My son a senior is just getting over whooping cough and still sounds terrible. He is vaccinated as is my household. He supposedly got a light case of whooping cough (never had a fever the last 6 months) thanks to the vaccine but he is at almost a month of coughing, on a second set of antibiotics now, and feels like crud. I do not think he has even had three hours of continuous sleep the last few weeks do to his horrible persistent cough. Thanks to whooping cough he cancelled/ declined two college interviews in February. I am hoping those colleges understand he was sick and it was in everyone’s best interest he rest and stay away from the public, and that he didn’t just make up a story. Any how, not sure where my kid contacted whooping cough past no one we know outside of school is sick. For reference without naming the school or our location we live in Los Angeles County and my son attends a public school. His school was contacted by me immediately after I got off the phone with his doctor who called with the lab results that he was positive with whooping cough. The school did email the school community within hours that there was a case of whooping cough on campus along with some health links.
https://www.local10.com/health/study-infection-in-womb-increases-autism-depression-risks
Results of a new long term study seem to suggest that maternal infection during gestation greatly increases the chances of autism (also depression). Clearly much more study needed but yet another rational blow to antivaxers.
https://montrealgazette.com/news/world/teen-who-vaccinated-self-says-anti-vax-mom-got-false-info-from-one-source-facebook/wcm/cb9087fb-0d09-4d57-a6fd-3daf6a6a19e2
Ohio teen who vaccinated self says anti-vax mom got false info from one source: Facebook.
Most of us on Facebook know the difference between science and paranoid quackery.
But he hasn’t convinced the mother to vaccinate the other children at home.
Things that make your blood boil:
https://www.livescience.com/64948-tetanus-unvaccinated-boy.html
$800k bill and seeing their child suffering for weeks was not convincing enough for these people?!
AGREE, @Nrdsb4 . That should qualify as neglect, or possibly abuse. Too bad child protective services can’t intervene.
Agree with you both. Sickening! The fact that a dose of vaccine and antibodies form vaccinated people were used to save the kid did not make a dent in their belief. Hope the apple rolls far from that tree.
I’m guessing the parents of this kid will not pick up the tab for this child’s treatment…
That’s what the taxpayers are for! Rolleye.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/07/health/measles-josh-nerius/index.html
After getting a fever, a man was apparently misdiagnosed and given antibiotics, but got sicker and went to the emergency room. A physician there who thought his rash looked like measles asked if he had a measles vaccine. He texted his mother the question, who “sent back a thumbs-down emoji”.
Not to mention that there is no evidence that social media is a big contributor to the Anti-Vaxxers problem. It all comes down to State law. States need to eliminate all but medical exemptions and then enforce the laws. To enroll in school, bring your vac records. Not that difficult.
https://www.vox.com/2019/3/1/18244384/measles-outbreak-vaccine-washington
Have any of you read “Educated” by Tara Westover? She was from an anti-vax family, that took care of their own injuries, “schooled” at home, mistrusted the government, etc. She got out. Ended up with a degree from Oxford or Cambridge.
It’s fascinating reading, and at its most harrowing when describing injuries and how they mostly went untreated. It’s amazing that no one died of tetanus! Ironically, her mother has made lots of money selling tinctures and oils online. They consider it all the medicine you need.
ETA - this boy’s family reminds me of the Westovers, considering they stitched his wound at home and considered it a done deal. Sigh…
Unvaccinated Oregon 6-year old racks up $800k in hospital bills when he contracts tetanus.
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/68/wr/mm6809a3.htm?s_cid=mm6809a3_w
One has to wonder what they are afraid of at this point. It can’t be autism. The lack of reasoning ability of some folks is rather amazing. I feel for the lad - and any other siblings there may be. He’s the one who’s had to endure the effects of his parent’s lack of intelligence. I wonder what they’re telling him… or what he’ll think about it all once he’s old enough to reason. Accidents and horrid things happen to anyone. Preventable things should never happen.
I assume these parents can’t cover 800K - no idea if they have insurance or not. If they don’t, I hope they at least have to keep making payments of some sort for years as a continual reminder of what they could have avoided.
It is the gov’mnt taking over their bodies. Implanting something that would let them control their progeny.
I wonder if these folks would get immediate help if someone in the family got bitten by an animal. Rabies is around in most rural areas. In 2018 we killed three suspected wild critters on or near our farm. One of the first things I did was take a video of the most suspect and show it to a new family with young kids so they could teach them not to “help” the poor injured critter.
I shudder to think about the child who might do that and has parents who feel they can handle it at home as these folks did with a definite possibility for tetanus type of wound.
Going off on a tangent here @Creekland reminded me of a rural parenting moment: in the midst of all our “be kind to animals” messages, we told our children from a young age that you never throw rocks at animals (including your brother, incidentally), but if they’re acting sick or unafraid and coming at you all bets are off.
I hate to think it’s about not losing face for the parents who continue to hold an anti-vax position. They just sound so entrenched.
The scariest thing to me is what someone upthread alluded to, the states that are enabling this terrifying inclination. It’s plunging us into wholesale risk.
I read an article this morning on the Apple News feed where someone was proposing a public health scare campaign for preventable diseases similar to the graphic disturbing scare campaign against smoking (which apparently worked towards bringing down the rate of smoking).