Should Measles vaccination be mandatory again?

1. 84

   My Esotericposted 9 years ago

   The issue of mandatory vaccination has come up again because of the latest outbreak that started at Disneyland in CA.  The reason its important is because peoples choice not to vaccinate their kids are 1) endangering their own kids but 2) kids of other people that are too young for vaccination.  The facts are:
   
   1. Because of a vaccination program begun in the 1960sn in 2000, the endemic spread in the US was eliminated; only 86 sporadic cases were reported, one died.
   2.  Since an increasing number of people are refusing to vaccinate their kids where now 1 in 12 (8.3%) of children do not get vaccinated. Most (79%) by choice but a small percentage (~5%) because they are allergic.
   3. Outside the US 20 million people get measles each year worldwide; in 2013 145,700 of them died.
   4. 1-3 children out of every 1000 (0.1 - 0.3%) worldwide die from measles despite treatment
   5. In 1963, before vaccination, 400 - 500 people died from measles, 48,000 hospitalized, and 4,000 suffered encephalitis
   6. Between 2001 and 2013, where the avg annual infection rate in US was only 88; 28% of those required hospitalization.
   7. 2014: 644 cases reported!
   8. Jan 2015: 84 cases so far, it will get bigger!!
   .
   A related question is should parents who refuse to vaccinate their kids be liable for infections in kids too young to be vaccinated yet?

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      savvydatingposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Parents who will not vaccinate their children are endangering other children, as well as their own. This is one area in which political correctness has no place. All of this nonsense began with a certain Hollywood starlet, who apparently thinks she knows better than doctors. Just make the damn thing a law. I don't want to see anymore people dying needlessly out of sheer ignorance. If something isn't done, this problem will balloon out of control. It doesn't have to be that way. No one has the right to kill someone else's child.

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      My Esotericposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      The current outbreak is up to at least 103 with at least 231, 195 of them children, under quarantine.  Recently, a student exposed people on an Amtrak train in Penn Station and another person twice exposed people and kids on the labor and delivery floor in a Fresno hospital.

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      bruce carterposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      With the outbreaks that are showing up now more than ever each child should be up on all of their shots. Why take the chance of your child getting sick then exposing others.

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         My Esotericposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         The fear of autism is rampant.  My massage therapist is one who has that fear.

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         Aime Fposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Because people don't actually know what it's like to live in a world where young children died from these diseases (ironically, thanks to vaccines). On a very superficial level I get it. What are the chances of my daughter catching, say, diphtheria right now? Pretty much zero. Then you have all of this information floating around about the super scary ingredients in vaccines, the autism speculation, etc., and you think "man, why would I take the chance pumping my kid full of aborted fetal cells and antifreeze when diphtheria isn't even really a thing anymore?!"
         
         But thankfully I, like most people, can connect the dots and understand that if we all stopped vaccinating against these diseases, they'd come back and we'd undo all the good that's come of from them. And that vaccines aren't just a hodgepodge of unnecessary and dangerous ingredients that are going to poison our children.
         
         It all comes down to parents who have spent a chunk of time on Google that think they know better than immunologists, scientists, and doctors who have spent their entire lives studying diseases and developing vaccines. It's just pure arrogance and stupidity.

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            SmartAndFunposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            +1

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      My Esotericposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      As of 2/4/15, there are 107 measles cases now in 14 states.  92% are related to the outbreak from Disneyland.

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      My Esotericposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      As of 2/6/15, there are 121 measles cases now in 17 states; a 13% increase in two days..

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      My Esotericposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      2/17/15:  The count is now 141 cases in 17 states and D,C,; a 16.5% increase in 11 days :-(

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2. 72

   Aime Fposted 9 years ago

   No one makes me facepalm as hard as the anti-vax crowd, but I don't think vaccines should be mandatory. As much as I think the anti-vax logic is incredibly flawed, those people make the choice because they believe it's what's best for their child. I wouldn't be too pleased with someone forcing me to do something I thought was a danger to my kid.
   
   It looks like these diseases are going to have to start making some comebacks before people realize that vaccines are kind of important, I guess. Those who were alive during the time that these diseases were killing their children on a regular basis would be absolutely disgusted by all of this.

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      wildernessposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      "I Don’t Vaccinate My Child Because It’s My Right To Decide What Eliminated Diseases Come Roaring Back"
      
      A most interesting satirical article from the Onion.
      http://feed.hypervocal.com/frame/6080359

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         SmartAndFunposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Love that Onion piece! Thanks!

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            wildernessposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            It's pretty well written, isn't it?  And clearly points out the problem with failure to vaccinate - a problem that experience shows to be true with the Disney thing.

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      My Esotericposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I understand your desire to maintain liberty, I do as well.  But, liberty has never been absolute, neither by reason of common sense or by law.  I don't understand why we must wait for the certainty that people - kids - MUST die before something is again done.  That is a reactive position when proactive actions need to be taken.
      
      While making it mandatory may run into problems, but making sure unvaccinated kids are kept out of school is not.  Making not vaccinating your kids a legal reason for a negligence claim by parents who kids were infected from an unvaccinated child is another proactive measure.  Things can be done.

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         Aime Fposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         My first reaction is that we should just do everyone a favour and make it mandatory, because I honestly have not seen one anti-vax argument that wasn't based around bad science. A lot of people unfortunately don't understand how to read, analyze, and think critically about scientific research, so there's a ton of bad information flying around and a ton of people who don't know it's bad information. So it would sort of be like a "this is for your own good" thing.
         
         But, as a mother of a young child, I also know that if I had convinced myself that something would harm her and was required to do it anyway... well, I'd be devastated. I don't feel comfortable saying anyone should have to feel that way.
         
         But I do agree that it's a very frustrating situation, and it would be great if we could find a way to make people understand that they're sacrificing the health of thousands of small children - including their own - and get them to make the right decision on their own terms.

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            wildernessposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            You want your kids to remain unvaccinated?  Fine, but you are required to take a 20 hour night class solidly covering the dangers of not being vaccinated as well as the "science" proving vaccines are dangerous.  And home school them according to applicable state law so they won't transmit diseases so easily.

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               Aime Fposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               Hey, I'd be down with that. Especially the classes!

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                  wildernessposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                  Makes sense to me.  And if you can't pass the test at the end (haven't absorbed the information), either retake the class or vaccinate.  Exceptions for parents of children that can't take a vaccine, of course. 
                  
                  Or put the class as a requirement in all high schools?  Maybe build it into a biology class or modern life - something like that?

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                     MizBejabbersposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                     But what about taking the unvaccinated kids out in public and possibly exposing other children at WalMart or your church. Hopefully those other children would be vaccinated, so I guess the unvac. kids could expose each other.

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   calculus-geometryposted 9 years ago

   It should be a choice. As in, either vaccinate your kids or be sterilized to prevent more vectors.

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   Aime Fposted 9 years ago

   I love this one, too.
   
   http://www.theonion.com/articles/the-pr … ren,35731/

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      wildernessposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      

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   hypnodoctorposted 9 years ago

   With all due respect to freedom and libery, but excuse me, liberty of one stops the moment it harms another person. Apparently vaccination for measles should be mandatory. Those mind-washed conspiracy hacks should not be allowed to endanger the children of people that really, due to medical reasons, can't be vaccinated. Furthermore, the more the virus is allowed to circulate, the more chance there is for it to mutate and gain resistence to vaccination. Unfortunately the pictures of sick children don't work. Presentations don't work. Propaganda doesn't work. Those people are brainwashed and won't budge. Sure, the second there will be an epidemic, they will be the first in line demanding vaccination. Just you wait, it has happened before and it will happen again. The only effective thing available right now is the law. Let them "suck out" the "mercury" (that isn't present even in traces in the new vaccines) and "aluminium" (neccessary component to make immunisation more effective) with their liver flushes or whatever. This is getting ridiculous. We're in 2015, people. Wake up! Sorry, I know I'm preaching to the quire here, but it's just so frustrating. I had to vent. Sorry again.

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   Sed-meposted 9 years ago

   Dogs are better prepared for life threatening diseases than many children currently are.

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   Aime Fposted 9 years ago

   Unfortunately since vaccinations aren't 100% effective, about 3% of kids who ARE vaccinated won't be immune to these diseases and they won't even know it. That's where it gets really dangerous, I think, because at least if you know your kid hasn't been vaccinated you can take precautions when you know there's a risk of them being exposed. That's why the argument anti-vaxers make that "if your child is vaccinated you shouldn't care if mine is" is totally bogus.

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      SmartAndFunposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      In addition to the 3% whose vaccination is not effective, there are also the kids who are immuno-compromised due to serious medical issues. Their immune systems cannot handle vaccines. My teen daughter has a friend who received a heart transplant when she was 18 months old. She is now 16 and doing well, but because of the transplant she had as a baby, she has a lifetime of care instructions she must follow, and she cannot get vaccines. There's also my father-in-law, who is in his 80s and in frail health. Although he received all his vaccines as a strapping young man, his system at this point in his life cannot handle vaccines -- and he is due for boosters. Those who refuse to vaccinate their healthy kids put frail elderly people like my father-in-law, and kids like my daughter's friend in danger. Not to mention newborn babies. It makes me furious to hear about measles turning up in the maternity ward of a hospital, when this deadly disease is so easily prevented.

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   MizBejabbersposted 9 years ago

   My siblings and I were children before the measles vaccine was invented, so all three of us had the disease. I remember my father putting up a silver-painted light bulb in the bedroom to keep the light from hurting our painful eyes. My siblings were so sick that I worried they were going to die. My older child had measles when he was away visiting his grandparents, and the other wasn't exposed.
   My younger one received the vaccine as soon as he came out. The school required the older one to be vaccinated anyway. I didn't object. You see when you experience the measles, either your own or your beloved siblings, you don't question the wisdom of vaccinating the child whether it be measles, polio or any of the devastating childhood diseases.
   We are raising generations of "me only" and it appears that they will learn only by experience. It's too bad because it was really nice to see a couple of generations of children free of these dreaded diseases. If I had small children, they would be vaccinated, and I would object to their going to school with unvaccinated children. It should be made mandatory again. "The rights of the many oughtweigh the needs of the one." (Mr. Spock)

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      My Esotericposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      When I was a kid, my two cousins, who lived next door, came down with measles at different times.  Fortunately, it simply ran its course with no complications.  The story is, however, I knew that if adults caught the measles, it can be deadly and because of that I played with both cousins, trying to catch the disease.  I never did and still haven't had them; so I have my fingers crossed.

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         MizBejabbersposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         You are lucky, ME. I never caught the chicken pox from siblings. When my children had it, and I came down with a couple of spots on my left arm that my mother said was chicken pox. I was never sick a day. For that reason, my doctor insisted that he give me a shingles vaccination a couple of years ago. I suggest that for all adults because I had a young co-worker with shingles, and she was miserable.

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   SmartAndFunposted 9 years ago

   From FaceBook:
   
   

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      calculus-geometryposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Good for him. I hope most pediatrics practices have the same policy.  This is a favorite of mine
      
      http://roalddahl.com/roald-dahl/timelin … ember-1962

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         SmartAndFunposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Awww, that is so sad. I didn't realize Dahl had a child who died. I can't imagine the pain of losing a child.

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      MizBejabbersposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Good for him. This one deserves the "Best Answer"!

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    Aime Fposted 9 years ago

    There were 400 cases of measles in my area last summer. It started at a Christian school with an abysmal 30% vaccination rate. And thankfully (for everyone else, not for the poor kids whose parents decided not to vaccinate them) it stuck around the areas with 10-60% vaccination rates.

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    Melissa Orourkeposted 9 years ago

    I am not anti-vaccine. My kids have been vaccinated for the Measles.
    My concern, if the government mandates the Measles Vaccine, what will they mandate further down the road which none of us will want to comply with?

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       wildernessposted 9 years agoin reply to this

       Does the possibility of future governmental wrongdoing justify restarting an old and deadly disease to ravage our kids once again?

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       SmartAndFunposted 9 years agoin reply to this

       If these previously eradicated, deadly diseases start killing kids, people will be demanding to know why the government didn't step in and do something. Sometimes the people who want the government to leave them alone and give them the freedom to do (or not do) whatever they want are those who complain the loudest when bad things happen -- they'll be the first and loudest to blame the government for not  protecting them.

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    SmartAndFunposted 9 years ago

    Here's another funny one:
    http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/5a8df9 … tm_term=fd

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