Take that, anti-vaxxers! RIP little Olivia

[cindybubbles]

This is a news article about how one mom's Facebook post went viral and is now moving people to vaccinate their kids.

I say, go mom, go! Too bad that she had to endure the loss of her five-year-old daughter Olivia, and now her baby is at risk. She's mad as heck at people who refuse to vaccinate themselves and their kids, and she has every right to be.

Your thoughts?

[Kheldarson]

Don't think it's going to do anything towards the hardcore anti-vaxxers. They're "educated".

[BlaqueKatt]

I have a twitter account that I retweet anti-vaxxers sometimes with commentary, sometimes I just let the wonton stupidity stand alone. Yeah, I see lot's o' stupid.

[anakhouri]

I think my views on anti-vaxxers are well-known to everyone I'm acquainted with.

Fools. Willfully ignorant fools.

[Lace Neil Singer]

The really stupid thing about most anti vaxxers is that their so called "facts" are based on bullshit. Here is a selection of links debunking their stupid beliefs:

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/mea...octors-n303211

http://www.publichealth.org/public-a...yths-debunked/

Not to mention the cretinous belief that measles is a minor illness, on par with getting a cold. It damn well isn't; before the vaccination, children used to die in droves of measles. And that's not counting the kids who were left blind, scarred and/or with severe brain damage.

http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/more-measles-myths/

The World Health Organization, however, spells out the real toll of measles:

Measles is one of the leading causes of death among young children even though a safe and cost-effective vaccine is available.
In 2012, there were 122 000 measles deaths globally – about 330 deaths every day or 14 deaths every hour.
Measles vaccination resulted in a 78% drop in measles deaths between 2000 and 2012 worldwide.

Measles is also a significant cause of blindness in developing countries. This is not a benign disease.

As for the bullshit about vaccinations being spread as good to make profit for vaccine companies; well, over this side of the pond, vaccines are free and doctors still recommend them, despite not making a penny out of doing so. They do so cuz of the small fact that serious diseases like measles, mumps, whooping cough etc are making a comeback which shouldn't be happening in this day and age and is entirely due to the dangerous ignorance spouted by anti vaxxers. I bet they wouldn't be bleating such nonsense if it were their child who died cuz of someone else's disease ridden child.

One more thing... measles is related to rinderpest, a virus which used to attack cattle. Yes, used to. Cuz all cows are vaccinated, this disease has been wiped out; which is what would happen to measles if anti vaxxers didn't exist.

http://www.virologyj.com/content/7/1/52

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11542653

[s_stabeler]

what's really annoying about the anti-vaxxer movement is that it not only attacks hard immunity, but can actually render the vaccine less effective in combating an outbreak. Why? because the vaccine is not 100% effective. ( it's 95% effective at preventing infection, and IIRC, someone who'se been vaccinated is less likely to develop complications) so there are cases where kids have got sick despite being vaccinated ( which no doubt the bastards in the anti-vaxxer movement use to claim vaccines don't work.)

oh, and to any anti-vaxxers reading this? it's CHICKEN POX that is the disease that is minor in kids, NOT measles.

[cindybubbles]

Just as an aside: Here in Ontario, the flu vaccine is free, but there are some vaccines that you have to buy, like the shingles vaccine and Twinrix. Even the flu shot here wasn't always free to everyone, but it was still cheap (around $12).

[TheHuckster]

( which no doubt the bastards in the anti-vaxxer movement use to claim vaccines don't work.)

Oh, I know this for a fact because I've observed this argument first hand. Using the logic these people use, we shouldn't ever wear helmets, seat belts, or wash our hands because that's not 100% effective either. It's infuriating that people use such lame excuses.

oh, and to any anti-vaxxers reading this? it's CHICKEN POX that is the disease that is minor in kids, NOT measles.

Chicken Pox can have some complications later in life, with shingles which develops when you are older and sometimes when you aren't as strong to handle an illness like you could when you were younger. I mean, certainly chicken pox isn't as serious as measles, but I would support efforts to eradicate that as well if it was proposed.

What I find most annoying about this is the vaccine-autism link hasn't only been disproven, it was shown to be a fraud propagated by a certified quack. At this point the anti-vaxxers are leaning more and more towards tinfoil-hat-vast-conspiracy-theory territory.

[wolfie]

One more thing... measles is related to rinderpest, a virus which used to attack cattle. Yes, used to. Cuz all cows are vaccinated, this disease has been wiped out;

Just curious - is it mandatory, or just that ranchers have done a cost/benefit analysis and decided to vaccinate their herds? Also, how long does the disease have to be gone before it's determined that universal vaccination is not cost-effective? I know that the "vaccinate everyone against smallpox" campaign ended after I was vaccinated but before my younger brother reached the right age.

[BlaqueKatt]

Chicken Pox can have some complications later in life, with shingles which develops when you are older and sometimes when you aren't as strong to handle an illness like you could when you were younger. I mean, certainly chicken pox isn't as serious as measles, but I would support efforts to eradicate that as well if it was proposed.

tell that to the parents of the 13,000 kids hospitalized or 150 who died every year from it.

source CDC

[s_stabeler]

neither of us were saying that chicken pox can't be bad- it's just that it's not something you need to rush the kid to the doctor about, since in most cases, it'll clear up on it's own- compared to measles, where you DO need to seek medical advice- and there is not a cure for measles, incidentally- nor am I suggesting not vaccinating kids against chickenpox.

[TheHuckster]

tell that to the parents of the 13,000 kids hospitalized or 150 who died every year from it.

I don't understand what point you're trying to make, but okay. I certainly will tell the parents that I understand the risks of chicken pox and support efforts to eradicate chicken pox if proposed.

[BlaqueKatt]

neither of us were saying that chicken pox can't be bad-

wha?

oh, and to any anti-vaxxers reading this? it's CHICKEN POX that is the disease that is minor in kids, NOT measles.

it's not minor is the point, I couldn't eat solid foods for three weeks as I had them internally, anything not liquid risked causing infection.

it's survivorship bias, those that lived through the measles say it wasn't that bad, same as chickenpox survivors. (antivaxxers point to the comedy shows brady bunch and the flintstones)

[s_stabeler]

I'm talking abut for most people. What you had was a complication. ( for most people, chicken pox is a rash, feeling a bit off, and a fever- the disease clears itself up in 5-10 days) so yes, normally chicken pox, when it is in young kids, is a minor disease. ( oh, and what age were you at when you had chickenpox? because if you were an adult, chicken pox IS dangerous when you are an adult. going by the link supplied- from the CDC, out of 4 million cases, 100-150 people die. that is a rate of about 0.025%. as for severe complications, that's at worst 18,000 out of 4 million- it translates into 0.45% serious complications. whereas measles is a 30% rate of complications, most of those serious.

So yes, compared to measles, chickenpox is minor. ( and it's specifically people that think measles is a disease you want your kid to catch to "get it over with" that that is targeted at- I think they are confusing the two. Chicken pox is a disease where you keep an eye on the kid, and keep them home. Measles is a disease where you should call the doctor if your kid has it. THAT is what I meant)

[cindybubbles]

Call your doctor no matter what disease it is. It's better to get professional advice than to wing it and see what happens.