It still blows my mind that this isn’t being treated as child abuse/neglect.
There is no difference to me between a parent who willingly withholds medical treatment and a parent who withholds food or other basic necessities.
The true anti-vaxers are convinced that any study which does not link vaccination to autism or other ills is funded by “big pharma” and is not to be believed. There are some who don’t realize how bad these diseases can be (I still remember how horribly ill I got from measles pre-vaccine and have an older cousin who died from polio). But many are still convinced that because autism diagnoses increased along with vaccination, there must be a risk.
Can you imagine the feelings of the doctors and nurses who worked to save this child’s life when his parents refused the vaccinations and left?
@Creekland said:
Already happened:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ryker-roque-killed-by-rabid-bat-orlando-florida/
For health care professionals there should be no religious exemption.
Growing up, we had a family that were christian Scientists. The father was a chemistry prof at the university so weren’t from our (very catholic, very protestant) area. Anyway, they WERE Christian Scientists until their daughter got scarlet fever, then they believed in modern medicine.
Has this been shared yet? Yay for facebook! https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/07/technology/facebook-anti-vaccine-misinformation.html
@TomSrOfBoston Precisely such a policy is being adopted by Britain’s National Health Service. And this year the Secretary of State for Health banned NHS staff from treating patients if they hadn’t received their flu shot.
@mom2and The anti-vaxxers should also read the judgments of the British General Medical Council and BMA regarding Andrew Wakefield, who published the original fraudulent research linking MMR and autism. He has had his medical license revoked for not being “fit to practice medicine” and fled to the USA where he set up shop peddling the same discredited theories.
I really wonder what happens if some how the Ebola virus makes its way into the US. The current outbreak in the Congo has been hard to contain because of the political climate. If it god forbid makes it here I bet the anti vaxxers are the first on line with their kids for the vaccine. Or perhaps if if polio was still rampant they would get a clue.
Remember when fluoride in the water supply was supposedly a Communist plot to undermine American health? Same kind of paranoid ignorance is on display here, just on a different topic.
And the dad in this case knew there was potentially a problem. I wonder how much faith people have in “TV doctors” (where everything can be fixed no matter how tricky or unusual - within a hour or two) vs real life where people still die because IRL we (general we) still don’t know how to fix everything. Rabies is one of those we thankfully have a fix for - up to a point. The lad probably would have remembered the shots his whole life, but he wouldn’t have been emotionally scarred forever. Instead he didn’t get a chance to have a life and the dad is likely emotionally scarred forever.
Ditto for those who end up skipping vaxs and find out how cruddy some of these things are. A week ago we got news from a prayer chain that a 4 year old lad died from the flu (the father/husband died in a car accident earlier). I can only imagine the scarring the mom is going through for the rest of her life. Losing someone in an accident is horrid. Losing someone from something you might have been able to prevent, esp since that someone depends upon you, has a whole different level of scarring.
Oh geez, now anti-vaxxers aren’t getting their pets vaccinated. I remember strict instructions from the vet not to let our new rescue puppy walk / touch the ground in public areas until she was fully vaccinated. I smile every time I see someone walking around holding their puppy as I know exactly why they’re not letting the puppy walk. I hate to think of all the innocent pets that might get parvo and other diseases due to anti-vax owners.
http://time.com/5538926/dogs-vaccines-antivaxxers/
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canine_parvovirus
Oh great. Now we have to worry about rabid urban cats and dogs?!
https://www-m.cnn.com/2019/03/09/health/new-york-manhattan-rabid-raccoons/index.html
My indoor only cats don’t get many shots per our vet’s recommendations, but rabies vaccine is not something I will ever skip / even if it weren’t mandatory. Our dog was vaccinated to the max so he could enjoy our backyard.
Or rabies.
Doesn’t everyone have to show proof of rabies vaccination to get your dog registered? We do.
Everyone who registers their dig may have to show proof of vaccination. But are most dogs registered? I doubt it.
Story this morning in the Washington Post–
Even after their son contracted tetanus because he was unvaccinated and spent 57 days in the hospital (47 in ICU in critical condition) at cost of over $800K, the parents still refused to allow their son to be vaccinated.
This was posted up the thread, but it is worth reposting. Maddening.
Even if most dogs are registered, cats are not. And plenty of people let their cats outdoors where they can encounter rabid animals.
I note that the family that allowed their child to go untreated after KNOWING he was at severe risk of rabies is busily fundraising. Or at least their friends are. I would not be surprised to learn that the real reason they didn’t take him for care immediately was that they are uninsured or didn’t want to/couldn’t pay a high deductible. (I say “didn’t want to” because they evidently have enough money to pay for a private school.) And who deliberately terrifies a 6 yr old by telling him that he will have to have shots before taking him to the doctor in such circumstances?
Yeah, I have a lot of uncharitable thoughts on the subject. At the same time, my heart bleeds for the family, but more, frankly, for the child.
I wonder who is paying the bill for the Oregon child abusers?
I will repeat, autism shows up early, normally by age 2-3. No one can explain why they don’t get the vaccines later, ages 4 and up? Do they think the autism will show up later?