Archive for the ‘Vaccines’ Category

Talking to Anti-Vaxxers

Friday, February 6th, 2015

With the sudden resurgence of a disease thought eradicated in the US, vaccines have come, once again, to the forefront of the news in general and the parenting world in particular.  Specifically, the measles vaccine is one of the (if not *the*) most successful vaccines in the history of, well, vaccines.  And yet, there have been 102 cases in 14 states in January of 2015 alone.  For reference, in the eleven years from 2002 to 2012, nine years saw fewer than 100 cases.

Recently, parenting website The Stir published an article outlining the “22 Things Never to Say to Moms Who Don’t Vaccinate.”  Needless to say, I take exception with a number of them.

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Anti-Vax’ers Lose In California

Saturday, January 1st, 2011

Remember the bit I posted a while back about autism causing whooping cough?  Some parents, afraid that vaccines caused autism despite plentiful evidence to the contrary and even outright debunking of the original “study” that first made the claim, have been deciding not to get their children immunized, including opting out of the whooping cough vaccine.  Not surprisingly, that resulted in an increase in the incidence of the disease.  That won’t be happening in California any more, however, thanks to a new law going into effect.

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Autism Causes Whooping Cough

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010

Whooping cough is at the top of its five-year cycle and, according to Mike Sicilia of the California Department of Health, is “on track to surpass our 50-year high.”  So why is a disease that can be fatal to infants on the rise, especially since we have a vaccination for it?  That’s an excellent and important question and some doctors think they have the answer.  Furthermore, I happen to agree with them.

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