<p>Waning immunity is just part of some vaccines; imo it shouldn’t be an objection. Pertussis is unpleasant for kids, teens and adults, but the more important issue is that esp teens and adults with pertussis act as the reservoir for pertussis for infants, especially those too young to have finished the initial series. There have been outbreaks and dying babies in California and Washington this year from pertussis. </p>
<p>Get that booster! Everyone— a shot every ten years is not that onerous.</p>
<p>My DD13a got her meningitis shot yesterday. She is living in a dorm for five weeks this summer. Neither of my girls have had the guadisil series yet. They are not sexually active. We have talked about getting it next year, but I’ve left the discussion open.</p>
<p>Haven’t yet read jym’s article, but because your opinion is it shouldn’t be an objection to immunity, it doesn’t mean it isn’t a fact, and that has to be accepted. </p>
<p>Many people don’t understand or CARE about herd immunity.</p>
<p>And to claim that there has never been false information given about vaccinations, that make people cautious with their precious babies, just isn’t true.</p>
<p>I meant that waning immunity shouldn’t be used imo as an objection important enough to eschew immunizations. It just has to be dealt with. Like, we’d all like to just have one mammogram and be done, but we can’t do that. We have to retest, and even though we don’t like that fact, it’s not a reason to never get a mammogram in the first place, or keep getting them. We use scientific and technologic advances in the best way we can.</p>
<p>Read the first 5 pages of thread, then jumped to here.</p>
<p>Has this been considered: son scared of needle pain is just covering it up to Mom with pseudo-scientific blah-blah. </p>
<p>If so, call his bluff and make him deal with that. Before you turn around, he’ll have to get his own medical care someday – without consulting you, the Tufts administration or anyone else.</p>
<p>Here is where we are not going to like a lot of our children’s choices, but we need to let go. Since he is over 18, this is his right legally. You can show him the news articles about the man who died. And tell him how you feel, and then let it go. He might be scared of the pain. I had my daughter get the shot before going to Interlochen. She did not want it, but I made her anyway. But she was under 18. And she was laughing afterward as it did not hurt.</p>
<p>This post makes me realize I need to get it for my son before he turns 18 and this becomes his legal right.</p>
<p>By the way…herd immunity is a bunch of bull. If you vaccination works, it works. The idea of herd immunity is that it will only work on some kids but will work on enough that it won’t even get in to the environment. It is a game of statistics. But, if you really think vaccinations work and you have had them, and you don’t want those particular illnesses, then you should not be scared of others who did not get them. Remember that some vaccinations are still made with live viruses so a person who gets them is contagious. And some people have had vaccination damage from certain shots. And most vaccinations, these days, are for things that are not any more deadly than the common cold. It is just the marketing campaigns have us all being a bunch of prissy germ-a-phobes.</p>
<h1>145 - I meant people have all kinds of objections to immunizations, and we need to acknowledge their objections and accept their right to object. Then you can try to educate them to the best of your ability.</h1>
<p>Not all people can afford vaccines, so if the government paid for vaccines it would be one less deterrent.</p>
<p>Those on Medicaid have vaccines covered. In my area kids that don’t have health insurance can get a voucher for free immunizations before school starts, and in some cases they do a mass shot-clinic every fall. When H1N1 was going crazy I paid $10 to get the shot and they herded us into the hs gymnasium to vaccinate as many people as possible. If you can’t get vaccinated before school (elementary or hs) I would check with a couselor and see if something can’t be done.</p>
<p>Yes, anyone on Medicaid or other SCHIP programs will have vaccine coverage. Public health departments will do most vaccines for those with insufficient insurance coverage. Lastly, school clinics will also provide vaccinations. </p>
<p>Herd immunity does work. You’re right, it’s less important for vaccinated individuals, but it protects the unvaccinated if enough of the herd is protected. If there is a breakout, some vaccinated individuals will get sick; it’s a statistical reality when the majority of the herd is immunized. But the infection rate for the unvaccinated is still higher. I don’t think you fully understand herd immunity. </p>
<p>Live virus vaccinations are virutally all made with live but attenuated viruses. They are therefore not infectious in the usual sense; the old oral polio vaccine (still used in some areas) had a rare possibility of post-vaccination polio, and the nasal Flumist has a theoretical risk of viral shedding through the nose but there have been no actual cases contracted this way. Live attenuated viral vaccines are not live virus vaccines.</p>
<p>There are some people who can’t get vaccinated because of medical issues; those people depend on herd immunity for protection. People who choose not to get vaccinated are depending on herd immunity too–they are depending on most people not choosing to be freeloaders like them.</p>
<p>And what are these benign illnesses that people get vaccinated for? Maybe that means the flu. Meningitis, DPT, HPV, and shingles are not benigh.</p>
<p>Folks who frequent this forum are fairly well educated, and we are seeing ignorant posts with regard to herd immunity and references to a site full of voodoo medicine. I’m not sure how we have survived this long.</p>
<p>Perhaps, but they need to stay away from my herd. I’m thinking they could wear a sandwich board listing the various ways in which they have chosen to endanger the health of others.</p>