https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/does-tamiflu-work-we-asked-a-scientist
And there’s this:
https://www.cochrane.org/news/tamiflu-and-relenza-getting-full-evidence-picture
And this: (a commentary with a little more gossip in it which is based on the Cochrane review): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4375804/
Articles about how emphasizing particular types of moral foundations (purity and liberty) while giving less importance to others (care, fairness, loyalty, and (especially) authority) tends to be associated with vaccine hesitancy:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-017-0256-5
https://www.medpagetoday.com/blogs/themethodsman/69649
https://slate.com/technology/2019/02/antivax-measles-outbreak-moral-foundations-theory.html
https://psmag.com/education/the-curious-morality-of-the-anti-vaxxer
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-to-understand-and-help-the-vaccine-doubters/
Perhaps emphasizing that vaccines keep the kids free to explore the world instead of being restricted or oppressed by fear of measles, polio, etc. and keep the kids pure from the taint of the actual diseases and their sometimes-permanent effects would be more convincing to vaccine-hesitant parents.
This is super-interesting.
@ucbalumnus fascinating.
There are a fair amount of anti vaxxers who are impossible to convince no matter what evidence you provide, no matter what arguments are given. If it’s not what they want to hear, they don’t hear.
True, hard core anti-vaccine activists are unchangeable. But there are probably some who may be merely hesitant, but can be convinced to give their kids vaccines if the evidence were presented in a different way (i.e. appealing to giving the kids more freedom and keeping them pure of disease, rather than emphasizing the authority of medical professionals’ expertise).
Parents can be difficult to convince. Their kids often have a more open mind once they reach the age of reason. Of course, that’s too late for some, but late is better than nothing for those who survived.
A Chicago pediatrician may have falsified immunization records for anti-vax parents in order for their kids to attend school: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/02/13/pediatrician-suicide-vaccines/
Authorities are also investigating whether he may not have immunized children whose parents wanted them to receive vaccines.
He died by suicide last fall, and authorities discovered discrepancies when parents tried to obtain medical records. The article implies that regret for his anti-vax sympathies may have motivated his suicide (it was mentioned in the note he left behind).
https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/2020/2/11/21133374/doctor-dr-van-koinis-evergreen-park-pediatrician-vaccinate-children-cook-county-sheriff-tom-dart is another article about the pediatrician mentioned above.
https://www.pressherald.com/2020/03/13/commentary-maine-voters-want-children-immunized-heres-how-psychology-can-help-make-that-happen/ @MaineLonghorn - love your state!! no more non-medical exemptions form vaccinations!
Is there a test for adults to confirm if they had all vaccinations in childhood or if they missed and need some vaccines or boosters for others?
@CupCakeMuffins yes - you can test to see if you have immunity to various diseases. Ask your doctor.
I found out just a few days ago that I don’t have immunity towards one of the Hep strains (can’t remember which, I think it was Hep A) even though I’m 100% on vaccines.
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I’ve been especially angry at anti-vaxxers this week after Mr R and I came down with H1N1. I know exactly who I got it from - a little kid my partner works with whose mother is an anti-vaxxer (the poor child is sick too and has been out of therapy for over a week). I very rarely leave the house because of the COVID stuff (and just general 3rd trimester sucks) and I still managed to contract it. It’s so frustrating.
Because of her, I had to go to the ER while 8 months pregnant in the midst of a pandemic to get my fever under control and get breathing treatments. It’s one thing to endanger me, but she also put her child and my to-be child at risk.
Can you write her a note with your concerns about this? Ask her to get her kid a flu shot for next year?
@greenwitch no. 1- it’s a violation for me to even know about this. 2- neither Mr R nor I are allowed to give actual medical advice to anyone.
This is a professional client through Mr’s work - a behavioral clinic, not medical. The most we can do is ask Mr to be reassigned but who knows if they’d approve it.
Yes, they can run antibody titers for various vaccine-preventable diseases. However, that can sometimes be more expensive than getting another dose of a vaccine if you are just not sure if you had the vaccine (or actual disease) before.
At an extended family Thanksgiving gathering a few years ago, my cousin waxed the following story. I should preface that my cousin is the scientist who figured out how to replicate the world’s first real HPV breakthrough, so that it could be mass produced into the HPV and cancer protection vaccine. Therefore, he is no novice to the science of medicine.
He contracted these bad symptoms and decided this was serious and needed to visit his doctor. His doctor examined him, then ordered and received blood test results.
When the test results came in, the doctor asked my cousin,
“Do you shop at Whole Foods?”
My cousin was quite surprised by the question, but he is quick on his feet.
My cousin replied, “Why, of course, like every good, card-carrying Democrat, but why on earth do you ask?”
His doctor delivered the bad news, “Well, some parents didn’t get their kids vaccinated and the local Whole Foods has been the common denominator. You have measles!”
He and our extended family of Libertarians, Republicans, Democrats and a few Communists, all burst out in laughter.
@romanigypsyeyes - it would be great if Mr. R’s employer required proof of vaccination before accepting any child into their program, the same way summer camps and schools do. He should advocate for that at work, and his personal experience with contagion, and the likelihood of things like this recurring would help his case.
Since influenza is an annual vaccination, the proof would need to be required annually in late autumn or so (i.e. while the kid is in the program, if it starts earlier in the year than late autumn).
They could do that. My D had to get a flu shot by early August every year when she was a student or they wouldn’t let her be in nursing school.