group looking for pox parties. That's very interesting and idiotic. By the way, I really like you're posts.
ReplyDeleteI found you on fml and have two questions
ReplyDeleteAre you always negative or is this attitude your outlet?
What is your advice about other vaccines? I'm a newlywed thinking about what decisions I should make for my future children.
Thanks.
I'm not always negative - just the blog is negative. Who wants to read about happy stuff?
ReplyDeleteAs for vaccines, if they are available, I would get them. End of story.
I Still have nighmares of oatmeal baths
ReplyDeleteJust like on South Park
ReplyDeleteI'm not a doctor (and I don't play one on TV) but I do have a background in science and medicine.
ReplyDeleteVaccines are thousands of times safer than the diseases they prevent. Literally, thousands. There is zero (and I mean ZERO) evidence of any linkage between vaccines and any developmental delays. In other words: the worst things you'll get from a vaccination are a mild fever, a sore arm and feeling lousy for a day or so while your body processes it. The worst thing that can happen from not being vaccinated is dying. How many Americans die every year from the flu shot? 0. How many die from the flu? Roughly 30,000. Not 30. 30 THOUSAND.
I wrote my own blog post on this very subject about 2 years ago: http://abundantabsurdity.blogspot.com/2009/10/get-yourself-shot.html. Most of my blog is political but this one isn't and you might enjoy it. Probably not as much as you're enjoying this blog, but I do what I can. After all, I don't have to interact with the level of idiots that DocBastard does.
My sympathies, Doc.
I was vaccinated with a whole slew of vaccines all at the same time. This made me have seizures and now, fourteen years later, I have recently discovered that the vaccines I was given contained mercury as one of the 'preservatives'. This small amount of mercury has been poisoning my body since I received the immunizations, causing me to be chronically sick for well over 4 years. If that isn't enough, I had (like I said earlier) febrile, petit mal and grand mal seizures when I was immunized and was then put on a drug that caused me to have more than 60 petit mal seizures a day. That's right, a day. I am now prohibited by law to ever receive any immunizations for the rest of my life, causing me to have an extremely high risk of receiving any type of disease. I'm not here to say that vaccines are not important, but to inform you that there are reasons for people to not want immunizations. They might be unintelligent reasons, but please, don't judge a book by it's cover.
ReplyDeleteI'm not judging a book by its cover. I'm judging yet another uninformed comment regarding vaccines.
DeleteThe "mercury" you got in your vaccines is the same ethyl mercury that I (and millions of others) received in theirs. It's called thimerosal, and it is entirely safe. The "mercury poisoning" that you're referring to is caused by methyl mercury, which is VERY different despite the similarity of the names. The seizures you had were febrile seizures, and they are a relatively uncommon side effect of vaccines. However they have been shown in study after study to have NO LONG TERM EFFECT.
Plus, there's no law forbidding you from getting vaccines. That's probably just something that some silly doctor told you or your parents, or something that you or your parents misheard.
Your reasons aren't unintelligent, they are simply uninformed.
Pox parties actually existed quite a long time ago, but instead of chicken pox it was smallpox. Parents would expose their children to it as early as possible because a child supposedly was more likely to survive than an adult.
ReplyDeleteOf course then vaccines came along and that stopped because it was no longer necessary. I've had chickenpox but I was too young to remember. From what I've heard however it isn't pleasant. Why would you subject your child to it when a less painful and less dangerous option is available?
What is the risk of shingles in people who were vaccinated for chickenpox vs those who got the actual virus?
ReplyDeleteI don't know if that study has been done. However, there is a shingles vaccine.
DeleteThat is true. However in this anti-vax age of stupidity, I am curious as to how many parents are subjecting their children not only to chickenpox but shingles as well. I doubt the kids will get vaccines when they are old enough to decide that themselves as, most likely, they have been brainwashed to be anti-vax.
DeleteIt isn't really an issue, just a curiosity.