Measles Resurgent Due To Fear of Vaccination

florescent_beige writes "In the September Mayo Clinic Proceedings, Gregory Poland, M.D. writes that 'More than 150 cases of measles have been reported in the United States already this year and there have been similar outbreaks in Europe, a sign the disease is making an alarming comeback (abstract). The reappearance of the potentially deadly virus is the result of unfounded fears about a link between the measles shot and autism that have turned some parents against childhood vaccination.'" This follows the recent release of a massive review of studies into the side effects of vaccination, summarized here by Nature, which did not find convincing support for the idea that MMR shots caused autism.

Comments

It's a shame...

[Dog-Cow]

Unfortunately, it's not only those who refuse vaccination that end up at risk.

Re:It's a shame...

[uncanny]

Really, the ones who refused the vaccinations probably got vaccinated when they were kids. But they are making the decision to put their kids lives at risk

Re:It's a shame...

[slimjim8094]

If you're not trolling, you're an asshole. The very notion of society is that we can all pitch in for the common interest, for everybody's benefit. And the only mandatory vaccines are those for school children - because schools are the very places in which one might contract measles.

I am sickened by you in particular, and sad for humanity in general, because there are so many people like you that are terrified that somebody, somewhere might benefit from your actions - even if they aren't outwardly altruistic. It's a sort of militant selfishness, or perhaps overly zealous spite, that I literally can't comprehend. Especially when the "benefit" in this case is some poor kid not dying

Fuck you.

An episode of Penn & Teller's Bullshit says it

[lattyware]

An episode of Penn & Teller's Bullshit says it, and says it well. Even presuming the cases of vacination causing autism were not bullshit, it'd still be worse to not vaccinate all our kids - more would end up dead than would end up autistic.

Of course, people don't see it that way, they just like their knee-jerk responses. I literally can not believe that people actually still refer to something so discredited. People need to spend 5 seconds doing some goddamn research on an issue - and not just looking for things to confirm what they think.

I blame the rise of the schooling system going all 'no opinion can be wrong' - it's such obvious crap, and yet people seem to believe it. I can say it's my opinion the sky is blue all day long, it doesn't make it true. Sure, some opinions - ones of taste, can not be wrong, as they are something inherant to you, but too many parents, when you try and explain that there is no reason to fear vaccinations, will just refuse to listen, tell you to stop 'telling them what to do with their children' and it's 'their opinion' that the vaccines are bad. It's such rubbish. Not only that, but people have somehow managed to grow up seeing all discussion as someone else trying to force you onto their side. The point of discussion is to try and see where the differences in your opinion are - if the other person can convince you that you are wrong, that's excellent - you have just gained something. Likewise if you can show them. Instead, people just refuse to listen to the other side of an argument.

People need to learn that being wrong isn't something bad - and that you sure as hell do not have a right to never be wrong. I get it, these parents want to look after their kids - and who can blame them for that? What I can blame them for is not actually caring enough to check what is actually good for them.

Re:Gonna get flamed

[Metiu]

Maybe you remember measles parties, but not the measles wards in hospitals, where people with their brain smashed by encephalitis were kept. In that case, maybe you would have gotten a better picture. Kids also were dying more frequently in the past, and that was not as big an issue as today, because it was not avoidable at best and anyway there were many more kids per family than today.

I was vaccinated (my choice at 18) and survived an infection. I lived with people with measles and was ok all the time. I don't see having the virus spreading to my lungs, eyes, skin and brain as a better option. And I've seen the effects, you don't want to try them.

Re:Gonna get flamed

[darkmeridian]

I hate the knee jerk reaction that somehow Big Pharma is pushing vaccinations on the unwashed masses with help from the government. Most vaccinations are unprofitable especially with the risk of adverse events factored in. Companies would much rather you get sick and need treatment because a one-time shot doesn't make a lot of money. In fact, the government has to specifically create a liability fund to get companies to make vaccines for public use.

Re:An episode of Penn & Teller's Bullshit says

[Jason Levine]

I think one of the problems is that vaccinations are *too* successful. Parents today (and that includes me and my wife) have never seen the ravages of Measles, Whooping Cough, Polio and the like. We have it easy because we were vaccinated when we were young. Then someone claims vaccines cause bad, scary things which plants doubt in their minds so they do a risk evaluation in their head. They know autism is bad. They probably have seen someone with autism. They have probably never seen someone with measles or whooping cough, though. Their brain tries to come up with a "bad disease" and they think of the flu. So would a lifetime of autism be worse than a week of fever and coughing? Sure. So skip the vaccines.

Problem is that their risk assessment is highly flawed. If they knew the real risks of the diseases, they'd know that this isn't "fever and coughing for a week" but coughing until you get broken ribs, hospitalization, paralysis, blindness, and death (to name a few things the diseases can cause). And these are far more common than any hypothetical vaccine-autism link. I'd much rather have my child turn out to be autistic than turn out to be dead. (As my younger son goes in for 2 vaccines today.)