Reply
Fri 13 Jan, 2006 08:51 pm
Jan. 12, 2006
8:00 pm
This Won't Hurt a Bit
Categories: Childhood, Parenting, Health
Talk about burying the lead.
You have to read to the very last sentence of "The Secret Truth,'' an article in The Boston Globe Magazine by Dr. Darshak Sanghavi about the vaccine/autism link and the parents who refuse to vaccinate their children for fear of it, to see the doctor take a stand in favor of childhood vaccinations.
"In the final analysis," he writes, "the secret truth about vaccines may be that, sometimes, personal freedom can be a dangerous thing."
But before he gets to this conclusion about the dangers of letting parents make their own choices on whether to vaccinate their kids, you have to wade through sentences like "Most diseases prevented by vaccines, like polio, measles and whooping cough, are now pretty uncommon, and many people
believe the benefits of vaccines don't outweigh the risks'' and "So public health agencies try scaring parents into vaccinating, even though actual risks of any one child today getting polio or pertussis are extremely low."
Why the doubletalk?
Did the editors assign a sympathetic article on the vaccine-autism link, and the doctor, given the mountain of scientific evidence against it, couldn't deliver? Did the magazine want something that would comfort, rather than challenge, parents' beliefs, even as it gently drove home the increasingly unpopular message that vaccination matters ?- a lot?
I am writing a book now on the mystery of why so many kids are being diagnosed with so many issues, and it's remarkable how often people, hearing of it, immediately ask whether I am writing about autism. After which, before waiting for an answer, they go on, "You know, it's linked to the mercury in vaccines."
Over and over again, the link between mercury ?- in the form of thimerosal, a preservative once routinely used in vaccines ?- and autism has been disproved. Or, better put, (who knows what the future will bring?) it has not been confirmed. (The Times had an excellent history of the autism/vaccine controversy last year.)
Meanwhile, formerly all-but-eradicated deadly childhood diseases are making a comeback, as Sanghavi acknowledges: In Britain, where vaccination is optional and immunization rates in recent years for the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine have fallen to as low as 62 percent in parts of London, measles is on the rise. Ditto in Japan, where parental choice on the matter of vaccinations has resulted in a yearly rate now of more than 100,000 cases of measles, leading to an estimated 50 to 100 deaths.
In the U.S., 85 percent of pediatricians surveyed last year reported they'd had parents turn down at least one recommended shot; slightly more than half of the doctors said that in the previous year they'd met at least one family that had refused all vaccines. Polio has shown up in Minnesota among the Amish, who are distrustful of vaccines. Whooping cough cases are at a 30-year high in California, where there were more than 2,000 cases of the disease last year, leading to at least seven deaths of babies.
Is publicizing these facts a matter of hype or scare tactics, as Dr. Sanghavi's article might suggest?
Ask the dead infants' parents.
NYtimes online
Aaaarggghhh.
I remember reading a very long article about that, with research results really debunking the theory.
It is received wisdom on the net, but, without being bothered to retrieve everything I read, my understanding is that it is nonsense.
dlowan wrote:It is received wisdom on the net, but, without being bothered to retrieve everything I read, my understanding is that it is nonsense.
*nods* I don't know how things are going in other countries but here in the U.S. we seem to have a bit of a cottage industry made up of people with no medical or scientific experience at all that have convinced themselves that childhood immunizations will kill us all.
Over the last few years this thimerosal/autism debate has really heated up and it seems like thimerosal can be blamed for almost anything including my new shoes being a bit to tight.
Oooh, got into some long ugly battles about this on a parenting board a few years ago -- a board with a lot of people of the type fishin' mentions.
Aside from disliking the pseudo-scientific panic mongers, the implications of not vaccinating children really concern me.
kinda reminds me of the 50's when some mormons (and others) fought against flouride in the water (they often said it was a communist plot.)
Oh, that's still going, too. Another battle I had there.
sozobe wrote:Oooh, got into some long ugly battles about this on a parenting board a few years ago -- a board with a lot of people of the type fishin' mentions.
Aside from disliking the pseudo-scientific panic mongers, the implications of not vaccinating children really concern me.
Yes.
It is leading to new epidemics of illnesses, which were once a minor nuisance.
Luckily, children won't be allowed into Preschool/Kindergarten
without having proper immunization. Even a chicken pox vaccination is mandatory in California.
Really?
Not here. Or at least not Illinois, not sure about Ohio.
On the other hand, a lot of people I know who have these opinions also choose to homeschool. :-? (Homeschooling is not intrinsically evil, but it is this kind of combination that makes my skin crawl.) (Did anyone read the extremely sad article in the New Yorker this week about Brendenn?)
Yes sozobe, California made it mandatory, and I am glad they did. Kids bring home enough other illnesses from school, any disease that can be prevented by vaccination is a blessing.
Especially Kindergarten and first grade were particularly
difficult. It seemed, parents received every week a health
letter of a child having strep throat, ringworms or lice.
I just freaked out every time I received such a notice, but
luckily my child is blessed with a great immune system.
Haven't read the story about Brendan. Perhaps you care to open
another topic with it!?
Sure... I don't necessarily have any conclusions to base a discussion on, but can open something with a link to the story and go from there.
listening to CBC-TV this morning.
the "doctor-on-call" suggested that adults should consider a whooping-cough vaccinination - she spoke in connection with the current controversy re. use of over the counter cough medication.
she suggested it is much safer for adults to get a w.c. vacc , rather than taking cough medication. hbg
Haven't been able to find that article online. (Not on the New Yorker site, not anywhere else, though I found reference to it and some quotes.) Hopefully it will show up eventually -- I'm not sure if enough people read the New Yorker to post something without the article.
Sad and not a little creepy. The story has been rattling around inside my head, lots of elements.
Misspelled the name, it's Brandenn (two N's, but b-r-A not b-r-E) Bremmer.
sozobe, is this the kid?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50248-2005Mar19.html
----
hamburger, you are right, adults should consider immunizations too, or at least get booster shots for some
childhood diseases.
One of my adult friends contracted pertussis (whooping cough) last year, and she suffered for good 9 weeks through
it.
I got booster immunizations for polio (should be repeated
every 10 years) and also a vaccination for chicken pox
a few years back, as I never had it.
That's the kid, right -- let me know if you find the New Yorker article. (It's the article and the way it presents the situation/ additional info not found in news accounts that I found especially interesting.)
I haven't read last weeks New Yorker yet. In Calamity Jane's link Mama sounds more like a custodian than a parent.
As for the Wisdom of the Common People on Matters Medical....eek!
The older I get the more nostalgia I can summon up for the Good Old Days when the Lower Orders Knew Their Place in the Grand Scheme of the Universe.
I'd be very interested in discussing this one with you, Noddy.
I only found an article in the NYT from last March, sozobe, and
it's just about the same article as in the Washington Post.
I'm flabbergasted about the mother as well, Noddy. Her
saying that Brendenn has a higher calling to do something
great, is quite disturbing.
Stumble It!
Tweet This
Bookmark on Delicious
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace