Yes, the birth plan is hysterical! Sadly, there is probably more than a modicum of truth in it…
The int’l visitors to Disney tend not to be impoverished stowaways in a freight container. I wouldn’t be surprised if they have had more kinds of vaccinations than the avg american.
It breaks my heart when I think about how mothers suffered in generations past, losing a child (or multiple children) to diseases which are now vaccinated against and almost unheard of these days. What a miracle these vaccines were, taking away so much fear and pain. And now they are willing to throw away all that progress.
This thread to me is proof positive that we need to stop discussing the pros and cons of vaccination and instead start mandating it. You can’t reason with some people.
Yes, it is. That’s why it’s so important that virtually everyone be vaccinated. It’s not just to protect the person who gets the shot. It’s also to protect those who, for whatever reason, cannot be vaccinated. Newborns, for example, or people undergoing chemo are counting on the rest of us.
No, you can’t–and it’s getting worse. It’s only February now and there are over 100 cases reported this year. In the article cited from September 2013 in the original post, the number then–159–was the highest in 17 years. At the rate things are going this year, it will be a lot worse.
The birth plan is definitely a satire! I’ve read real ones, though, and there is … a similarity. Heck, I wrote one. It was totally ignored and not even read, I don’t think. One part I really cared about (saving cord blood to bank/donate) was ignored by our OB who didn’t read or watch any of the things I asked her to in preparation. Well, since said baby is now the college-directed adolescent reason I’m on CC, maybe it’s time to let it go.
A State Senator in California is introducing a bill that would remove the personal belief exemption for vaccinating one’s child. They’d keep the religious exemption though.
Okay, that birth plan notice is hilarious, every sentence of it! I was particularly amused by, “IMPORTANT: if the baby appears to be black, please immediately escort Jeff out of the room and bring in Jeremy Rayburn from the 5th Floor waiting area.”
I might even donate.
WA state also now has such a bill
Someone on the parenting/childbearing/breast feeding (OK, I can’t actually remember what it was about…) thread asked me if they were scaring me off of having children. They weren’t, but honestly this thread might be (by thread, I mean thread topic).
I joked with my partner last night that we’re going to add a “Please be vaccinated (*if medically possible) or kindly do not come- we have babies coming and they don’t need to suffer because you’re selfish” note to the invitations. The sad part is, I’m not sure how much I was joking… (of course I won’t do it, but I would like to.)
I don’t see how the gov’t is going to determine what is and isn’t a religion. Does Jedi count, as it does in the Australian census? And what about wiccans and satanists?
Since we’re on this slippery slope of giving people’s religious customs precedence, why not FGM next?
It didn’t used to be a problem, GMT, back when almost everyone believed in science.
There are religious exemptions for other laws, both in states and nationally. If it were me, I wouldn’t give someone’s belief in an invisible sky fairy any more consideration than their belief in pseudo-science-- kids should get the vaccinations unless there is a medical reason they can’t be vaccinated.
I’m starting to like the “you don’t have to vaccinate, but if you don’t you waive your rights to public education and will need to make special arrangements for medical care” plan. I don’t like forcing people to do things they don’t want, if there is a way to let them be reckless without endangering others then I am all for it… not yet convinced it can be done, but a part of me wants to see it happen just for the point ten years from now when those communities are calling for help with their epidemics…
Still don’t understand why there aren’t higher premiums on health insurance for non-vaxing.
The KinderCare is less than 15 miles from where I live. And yea, Palatine is not what I would consider the bastion of granola eaters, by any stretch of the imagination. If anything, it’s like many of the suburbs out this way… fairly conservative. Ted Nugent grew up there. I used to have to go there fairly often when I was still working, and got to know quite a few neighborhoods there.
Or when more people remembered friends and relatives who died, came close to dying, or survived with permanent disability after getting diseases that there are now vaccines for.
Also true, ucbalum.
teri, the fact that the outbreak has hit an ordinary American community like Palatine has me more concerned. It’s easy to look on a map and see the pockets of anti-vaxers in places like Orange County and not feel immediately threatened. But of course people move around, and measles is incredibly contagious. I am angry that this is happening but hopeful that it will lead to new policies and/or a rash (no pun intended) of people deciding to vaccinate.