An “anti-vaxxer” is a person who, because of a variety of conspiratorial beliefs, refuses to take vaccinations or get their children vaccinated. The most popular delusion they operate under is that vaccines cause autism, a conspiracy theory popularized by 90s sex symbol turned real life X-Files character Jenny McCarthy who worked in a media blitz to spread this bit of Internet hokum in between marrying rich and being photographed simulating fellatio on garden hoses.
McCarthy didn’t start the anti-vaxxer movement though, that was unscrupulous modern day Mengele Andrew Wakefield. Wakefield was a doctor until his unethical experiments on children came to light. That, added to the fact that his influential study linking autism to vaccines was discredited as a hoax, led him to have his medical credentials revoked by the General Medical Council. The hoax was part of Wakefield’s scam to release a competing vaccine for MMR as investigative journalist Brian Deer exposed.
But anti-vaxxers aren’t moved by the facts, which in this case shows that the concerns about vaccines causing all sorts of syndromes in children were made up by a man known to experiment on children and who had a business interest in spreading this myth. The growing anti-vaccine movement has consequences, including the rise in crippling and deadly diseases once eradicated, and increasingly we are all paying the price for this dangerous fantasy:
California is facing what could be the state’s biggest outbreak of pertussis since 1958, according to its top public health official. This contagious disease is more commonly known as whooping cough due the distinctive whoop that occurs when sufferers cough and gasp for breath.
“Whooping cough is now an epidemic in California,” said Dr. Mark Horton, director of the California Department of Public Health, in a statement. “Children should be vaccinated against the disease and parents, family members and caregivers of infants need a booster shot.”
As of June 15, a total of 910 cases had been confirmed in the state. Another 600 suspected cases are currently being investigated by local health officials, the statement indicated.
The number of pertussis cases is now on a pace to surpass the total of 3,182 seen in the most recent major outbreak, which occurred in 2005, said Ken August, spokesman for the department.
August told MedPage Today that 1,200 cases were recorded in 2005 as of mid-June, meaning the state would probably exceed that this year.
The highest yearly total on record is 3,837 cases, seen in 1958.
So far this year, five children have died, all infants younger than three months.
Dr. Blaise Congeni of Akron Children’s Hospital in Ohio said he wasn’t surprised, as higher-than-usual numbers of pertussis cases have been reported across the country.
“We are having an outbreak in Ohio,” though not as severe as in California, he said.
Oregon public health officials have also reported an unusually high number of pertussis cases in that state.
Both Congeni and August noted that pertussis tends to wax and wane in cycles. But gaps in vaccination coverage may also be playing a role, particularly in California.
The article goes on to say that California vaccine refusal rates are around 2%, which given the population size means there are literally tens of thousands of children who are even now potential incubators for diseases that ravaged the world and were only defeated in recent history. But what’s worse is that some schools in California, where parents can get “Personal Belief Exemptions” from vaccination schedules, have refusal rates of 20% or more. Why is this important? Because even the vaccinated can be infected by outbreak:
Researchers have found that vaccination rates of at least 93 percent are needed to ensure so-called herd immunity against pertussis, which prevents the disease from spreading quickly to unvaccinated individuals.
So because Infowars or their Twitter friend “opened their eyes” to the dangers of vaccines these people will spread disease after disease to your children. This is outrageous.
If you live in an area with anti-vaxxers keep your kids away from them. If you are in a school district with many of these people pull your kids out. Our reliance on antibiotics have produced super bugs that make even short hospital stays potentially fatal, so you’re children cannot afford the extra risk of humoring these people.
I’m not so sure about this. Just because a crook tells you a thunderstorm is coming doesn’t mean its safe to leave home without your umbrella. I use to believe this stuff, even blogged about it, but I admit I’m not so sure now. Mercury in vaccines don’t seem like such a bright idea, but maybe its been greatly exaggerated, possibly as a way of shaking down big pharma. Maybe my first good clue might be that Robert Kennedy Jr. is a big proponent of this. Or at least he used to be.
I am not a big fan of vaccines, but I’ve been vaccinated as has everyone else I know and none are autistic. My big “this is crap” moment came when I started working with kids and going over the medical stuff realized that vaccines save lives. Hey, I won’t take a new flu vaccines and think people can be a little to willing to take them, but kids dying of Whopping cough in California is just outrageous.
Yeah, but I would still urge caution. Unless a lot of new information has come out since I was following the story, there’s just a lot of unknowns. Does it have a detrimental effect on young prepubescent children, especially toddlers, that it might not have on an older teen or adult whose brain is already developed? What about the effect of babies in the womb? Yeah, in the case of a developing epidemic, it might not be a good idea to avoid vaccines, but absent a compelling reason, caution might be the best recourse, until we finally know for sure. The main reason for the mercury, if I remember right, is it acts as a preservative and gives the medicine a longer shelf life. It shouldn’t be that difficult to come up with another method.
Agreed. Vaccines can be safer and when the swine flu was being hyped I was leery of taking the rushed product. But there’s a middle ground here that the anti-vaxxers won’t recognize which drives me nuts. Of course we don’t want to just let doctors inject kids with whatever is new and profitable, but do we want to go back to a world where polio cripples children?
As for the mercury, isn’t it funny that canned food from 100 years ago has been found to be safe (if unpleasent) to eat but we can’t find a way to keep flu shots from going bad? Sounds like laziness to me.
Actually, I’m an anti-vaxxer and I get my info from the CDC and it’s vital statistics office. It’s amazing how low pro-vaxxers will go to degrade others. It is also ironic that they trust a system that twists information to pretend they saved the world. Check out the rates of diseases loooong before vaccines (we’re talking 50 or so years) and see the significant decline that was taking place before vaccines were created (http://childhealthsafety.wordpress.com/graphs/). Note pro vaccine sources cut the timeline off slightly before the vaccine came out to promote their product. Cause is supposed to come before effect, not after, any elementary school child knows that.
Also, look at the number of the whooping cough cases that took place in vaccinated individuals. Pro vaccine sources don’t tell you that the outbreak occurred in vaccinated people–more twisting. The vaccine, according to the CDC (http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol6no5/srugo.htm), does not prevent the disease or carrying the disease; it only makes it less severe should you catch it. I know, ironic since they have all these commercials that pretend getting the vaccine will stop you from transmitting the disease.
If vaccines worked, anyone who is vaccinated should have no fear of catching the disease from the unvaccinated and name calling is pathetic. If vaccines worked, why is there so much information twisting? If vaccines worked, why do the vaccinated catch diseases right alongside the unvaccinated?
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