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Study Finds Unvaccinated Students Putting Other Students At Risk

New submitter haroldmandel writes in with a story about the increase of certain diseases in school-age children due to parents not having their kids vaccinated. "Parents nervous about the safety of vaccinations for their children may be causing a new problem: the comeback of their grandparents' childhood diseases, reports a new study from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. Despite the successes of childhood immunizations, wrote Penn Nursing researcher Alison M. Buttenheim, PhD, MBA, in the American Journal of Public Health, controversy over their safety has resulted in an increasing number of parents refusing to have their children vaccinated and obtaining legally binding personal belief exemptions against vaccinations for their children."

1,025 comments

  1. They're stupid by neo8750 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That is all i have say.

    1. Re:They're stupid by Lumpy · · Score: 5, Funny

      I think there is a Vaccine for that. Maybe that is the problem, the parents missed their vaccinations?

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    2. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      another example on the stupidity and lack of education of the people of the united states of america.

    3. Re:They're stupid by dywolf · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And that's why they need educated. And the education system itself is to blame for this. Too much rote learning, and not enough learning how to learn and learning how to think. It's not terribly difficult to sit down and think for a second and realize that if you dont get vaccinated, you're dependent on everyone else still getting vaccinated in order to not get sick. And even then, that still leaves "outside the herd" sources of infection, as well as diseases that arent transmittable (and have no herd immunity effect), such at Tetenas (spelling, I know).

      But that requires thinking and reasoning skills, and too many people seem to only have the ability to yell at the tv "Stupid conservatives/liberals".

      --
      The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
    4. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As a society we are always going to be hindered, put at increased risk, or even harmed as long as we allow the stupidest individuals to dictate terms. Reason and evidence should be the currency for participation in all applicable decisions with real public consequences, not mere "beliefs". And then there is the issue of the potentially disasterous consequences for the innocent children of idiot parents ... the rights of parents to do such things to their children is highly debatable. Vaccinations should be mandatory, period.

    5. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      Justify why a newborn needs a hepatitis b vaccine. Go ahead call me stupid when I've done the research.

      1. The major forms of transmission for hepatitis b are anal sex and iv drug use. If my newborn son is involved in either one of those then I have much bigger problems to worry about.
      2. According to the CDC there were only a few thousand incidences of it per year in the entire U.S. for minors (population about 40 million). This population includes children who traveled to and from third world countries, teenage drug users, and homeless/runaway kids. These are not problems I'm worried about in my newborn son.
      3. If you are alergic to bakers yeast then you will likely be alergic to the hepatitis b vaccine. It's hard for me to get aggregate numbers on this population, but it is a pretty common allergy.

      Why should I stress my son's immune system out with this vaccine when it is clearly not needed at a young age. My son did get vaccines like the DTAP, but my state has no legal mechanism for me to choose the good vaccines like DTAP and exclude ones like hepatitis b. I can understand why parents who do a little research choose to exclude all vaccines because it's an easier legal position to defend. In order to know which vaccines my son should get, I had to essentially become and expert in each vaccine. You have not helped this issue at all by just dismissing me as stupid.

      At some point in the future I might be forced to get my son the hepatitis b in order to enter school. However, delaying this as long as possible so we can indentify his allergies and allow him immune system to grow makes sense to me.

      However, since you obviously just think I'm stupid (as well as the people who modded you up), why don't you explain the error in my logic?

    6. Re:They're stupid by Stormthirst · · Score: 1

      Sadly this isn't just a problem for the States. The Andrew "I'm a money grubbing, snake of a doctor" Wakefield incident has caused a massive increase in measles in the UK. Again, due to the stupidity of the British people.

    7. Re:They're stupid by Glothar · · Score: 1

      That sounds great and all, but how can you quantify "learning how to learn", thinking skills, and abstract analysis?

      And without quantifying them, how do you make Powerpoint presentations about education with bar charts that don't need thinking skills or abstract analysis to understand?

      And without those bar charts, how do prove that America really is far superior to every single country in the world? Obviously we need the bar charts. And in order to make those bar charts to justify our chest-beating and egotism, we need them to show things that are easily quantified. So, we should only teach our children things that can be easily quantified.

      Thus: We shouldn't teach our children to think, because it doesn't serve our egos. Luckily, since they won't be able to think properly, they'll come to the same conclusion when they grow up. I'll leave it as an exercise to the reader whether or not we're on the first iteration of this.

    8. Re:They're stupid by h4rr4r · · Score: 1

      Because he will likely be born in the hospital, you know were they keep sick people. Then could at any point be exposed to items that are infected. Any body fluid contact can spread hepB, but nice that you try to make it appear to be only a "druggie and homo" disease.

      Allergy to yeast cannot be that common, lets see some numbers. It is in beer, bread and many cakes. It is also used as a nutrient in many other foods.

      Since you became in expert in each vaccine, how old is that kid now must be 20 or 30?

    9. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And that's why they need educated. And the education system itself is to blame for this

      uhhh... Not to throw stones here dude, but damn...

      If you are ragging on someones education, perhaps you should look at yourself first.

      Let me re-write it for you.
      They are stupid this is why, and they need more education. The education system itself is to blame for this

      What you did was a "I bee's smarters dan dems see's I be edjumicaked" moment. Come down off your high horse and realize you have just as much to do with this mess as they do.

      Proper way to fix this? "I will be removing my children from your school if you do not have vaccination sheets for everyone in the class". Push back on the admins of the school. It will get fixed PDQ... Second way "my child will not be playing with yours as you can not be assed to get a few required shots for them". Dont worry herd mentality works. Use it to your advantage.

    10. Re:They're stupid by NoSleepDemon · · Score: 2

      "However, since you obviously just think I'm stupid (as well as the people who modded you up), why don't you explain the error in my logic?"

      Well, for starters, your son might be gay...

    11. Re:They're stupid by jythie · · Score: 4, Informative

      Considering that populations that have the vaccine have seen a 95% drop in hep-B infections in children, so apparently it matters quite a bit to a number of people.

      There are all sorts of ways to get hep-b, including a dormant version passing from mother to child and then becoming active in the kid.

      I am not sure where you got your numbers, but I am seeing US infection rates near the million range. It is possible that what you are seeing are the numbers AFTER vaccination, meaning they are low because the vaccine is working as intended.

    12. Re:They're stupid by Haawkeye · · Score: 0

      I am a teacher and I agree. The fact is that since we have exams that our students have to take we will have a rote system. We will not produce problem solvers. That is the emphasis that the public has put on us as teachers. In various places I work it is always about the exams and how our students placed in them. We will realize that exams are not everything and we need to produce independent learners at some point. However it is important to remember that our elected officials are the one who decide how our schools work. If you don't like it don't blame the school blame the idiot you elected! Oh and yes there are bad teachers out there but most I have encountered are caring people who work their ass off!

    13. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And that's why they need educated.

      [snicker]

    14. Re:They're stupid by decep · · Score: 1

      Too much rote learning, and not enough learning how to learn and learning how to think.

      Actually, I have found it is exactly the opposite. Those that are against vacinations are the "free thinkers." People really need to be told "you are an idiot" and that is what is missing from education.

    15. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because he will likely be born in the hospital, you know were they keep sick people. Then could at any point be exposed to items that are infected. Any body fluid contact can spread hepB, but nice that you try to make it appear to be only a "druggie and homo" disease.

      I didn't mean to imply that at all. Look at the CDC number and that is what they say. I'm not saying it should be ignored, but its not an exposure problem for newborns.
      http://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/b/bFAQ.htm#transmission
      If a newborn is being exposed to other people's bodily fluids at any regular interval, then the hospital is doing something gravely wrong.

      Allergy to yeast cannot be that common, lets see some numbers. It is in beer, bread and many cakes. It is also used as a nutrient in many other foods.

      I said aggregate numbers are hard to come by. Here is an approximation:
      Population with Crohn's Disease 400-600k (wikipedia)
      Studies vary, but the minimum number of patients with Crohs's desease who also have an allergy to bakers yeast is 50% (www.mlo-online.com/articles/nov01.pdf)
      Population of minors is 40m out of total population of 300m.
      Therefore my rough math show about 2600 minors with the markers for a bakers yeast allergy.

      Since you became in expert in each vaccine, how old is that kid now must be 20 or 30?

      Not sure what you are asking here?

    16. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For a single case of missing "to be" while typing something?

      That's a bit of a reach.

      People do make mistakes, usually that's not meaningful on its own. Now somebody who regularly fills their posts with error after error, now then I can see you validly making a complaint such as you charged dywolf with.

      Do recognize harmless error, and not try to make a case out of it. There is a difference between a typo and the constructive willful ignorance here.

    17. Re:They're stupid by dywolf · · Score: 2

      Don't be a nitpicking nelly. "He can't see the forest for the trees", to say it another way. You can get all nitty gritty with the details, but the content is what I'm more concerned with. Besides, I majored in engineering, not grammar. Moment, bending, internal stresses, elasticity, those are my bag. Plus I'm typing at work and I don't know about you, but I don't really pull up Plussman's English Manual for /. posts. This is the "rote" part I was complaining about, the inability to think and look at what's important rather that nitpick details that are tangential to the issue at hand.

      --
      The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
    18. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That is fine if he is. But he still won't be having sex, regardless of sexual preference, for many years.

    19. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Vaccinations is plural, so it is unfair to decide that someone who says no to "vaccinations" is obviously a moron. There are studies that suggest more research is needed to make sure vaccinations are safe. I've seen children whose parents did not have insurance have to get 18+ vaccinations in one sitting before they were 2 years old. I'm not saying that we shouldn't take the polio vaccine or avoid them all together. But when there are signs pointing to a potential problem, it makes sense to go ahead and consider spreading out when vaccines are given as well as what vaccines to focus on. Everyone I knew had chicken pox as a kid and it wasn't a big deal. Polio, on the other hand, is a much scarier disease. Rather than simply condemning people as uneducated, take an objective view at the existing research and try to learn what arguments there are for and an against vaccines. Compare those perspectives with their sources (did the vaccine producer conduct the study?) and consider a moderate path.

    20. Re:They're stupid by daem0n1x · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Actually, the anti-vaxxer movement could be a fantastic way of getting dumbfuck retards out of the gene pool. Unfortunately, as can be seen by TFA, anti-vaxxing doesn't affect only its adepts but also innocent people around them. Too bad.

      Here in my own country, we have a vaccination plan with quite a few mandatory vaccines. Everybody has a little booklet we call the Vaccination Bulletin, where the nurses keep track of all the vaccines we take. We go to a Health Centre and get vaccinated for free. Kids can't attend public school unless they show their Vaccination Bulletin and prove all the mandatory vaccines are in order. Everybody vaccinates their kids. The only exceptions I can think of is ghetto people who may not do it, out of neglect. And anyway, only a very small minority of them.

      Maybe you could institute a similar policy in the USA. If the nut heads don't want to vaccinate their kids, they should home school them. That would keep their little walking petri dishes away from normal children. Yes, for an American this may sound like anti-freedom, but I think my freedom of not getting infected with a bunch of crazy diseases far outweighs the rights of other people to be dumbfucking stupid. And I believe the anti-vaxxer crowd is a very small minority, even in the USA (here they're non-existent). Why should they have the right to hurt the vast majority of normal people?

      Vaccines protect people in the developed world from a huge bunch of diseases that were eradicated decades ago or only exist in third world countries. Do you Americans really want to become Uganda in the name the freedom to be stupid? Get a fucking grip, already!

    21. Re:They're stupid by jareth-0205 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Not to mention the people who can't be vaccinated for genuine allergic reasons. They rely on the vast majority of normal people getting done and are the really really innocent parties when the negligent parents won't vaccinate their own.

    22. Re:They're stupid by jc79 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Why does having a vaccination "stress [your] son's immune system out" more than his routine everyday exposure to hundreds of potential pathogens, such as those on your skin or in his crib?

      There's a good review here of the development of the human immune system both pre- and post-natal. It's entirely possible that the difference in immune function between young children and adults is an adaptive trait, given that most classes of pathogen will be encountered in the first few months of life. Your baby might look fragile, but he's had T-cells since he was a 12-week old fetus.

    23. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I am specifically talking about minors and more specifically the recommendation that newborns get the vaccine before they leave the hospital. I believe this vaccine helps teenagers, but that is not the recommendation. We currently screen pregnent woman for hepatitis b which should alleviate the need to vaccinate newborn children if their mothers have been screened.

    24. Re:They're stupid by Archimagus · · Score: 5, Informative

      I am an American, and I fully agree with this comment. And I don't know when this changed. When I went to school it was the same thing. The school wouldn't let me in if I didn't have all my vaccines, as it should be. As the old saying goes, "Your freedom to swing your arm ends at my nose." The same should apply here. You can't use your freedom to get me sick.

    25. Re:They're stupid by swamp_ig · · Score: 5, Informative

      1. The major forms of transmission for hepatitis b are anal sex and iv drug use.

      Incorrect, the most common form of transmission worldwide is vertical transmission, from mother to child at birth. Vaccines prevent this. Furthermore the vertical transmission of hep-b causes the worst damage, with the highest likleyhood of ending up in cirrhosis, and early death from liver cancer. So while the incidence near birth is low in the west, the consequences are higher making vaccination more worthwhile.
      Secondly, there will reach a point where your son could experiment with IV drugs or even homosexual encounters, don't you want him to be protected in that instance?

      If you are alergic to bakers yeast then you will likely be alergic to the hepatitis b vaccine.

      You cannot have an allergy at birth to anything. It takes at least one contact with the allergen to build up an immune response.

      Why should I stress my son's immune system out

      Your son's immune system is 'stressed out' by the new contact with the world outside the womb. Adding any number of vaccines is a tiny drop in the ocean compared to all those new antigens.

    26. Re:They're stupid by jc79 · · Score: 1

      http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3068759&cid=41108347

      "They need educated" is a perfectly correct construction in many forms of English. It's used extensively in west central Scotland, for instance - "those dishes need washed", "my fence needs mended", "those football clubs need investigated for tax dodging" etc. Are you suggesting that the University of Glasgow (founded in 1451, the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world) is not somewhere that provides a good education, simply because many of its graduates use a particular verbal construction?

      They are stupid this is why, and they need more education.

      This, however, is not a typically accepted construction.

      Glass houses, man. Glass houses.

    27. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So rather than talk about the facts I have highlighted, you resort to an ad hominem attack.

    28. Re:They're stupid by mrjb · · Score: 2

      Stupid eh? Go ahead, make vaccines mandatory. But that doesn't restore the faith in vaccines. I'm all for vaccination (my kids are both vaccinated, the first one has autism), but you know what? I think parents have a point when they're acting suspicious. Call it paranoia, but vaccines ARE being short tracked by big pharma so they're first-to-market. You think there's not a lot of profit to be made in vaccines? Think again. Everything that potentially can be sold to every new baby born on the planet amounts to a lot even if there's only a few cents to be made on a shot.

      Faith in vaccines has taken a hit due to mr. Wakefield giving them a bad name. Even if there wasn't anything wrong with them in the first place, faith in them needs to be restored. And in all fairness, there are a few things lacking to make vaccines deserve that faith.
      We can't allow Big Pharma to short-track vaccines, bypassing safety procedures. Parents AREN'T being properly informed properly of possible risks associated with the vaccine (handing them a flyer AFTER the shot is common), so any incidents will be blown out of proportion. Quality control on providing this information is lacking. Parents should be made to sign forms proving they've been informed of risks BEFORE the vaccination. I've never seen blood being screened before any vaccination - this should be made standard, to help ensure the vaccine is well tolerated for groups of people considered to be at increased risk. "Whoops sorry" after mutilating an otherwise perfectly healthy person, even with financial compensation, is not good enough.

      People should be allowed to have their children vaccinated against one bug at a time, rather than be presented a cocktail. That should sort out the suspicion against the MMR vaccine. Right now, people aren't being offered this choice, even if they're willing to pay for it themselves.

      You're free to call parents stupid. But some of these so-called "stupid" parents have informed themselves a lot better about the subject than you have. As long as vaccines are being short tracked to be first-to-market, being marketed to potentially *everyone* (at a nice markup), risks aren't being assessed properly, parents aren't being properly informed about those risks, and without proper procedures in place to ensure necessary information is being communicated... parents are damn right to be suspicious.

      Solve these problems and you'll see vaccination rates rise again.

      --
      Visit http://ringbreak.dnd.utwente.nl/~mrjb/growingbettersoftware to download your free copy of the book
    29. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So while the incidence near birth is low in the west

      We also do screening in pregnent women which should greatly mitigate the need for this vaccine.

      Secondly, there will reach a point where your son could experiment with IV drugs or even homosexual encounters, don't you want him to be protected in that instance?

      This is why I believe the recommendation shouldn't be for newborns but rather those of middle school age.

      You cannot have an allergy at birth to anything. It takes at least one contact with the allergen to build up an immune response.

      I've never heard of newborns having no allergies. Would the vaccine count as that one contact which in turn would create teh allergic reaction. Are you saying newborns cannot be allergic to any vaccines? If so, could you provide a source for this?

      Your son's immune system is 'stressed out' by the new contact with the world outside the womb. Adding any number of vaccines is a tiny drop in the ocean compared to all those new antigens.

      This is not my experience with vaccines. Many children end up getting slightly ill immediately after exposure to the vaccine. However, I'm not saying the slight illness is worse than the actual disease. Instead, I'm saying something they are unlikely to contract as a newborn shouldn't be in their vaccine schedule.

    30. Re:They're stupid by ColdWetDog · · Score: 1, Insightful

      The point of 'universal' vaccination for hep B is that it's hard to determine who will be at risk when they grow up (at least these days). Adolescents are also at some risk given their tendency towards risky behavior. They hardly ever get preventative care. Thus, you immunize everybody and you catch that small number that 'really need' the vaccine.

      Also, hep B is endemic in some populations, even in the US and this gets around what amounts to racial profiling.

      That said, I'm not really happy that the American Academy of Pediatrics has jumped on the immunize-everything mantra. I think it's a policy that causes a lot of ill will and gets a group of people (a fairly large group in this case) to forgo everything.

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    31. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Proper way to fix this? "I will be removing my children from your school if you do not have vaccination sheets for everyone in the class". Push back on the admins of the school. It will get fixed PDQ...

      Considering that even if you remove your kids from a public school, the school will still sit happy on your taxpayer dollars whether or not they're enrolled. Get the PTA to rally around it. Have a mass exodus of students out of the school. The beancounters won't notice a change until the enrollment numbers drop down a digit. Then they'll notice that something's up.

      Show up to town hall meetings. Visit your mayor or your state legislature (not the guys in washington). This is something that should be feasible at the grassroots level.

    32. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have been avoiding two vaccines.

      1: I avoid the H1N1 strain flu vaccine as I have reason to believe I am predispositioned to guten barre syndrome.
      2: I avoid the new one for the virus behind cervical cancer as I am astronomically unlikely to ever be exposed.

    33. Re:They're stupid by Stripe7 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I would leave it up to the insurance companies, let the insurance companies charge extra or not pay for treatment of people who get sick from diseases they should have been vaccinated for.

    34. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If vaccines work, then the vaccinated children shouldn't get sick.

    35. Re:They're stupid by operagost · · Score: 1

      Yes, because just calling people stupid solves all problems. I'm sure they will all be shamed into complying now.

      --

      Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
    36. Re:They're stupid by Pope · · Score: 2

      In order to know which vaccines my son should get, I had to essentially become and expert in each vaccine.

      And where did you obtain this expertise? How many experiments did you do do verify your hypothesis?

      --
      It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
    37. Re:They're stupid by stdarg · · Score: 1

      And without those bar charts, how do prove that America really is far superior to every single country in the world? Obviously we need the bar charts.

      You're going way too far. I've never seen a chart, bar or otherwise, that shows America being the best in the world in education performance.

      Perhaps the drive for quantification of education performance is related to our NOT being the best. How do we improve if we don't know where we are failing?

    38. Re:They're stupid by compro01 · · Score: 3, Informative

      Justify why a newborn needs a hepatitis b vaccine. Go ahead call me stupid when I've done the research.

      1. The major forms of transmission for hepatitis b are anal sex and iv drug use.,

      1. Primary method of transmission is mother-to-child, via bodily fluids (you know, stuff the infant is utterly coated in when they're born?) or breastfeeding.
      2. Testing for Hep B can be unreliable at certain phases of the disease.

      --
      upon the advice of my lawyer, i have no sig at this time
    39. Re:They're stupid by operagost · · Score: 1, Flamebait
      Please explain for all the stupid people in the room how, if student A is vaccinated but student B is not, that this will make student A sick.

      "Your freedom to swing your arm ends at my nose."

      This means the exact opposite in this context unless you can prove that an unvaccinated individual can make a vaccinated one sick.

      --

      Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
    40. Re:They're stupid by operagost · · Score: 1

      Wow. You really told him. He is way more informed now.

      --

      Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
    41. Re:They're stupid by tibit · · Score: 1

      Last time I heard about it from some authority, it was an Ohio regionalism. Now it's west central Scotland-ism, too, yay, how important, for crying out loud you could fit a couple of west central Scotlands in Ohio ;)

      Alas, it's not proper English to me if it gets edited out of books. So there.

      --
      A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
    42. Re:They're stupid by RabidReindeer · · Score: 2

      I think there is a Vaccine for that. Maybe that is the problem, the parents missed their vaccinations?

      Unfortunately, no. There's no vaccine against stupid.

      Although some people work at stupid so hard, a lobotomy would actually make them smarter.

    43. Re:They're stupid by operagost · · Score: 1

      Incorrect, the most common form of transmission worldwide is vertical transmission, from mother to child at birth. Vaccines prevent this

      So we could test the mother for hep B and postpone the vaccine if she's negative, right?

      --

      Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
    44. Re:They're stupid by jc79 · · Score: 1

      You're clearly reading the wrong books. Try Christopher Brookmyre.

      I bet some of those Ohioans have Scottish ancestry too.

    45. Re:They're stupid by postbigbang · · Score: 0

      Citation(s), please. Allergies to vaccinations like DPT, measles, and others, are exceedingly rare, and the crux of much disinformation. Even with measles shots, I got all three versions. Didn't affect me much. Ok, I chose IT as a profession, but don't hold it against me.

      --
      ---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
    46. Re:They're stupid by jc79 · · Score: 1

      Aye, it is at that, so it is by the way.

    47. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I agree on everything except your attitude in the first paragraph. The anti-vaccine movement doesn't remove idiots out of the gene pool it removes their children. While their parents might be morons it shouldn't be held against their children.

      Like you alluded to those children might not even get very sick but what about someone who can't take the vaccine for real reasons. What recourse do those parents have for some stupid decision another parent made. I agree if you can't be bothered to vaccinate because some former playboy playmate said it causes autism, your children should be at least home schooled and removed from the population so you don't hurt those that can't.

    48. Re:They're stupid by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

      It doesn't (aside from perhaps failing to get boosters.)

      Indeed we need to continue to loudly point out these things. One of the fraudulent distortions of the anti-vax crowd is heir claim that disease rates were going down anyway.

      Fair enough. Now they're going back up, and only in the unvaccinated. Convinced, yet?

      Vaccine works as claimed: Check
      Herd immunity protecting the few unvaccinated theory: Check
      Critical mass for disease spread theory: Check
      Not using vaccines is safe: Uncheck

      --
      (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
    49. Re:They're stupid by Asmodae · · Score: 1

      All true, but if there's only one thing one ever learns about writing it should be "Know your audience."

    50. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Please explain for all the stupid people in the room how, if student A is vaccinated but student B is not, that this will make student A sick.

      "Your freedom to swing your arm ends at my nose."

      This means the exact opposite in this context unless you can prove that an unvaccinated individual can make a vaccinated one sick.

      Vaccines arn't just magic potions that shield the body from illnesses. The vaccines effectiveness can be compromised by many factors such as time and the person who received the vaccine and mutations in the virus/bacteria that caused it.

    51. Re:They're stupid by DrXym · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Because some vaccines are not 100% effective, or lose their efficacy and require boosters, or only offer partial protection against particular strains. So person A standing next to person B could potentially become infected. Aside from that person A might also have a baby at home too young to receive their shots, or a sick who is on immunosuppressants and thanks to dumbass B, there is a risk that they might be infected too indirectly.

    52. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you got vaccinated, how come you turned into a dumbfuck retard?

    53. Re:They're stupid by nahdude812 · · Score: 1

      Go ahead call me stupid when I've done the research.

      Have you now? Maybe you should research a little farther, might I suggest the National Institute of Health's article on HepB. Let me quote a couple of entries from there:

      * Direct contact with blood in health care settings
      Seems like kids might be at roughly the same exposure risk as most adults who don't work in health care. Also I wonder if kids with HepB positive parents are at any risk of exposure to their parents' blood. Probably not, right?

      * Sexual contact with an infected person
      Sure, infants aren't having sex. Well, unless there's an abusive situation for them, but those kids deserve to get Hepatitis, right?

      * Shared personal items (such as toothbrushes, razors, and nail clippers) with an infected person
      I wonder if kids ever have their nails clipped. Only if they've given up their dream of having the world record for longest fingernails!

      A couple more for good measure:
      * The hepatitis B virus can be passed to an infant during childbirth if the mother is infected.
      Risk factors for hepatitis B infection include: Being born, or having parents who were born in regions with high infection rates

      According to the CDC there were only a few thousand incidences of it per year in the entire U.S. for minors

      Right there is a few thousand reasons to try harder to increase the vaccination rate. Also quoting infection rates of a commonly vaccinated against disease is a terrible argument against the need for that vaccination. Tetanus infection rates are pretty low, maybe that vaccination should be deprecated as well?

      However, delaying this as long as possible so we can indentify his allergies and allow him immune system to grow

      You realize, of course, that immune systems actually get stronger in response to threats. Vaccines don't leave you weaker, they leave you stronger. It's certainly possible to overwhelm an immune system - particularly a young one - but the tiny amount of virus in a vaccine does not introduce any significant immunostress in even a young or immunocompromised patient. In fact, standard treatment for all but incredibly ill patients (patients who are so ill they need to remain in quarantine) is to give a LARGER dose of a vaccine if their immune system is weak.

      You have not helped this issue at all by just dismissing me as stupid.

      Sarcasm notwithstanding, I have not dismissed you as stupid, I've dismissed you as ill-informed. Your stupidity lies not in your lack of knowledge, but rather in how you attempt to spread your ignorance as fact and represent it as being highly informed when the very first response in a Google search for the disease name thoroughly debunks your entire position.

    54. Re:They're stupid by skydyr · · Score: 1

      A lot of the original migration to Appalachia and westward from there came out of Scotland, apparently, so it's not suprising that a Scottish regional dialect attribute would carry over into the local speech in areas which they settled.

      It's from the '80s, but David Hackett Fisher's book Albion's Seed is a fascinating examination of waves of early immigration to America and the regional variation that sprung from it.

    55. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's the heavy metals in vaccines that stress your immune system out. That's how vaccines work. You use toxins to trigger an immune reaction and they find weakened disease cells.

    56. Re:They're stupid by Archimagus · · Score: 1

      Meaning, if you don't want to vaccinate your kids, that's your right, but you shouldn't be allowed to send them to school and spread the disease to other people. A few other posts near by gave examples.

      Your freedom to get diseased ends at places where you are likely to spread it to others. Or, at least it should.

      Just vaccinate your kids already. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfdZTZQvuCo&feature=related/

    57. Re:They're stupid by CAIMLAS · · Score: 1

      Who, the vaccinated kids?

      If a vaccination is supposed to keep someone from becoming ill with a specific illness, why would someone with that illness impact them at all? I thought that was kind of the whole point of a vaccination, yes?

      Why is it people fail to think about this logically and instead resort to knee jerk reactionary insults?

      --
      ~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
    58. Re:They're stupid by Just+Some+Guy · · Score: 3, Interesting

      That's the policy everywhere I've lived in the US, too, except that there are personal belief and medical necessity exemptions. The former is an obvious loophole; the anti-vax idiots just claim that they're religiously opposed to shots or something like that. The second is kind of problematic and I'm not sure how to solve it. There are certain people that can't receive particular vaccines for immune deficiency or allergy reasons. That's fine. The problem is that any doctor seems to be able to issue these exemptions. That unfortunately currently includes chiropractors, who seem to be opposed to vaccines for trade reasons (because chiropractic theory and disease theory aren't compatible).

      The obvious first step would be to limit medical exemption forms to only being issued by MDs (and maybe DOs? I think they're also pro-science), but then you'll have the chiropractic lobby complaining that they're being treated as second-class citizens.

      For the record, I love me a good chiropractor for back pain relief. They just don't have any business involving themselves in the vaccine non-controversy.

      --
      Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
    59. Re:They're stupid by Jakester2K · · Score: 5, Insightful

      One of the fraudulent distortions of the anti-vax crowd is heir claim that disease rates were going down anyway.

      Sounds familiar... Oh yeah: "We don't need the IT people anymore - the machines are running fine!"

    60. Re:They're stupid by dargaud · · Score: 1

      You cannot have an allergy at birth to anything. It takes at least one contact with the allergen to build up an immune response.

      Are you sure about that ? I thought that in some (rare) cases there could be allergic reactions while in the womb to things that the mothers ate. Yeah [citation needed].

      --
      Non-Linux Penguins ?
    61. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Student A is probably fine, although not all vaccines result in 100% immunity, so the presence of a potentially-contagious student B is still a greater risk than if both were vaccinated. More importantly, your scenario assumes there aren't any other students whose parents are as stupid as the parents of B. The more there are like them, the greater the degree of stupidity of the parents of B, and the greater the risk brought on by their stupid choice for themselves and everyone else, both vaccinated and unvaccinated.

      Think of it as "herd stupidity".

    62. Re:They're stupid by daem0n1x · · Score: 5, Interesting

      You post is just a bunch of straw men attacks.

      You do know that the authorities want to administer Gardasil to boys, right?

      What's wrong with that?

      The flu shot contains mercury (it's good for your baby, "they" say)?

      It contains a tiny amount of mercury, smaller than you'd get from eating fish. So, what's the problem? If you dread mercury that much, don't drink water or eat fish.

      They are also recommending lithium be added to drinking water, as well.

      Who are "they"? It was just a simple study! You make it sound like there's a hidden conspiracy for drugging Humanity!

      Don't be afraid to re-evaluate your beliefs from time to time. Culture, attitudes, environment...life...changes, and so should you.

      I do, you clearly don't. Otherwise, you'd be showing me any valid data, not trying to fool me into your beliefs using out-of-context data and alarmist bullshit.

    63. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      stop listening to Jenny McCarthy about science related stuff. What you "believe" 30 years ago and today has changed,
      but the facts haven't. Vaccines are massively proven as a good thing and you are an idiot to think otherwise.

    64. Re:They're stupid by stranger_to_himself · · Score: 4, Informative

      Please explain for all the stupid people in the room how, if student A is vaccinated but student B is not, that this will make student A sick.

      "Your freedom to swing your arm ends at my nose."

      This means the exact opposite in this context unless you can prove that an unvaccinated individual can make a vaccinated one sick.

      Most vaccines don't completely prevent you from becoming infected, but they severely reduce the risk of infection and transmission - meaning that the disease cannot get a grip in a community. There's also for example student A's baby brother who didn't get his jabs yet but is still at risk when student B visits student A (this is a particular problem for measles)

    65. Re:They're stupid by Mr.LightFoot · · Score: 2

      I am in WA state where vaccination is terrible. What's worse, I'm in the county where whooping cough and measels are running rampant. The parents still hold true to that fake study about autism/vaccination link. They also want to make others get vaccinated to protect "THEIR" child. A lot of dumbfucks here. WA state has the easiest form of exception and you do not need to prove anything to say no to vaccination. Personal feelings are acceptable for exception. Mississippi on the other hand requires vaccination with 0.00% exception. On the other hand, Mississippi is a major social disease ;)

    66. Re:They're stupid by Glothar · · Score: 1

      You're going way too far. I've never seen a chart, bar or otherwise, that shows America being the best in the world in education performance.

      Yes, but that's the goal, isn't it? To have the biggest bar? And we should do whatever it takes to make sure we're swinging the biggest bar on the chart, right? I mean, what's the point in having kids who can think and solve abstract problems when you can't quantify it? What we really need are kids who can do really well at a multiple choice test. That's easy to quantify. Then, when we get really good at it, we can brag to the entire world: "Our children are the very best in the world at multiple choice tests!" And the world will tremble at the thought of ever opposing us in endeavors that have four pre-determined paths where just one distinct path is correct. Of course, if we ever have to deal with situations that require thought, then... But who cares! We just need the biggest bar!

      Perhaps the drive for quantification of education performance is related to our NOT being the best.

      Perhaps the drive for quantification of education performance is related to the fact that many people lack the critical thinking and abstract analysis skills to realize that anytime you turn a nebulous concept like intelligence, learning, success, or understanding down into a number, that you're lying to yourself.

    67. Re:They're stupid by Glothar · · Score: 1

      How do we improve if we don't know where we are failing?

      Why not do it the same way that we see if our engineers are failing? We get a whole bunch of totally unqualified people to make up some guidelines based on their lack of experience. Then we have third party evaluators fill out a bunch of forms which turn their performance into a single numeric percentage (with a max of 100). If that number doesn't increase every single year, we start forcing the engineer to work with a group of untrained engineers until the number increases. Wait... That's not how we ensure our engineers aren't failing?

    68. Re:They're stupid by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      There's only one vaccine for stupidity, and yes, the parents missed it. The vaccine is called "a vasectomy".

    69. Re:They're stupid by residieu · · Score: 1

      I'm sure research done in someone's spare time, by someone without a medical education is FAR more effective than that of all the medical professionals who are suggesting that AC get these vaccinations done.

    70. Re:They're stupid by Grishnakh · · Score: 0

      Sorry, but it's possible we can't really do that here. Our First Amendment prohibits government interference in religion (or at least it's been interpreted that way), and this is frequently a religious matter.

      As for America becoming Uganda, you haven't been here lately, have you? Surely just reading the news about this place should make it obvious that we're quickly becoming like that.

    71. Re:They're stupid by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      Actually, there is a vaccine against stupid. Unfortunately, it only works on subsequent generations, not on the people who take the vaccination. It's called "vasectomy".

      Unfortunately, the people who this vaccine would work best for, almost never take it, and many of them refuse it on religious grounds.

    72. Re:They're stupid by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      This sounds like a failure of the government and pharma companies to me. There's no way to be allergic to some dead viruses. Instead, they're allergic to some other component of the vaccine. So the solution is simple: there should be alternate forms of the vaccine, so that everyone is covered. If there aren't, it's due to the pharma companies being cheap-asses and the government failing in its role as regulator.

    73. Re:They're stupid by HCase · · Score: 1

      Vaccines aren't 100%, therefore, someone with a vaccine has a possibility of catching a disease from a non-vaccinated person.

      Also, there is a small but existent percentage of the population that for one reason or another cannot be given certain vaccines(ex. compromised immune system). These people are generally kept safe through herd immunity, but are put at higher risk if people who can get vaccinations refuse to.

    74. Re:They're stupid by daem0n1x · · Score: 1

      Sorry, but it's possible we can't really do that here. Our First Amendment prohibits government interference in religion (or at least it's been interpreted that way), and this is frequently a religious matter.

      Nobody is forcing the religious nuts to attend public school. If they don't want to vaccinate their children, home-school them or create their own anti-vaxxer private schools.

      As for America becoming Uganda, you haven't been here lately, have you? Surely just reading the news about this place should make it obvious that we're quickly becoming like that.

      Do you know what a hyperbole is? Actually, I have been there, and it looks nothing like Uganda. I wasn't in the miserably poor regions, however. But I only know Uganda from TV anyway.

    75. Re:They're stupid by cdwiegand · · Score: 1

      So... we give it to the kid well after the "primary method of transmission" for what reason? It's 2 months, 4 months, etc.. after the transmission!

      --
      . Define sqrt(x) as something really evil like (x / rand()), and bury it deep. Watch your coworkers go nuts.
    76. Re:They're stupid by wikdwarlock · · Score: 1

      Though I'm no imunology scientist, I'd think that from an evolutionary standpoint, the newborn immune system is running at peak performance just after birth and for the first few weeks/months of post-natal life. The whole thing has been refined through evolution to find novel, harmful things in the body which came from the external environment and to do the job of putting together killer molecules to stop those harmful things. It's like saying a racecar is stressed out by accelerating at the start of the race. That's what the thing was meant to do, for crying out loud!

      --

      "I must not fear. Fear is the mind killer." -Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear
    77. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You know HPV infects men too, right?

    78. Re:They're stupid by DeadCatX2 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      You know, I find it completely immoral that an insurance company might choose to deny payment for a necessary medical treatment...

      and yet I find myself agreeing with you wholeheartedly that insurance companies shouldn't be obligated to pay for a disease that an individual acquired by intentionally denying routine vaccinations.

      Ouch! The cognitive dissonance! It burrrns us!

      --
      :(){ :|:& };:
    79. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Related to this, when I was less than 1 year old, there was an outbreak of Measles in my area. So at the time I was give the immunization at 8 months rather than the usual 1 year mark. Due to the early shot, I had to get re-immunized when I around the age of 15.

      PS, Fuck any parent who thinks there child is "too good" for vaccinations.

    80. Re:They're stupid by jareth-0205 · · Score: 1

      Not being a biochemist, I wouldn't be able to argue your point. However I'd bet real money that you don't actually know any better than I do.

    81. Re:They're stupid by mk1004 · · Score: 1

      Maybe you could institute a similar policy in the USA. If the nut heads don't want to vaccinate their kids, they should home school them.

      Really? Unvaccinated kids will still end up around others who, due to medical conditions or such, cannot be vaccinated. Also, do you really want the same idiots who think not getting vaccinations is a good idea to home school their kids? Sorry, but people who put their own kids as well as others at risk are stupid, self-centered jerks.

      --
      I can mend the break of day, heal a broken heart, and provide temporary relief to nymphomaniacs.
    82. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, I think this comment was about the rare cases in which someone is truly allergic to a vaccine. They are unprotected, but are a very small minority. These increasingly bothersome antivaxers put the allergics at risk right along with infants, folks with compromised immune systems, etc. The poster is not arguing about using an unproven allergy as a cheap excuse to Antivax.
       
      Ooo--I need to go add Antivax to my Band Name List! I have over twelve pages, double columns, 12 pt. type.

    83. Re:They're stupid by mapkinase · · Score: 4, Insightful

      >Your freedom to swing your arm ends at my nose

      It seems that very often one cannot take a walk on a street without touching someone's overstretched nose.

      --
      I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
    84. Re:They're stupid by assertation · · Score: 1

      Actually, I read somewhere that most of the vaccine deniers have college degrees....just not advanced ones or ones in the sciences.

      They are educated enough to know that researchers and doctors don't know everything as well as being full of shit sometimes. They are not educated enough to evaluate the data. Hence the arrogance in thinking they know more than the researchers or somebody with SOME credentials selling them something knows more.

      Interestingly, people with less education than this demographic just do what they are told by doctors and get the vaccines.

    85. Re:They're stupid by compro01 · · Score: 1

      Who, the vaccinated kids?

      If a vaccination is supposed to keep someone from becoming ill with a specific illness, why would someone with that illness impact them at all? I thought that was kind of the whole point of a vaccination, yes?

      Why is it people fail to think about this logically and instead resort to knee jerk reactionary insults?

      Because your logic leads you to an incorrect conclusion due to lack of data.

      Specifically, the fact that vaccines are not 100% effective at producing immunity

      The two-dose measles vaccination is about 95% effective. That means that even with a 100% vaccination rate, 1 in 20 can still catch it. But given that low rate of non-immunity, the odds of a person with measles being able to come in contact with a non-immune person and pass it along are low.

      But if that non-immune rate rises, so does the odds of that outbreak being able to be sustained. And with a long-term sustained outbreak, there's a substantial risk that the virus will mutate into a new form the vaccine would not protect against.

      --
      upon the advice of my lawyer, i have no sig at this time
    86. Re:They're stupid by daem0n1x · · Score: 1

      I avoid the new one for the virus behind cervical cancer as I am astronomically unlikely to ever be exposed.

      As most slashdotters are.

    87. Re:They're stupid by stdarg · · Score: 1

      That analogy makes no sense. I think you're alluding to standardized testing -- well guess what, to be an engineer you need an engineering degree, which comes from an accredited school, which becomes accredited by.. meeting national standards in what is taught and how it is taught. And then, when hiring an engineer, you might be interested to know... their gpa. It's one little number, but an unusual gpa invites further investigation into the person's knowledge. Another thing you might want to know is what school they went to and... how it is ranked. Yeah, some schools are better than others and people like attaching plain old numbers to them to represent their performance compared to other schools. If you know someone has a 4.0 from the #1 school for a particular engineering discipline, you already know a decent amount about them. You know there's a good chance they're more knowledgeable than someone with a 2.2 from the #104th ranked school for the same discipline.

    88. Re:They're stupid by HornWumpus · · Score: 1, Funny

      HPV causes more mouth cancer then chewing tobacco.

      I gave up chew, but I will never give up chewing.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    89. Re:They're stupid by CAIMLAS · · Score: 1

      That means that even with a 100% vaccination rate, 1 in 20 can still catch it.

      With a 100% vaccination rate, 20 in 20 of those children will be able to catch it, 10 years later. Notice how there's the occasional person in their 20s or 30s who get a (supposedly) childhood illness and die?

      My children, who didn't get the measles vaccination and caught it naturally, however, won't have that problem due to their bodies have learned how to fight off the measles on their own.

      --
      ~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
    90. Re:They're stupid by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      Many people 'learned how to learn' incorrectly. Free thinkers indeed. If nothing is false, then whatever you want is true.

      Blame relativism. It's just stupid. Mental masturbation != thinking.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    91. Re:They're stupid by mk1004 · · Score: 1

      Maybe some parents have informed themselves on the subject, but my impression is that most of these anti-vaccine people don't want their kids to get any vaccines. The MMR vaccine has been around a long time and doesn't fit the concerns about fast-tracked new vaccines, but that doesn't stop the anti-everything crowd from avoiding it. I haven't heard of any recent vaccines that would fit your description of fast-tracking, being required for school attendance. It's true Rick Perry tried that awhile back in Texas with the HPV vaccine, but I haven't heard of any other big dust-ups that that type of move would typically cause.

      --
      I can mend the break of day, heal a broken heart, and provide temporary relief to nymphomaniacs.
    92. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      http://www.whale.to/v/hadwen1.html

      Brilliantly argued - a typical, braindead Slashdotter, spouting the party line...

      I'm still waiting for ONE rebuttal of any of Dr Hadwen's talks, but I can't find one, why is that?

      When I was a child, EVERY child in my school had had measles, mumps, chickenpox, you name it. I have TV comedy programmes from the 1980s which mention this, as if it were nothing (because it WAS nothing) - for example, Steptoe and Son Christmas Special - Harold and Albert both get chickenpox, so their guests can't enter the house for their Christmas party. All the guests ask each other - 'Who's had chickenpox?' - because it was the NORM in those days - one of them says "I don't know, I'll have to ask my mum" - because it was NORMAL for children to get all of those diseases.

      But LOL at the Slashdot morons. No doubt you'll be spouting the new myth of 'herd immunity' - what a joke. Is that like 'magic spirits'?

      'Vaccination' doesn't exist - there is no such thing - Jenner was a fraud, and every 'doctor' since, who uses 'vaccination', is also a fraud, and they know it.

      So come on, show me the rebuttals to Dr Hadwen's speeches. Surely it shouldn't be difficult, seeing as you think he's wrong? What a joke.

    93. Re:They're stupid by chooks · · Score: 1

      Not if she is in the window period.

      --
      -- The Genesis project? What's that?
    94. Re:They're stupid by SecurityGuy · · Score: 1

      The critical bit of information you're missing is that vaccination doesn't make 100% of people 100% immune. I googled a bit and found a study that showed polio vaccine to be 82% after one dose, 96% after two, and 98% after three.

      So there you go. Imagine a room with 100 people in it, all of whom have had their three doses, and then you walk in, shedding active polio virus. Two of those vaccinated individuals contract polio.

      In other words, it's been proven and is very well documented.

    95. Re:They're stupid by compro01 · · Score: 1

      So... we give it to the kid well after the "primary method of transmission" for what reason? It's 2 months, 4 months, etc.. after the transmission!

      I think you're reading the schedule wrong. It's at birth, then again at 2 and yet again at 4 months. The initial at-birth vaccination is able to work faster than the at-birth infection (think tetanus or rabies vaccinations, which are effectively used in a post-infection manner) and, with the additional ones at 2 and 4 months, will prevent about 90% of cases of mother-to-child transmission.

      --
      upon the advice of my lawyer, i have no sig at this time
    96. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What an authoritative post based on pure bullshit and guessing.

      While I agree with you, on principle, that everyone should be vaccinated, your post is made up of a lot of stupid.

      Duhr No 1 has allgurgies until they contuct with da fing dey want allgurgies 4!

      Oh man, why don't you go tell all those people who die of things they supposedly can't be allergic to, because its their first contact with the substance! They'll all pop back to life after simply shrugging off their first bee stings!

      Duhr air is teh stressiest on imungosystem!

      This shows a complete lack of knowledge or experience in the area. Children get a huge boost to their immune systems through the blood of their mother so the stress of "the outside" is greatly relieved. Yes, the sudden baptism into the outside world is a stressor to the system, but the body doesn't seem to care so much. Most kids do get a fever during their first day of shots, however -- a fever not from catching the flu, but from their immune systems learning and burning out the new, perceived threat.

    97. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And that's why they need educated.

      Priceless :)

    98. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Seems like kids might be at roughly the same exposure risk as most adults who don't work in health care.

      Absolutely not. A new born or toddler should have no access to needles or other instruments of exposure if the parent is doing their job.

      Also I wonder if kids with HepB positive parents are at any risk of exposure to their parents' blood. Probably not, right?

      Most parents can and do get tested.

      Well, unless there's an abusive situation for them, but those kids deserve to get Hepatitis, right?

      So we are doing something detrimental to kids health to help the very few that get exposure from abuse. This exposure mechanism isn't even mentioned in the cdc documents.

      Right there is a few thousand reasons to try harder to increase the vaccination rate.

      Not if it leads to the death or disability of a larger portion of the population than the vaccination saves.

      Also quoting infection rates of a commonly vaccinated against disease is a terrible argument against the need for that vaccination.

      Actually, I was quoting the numbers from before the vaccine became recommended for infants.

      I wonder if kids ever have their nails clipped. Only if they've given up their dream of having the world record for longest fingernails!

      My kid has his own fingernail clippers. I thought most kids do.

      You realize, of course, that immune systems actually get stronger in response to threats.

      This is most certainly not true. Given enough threats at one time, the immune system will be overwhelmed. Otherwise why should I was my hands around kids? Why do hospital workers wear gloves? It's almost certainly to reduce the number of threats.

      the very first response in a Google search for the disease name thoroughly debunks your entire position.

      Which of my arguments was debunked?

      I believe all medical intervention involves some risk. I would like to know the pros and cons of those risks. For hepatitis b, I think the cons outweigh the pros. I know my wife and I don't have the virus, so I didn't include that in my risk analysis. The false negative rates on these tests is included in my analysis.

    99. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe you could institute a similar policy in the USA. If the nut heads don't want to vaccinate their kids, they should home school them. That would keep their little walking petri dishes away from normal children. Yes, for an American this may sound like anti-freedom, but I think my freedom of not getting infected with a bunch of crazy diseases far outweighs the rights of other people to be dumbfucking stupid. And I believe the anti-vaxxer crowd is a very small minority, even in the USA (here they're non-existent). Why should they have the right to hurt the vast majority of normal people?

      The problem with news is that it tends towards sensationalism in order to get views. Because of that, you may have a misguided view of the situation in the United States.

      Here in the USA, we do, in fact, have a mandatory vaccine requirement for public schools. All children are vaccinated against many numerous illnesses, and you cannot attend school without those vaccinations or a doctor's testimony that you should not get the required vaccination. There are mandatory vaccinations for elementary school, middle school, and high school, and everyone is required to keep up-to-date. There are even requirements at the university I'm currently at, and incoming international students are required to present proof-of-vaccination or else they must be vaccinated after they arrive and before attending classes.

      Regarding the doctors' testimony, I, for instance, have not been vaccinated for Hepatitis C, despite it being recommended. The reason is because both my brother and sister had violent reactions to the vaccine. Thus, my pediatrician and my parents decided that there's not much of a reason to do it.

    100. Re:They're stupid by daem0n1x · · Score: 0

      If you are so self-assured about your bullshit why don't you use your account name instead of posting as AC? Oh, I see, using lies and nonsense to troll the forum leads to bad karma, right?

    101. Re:They're stupid by daem0n1x · · Score: 1

      I don't want my kids contaminated with avoidable diseases because some retarded parents have some unfounded issues against vaccination. How can that possibly be an overstretched nose?

    102. Re:They're stupid by GrimShady · · Score: 1

      And that's why they need educated.

      Priceless :D

    103. Re:They're stupid by Grishnakh · · Score: 0

      What are you talking about? Public school is supposed to be for everyone, plus I thought that in most places you were required to send kids to school under a certain age. So if the government is going to make school mandatory, then it has to cater to everyone's nutty religious beliefs.

      As for Uganda, no, obviously it isn't like that, yet. It's headed there, though. Or more accurately, Somalia. Didn't Jared Diamond write a book about how civilizations collapse, and how it can frequently be very sudden? He'll probably need to write a 2nd Edition of that eventually, to cover the USA.

    104. Re:They're stupid by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      Actually, what I wrote is based on what I've read in earlier Slashdot discussions about this same topic. What it all boils down to is that many vaccines are made with stuff from eggs, and a certain percentage of the population is allergic to eggs, so they can't take the vaccine. So why not make the vaccine with something else? Because that costs more. So are we interested in saving money, or getting everyone vaccinated? We can afford to spend trillions on wars and bankster bailouts and marijuana prohibition, but we can't afford to develop an alternative vaccine so we can vaccinate almost everyone?

    105. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thanks for displaying your ignorance so clearly. Too bad it extends to so many of your other libertarian beliefs.

    106. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Do you have an advanced degree in medicine? No? Ok, shut the f**k up about "expert." As a layman (woman?), you cannot, by definition, be an "expert" in something that requires multiple years of post-graduate, specialized, study, especially if your child is still a newborn -- that means far less than 2 years of research, even if you could dedicate full-time.

      I'll let everyone else educate you on where your understanding of vaccine theory falls short, but just wanted to address this little sloppy habit of thinking -- the fact that you've attempted to educate yourself about a complex subject DOES NOT make anyone an expert in anything; it makes you an amateur. Perhaps, through multiple years of study, you may progress to novice.

    107. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think there is a Vaccine for that. Maybe that is the problem, the parents missed their vaccinations?

      it's the grandparents who didn't use the birth control vaccine!

    108. Re:They're stupid by cayenne8 · · Score: 1
      I'm in agreement with you on this one...but I'm puzzled.

      Wouldn't the only people getting sick be the ones that aren't vaccinated? If you're vaccinated, how would this affect you?

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    109. Re:They're stupid by cayenne8 · · Score: 3, Interesting
      I remember back when I was a kid, and the vaccinations were mandatory....they actually lined us up in school about 1st or 2nd grade..and shot us up there....

      I remember it was interesting..which ever one leaves the mark on your arm...for me, it would never 'take'. I never got the scab nor the mark on my arm.

      The almost didn't want to let me in school, but I had the paperwork in my records saying they'd try to shoot me up at least twice...and I should be good to go.

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    110. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In order to know which vaccines my son should get, I had to essentially become and expert in each vaccine.

      As a layman (woman?), you cannot, by definition, be an "expert" in something that requires multiple years of post-graduate, specialized, study, especially if your child is still a newborn -- that means far less than 2 years of research, even if you could dedicate full-time.

      I did not say I was an expert. I said that I needed to become an expert in order to figure out which vaccines my son should get. I never said I achieved expert status. All "expert" opionions that I have read do not include the rate of death and disability from the vaccine. All of the common mechanisms of hepatitis b transmission are very unlikely to occur during my son's first few years of life. I have not read any "expert" opinions that acknowledge and quantify that very low rate of transmission and still justify the need for the vaccine with any mathametical or scientific precision.

      Rather than attack my specific wording, I would love for you to provide an "expert" article discussing both the pros and the cons as well as a scientific justification for administering the vaccine to an infant. While you encourage me to:

      shut the f**k up

      I encourage you to provide me more information with which I could make a more informed decision. I've highlighted the basics of what I made my decision based on.

    111. Re:They're stupid by fm6 · · Score: 1

      Well, if by "stupid" you mean "they believe garbled BS they picked up online" then yeah, they're pretty dumb. As are most people who post on Slashdot.

    112. Re:They're stupid by Score+Whore · · Score: 2

      It's not religious nuttery, skippy.

      Three of the top four states for non-vaccination rates are: Washington, Oregon and Vermont. None are well known for being conservative or religious. The fourth is Alaska.

    113. Re:They're stupid by daem0n1x · · Score: 1

      What are you talking about? Public school is supposed to be for everyone, plus I thought that in most places you were required to send kids to school under a certain age. So if the government is going to make school mandatory, then it has to cater to everyone's nutty religious beliefs.

      No it hasn't. It's impossible to cater to all the different pettiest little stupid things every religion has issues with. Public schools are supposed to be secular, if people belonging to some religion want to force their views on others, create their own private schools for nutties and leave the rest of us alone.

      What comes next? All girls will have to wear a hijab at school to avoid offending Muslim students' parents? Institute Iyaric as working language to avoid offending Rastafarian students' parents? Forbid leather attire to avoid offending Hindu students' parents? Ban pork from school menus? That's a funny one, if you started forbidding all the foods that offend one religion or the other, the only item the school menus would be allowed to have was water.

    114. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They're not stupid in any real sense. They're just part of a culture that somehow thinks reality goes away if you shout loud enough. People who really do see no difference between selecting a particular set of "beliefs" with regards to matters of scientific fact and deciding to follow a new fashion trend.

      You know what the heck - today I think I'll go with God does exist, Global warming is for real, the "fed" is owned by nefarious foreign interests and vaccinations cause autism. They go well together I think, and should mark me as a free thinker amongst the sheep. Now respect my opinions maf**kers!

    115. Re:They're stupid by mcgrew · · Score: 1

      Actually, the anti-vaxxer movement could be a fantastic way of getting dumbfuck retards out of the gene pool.

      Where your reasoning fails is that most mental retardation is not the result of genetics, but instead the result of pregnancy complications. The mentally retarded seldom have children of their own.

      And on top of that, none of these diseases kill every victim. I have a friend who caught polio right about the time the Sauk vaccine was being developed, and he's still around, although he has a couple of disabilities.

      And in every place I've seen, public school systems won't let an unvaccinated child attend, although that probably doesn't apply to private and religious schools.

    116. Re:They're stupid by ekgringo · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Well, gee, if a playwright from a century ago says that vaccinations are a scam, it can only be true!

    117. Re:They're stupid by daem0n1x · · Score: 1

      Actually, the anti-vaxxer movement could be a fantastic way of getting dumbfuck retards out of the gene pool.

      Where your reasoning fails is that most mental retardation is not the result of genetics, but instead the result of pregnancy complications. The mentally retarded seldom have children of their own.

      And on top of that, none of these diseases kill every victim. I have a friend who caught polio right about the time the Sauk vaccine was being developed, and he's still around, although he has a couple of disabilities.

      I can only say: Wooooooooosh!

      And in every place I've seen, public school systems won't let an unvaccinated child attend, although that probably doesn't apply to private and religious schools.

      One more reason to keep my kids in a public school and keep fighting for free, good quality public education, instead of giving up and putting them in a private school where money is king.

    118. Re:They're stupid by Archimagus · · Score: 1

      There are many examples in the surrounding comments. The highlights among them are.

      Immunizations are not 100% effective

      Babies at home too young to be vaccinated

      Elderly at home that are more susceptible

      People on immunosuppressants

      On top of all that, there is no good reason to not immunize children. There was one study that showed a link between autism and vaccines and it was later found out that the study actually showed no link but the numbers were falsified to satisfy an agenda. Vaccines are very safe and effective at preventing disease. The rest of us shouldn't be put at extra risk because of stupid people.

    119. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think there is a Vaccine for that. Maybe that is the problem, the parents missed their vaccinations?

      Yep - it's called an abortion.

    120. Re:They're stupid by Glothar · · Score: 1

      Wow. Were you looking for quantified numbers that held even less meaning than standardized test numbers. The problem with standardized tests is that they don't measure what we want them to measure, and they're applied in ways that aren't supported by statistical analysis. GPA's are poisoned by all sorts of bias and manipulation techniques and school rankings are highly biased and not at all based on long term graduate performance. It really just reinforces the point of how useless

      Example: We have a few of the highest ranked schools in the country near me. You know what sets them apart from the other schools? The average percentage of rich white parents. Sad, but there you are. Politics and socioeconomics ensure that not only are the schools supported by a bunch of rich parents who continually lobby for their school to be higher on the list, but they never have to deal with students who are actually challenging. Here's the great part, though: When you isolate the statistics based on socioeconomic group, the kids in those schools aren't any better off than any of the other schools. In some cases, they're worse (college dropout rates). But they get into Harvard and Yale, so they must be brilliant, yeah?

    121. Re:They're stupid by mapkinase · · Score: 2, Insightful

      If your kid is vaccinated does it really matter THAT much if other kids are not?

      If presence of non-vaccinated kids increases the chances for your kid to get sick so dramatically, may be vaccination itself is not that effective?

      The whole purpose of vaccination of a person is to prevent (diminish the probability of) this person from being infected from a contagious person and if having couple of unvaccinated kids in the class dramatically changes that, then what is really the effectiveness of such vaccination?

      --
      I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
    122. Re:They're stupid by s73v3r · · Score: 2

      'Vaccination' is a massive fraud

      Until you look at history, and realize that vaccination is what wiped out many major diseases which often had debilitating effects, like polio.

    123. Re:They're stupid by Grishnakh · · Score: 0

      Where is it written the "public schools are supposed to be secular"? I'm not aware of any law or passage in the Constitution that says that.

      And they don't have to forbid foods for everyone, they just have to have different menus for every religion. Sure, it'll be expensive as hell (esp. if they demand the food be prepared in separate kitchens to avoid contamination), but that's the price of religious diversity and a guarantee that government can't interfere in peoples' religion (which can be argued that public schools have to provide an environment that meets religious standards, e.g. providing lunches that are acceptable to people in that religion, if they're going to provide lunches at all).

      Maybe the First Amendment wasn't that great an idea after all...

    124. Re:They're stupid by s73v3r · · Score: 1

      If your kid is vaccinated does it really matter THAT much if other kids are not?

      YES. Not everyone who gets the shot develops full immunity. Further, there are other people who are on immunosuppressants and such who cannot receive the vaccine. These people depend on herd immunity to prevent the disease from taking hold and increasing their risk of getting sick.

    125. Re:They're stupid by router · · Score: 1

      Might be a cool study tho, anti-vaxx schools. Then when their kids die or get sick IN DROVES, people will forget about this stupid anti-vaxx movement. Think about how fast a contagion will move through a completely defenseless population. Would only take 1 or 2 examples for parents to wake the fsck up. Especially since its the wealthy heli perents who are anti-vaxx and relying on others to protect their preciouses....

      andy

    126. Re:They're stupid by s73v3r · · Score: 1

      No amount of discussion is going to budge your pro-vax mentality

      You mean, the stance of SCIENCE and REALITY?

      You do know that the authorities want to administer Gardasil to boys [reuters.com], right?

      And you realize that men can carry HPV, and develop cancer from it, right?

      The flu shot contains mercury

      It hasn't in years.

      Don't be afraid to re-evaluate your beliefs from time to time.

      And when you do, make sure you don't give into the complete idiocy that the anti-vaxxers espouse.

    127. Re:They're stupid by s73v3r · · Score: 1

      So if the government is going to make school mandatory, then it has to cater to everyone's nutty religious beliefs.

      No, it doesn't. That's just stupid.

    128. Re:They're stupid by s73v3r · · Score: 1

      Not everyone who is unvaccinated is that way by choice. The elderly, along with people who are on immune suppressing drugs, are much more likely to develop disease.

    129. Re:They're stupid by s73v3r · · Score: 1

      It's not terribly difficult to sit down and think for a second and realize that if you dont get vaccinated, you're dependent on everyone else still getting vaccinated in order to not get sick.

      It's also not terribly difficult to sit down, think for a second, and realize that the potential side effects of the vaccine, and the chances of getting them are far, far, far less likely and less debilitating than the effects of many of the diseases.

    130. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      "Well, gee, if a playwright from a century ago says that vaccinations are a scam, it can only be true!"

      No! - Don't you watch TV commercials? He saw in on the internet, so it must be true. You can't put something on the internet if it isn't true. Where did I hear that? On the internet.

    131. Re:They're stupid by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      Hey, I never said I liked it, but that's basically how it is. The courts have mostly ruled that schools (and other government institutions) have to cater to religious beliefs to a certain extent. They can't force all girls/women to wear burqas for instance, but they can force the schools to allow Muslim girls to wear them despite any dress codes to the contrary. They can't force school cafeterias to only serve kosher food, but they can force them to provide kosher meals for kids that want them. They can't force Creationism to be taught (yet, though that may change as majorities get a lot more preferential treatment than minorities), but they can force schools to allow parents to disallow their kids to take science class because of it.

      Unlike France, for instance, we do not have a society and laws that uphold secularism. We talk a lot about it (at least the secularists do, in good terms, and the anti-secularists complain about the perceived secularism saying that "this is a Christian nation"), but we don't actually have any laws guaranteeing that, and the most we have is some Supreme Court decisions interpreting the 1A that way, but there's been many actions to accommodate various religions with actions like those I listed above, unlike France, where they actively ban certain religious practices in schools (and then catch a lot of flak for it from America).

    132. Re:They're stupid by Solandri · · Score: 1

      There's no cognitive dissonance because that's not what would happen. Insurance companies would still cover treatment for non-vaccinated people. They would just charge higher premiums if you choose not to get vaccinated, like they do for smokers. The additional cost to society of foregoing vaccination gets converted into an additional cost the anti-vaxxer has to pay to for medical insurance.

    133. Re:They're stupid by Lumpy · · Score: 1

      You are funny. Try a REPUTABLE news source next time little kid.

      you might as well had linked to a story on the onion.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    134. Re:They're stupid by s73v3r · · Score: 1

      The major forms of transmission for hepatitis b are anal sex and iv drug use. If my newborn son is involved in either one of those then I have much bigger problems to worry about.

      Because only an idiot would think that you should wait to get the vaccine until you have to worry about those things. If you're already having anal sex and using intravenous drugs, then it's too late. You want people to have the vaccine BEFORE they'll need it.

    135. Re:They're stupid by s73v3r · · Score: 1

      Your entire post is nothing but an ad-hominem attack.

    136. Re:They're stupid by s73v3r · · Score: 1

      He's an anti-vaxxer. They aren't trying to be "more informed". They're trying to act smug about their ignorance.

    137. Re:They're stupid by s73v3r · · Score: 1

      I've never heard of newborns having no allergies.

      You could do just a bit of actual, you know, THINKING about what allergies are.

      Instead, I'm saying something they are unlikely to contract as a newborn shouldn't be in their vaccine schedule.

      And you've been proven wrong on the idea that it is something they are "unlikely to contract as a newborn".

    138. Re:They're stupid by s73v3r · · Score: 1

      Not all tests are accurate, and it doesn't show up on tests from the first minute you have the disease.

    139. Re:They're stupid by s73v3r · · Score: 1

      So we are doing something detrimental to kids health

      You're going to have to prove this is actually the case.

      Not if it leads to the death or disability of a larger portion of the population than the vaccination saves.

      Good thing this DOESN'T FUCKING HAPPEN.

    140. Re:They're stupid by Vancorps · · Score: 1

      It is exceedingly difficult to manufacture a vaccine without some sort of preservative. Usually the preservative is what provokes allergic reactions. There are also other compounds which can cause it necessary to stabilize the vaccine. Most vaccines are not just dead viruses. There are valid reasons for a very small portion of the population to not get immunized. That is why it's so important for the rest of us to get vaccinated.

    141. Re:They're stupid by s73v3r · · Score: 1

      What about someone for whom the vaccination doesn't take, or who cannot get the vaccine?

    142. Re:They're stupid by nahdude812 · · Score: 1

      if the parent is doing their job

      Most parents can and do get tested

      So do you see the failure of your reasoning? Should we only require Hep B vaccines for the children of bad parents? Or maybe policy needs to consider more than all the happy scenarios and concern itself with the troubling scenarios as well. I'd go one farther and say that it should primarily concern itself with the troubling scenarios.

      This exposure mechanism isn't even mentioned in the cdc documents

      But it is mentioned several ways in the NIH document I provided earlier.

      So we are doing something detrimental to kids health

      Wait, what? How is a vaccine detrimental? I think you misunderstand the fundamental premise here.

      Not if it leads to the death or disability of a larger portion of the population than the vaccination saves.

      Do you have some figures to suggest that the net damage is greater pre-vaccination than post-vaccination? Keep in mind you can't compare rates between a country with frequent vaccination against a country with infrequent vaccination because of herd immunity. Do you even have figures about death or disability related to HepB vaccines? You're making a lot of unsupported claims here.

      Actually, I was quoting the numbers from before the vaccine became recommended for infants.

      I showed my sources, where are yours?

      My kid has his own fingernail clippers. I thought most kids do.

      Oh ok, so a common vector for Hep B according to the NIH should not be a consideration in vaccine policy because you personally aren't affected by it. Cool.

      Given enough threats at one time, the immune system will be overwhelmed

      I mentioned that. I also mentioned how vaccines do not overwhelm the immune system, and that immunocompromised patients are given higher doses than other patients - vaccines are inactivated or attenuated. They are enough for your immune system to learn from, but do not represent any significant strain on the immune system. Doses are carefully considered with that in mind.

      Which of my arguments was debunked?

      All of them, I addressed them point by point by citing an authority.

      I believe all medical intervention involves some risk.

      Without question. And particularly for diseases which have strong herd immunity due to significant vaccination rates, the individual risk of receiving a vaccine may in fact outweigh the risk of not receiving the vaccine. However the collective risk is substantially less because you benefit from the vaccinations received by others. In fact, that's what this whole article is about, by weakening members of the herd, we weaken the whole herd.

      I know my wife and I don't have the virus, so I didn't include that in my risk analysis.

      And should vaccination policy include clauses such as "Unless you're good parents, and promise to remain disease free"?

    143. Re:They're stupid by mk1004 · · Score: 1

      I think you over-estimate the intelligence of these people, even with clear evidence like you propose. Do you think the lady filing a lawsuit because she thinks smart-meters are going to give her cancer or something would turn around in the face of clear evidence that the meters are no more harmful than any other electronic device in her house? Fat chance of that happening.

      --
      I can mend the break of day, heal a broken heart, and provide temporary relief to nymphomaniacs.
    144. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      One could easily turn that saying around.. "Your freedom to stick needles ends at my skin."

    145. Re:They're stupid by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      I'm sorry, I don't buy it. There's no way that there's only one single way to make a certain vaccine; there have to be multiple ways, multiple formulations possible. With different preservatives, if you make only two different formulations, it's very unlikely anyone (far under 1% of the population) would be allergic to both versions. So no, there's no valid reason for a small but significant portion of the population to not get immunized (there's a lot of people who are allergic to eggs).

    146. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If rote learning was the problem, why are other countries that almost exclusively do rote learning (say,Japan) doing a better job with vaccines? Why are their idiots under better control?

    147. Re:They're stupid by daem0n1x · · Score: 2

      If the shot prevents my kids from getting HPV, why should I care if Glaxo makes money? Good for them.

      The companies that produce food make a shitload of money. Should I stop eating and die from starvation?

      I know people who got lesions from HPV, fortunately they didn't develop into cancers. I wish we could have this shot when we were kids.

    148. Re:They're stupid by s73v3r · · Score: 1

      The only one failing to think of this logically is you. Your line of thinking demonstrates that you have absolutely no knowledge of how vaccines work at all.

    149. Re:They're stupid by s73v3r · · Score: 1

      That's assuming they actually survive.

    150. Re:They're stupid by daem0n1x · · Score: 1

      Have you bothered to read the other posts in this discussion? The answer to your question was already answered a thousand times upstream.

    151. Re:They're stupid by sociocapitalist · · Score: 1

      You know, I find it completely immoral that an insurance company might choose to deny payment for a necessary medical treatment...

      and yet I find myself agreeing with you wholeheartedly that insurance companies shouldn't be obligated to pay for a disease that an individual acquired by intentionally denying routine vaccinations.

      Ouch! The cognitive dissonance! It burrrns us!

      The point of the article is that it's not only the non-immunized who get sick but that they put those around them at increased risk.

      Leaving this up to corporations is a shit idea. There's already a law for this that worked fine before the general public started thinking that they understand medicine better than doctors do (which might be related to a completely fucked medical system in the US). The system around the law is broken and needs to be fixed by forcing parents to adhere to it. It's really not that complicated.

      --
      blindly antisocialist = antisocial
    152. Re:They're stupid by daem0n1x · · Score: 1

      Where is it written the "public schools are supposed to be secular"? I'm not aware of any law or passage in the Constitution that says that.

      Don't ask me, I don't know your constitution that well. Mine says pretty clearly that the State is secular. Public schools are a branch of the State.

      And they don't have to forbid foods for everyone, they just have to have different menus for every religion. Sure, it'll be expensive as hell (esp. if they demand the food be prepared in separate kitchens to avoid contamination), but that's the price of religious diversity and a guarantee that government can't interfere in peoples' religion (which can be argued that public schools have to provide an environment that meets religious standards, e.g. providing lunches that are acceptable to people in that religion, if they're going to provide lunches at all).

      Maybe the First Amendment wasn't that great an idea after all...

      One of the reasons I hate religion so much. Why don't people stop being so picky about things that don't matter a flying fuck?

    153. Re:They're stupid by chrismcb · · Score: 1

      Actually, the anti-vaxxer movement could be a fantastic way of getting dumbfuck retards out of the gene pool.

      Well yeah, except that the dumbfuck retards have already been vaccinated. It is their offspring, that aren't necessarily dumfucks that aren't vaccinated.

    154. Re:They're stupid by spokenoise · · Score: 1

      You want your right to no vaccination? Sure you can have it. Now fuck off out of my herd immunity and take your chances.

    155. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Don't be a nitpicking nelly."

      Son, I do believe you'd get shot for saying that round here.

      On a lighter note, I'm an artist and I can see the importance of spelling. It's just that you're lazy and/or maybe a bit dumb. That's all, but it's ok. Because if you weren't dumb, you'd spell things correctly. It's all good, you're still *my* friend, just my dumb friend.

      You see if you were educated over say 10 years ago, you wouldn't *need* an "English Manual" to express yourself. But... you're a snowflake. We get it.

    156. Re:They're stupid by daem0n1x · · Score: 1

      Sometimes I can't avoid liking the French.

    157. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wait, If the other kids are vaccinated, shouldn't they be immune to the diseases?

    158. Re:They're stupid by ChatHuant · · Score: 1

      if you don't want to vaccinate your kids, that's your right

      I don't think that should be the case: isn't it reckless endangerment of a minor? How is it different from dangling your kid out the window, for example? Why would a parent's right to be a stubborn ignorant trump the child's right to safety?

    159. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So, my resistance to the herd mentality is screwing up your sense of security. Tough shit?

      If you don't like it, you can leave! :)

    160. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So, my resistance to the herd mentality is screwing up your sense of security. Tough shit? I'm so sorry.

      It's already my right, shithead. If you don't like it, you can leave! :)

    161. Re:They're stupid by enjerth · · Score: 1

      Unfortunately, as can be seen by TFA, anti-vaxxing doesn't affect only its adepts but also innocent people around them. Too bad.

      Are you suggesting that "it's adepts" are not "innocent people", too?

    162. Re:They're stupid by Mr.CRC · · Score: 1

      You post is just a bunch of straw men attacks.

      You do know that the authorities want to administer Gardasil to boys, right?

      What's wrong with that?

      Apparently in your mind, nothing is wrong with it. And so you will have no objection to the government deciding to put a GPS chip in the head of your dick either, correct?. And that is exactly what you will eventually get, if we keep up with your line of thinking.

    163. Re:They're stupid by daem0n1x · · Score: 1

      And so you will have no objection to the government deciding to put a GPS chip in the head of your dick either, correct?. And that is exactly what you will eventually get, if we keep up with your line of thinking.

      Yes, because both situations are perfeclty comparable and your example makes perfect sense. Let me guess, you were a star at your debate club, no?

    164. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What? No - she's pregnant, she can't have her period. ... and what does a window have to do with it anyway?

      sheesh ...

    165. Re:They're stupid by Archimagus · · Score: 1

      Your completely right.

    166. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Uhh many children end up getting slightly ill immediately after exposure to a lot of things. And just because something occurs after something else doesn't mean it was caused by it. Fact is, children get sick all the time because many of the pathogens they run into are brand new to them.

    167. Re:They're stupid by strack · · Score: 1

      im pretty sure that also extends to your freedom to jab a needle in someone ends at their kids. and i find it hard to equate them not doing something with them punching you in the face.

    168. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So you're angry because the unvaccinated kids are endangering the "normal kids". I assume that by "normal" you mean the ones that are vaccinated, against the diseases that the unvaccinated kids are supposedly passing, to the ones that are... you know... vaccinated... against... hm... so, what vast majority of people are the unvaccinated people hurting? The ones that are vaccinated? Do you see the problem with your reasoning yet? Please tell me you see the problem with your reasoning.

    169. Re:They're stupid by rs79 · · Score: 1

      When somebody quotes Natural News you know they didn't pass grade 6 science.

      By my count, 1 out of 10 articles in that rag is actually factual, and when it is they don't actually understand why.

      It really only exists to sell ads, not to inform. Surely the ads for the free energy generators should be the first clue

      --
      Need Mercedes parts ?
    170. Re:They're stupid by theNAM666 · · Score: 1

      Your description of policy is essentially equal to the norm in the US. What these people (read: idiots) are doing is claiming an exemption from the policy, based on personal conscience.

      I'd really like to be able to litigate against them, but (oversimplifiying a bit) the US legal tradition only recognizes actual, not potential or theoretical damages, as actionable. You can't say "this is stupid, I shouldn't be exposed to this risk, make these people pay based on the risk they're giving me;" you have to demonstrate you caught the disease, and that their child gave it to you (or your child), and then claim actual damages... alas.

    171. Re:They're stupid by theNAM666 · · Score: 1

      >Justify why a newborn needs a hepatitis b vaccine. Go ahead call me stupid when I've done the research.

      Stupid!

    172. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The same reason that putting your hand in an open flame "stresses your skin out" more than the routine everyday exposure to thousands of heat emitters, such as .... you get the point.

    173. Re:They're stupid by rs79 · · Score: 2

      "contains mercury"

      Yeah, about that. Obviously there's no shiny liquid metal in there rolling around. What it actually contains is Thimerisol, which is "ethyl mercury". This has been in contact lens cleaning solution for at least 25 years. Not one case if autism there.

      "Methyl mercury" is the bad one. While ethyl mercury is simply excreted from the body methyl mercuty is not. We know all about what happens from acute and/or chronic mercury toxicity. First, Minimata http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minamata_disease and all the others, less famous: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_poisoning

      No autism. While mercury poisoning produces horrid symptoms not one case of autism is known. And no harmful efffects from *ethyl* mercury are known.

      So if somebody talks about mercury in the context of why vaccines are bad, they simply and literally do not have any idea what they're actually talking about.

      The one study that showed a link was fabricated. For money.

      There is Mercury in all fish (except small oily ones) now. So much you can test before and after eating one and find a measurable increase after eating one. And it's the bad one, methyl mercury.

      There's more mercury in a can of tuna than there is in a CFL lightbulb.

      Thimerisol only occurs in the flu vaccine any more, because it's the only one that works in there, it's been taken out of all other vaccines and substitutes were used - not because it's unsafe, but it was cheaper to do this than for the FDA to waste time on the tinfoil crowd who keep winging about it.

      --
      Need Mercedes parts ?
    174. Re:They're stupid by rs79 · · Score: 1

      Yeah it actually does, but it's the only one that does, see a posting of mine a page or two up.

      There is a problem with the flu shot, it does't actually prevent any deaths. But it's not per se generally harmful.
      http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/11/does-the-vaccine-matter/307723/

      Everyone in my family seems to get a mild flu for two weeks after getting a flu shot, so, based on
      this: http://rs79.vrx.net/opinions/ideas/medicine/vitamins/flu/ and a few other similar papers, if we get the flu (very rare) we take vitamins a-z in decent sized doses and eat a high protein diet with lots of garlic, chilis and ginger. I have yet to have one that lasted 2 days and no secondary infection compared to a week and a 50/50 channce of a chest infection. This seems to have held true for everyone in the family for the past decade or so. That's what I've seen anyway.

      The other vaccines all seem to work as advertised without side effects.

      --
      Need Mercedes parts ?
    175. Re:They're stupid by rs79 · · Score: 1

      "That's a funny one, if you started forbidding all the foods that offend one religion or the other, the only item the school menus would be allowed to have was water."

      Water is offensive to the breatharias. No food, no water, just positive energy and sunlight. That's all you get.

      "Inedia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
      en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InediaShare
      Breatharianism is a related concept, in which believers claim food and possibly water are not necessary, and that humans can be sustained solely by prana (the ..."

      --
      Need Mercedes parts ?
    176. Re:They're stupid by rs79 · · Score: 1

      "BOSTON, MA -- Source: Harvard Medical School Date: 2003-05-07.

      The United States has a higher prevalence and lower treatment rate of serious mental illness than a number of other developed countries, according to a study published in a special edition on international health care in the May/June issue of the policy journal Health Affairs."

      I'll bet if you could find state by state stats on the rate of schizophrenia you'd find those four to be at the top of the list; along with chamtrails and flouride, vaccines are one of the main delusions of schizophrenics. It's like a litmus test. Notice you never find people that only believe in one of these things? Like just H.A.A.R.P but they know everything else is bogus; no, if they believe one they believe them all. They're not stupid, they're ill, that's all.

      --
      Need Mercedes parts ?
    177. Re:They're stupid by rs79 · · Score: 1

      Oh come on people aren't THAT stupid.

      Sprinkler Rainbow Conspiracy
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_c6HsiixFS8

      Yeah ok, maybe they are.

      --
      Need Mercedes parts ?
    178. Re:They're stupid by rs79 · · Score: 1

      It was a Brit that invented penicillin you insensitive clod!

      Just cause we had one whackjob doesn't label the whole place as insane, need I say "cold fusion" or point out only Saudi Arabia has less people that believe in evolution than the US (46%)?

      There's a good lad.

      --
      Need Mercedes parts ?
    179. Re:They're stupid by rs79 · · Score: 1

      Of course there's different ways of making vaccines, but that doesn't mean there's different ways of making any particular vaccine. Some are made from eggs, others horses and what have you. Viruses are stupid specific and it's a miracle we can grow human virues in a lab at all.

      Pathogens, protozoans, bacteria and viruses are very very host specific, a rat liver worm will pretty much grow only there, and the bacteria that gives you a chest infection won't give you an ear infection and won't grow on cheese.

      So, in the event they can grow a virus in a lab, it may only be able to be possible using a narrow set of media, sometimes only one thing works. This isn't the same with each virus. Now, people can be and are allergic to pretty much everything: wheat, soy, latex, meat, fish, panuts, eggs, milk, you name it. Some of these are common, 30% of the world lacks the gene to digest gluten meaning most common grains are out, similarly so only 33% of the world can digest lactose past childhoos giving a dairy iintolerance; some are outright allergic to caesin. Meat allergies are rare but exists and are sometimes animal specific, sometimes not.

      Point is no matter what you make vaccines from, some poor schmuck somewhere is going to be allergic to it and in many cases there is no second source for the vaccine.

      --
      Need Mercedes parts ?
    180. Re:They're stupid by rs79 · · Score: 1

      "Actually, I read somewhere that most of the vaccine deniers have college degrees....just not advanced ones or ones in the sciences."

      John Nash did.

      Don't make me drag out the list of PhD's that were batshit crazy.

      --
      Need Mercedes parts ?
    181. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your POST needs more SCARE CAPS.

    182. Re:They're stupid by assertation · · Score: 1

      The existence of an outlier doesn't disprove the existence of a demographic trend and what that demographic trend means.

    183. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you check the stats vaccinated children have more ill visits to Dr.

    184. Re:They're stupid by Reziac · · Score: 1

      Kinda like "you knew skydiving without a parachute was dangerous and you did it anyway, so why should we pay up?" albeit less obviously dramatic. Pay for unexpected or ordinary risks, don't pay for "you damn well knew better" or "your tinfoil hat is too tight" risks. Which should be reasonably easy to delineate.

      --
      ~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
    185. Re:They're stupid by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      If vaccines work, then the vaccinated children shouldn't get sick.

      They generally don't. Antibodies don't work in binary fashion, you know? Having only a small part of the population not vaccinated is a necessary part of the deal, if you really want to be sure.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    186. Re:They're stupid by RockDoctor · · Score: 1
      Agreed that they're stupid.

      Unfortunately, they have the right to be stupid.
      Their stupidity could well have detrimental consequences for people who are not stupid (and who get their vaccinations).

      So, really, the only option for the not-stupid is to not associate with the stupid. And if that means segregation of the children of stupid and not-stupid parents into separate schools .... well that opens up a whole new can of worms.

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
    187. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      95% ?

      That's what the drug company claims, usually. Because if they don't claim that, FDA won't let it on the market.

      Now, does it mean the real efficacy is 95%? Or can a drug company prove it is 95%? Sure, Merck has been doing it for years to finally have its own employees testify Merck cooked research results to fit the 95% requirement, in the case of mumps vaccine. This was known internally and by FDA for decades, now. Merck has just been forced by the court to pay 3 billion dollar fine for the lie and machinations directed at not letting the public know the mumps vaccine was just a health risk rather than any help. By the way, it was the gov't who took the money from the fines, not the children exposed to this "vaccine".

    188. Re:They're stupid by niftymitch · · Score: 1

      I recall lining up for the first polio vaccine trials c. 1953.
      My mothers brother had polio and my Mom was keen to be first in line
      with us.

      The point is that there are and were folk that had first hand
      knowledge about polio. From a little gimp limp to an iron lung
      to death. Knowledge about small pox is richly documented in
      literature, but who reads today so ask an American Indian....

      So not stupid in too many case IGNORANT and gullible.

      Pertussis... is evil. Mom, Dad, Grand parents... all need
      to get a booster for pertussis and also wash their hands with
      common soap (need not, should not, be antibacterial).

      --
      Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't. Mark Twain.
    189. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Koolade-aide anyone?

    190. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And that's why they need educated. And the education system itself is to blame for this. Too much rote learning, and not enough learning how to learn and learning how to think.

      False. Rote learning is very much out of fashion in US schools. Back when rote learning was the dominant method, all kids were vaccinated.

      The rise of the anti-vaccination movement coincides with modern namby-pamby education methods so that we don't damage the self-esteem of your precious little snowflake.

    191. Re:They're stupid by Archimagus · · Score: 1

      No one said Force them to get shots, just don't let them bring their non vaccinated selves to public school.

    192. Re:They're stupid by kqs · · Score: 1

      I think the problem is caused by the parent's poor choice, but the consequences would be borne by the children (not getting helped because insurance would not cover it) and by other kids.

      I vote that insurance cover it, but the parent's insurance rates go up, plus they are subject to willful endangerment lawsuits if a disease vectors through their little preciouses to someone else.

    193. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Secondly, there will reach a point where your son could experiment with IV drugs or even homosexual encounters, don't you want him to be protected in that instance?

      No. Not really.

    194. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, no, no. The school told your parents that they wouldn't let you attend without a vaccination, and your parents took the school at their word because they're civilized.

      Anti-vaccination parents call the schools' bluff. While technically the school could prevent the child from attending, usually they let it slide while persistently agitating the parents about the vaccination.

      You have to look at it from the school's perspective. Parents who don't vaccinate are idiots. Does the school really want that kid to be stuck at home all day with idiot parents? Of course not.

      If it's just a very small number of kids doing this per school, it's an okay system. But now there are legions of anti-vaccine parents, and the old way of dealing with things is failing. Soon enough schools will get strict, and after the anti-vaccine thing dies down, parents will begin to resent the strictness.

      It's the evolution of government. In the beginning officials are flexible to the needs of individuals. Then said individuals abuse the lenient system. The system gets strict. Now everybody resents the system for being inflexible.

      These idiot parents are doing more than just putting us at risk of infection. They're going to stultify the school bureaucracy.

    195. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They don't use thiomersal in childhood vaccinations anymore. It was, of course, harmless. But even so, the anti-vaccine nut jobs actually did spur the pharma companies to change the preservative.

      But apparently they've yet to get the memo.

    196. Re:They're stupid by tolkienfan · · Score: 1

      That sounds like a rhetorical question, but if you think an unvaccinated person cannot make vaccinated people sick, then you are seriously ignorant.
      Please go learn about vacination, the various vaccines in common usage, their efficacy, and the diseases they help prevent.
      This is way too serious an issue to go making this kind of comment without actually knowing anything about the subjevt matter.

    197. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The worst thing is that there does appear to be *evidence* that anti-biotics may play a role in autism.
      http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10921511

      If anti-biotics turn out to play a large role in autism I am sure there will be a certain number of anti-vaxx people saying "see we were right." No amount of explaining the difference between antibiotics and vaccines will help and I will just have to grin and bear it.

    198. Re:They're stupid by tolkienfan · · Score: 1

      Smallpox killed 300-500 million people, during the 20th century.
      It's not a scam.

    199. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are also theories amongst the medical community that a bored immune system increases the risk of auto-immune disease such as eczema etc. Think of it like this: the immune system is your body's police force, if they have nothing to do, they start beating up the law-abiding citizens. The immune system needs constant challenges to develop & mature so that it is fitting fit for a life time of battles.

      Disclaimer: this is not yet proven, but merely a theory.

    200. Re:They're stupid by tolkienfan · · Score: 1

      They're using a religious exemption, Skippy.

      IMO that exemption shouldn't exist.

    201. Re:They're stupid by Pseudonym · · Score: 1

      Please explain for all the stupid people in the room how, if student A is vaccinated but student B is not, that this will make student A sick.

      I was vaccinated against pertussis, but when I was young, vaccination rates for pertussis were low.

      The pertussis vaccine of the day (unsure if this is still the case) didn't absolutely prevent you from getting the disease, but it did reduce its severity and your risk of passing it on. I got the disease anyway. It was pretty severe, to the point that had I not been vaccinated, I'd probably not be here today. It did permanent damage to my throat.

      So, stupid people of Slashdot, it's true and I'm proof.

      Incidentally, there are also some kids who can't be immunised because of their own medical history. Not vaccinating your children puts them at risk by removing their herd immunity.

      --
      sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
    202. Re:They're stupid by Pseudonym · · Score: 1

      'Vaccination' is a massive fraud, a huge money earner for the fraudsters who make the so-called 'vaccines'.

      Leaving aside the rest of the post, this alone is ridiculous.

      Vaccines are a loss leader. If you're big pharma, and you want to defraud the public, you don't sell quack preventions. Not only would that would be easily spotted by scientists wanting to make their careers, you only need to sell a prevention once.

      No, there's basically no money to be made from vaccines. The money is made from ongoing cures, especially if the cure is for a "disease" which doesn't exist or is just a different kind of normal. That's why there are a dozen pills for erectile dysfunction for baby boomers, but no cures for malaria.

      --
      sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
    203. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Giving boys gardasil is a good thing, since it reduces the risk of penile cancer and improves the herd immunity to HPV. Those are both especially desirable since they eliminate one of the excuses for circumcision.

    204. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yep. The real issue is that people are generally confused about how vaccines work.

      It's not: "I get vaccine = I can't catch the disease"

      Vaccines are a *population-level* intervention. It's more akin to environmental habitat destruction. You destroy all the habitat, the animals that lived there go extinct. You protect the habitat, and you end up with a small pocket of animals that occasionally get outside their habitat and into your lawn. A vaccine improves your body's response against its targeted pathogen, but sometimes the pathogen still wins.

    205. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Vaccines- Quackery and fraud combined with a persistent medical mythology that utterly lacks a factual basis.
      Normally the people on Slashdot are above average intelligence. Evidently not when it comes to religious belief like vaccines.

    206. Re:They're stupid by mapkinase · · Score: 1

      >Have you bothered to read the other posts in this discussion?

      No. Nor I should had

      --
      I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
    207. Re:They're stupid by mapkinase · · Score: 1

      >Further, there are other people who are on immunosuppressants and such who cannot receive the vaccine. These people depend on herd immunity

      Here is the problem. They should not depend on herd immunity. They should depend on many other ways to avoid being infected.

      --
      I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
    208. Re:They're stupid by jc79 · · Score: 1

      This is clearly false as many effective vaccines have no heavy metal adjuncts. Remember Edward Jenner? The cowpox virus he inoculated his subject with had no metals in, yet provoked an immune reaction nonetheless.

    209. Re:They're stupid by nobodie · · Score: 1

      I remember when I was a kids and was also an army kid who traveled to Europe and back. We had all our shots, but they only included mumps, whooping Cough, and maybe pertussis? Only vaguely remember, polio yes, measles no, smallpox yes, chicken pox no, most kids got a lot of childhood illnesses and some, like my godmother, died of them finally in her old age (scarlet fever damaged her heart when very young, or so I was told).

      Nowadays my son and his wife are anti-vaxxers living in a Mennonite community. They have their own way of doing things, but it does happen that they all come down with stuff at the same time. They are pretty damn healthy though, they lead a rugged life that keeps them strong. I am not so worried about them and the illnesses you are talking about, they are strong. It is the weak little pissant kids in the city, locked away all day every day behind TVs, computers and game consoles that will succumb to these illnesses even with vaccination.

      Am I a Luddite? No, but the world that I see today is far away from the world I grew up in or the world my son and his family are building. The outliers might be the strongest ones in the end, friends.

      --
      Subversion of spatial scale luxury decoration ideas.
    210. Re:They're stupid by highphilosopher · · Score: 1

      Please Explain.

      Person A. Vaccinated

      Person B. Not vaccinated.

      Person B Gets Virus.

      Person A cares because???

    211. Re:They're stupid by Stormthirst · · Score: 1

      I'm a Brit you insensitive clod!

      Doesn't stop the "British People" being stupid. Don't believe me? Then why are the Measles rates rising? Simple - stupid British parents believing that they're giving their kids Autism when they give their kids the MMR vaccine.

    212. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I replied to this email yesterday. Was my comment not PC enough?
      What makes you God that you can delete mails that are not obscene?
      Jerks.

    213. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My son was fully vaccinated, and got both measles and mumps (at different times). I don't think that the vaccines work as well as the doctors want you to think. And FYI he did not get that sick. I think he suffered more from the vaccine than the actual illness, and I don't have to worry about the immunity wearing off. The doctors want to tell you that these are awful illnesses, and they just aren't for healthy children. It is not my child's job to risk his health for the good of a hypothetical week baby brother of a classmate. Remember when we all got Chicken Pox, and no one got Shingles, people are getting Shingles now because no one gets chicken pox any more. Being exposed to someone with chicken pox makes your immune system stronger and reduces your risk for shingles (they are the same illness, and if you have ever had chicken pox you have the virus). So in theory if student A got chicken pox from the vaccine (not uncommon) Ill student B with chicken pox could help keep student A healthy. Remember when we used to keep newborn babies at home, and not expect the world to be illness free. The straw that broke the camels back for me was when my son's doctor wanted to give him the cervical cancer shot for the sake of his future girlfriends/ wife. All risk for my child, no potential benefit at all. Doctors have a heard mentality they want the shots for all children because it is better for all children, not because it is better for your child.

    214. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because my child is not injected with 12+ diseases in his normal life in one day. The diseases he finds on his own are on his skin, and that works to protect him, and reduce the number that his immune system has to deal with. It would be like giving you 12 collage finals at the same time vs. going out in the world and seeing what you could discover.

    215. Re:They're stupid by stranger_to_himself · · Score: 1

      My son was fully vaccinated, and got both measles and mumps (at different times). I don't think that the vaccines work as well as the doctors want you to think. And FYI he did not get that sick. I think he suffered more from the vaccine than the actual illness, and I don't have to worry about the immunity wearing off. The doctors want to tell you that these are awful illnesses, and they just aren't for healthy children. It is not my child's job to risk his health for the good of a hypothetical week baby brother of a classmate. Remember when we all got Chicken Pox, and no one got Shingles, people are getting Shingles now because no one gets chicken pox any more. Being exposed to someone with chicken pox makes your immune system stronger and reduces your risk for shingles (they are the same illness, and if you have ever had chicken pox you have the virus). So in theory if student A got chicken pox from the vaccine (not uncommon) Ill student B with chicken pox could help keep student A healthy. Remember when we used to keep newborn babies at home, and not expect the world to be illness free. The straw that broke the camels back for me was when my son's doctor wanted to give him the cervical cancer shot for the sake of his future girlfriends/ wife. All risk for my child, no potential benefit at all. Doctors have a heard mentality they want the shots for all children because it is better for all children, not because it is better for your child.

      I take your point - and in fact you are right, in a world where everybody else gets vaccinated it actually makes sense not to do it yourself. The trouble is if everybody starts to think like that then we end up back in days when infectious disease was a major cause of death for both children and adults. Back in those days infant mortality was non-negliable for all sorts of diseases.

      Doctors are responsible for the health of the communities they serve (explicitly so in most countries, less so in the US), and so they are right to try to immunise people for the sake of the wider community. Individualism doesn't get you the best results here. Would you rather live in a community where your daughters sexual partners have had the HPV vaccine, or one in which they are likely to be carrying HPV?

    216. Re:They're stupid by Bengie · · Score: 1

      Person A's child dyes because the kid was too young to get vaccinated. Not everyone is 25 years old and likely to live through every disease.

    217. Re:They're stupid by ravenshrike · · Score: 1

      It's a good thing you're not a scientist. In fact for the first several months the baby uses its mother's immune system to boost it's own.

    218. Re:They're stupid by cdrguru · · Score: 1

      No, the reasons behind the anti-vax movement are pretty clear. It is based on the idea that the US government is completely owned by corporate interested and these corporate interests want to create a population that is dependent on them for everything. A society where the majority of people were autistic would be extremely dependent.

      This also assumes that anyone with more money that the average Joe is a sociopathic monster. Or a Republican. Or both.

      I'm suprised this isn't a more popular belief.

    219. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're a conspiracy nut!

      When you start invoking the "air quotes" around the word "they", its time to ask if you're alright in the head.

      But beyond that, nothing you said is even sane (nor did you bother to read it).

      From the page you just linked...

      Since 2001, no new vaccine licensed by FDA for use in children has contained thimerosal as a preservative and all vaccines routinely recommended by CDC for children younger than 6 years of age have been thimerosal-free

      Regardless, the remainder of your conspiracy theory is just wacky.

      Do you know what life was like without vaccines? Holy crap, you're ignorant.

    220. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm sorry bro. What you said is mostly true, but your poor spelling and grammar (and not caring to correct it) really hurts the message of "don't be too lazy to use thinking skills"

    221. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I really wanted this to be an anti-VAX (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VAX) joke.

    222. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Julian Assange opted out of wearing a condom, but he's getting extradited. Meanwhile, any fool can opt out of vaccination, no questions asked. Only in USA

    223. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      being "pro vaccine" is like being "pro drinking" or "pro eating."

      appropriate questions are: which vaccine, what is the data, what is in the vaccine, etc?

      for drinking it would be: which liquid do you support drinking? do you support drinking motor oil? beer? water? what state are those liquids in?

      for food it is: what do you choose to eat?

      being pro or anti vaccine oversimplifies the issue.

    224. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They're not British, they're Daily Mail readers. We're trying to have them re-classified as a separate nationality or even species

    225. Re:They're stupid by Meski · · Score: 1

      You think HPV is only caught by girls? I won't start to address the tinfoil mentality of the rest of your post.

    226. Re:They're stupid by Meski · · Score: 1

      Reasonable, but the vaccine makers could use a base that these people are not allergic to. *THAT* is something I'd be happy to see tax dollars go toward subsidising.

    227. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are certain people that can't receive particular vaccines for immune deficiency or allergy reasons. That's fine.

      No that is not fine. Such people should either die out and free the gene pool from their defective genes, or at least be chemically castrated so they do no procreate.

    228. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      wow , before there was a christian inquisition now we enter into medical terror and pharma inquisition because of retarded general public like you who follows sheep mentality up to total absurdity... check the fact how much vaccines can harm , what is inside vaccines., how they are produced... there is not even one scientific study showing that vaccinated kids are healthier with better immune system than non-vaccinated ones... not even ONE !!!and that is absolutely FASCISTIC idea to force any human to any medical procedure that may cause any negative side effects! It is not different from what nazists did in concentrations camps... if you believe in that creepy crap of the toxic non-vegetarian cocktail named vaccines , go for it... be perfectly protected... but keep away from others who accept vaccines as criminal enterprise against humanity... we do have right to our own bodies... if vaccines are not able to protect you so why do you need others to be vaccinated... if vaccinated people can still get the disease so they can still be carriers of it, the same as non-vaccinated ones...besides vaccines offer in the best case scenario ONLY very temporary immunity, NEVER for life so constant boosters are necessary, constant flow of poison into your system....yaaak !the herd immunity is POSSIBLE BUT ONLY through NATURAL immunity which is possible ONLY when a person actually goes through a disease and becomes immune for life... antibodies DO NOT equal immunity... some people do not have antibodies for specific disease and yet will not get it... some do have antibodies induced by vaccines and still get the disease...yes vacc9ines are a means of artificial selection... if you trust insane researchers over nature you will have to pay price for it with your own health... already your logic fails you big time and you are only full of fear and aggression..very very sad...

    229. Re:They're stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      that is extremely illogical explanation! if a vaccinated person can still get the disease it means that such a person can become a carrier of this disease as well ! Vaccines do not equal immunity!!! Vaccines actually messed up your immune system and weaken it so you become much more open to many strange diseases and also to auto-immune diseases like allergies, asthma, etc...vaccines carries many side effects so forcing them upon anyone is fascistic ! it is medical terrorism !!!

    230. Re:They're stupid by morgauxo · · Score: 1

      Vaccination greatly reduces the odds one will get sick. Given significant exposure to pathogens it does not 100% prevent it. A bunch of dumb people's children running around spreading diseases increases everyone's exposure to those diseases increasing the chances that even the vaccinated will catch it.

    231. Re:They're stupid by morgauxo · · Score: 1

      unfortunately non-antibacterial soap isn't so common anymore

    232. Re:They're stupid by TheInternetGuy · · Score: 1

      >Your freedom to swing your arm ends at my nose

      It seems that very often one cannot take a walk on a street without touching someone's overstretched nose.

      Your freedom to stretch your nose ends at my fist?

      --
      If my comment didn't sound as good in your head as it did in mine, then I guess we all know who's to blame
  2. Because... by jongalbreath · · Score: 3, Insightful

    everyone's best friend should be Polio.

    1. Re:Because... by Sarten-X · · Score: 2

      Can we see a peer-reviewed version of the Carlin study, please?

      --
      You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
    2. Re:Because... by h4rr4r · · Score: 2

      These are not synthesized germs, there is no mother nature, and there is no way it was intended to work.

      You are making patterns out of random chance, a pretty normal human failing, but a quite dangerous one.

    3. Re:Because... by Sique · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Your post could be shortened to "I don't know how vaccination works".

      Almost every person with a healthy natural immune system exposed to Poliovirus will brush it off with no symptoms and gain additional lifelong protection.

      That's the only slightly correct sentence in your post. But all the conclusions you draw are wrong.
      Immunization via vaccination is based on exactly that fact: Given an healthy immune system, an exposition to the Poliovius will create an immune answer which a) stops the Poliovirus from spreading and b) gives you a lifelong protection. And that's how vaccination works. Your body gets a dose of dead or at least deactivated Poliovirus, your healthy immune system creates the immune answer, and you gain lifelong protection -- and that without the risk of actually catching Poliomyelitis, which an exposition to the real thing would yield.

      --
      .sig: Sique *sigh*
    4. Re:Because... by zoloto · · Score: 1

      That's why it's called an anecdote. Not a study.

    5. Re:Because... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      except most vaccines bypass the primary protection systems of the body-- that is they are directly injected into the body. Not a good idea.

    6. Re:Because... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, but the manufacturer's own warning labels on every vaccine report that immunity is NOT lifelong and in some people the vaccine actually provides NO immunity as biology is still an incompletely understood science with mind trumping matter in a significant portion of the population (placebo and it's opposite). The article seems to draw a false conclusion, in that it states that more kids are unvaccinated in schools and one kid brought measles from Europe. It does not examine whether it was vaccinated or unvaccinated kids that transmitted the second infections.

    7. Re:Because... by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

      Actually I think this one's called "part of a comedy routine."

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
    8. Re:Because... by hrvatska · · Score: 5, Informative

      The introduction of the polio vaccine in 1955 in the US had a dramatic effect on polio. In 1937 there were 9,514 cases of polio, 12,450 in 1943, 33,300 in 1950, 38,476 in 1954. The polio vaccine was introduced in 1955 and in 1956 there were 15,140 cases, 1957 had 5,485 cases. The number of cases dropped through the 1960s. By the early '70s total polio cases were down to single digits. In the last decade most years have 0 or 1 polio cases. Sanitation was introduced well before 1955, and yet we see a rise in polio cases from the mid 1930s until 1955. Did sanitation suddenly get better in 1955? Did immune systems suddenly get better in 1955? The source for the polio statistics is http://www.post-polio.org/ir-usa.html.

    9. Re:Because... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think you would be shocked to know that treated drinking water still has living bacteria and viruses in it. They are not able to reproduce though. I have no idea what you mean by reduced exposure.

    10. Re:Because... by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      What I'm curious about is why the polio cases increased, between 1937 and 1954. The population didn't increase that much between those two years, I don't think; that's a 4-fold increase. Sanitation should have been better in 1954 than in 1937. So why the sudden outbreak? According to Wikipedia, it was only first recognized in 1840 (though it existed for thousands of years), and epidemics were unknown before the late 19th century, but suddenly in the 20th century it's a giant menace. I wonder why it never turned into an epidemic before; people didn't just start living in cities only in the 20th century.

    11. Re:Because... by kurzweilfreak · · Score: 1

      And that's why it's useless to cite.

      --

      kurzweil_freak

      5th Kyu Genbukan Ninpo/KJJR student

      Be the darkness that allows the light to shine.

    12. Re:Because... by hrvatska · · Score: 2

      It's possible that a more virulent variety of polio arose in the mid 19th century. If you look at the stats on the page whose the link I provided, you'll notice that polio didn't start to increase rapidly until around 1943. I'm curious how much migration patterns and changes in population density due to WWII affected the spread of polio around that time. The incidence of polio increased dramatically after 1945, coinciding with the return of soldiers from WWII and the arrival of war refugees from Europe. Perhaps people arriving from areas where a more virulent form of polio was endemic and settling across the US were responsible for the large increase in the incidence of polio in the US post WWII.

    13. Re:Because... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't mind polio virus expositions, but I really wouldn't like being exposed to it.
      Maybe you mean exposure?

    14. Re:Because... by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      Wow, that's a pretty remarkable insight there.

    15. Re:Because... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Polio is pretty impressive, but I'm rather fond of this plot of measles, because polio is extremely rare, whereas measles has been experiencing a resurgence due to people (idiots) not getting vaccinated or getting booster shots. It's hard to look at that plot and fail to realize that something special happened in ~1963, the year measles vaccines were licensed in the US.

      Anyway, you could ask the same question about why measles infections dropped spectacularly in post-1963, whereas polio cases dropped spectacularly post-1955. Broad adoption of new sanitation strategies? I don't think so. It's a weird, staggered response to something that affects these diseases. It's obvious it's a strong response to effective and widespread vaccine use.

      In some ways, the success of vaccines is the only reason why people (idiots) who don't want to get vaccinated think there is no downside. Look at those numbers: routinely more than 500000 cases a year of measles before the vaccine. If there was even half of that I think people would take the issue a lot more seriously instead of listening to this anti-vaccine nonsense.

    16. Re:Because... by Sique · · Score: 1

      But that's the same with immunity aquired by a real infection. It also wears off with time, and sometimes you need another vaccination to get immune again, or you can get sick from an infection again and need to develop the right immunisation again.
      It doesn't change the general concept of vaccination: Having the body undergo some "model infection", which is guaranteed (for medical values of "guaranteed") not to harm the body, but to cause the immune system to develop the right immune response. Differently than the injection of a medication, a vaccine consists of antigenes, that are the substances the immune system reacts on by developing specific antibodies which couple to the antigenes and turn them inactive.

      --
      .sig: Sique *sigh*
    17. Re:Because... by Sique · · Score: 1

      The "not a good idea" is pretty uninformed. Why exactly should the injection be a bad idea?

      1. Not all vaccines are injected. Polio-antigenes for instances are swalloed and thus they take the "natural" way to the body.
      2. The vaccines have to reach the immune system, so the immune system can create the antibodies for the antigenes contained in the vaccine. So we have to warrant that the antigenes are not destroyed for instance by the digestive system before they reach the actual lymphocytes. There is no point in vaccination if there are no antibodies created.

      --
      .sig: Sique *sigh*
    18. Re:Because... by hrvatska · · Score: 1

      That's another great example of the close correlation between the introduction of a vaccine and the near eradication of a disease. I'd like to find a single web page that lists various diseases, when vaccines were introduced for those diseases, and how the infection and death rates changed (by year) as the vaccine was adopted.

    19. Re:Because... by s73v3r · · Score: 1

      The late George Carlin offered an anecdote

      Anecdote. Not data.

      You'll forgive me if I'd much rather have policy decisions made on the basis of data, and not anecdotes.

    20. Re:Because... by s73v3r · · Score: 1

      Yes, but the manufacturer's own warning labels on every vaccine report that immunity is NOT lifelong and in some people the vaccine actually provides NO immunity

      Similar to how it works with the real thing, but with a far, far, far greater reduction in risk.

    21. Re:Because... by s73v3r · · Score: 1

      For an even bigger support of this, look at India. They only recently started vaccinating for polio, and this past January, they were able to celebrate their first year without a polio infection.

    22. Re:Because... by rs79 · · Score: 1

      The numbers for polio are about right; there can be many reasons why those who were paralyzed got it; no two people have the same biochemistry and diet and there are some minor dietary insufficiencies that play into the hands of certain viruses. Any virus that encodes for selenomethione for example will strip the body of selenium leaving it unable to produce glutamine peroxidase, the stuff the body uses to lyse (kill) viruses. Pauling showed that C will reverse the disease in the 50s in double blind clinical studies so it could be as simple as mild scurvy as the casative factor in paralysis; there were clusters of the disease and soil and eating habits of those populations need to be looked at carefully, the etiology of many diseases is figured out this way by biostatistitions.

      But the point is we don't care about polio any more and don't have to look because we eradicated it with vaccines. Safe, effective cheap vaccies that prevented a large number of poeple from spending a life in an iron lung, never being able to walk ever again.

      --
      Need Mercedes parts ?
    23. Re:Because... by Reziac · · Score: 1

      I usually explain it thus:

      Vaccination is a controlled, limited exposure to a virus that's been whacked on the head enough times that it's no longer able to infect you.

      Natural exposure is uncontrolled and likely to be in far greater amounts than any vaccine (thus more likely to reach the particle threshold for infection), plus no one has beaten the virus into a noninfective state.

      If you think vaccine is gonna harm your child, what on earth do you think natural exposure (far more intense than any vaccine) will do??

      So which do you prefer? Cuz you're gonna be exposed to one or the other, sooner or later.

      --
      ~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
  3. Vaccines should be mandatory. by ZorinLynx · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This is why vaccinations need to be mandatory. If you want to live in society, you have to follow society's rules and that includes rules that keep you from putting others at serious risk.

    1. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by MightyYar · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Agreed. The only exemptions should be for allergy or other medical problems - those are sufficiently rare that herd immunity should not be compromised.

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    2. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by sensationull · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Agreed, parents who don't should be forced to wear dunce hats in public as they are usually to thick to even have a remotely reasonable reason why.

    3. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by sargon666777 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This is why vaccinations need to be mandatory. If you want to live in society, you have to follow society's rules and that includes rules that keep you from putting others at serious risk.

      Wow what a slippery slope that is... So for instance should H1N1 vaccinations be required? What about flu shots? If everyone got the flu shot we would likely run out before the high risk people (the young and elderly) had a chance to get it. Not to mention the potential side effects of many vaccines. Personally I and my children are vaccinated for everything I consider a serious disease (polio, etc.), but not H1N1 for instance because the chance of death is practically non-existent. In a free society you have the choice to be stupid... If you take away that choice then its no longer a free society.

      --
      Am I lying when I tell you that im telling the truth? Or am I telling the truth when I say that Im lying?
    4. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Tastecicles · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Earth, Hitler. 1938.

      --
      Operation Guillotine is in effect.
    5. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "This is why vaccinations need to be mandatory. If you want to live in society, you have to follow society's rules and that includes rules that keep you from putting others at serious risk."

      So you're saying that we should follow the lead of Mississippi and West Virginia? That is a first for slashdot.

      http://www.vaccinesafety.edu/cc-exem.htm

    6. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      I dont think you understand how vaccination works, its not a 100% guarantee, it improves the odds of not getting something, and thus its able to completely surpress a disease if it has no hosts it can survive on. When unvacinated people are introduced then are lowering the odds for those vacinated.

      Think before you post.

    7. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by MightyYar · · Score: 1

      Your ideas are compelling. I think you might have stumbled upon the answer to our shortage of handicap spaces. Do you have a newsletter?

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    8. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 5, Funny

      No way!

      Those that are vaccinated should be safe anyway.
      If they are not, then there's no reason to vaccinate.

      I've heard that mathematicians working at the cutting edge of theoretical statistics have recently hypothesized the existence of probabilities other than "0" and "1". It's pretty cool stuff, with potential implications in all sorts of areas...

    9. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Threni · · Score: 1

      > If you want to live in society, you have to follow society's rules

      Where does it say that?

    10. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Dr_Barnowl · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's implicit in the definition of "society". If you don't participate, you're just a parasite clinging to the side.

    11. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Hardhead_7 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I don't think they need to be mandatory, but I think what *should* happen is we need to publicly shame these parents. Every time a kid dies of Whooping Cough, those parents need to be on the news the same as if they'd drowned their kid in a bathtub.

    12. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      [quote]Earth, United States. Early to mid 20th century.[/quote]

      FTFY.

    13. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by michelcolman · · Score: 1

      For the same reason, vaccination should actually NOT be mandatory. Let natural selection sort out the nutcases' offspring.

    14. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You just proved yourself too stupid to survive. Live up to your ideas and do something about it.

    15. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Your problems aren't with a slippery slope. Your problems are with an over broad statement that you have found some practical concerns of implementation.

      However, the reason we would run out of flu shots before everybody got it is because of the production levels are where they are, not because more can't be produced. That said, you are correct that the flu shot is a temporary thing, but the problem in the statement you object to is a lack of technical qualification to it, which could be remedied with a limitation to serious diseases for which the vaccines will last a considerable period of time as opposed to something seasonal like the flu.

      The OP didn't make that distinction, but it's not a slippery slope problem that they didn't.

      Also, let's consider this, is a society truly free if other people are free to harm you?

    16. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by TFAFalcon · · Score: 1

      Resistance to disease is also a survival trait. If you want to preserve 'survival of the fittest' then vaccinations have to be stopped, not forced on people. Only if enough children die will humanity progress! (/sarcasm)

    17. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by HungryHobo · · Score: 1

      problem is the viruses mutate faster than we do so everyone else gets screwed.

    18. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by msauve · · Score: 3, Insightful

      And what if I don't want to live in society? Will society let me independently exist, or will they force my participation, through such means as property taxes? And if I'm not given a choice, who's the parasite?

      --
      "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
    19. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      For the same reason, vaccination should actually NOT be mandatory. Let natural selection sort out the nutcases' offspring.

      However, vaccination is not 100% successful. A small percentage of people do not gain the full immunity. These unvaccinated kids can pass the disease on to those that did get vaccinated and they will die too.

    20. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by TFAFalcon · · Score: 1, Informative

      They should be vaccinated to the 'stable' diseases. Those that don't change year to year and are life threatening/crippling. Flu shots on the other hand are 'best guesses' each year, 'protecting against' a disease that is mostly just an annoyance rather then a real threat.

    21. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      > Resistance to disease is also a survival trait.

      Posting anonymously so I don't lose my mod points.

      You don't understand how vaccines work, do you? Dead or inactive viruses are put in your bloodstream. Your body's immune system then creates the antibodies/defense to prevent you from getting the disease in the future. Your body DOES develop resistance to the disease -- naturally. All a vaccine does is speed and control the process.

      Theoretically, you could do the same thing if, for example, you could briefly and carefully expose yourself to influenza: just enough of the virus to make your immune system take action, but without becoming seriously ill. Vaccines are just a controlled way to do that. Go read the wiki article on them.

    22. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by michelcolman · · Score: 3, Insightful

      And increasing the odds for the disease to develop resistance against vaccination. Sick people spread millions of little bits of virus around, some of those have mutations, and some of those mutations will make them resistant against current vaccines. A mix of vaccinated and unvaccinated people is probably the best possible breeding ground for resistant strains.

    23. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

      Serious risk of zero.

      The CDC should be afraid of their own statistics.

      Let's develop a drug to prevent automobile crashes instead.

    24. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You're born into it. That maybe unfair, but that's the way it is. (Bawling about how unfair something is just makes you sound like a baby, so please don't start.) If you want to escape from society, you have to move far enough away from it that you are not taking advantage of any of the things that its members pay for (roads, hospitals, schools, ...)

    25. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by ultranova · · Score: 4, Informative

      And what if I don't want to live in society? Will society let me independently exist, or will they force my participation, through such means as property taxes?

      Paying property taxes implies that you own property, which in turn implies that you're using the legal ownership guarantees of the society and thus participating.

      Yes, you can exist independently of society; it's just a such a darn miserable existence that no one chooses that. And if some do, that existence is likely to be a short one, since humans are herd animals and don't really do well on their own, even if we don't count receiving an education as participation.

      --

      Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

    26. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Zocalo · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I don't doubt that this is going to go through the upper reaches of legal system sooner or later, but initially at least, I think the solution is probably more in your second sentence than the first; non-vaccinated kids are putting other kids at risk, so perhaps the schools and local authorities need to start thinking about this in terms of risk and liability. Say one of the non-vaccinated kids is shown to have introduced a serious illness into a class, which then rips through the non-vaccinated pupils in that class and probably also picks up a few of the vaccinated ones too since vaccination isn't always 100% effective. If fatalities and/or life-changing debilities result it's probably just a matter of time before someone decides to sue their school board for gross negligence in failing to adequately protect little Johnny from what ails/ailed him, regardless of whether little Johnny was vaccinated or not.

      Not a lot a school is going to be able to prevent that from happening, particularly since some particularly nasty diseases are contageous before the symptoms become visible. Segregating the non-vaccinated kids individually clearly isn't going to be viable, so that really just leaves a choice between a school insisting on its pupils being vaccinated or them being unable to attend. Of course, neither of those options are likely to be palatable to the parents who strongly believe in the non-vaccination of their kids, even if the school provides them with some suitably frank educational material, so the courts are still going to get involved.

      --
      UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
    27. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Type44Q · · Score: 1

      ...since humans are herd animals and don't really do well on their own...

      It would seem you speak for yourself (perhaps even accurately)...

    28. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The whole concept of the 'herd' immunity is to protect those that don't get the shot... so, why worry about the herd immunity,
      that's basically saying you need to get the shot so someone else doesn't.....

    29. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > You don't understand how vaccines work, do you?

      Why do you assume the poster does not understand how vaccines work?

      Assume that the poster does understand and then think about the point being made.

    30. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by msauve · · Score: 1

      Your circular logic is less than convincing. If I simply assert squatter's claim to some property, will society leave me alone?

      --
      "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
    31. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Garbage.

      The whole point of herd immunity is to allow those among us who are allergic to common vaccine proteins (GB syndrome, etc.) or who have compromised immune systems to live safely inside the herd.

      That vaccines are not perfect is well known, they don't protect 100% of the people that receive them, etc. but as long as the uptake is high enough for a given disease, mass-vaccinations prevent transmission of that disease through the herd. Thus, even vaccines that are not perfect may be good enough to prevent pandemics.

    32. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by h4rr4r · · Score: 2

      He also ate breakfast and opposed smoking.

      Should we stop eating breakfast and start smoking?

    33. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by roman_mir · · Score: 1

      Society is a meaningless term. There is only the individual. The society is nothing. Society doesn't live, it's not born and it doesn't die. Society is an organisation, and only individuals are born, live and die. Only individual matter, society does not matter, it's not alive.

      Individuals cannot and must not be forced by society into anything - from becoming work slaves (being forced to pay income taxes), to becoming property (being forced into vaccinations).

      It is up to the individuals to get vaccinated, not up to society to force them. Society is a meaningless idea, it's not alive.

      You are born and you die alone within yourself. Once you are born your Universe is born with you, once you die, your Universe dies with you as well. Society is an external meaningless organisational structure and it is not above any one individual.

    34. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hyperbole at its finest. Darwin would have been a more appropriate reference.

    35. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by leonardluen · · Score: 3, Informative

      the flu averages about 36k deaths per year according to the CDC. though the number swings around quite a bit year to year.

      and that in 1952 at the height of the polio epidemic there were only 60k cases and 3k deaths in the US. according to this

      so even if vaccines were never developed you would still be more likely to die from flu than one of those "stable diseases".

    36. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by dr2chase · · Score: 1

      But (US) flu deaths per year number in the tens of thousands, which makes the flu vaccine a more interesting proposition than otherwise, assuming it works. I've seen claims that it's not that effective, but I didn't have the time to vet the claims thoroughly (which is to say, some people have a bias on the subject of vaccines).

    37. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So how to i (without vaccine) put you (with vaccine) in danger...? People like you should be sterilized.

    38. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you want to live in society, you have to follow society's rules.

      Isn't suggesting a genocide over such a small issue (relatively speaking) a little bit excessive?

    39. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by 1u3hr · · Score: 4, Insightful

      nd what if I don't want to live in society? Fine. But TFA is about parents sending unvaccinated kids to school. They do want the benefits of society, but not any responsibility

    40. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by 1u3hr · · Score: 1
      trying again:

      and what if I don't want to live in society?

      Fine. But TFA is about parents sending unvaccinated kids to school. They do want the benefits of society, but not any responsibility

      Slashdot preview is so slow I don't have the patience, sorry for the typos.

    41. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by JasterBobaMereel · · Score: 1

      You are free to leave at any time, please emigrate to a country that suits your lifestyle ...if they will have you?

      --
      Puteulanus fenestra mortis
    42. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nice Star trek 5 reference! :)

    43. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      But, it IS true that some people's immune system roar to life with the onset of any incursion where others take longer to respond. Those whose systems are MORE responsive are that way genetically. Think about the one guy in the office that never seems to get as sick as everyone else. He gets the sniffles and is done, everyone else is out of work for two weeks!

      Allow vaccines to end, and you end up with more of those superguys because they're the only ones able to produce! Not saying it's ethical or what I would do in a given situation, just logical.

    44. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by JasterBobaMereel · · Score: 1

      The solution is separate schools for non-vaccinated kids...with a high death/disability rate which will be a good example why vaccinations are a good idea

      --
      Puteulanus fenestra mortis
    45. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by ATMAvatar · · Score: 1

      If you can identify patient zero and prove that it was someone whose parents willingly failed to immunize, you could probably also sue them for wrongful death.

      --
      "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
    46. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      the flu averages about 36k deaths per year according to the CDC. though the number swings around quite a bit year to year.

      and that in 1952 at the height of the polio epidemic there were only 60k cases and 3k deaths in the US. according to this

      so even if vaccines were never developed you would still be more likely to die from flu than one of those "stable diseases".

      All deaths are not equal.

      An octogenarian dying from "flu" when he was already on death's door is not the same as measles killing a healthy 5-year-old.

    47. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Sarten-X · · Score: 1

      Also, let's consider this, is a society truly free if other people are free to harm you?

      Yes.

      Next question: Is a society truly free if other people are free to deny the almighty Zeus?

      --
      You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
    48. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by h4rr4r · · Score: 2

      Mostly an annoyance?

      I take it you never have actually had the flu. I spent a week in bed, high fever and hallucinating.

      This is the problem the flu vaccine has, what most people call the flu is not influenza but some other minor cold. The actual flu is no joke.

    49. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by gstoddart · · Score: 5, Insightful

      For the same reason, vaccination should actually NOT be mandatory. Let natural selection sort out the nutcases' offspring.

      Did you read TFA? or at least TFS?

      These children which aren't getting vaccinated because their parents don't understand science are putting other children at risk.

      So it may not be their own children which natural selection sorts out, it may be the children of parents who have accepted that vaccines work, aren't more likely to cause autism, and aren't part of some government conspiracy.

      So their "personal belief exemptions" are putting the lives of other people at risk -- basically they've gotten the right to become potential carriers of disease:

      In 2008 there was a measles outbreak spread in California. This outbreak was traced to a child whose parents had decided not to have him vaccinated. The child brought the disease back from Europe, resulting in infections of other children at his doctor's office and his classmates. The boy's parents had signed a personal belief exemption affidavit which stated that some or all of the immunizations were against their beliefs, thereby allowing their son to go unvaccinated prior to entering kindergarten.

      You can't just have people opting out of things which is intended to prevent disease in greater society if it puts other people at risk. You're free to choose for yourself, but not when you're talking about communicable disease.

      Someone needs to explain to these parents that the rest of the world shouldn't bear the risk of them being stupid. If it was only them and their offspring who might be affected, go ahead. But it isn't.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    50. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by h4rr4r · · Score: 1

      No, this is basic social contract theory.
      The fact that you are old enough to have your own computer, but do not have a grasp of that speaks about how terrible your education was.

      You may feel free to leave though.

    51. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by h4rr4r · · Score: 1

      Are you really this ignorant or are you making it up.

      You are sitting in front of a computer, use google and learn something rather than spreading ignorance.

      No Vaccine is 100% effective nor can some people take them such as those with egg allergies and the flu shot. This means even a vaccinated person may not be protected or that they normally get vaccines but must skip one.

      As a simple example both my brother and I were given the BCG vaccine. I come up positive on TB tests he does not. This means he never made the antibodies to TB, so the vaccine was not effective for him. For me it meant a moron american doctor tried to put me on TB medicine because the ignorant son of a bitch could not read the latin on the vaccine card. Eventually I found another doctor who could.

    52. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by ceoyoyo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's not a slippery slope. Vaccination recommendations and requirements (yes, you are quite rightly required to be immunized in some places, for some things), are based on a quantitative risk/benefit analysis.

      It actually amazes people from outside the US that children unvaccinated for things like whooping cough would be allowed into a public school.

    53. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by h4rr4r · · Score: 1

      Think again.

      Those other people in the office are they beyond the age of puberty?

      Then they too would have had a chance to reproduce.

    54. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by TFAFalcon · · Score: 1

      And at the end of the week you got up and went on with your life. You didn't end up crippled or dead. That's what I meant by 'annoyance' - yes you are miserable for a while, but it passes.

    55. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by h4rr4r · · Score: 2

      The flu kills just as many 5 year olds as octogenarians. The elderly and the very young are the highest risk age groups.

      I also bet the old geezer would object to you saying his life was worth less than some kid who just barely stopped drooling on himself.

    56. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by TFAFalcon · · Score: 1

      And how many different vaccines would you need to stop diseases know as 'flu'? It's not just a single disease, and each year it changes enough that new vaccines are needed. So even if you vaccinate your kids against it there is a high chance that they'll just get a strain they're not immune against.

    57. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      There are no such countries. The world is conqured.
      Many would leave otherwise.

    58. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by h4rr4r · · Score: 1

      So then you think a broken leg is an annoyance? What about a gunshot wound that only hits meat?

      The flu is a serious illness, most people who contracted measles, mumps, rubella, polio, tb, were all just sick for a week or three and then went on with their lives.

      The fact that a healthy adult in his 20s survived a serious illness is not surprising nor does it mean that the disease is only an annoyance.

    59. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Neutral_Observer · · Score: 1

      If you are vaccinated then you should not fear an Unvaccinated person. No? Unless the truth is the vaccinations do not work to begin with.

    60. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Amorymeltzer · · Score: 1

      I can't speak for the younger ages (what this is really about, since wide-spread anti-vaccination folks are relatively a recent phenomenon) but this has already happened at the upper levels! You need to have a fair number of vaccines (e.g., Hepatitis and Meningitis) before many high schools these days, and for college as well. Those are two examples where teenage kids are the perfect risk group given increased sexual and drinking activity whilst living together tightly (dorms in college) and the schools have made a calculated choice NOT to let these terrible things sweep in easily. Everyone complies now, but in ten years when these anti-vaccer's kids are headed off to get a BA in English I wonder if mommy and daddy will still be scared of the Hep.

      --
      I live in constant fear of the Coming of the Red Spiders.
    61. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by rjr162 · · Score: 1

      I know to be in the dorms up at Penn State (and I imagine most other colleges/universities) you have to have certain vaccinations. I forget anymore what the main one(s) was/were

    62. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by bosef1 · · Score: 1

      Just to make sure, wasn't that General Chang in Star Trek VI, commenting that the Klingon people needed breathing space (to which Spock replied with the GP quotation)? Unless you're being a pendant, and insisting that "Final Frontier" is discontinutious... in which case, carry on.

    63. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by h4rr4r · · Score: 0

      What a wonderful counter argument.

      Does it make you feel like a big boy to use bad words?

    64. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Remind me next time not serve Romulan ale at diplomatic functions

    65. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Stormthirst · · Score: 1

      These unvaccinated kids can pass the disease on to those that did get vaccinated and they will die too.

      You don't understand how vaccines work. The idea is you still catch the diseases, regardless of whether you're vaccinated or not. The difference is that once immunized, your immune system has already been trained to detect and destroy the disease. Those who aren't immunized catch the disease and their immune system has to try and fight it from scratch.

    66. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Jason+Levine · · Score: 5, Informative

      Unfortunately, the ones that suffer aren't only the kids of the parents who don't vaccinate. If it were only those parent's kids, I'd be in favor of vaccination being voluntary. However, when Parent A doesn't vaccinate his/her kids, they increase risk of infection for Parent B's baby (too young for vaccination), Parent C's child (can't be vaccinated due to valid medical reason such as allergies), and Parent D's child (vaccine didn't take). A person's rights to raise their kids how they want don't extend to putting other kids at risk.

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
    67. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by texas+neuron · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The flu vaccine does not really prevent the flu (20% effective). Instead, it prevents serious complications of the flu (80% effective). I am surprised that no one has mentioned that vaccines are actually cost effective. Virtually all other treatments and screenings are not. So there is a medical cost to society when people choose to not vaccinate.

    68. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Neutral_Observer · · Score: 1

      If you are vaccinated, what are you afraid of?

    69. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by darkmeridian · · Score: 1

      This to a million degrees. I used to mock the flu until I actually had the flu. It turns out I had the cold all the times before. With the flu, I felt like my back was going to break. I laid down in bed for an entire week, which is very rare for me. I usually take pride in being able to get over illness, but the flu knocked me on my ass for a solid week. And this was as an otherwise healthy 25 year old. I imagine that the flu can be murder on an elderly person with other diseases.

      --
      A NYC lawyer blogs. http://www.chuangblog.com/
    70. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      shut up, fucking ayn rand brainwashed retard.

    71. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by fermion · · Score: 1
      Vaccinations are required by law in most circumstances where you have groups of students. The only thing that can make it to the courts at this point is the faith based exceptions. These allow anyone who does not want to comply with the law to simply say their superstitions prevent them from complying. I wish we had a faith based exception for speeding. Officer I would like to slow down but I am late for church. The problem is that many of the judges are at least a superstitious as the populous, so there is little hope that anyone will reexamine their assumptions and reapply the logic.

      To me the real problem with immunizations is that they are critical, so we have a bunch of laws around them protecting all the interested parties, which leads to situations of distrust and occasionally possible unsafe products.

      --
      "She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
    72. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's a great way to look at it. During the last big outbreak, 81% of those that had it were immunized against it. Glad to hear they work so well...

    73. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Minwee · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yeah, you know who else used logical fallacies to support his arguments?

      Hitler.

    74. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think your logic revolves around the assumption that vaccines are 100% effective. This is not correct. I don't think any are 100% nor has it ever been indicated as such.

      What you'll get when more and more do NOT vaccinate is more surface area/contact with said disease, etc. This will absolutely increase risk of EVERYBODY around this risk that chose not to be vaccinated.

      Note, I don't agree with making vaccines mandatory, but I do believe that it will INCREASE all forms of disease.

      If you are against vaccinations, you should argue that we *need* the diseases to form our own resistances against them. Of course, this will be a more costly path (deaths and medical care). But oh well...

    75. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Kjella · · Score: 1

      Some cases of the flu are very light, I've sometimes been surprised when the doc tells me he thinks I have the flu. On the other hand, it once knocked me off my feet for 2-3 weeks a decade ago. My impression is that it's a bunch of loosely related viruses of different strength that all go under the same name and that the lower end overlaps quite significantly with the common cold in symptoms.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    76. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by mad_ian · · Score: 1

      This is actually a plan that might pass muster, legally.

      Special Education students are segregated, sometimes to sections of buildings, but sometimes to their own buildings (depends on the needs, district set-up, if there's an intermediate school district involved which the district gets services through, etc). In my county, the school districts negotiated through their intermediate school district to split up and share the special ed students by their needs, so nearly all the students with deafness in the county go to one school, regardless of where they live in said county (and there's... 8+ school districts here), while the students with total blindness end up elsewhere, and the severe downs syndrom and behavioral problems elsewhere still, each place with its own staff of teachers and professionals trained to deal with those issues.

      Secondly, the public schools are responsible for the safety of the students, while the students are at school, and in most states while travelling to or from school. There's a latin term for it that involves the word "parent".

      Schools already segregate children with severe nut allergies to wings of buildings, or specific rooms. It's an easy argument to make that for the health of ALL students, the ones w/o vaccinations cannot be in the primary student population.

      --
      ~Donald / Just RTFM
    77. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by leonardluen · · Score: 1

      I never said i had an answer to that, i was just pointing out that the "flu" is much scarier than many people think.

      i still don't get a flu shot.

    78. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is a society truly free if we are not free to deny the people who want us to be stopped from denying the almighty Zeus?

      Sometimes the path to freedom requires you to deny others.

      And one thing I've noticed from the religious people of faith is caterwauling how they're being oppressed, subjected to bigotry and intolerance because of people who disagree with them and don't want them to implement their religious laws on society as a whole.

      I disagree. So sorry, but I have to say, having the freedom to keep others from being free to harm you is part of true freedom, whereas the other practice just seems to be sophistry.

    79. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by mark-t · · Score: 1

      I'm pretty sure that every square inch of land in this planet is accounted for in some way or another... even if not privately owned, it belongs to some nation, and some tribute is going to be owed for staying there.

    80. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When did you get your lobotomy? Dumm Goyim

    81. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Glothar · · Score: 5, Informative

      As someone who has some expertise in this:

      The Flu vaccine is actually pretty effective. After all, they pretty much make a new one each year. They've had quite a bit of practice by now. However, getting a vaccine is not a full protection against the flu. The problem is twofold:

      First, the flu virus mutates very quickly, and likes to mutate in ways that change its antigen "signature". Though there are some interesting attempts at more general vaccines, currently, you can't even make a vaccine for H1N1 flu strains. You have to pick a specific subgroup of H1N1 strains, because even within the H1N1 type, there are variations that appear differently to our immune system. The same holds for the "old" H3N2 flu, and the even older H2N2 flu. It's not uncommon for a strain to mutate enough over a single season that last year's vaccine no longer works.

      Second, because there are so many different strains in the wild and they shift so quickly, you can't create a vaccine that is targeted against all of them. Why not? That wasn't part of my specialty. I think it has something to do with confusing the immune system with too many similar things. Anyway, the point here is simpler: Vaccine makers don't even try to protect against all the strains. They use clinical samples to determine which strains are looking to be the most common, pick the top four or five, and make a vaccine that protects against those.

      So, what happens if they guess wrong, and a rare strain from the previous year suddenly spreads wildly? Well, you don't get vaccine effectiveness. What if one of the popular strains goes through some mutations early in the season? Well, same effect. You've probably got a vaccine that won't help much. Is this the fault of the vaccine? No. It's the fault of the virus that mutates faster than vaccines can be created and tested. They are trying to find ways to make them faster, but that would only work if you were willing to get multiple shots per year. The better solution is to find a way to make vaccines that apply to larger groups of strains, but it takes time and lots of data.

      Of course, this all gets thrown out the window if you're a fan of Intelligent Design (aka: Creationism). In that case, vaccines don't work because God hates you and chose to use his powers to fiddle with a Germ Spirit and make it immune to the poisons created by the Unbelievers. He's punishing you for not having more faith in him. Of course, there's nothing you can do in this case, so there's no point in trying to understand exactly why it happened.

    82. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by iter8 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      My son was immunosuppressed because of a kidney transplant when he was an infant so he couldn't be vaccinated. We depended on herd-immunity. It was always scary to run into someone who was anti-vaccine. I thought "It's bad enough that you're putting your own kid at risk, but you're seriously endangering mine." The anti-vaccine people aren't always uneducated, many of the ones that I encountered were college grads. I guess they slept through biology class. Many seemed to think vaccination was some sort of plot by "The Man".

    83. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Jessified · · Score: 1

      All the extra research into vaccine safety has been useful.

      There are some people who are medically contra-indicated. For example, because I have an egg allergy I am contra-indicated for vaccines that were incubated in egg and I receive an alternate form.

      I'm not sure that throwing medical ethics out the window (ie. the right to refuse treatment) is the way to go. I think better education with a focus on critical thinking is a superior approach.

    84. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by jahudabudy · · Score: 2

      Society is a collection of individuals. It is what we, as a group, say it is. You don't like society, don't want to play by the rules the rest of us collectively agreed on, fine. You can go live in the wilderness and grow/hunt your own food, build your own shelter, etc. Can't find a space to do that where there aren't already other people that have rules they insist on? Tough shit. The only rights you have are those you can prevent others from taking. In a society, everyone helps you protect those rights the society has agreed upon. In exchange for everyone else helping you protect your rights, you get to obey the rules of society. Insisting that society respect your "right" to make a personal choice that endangers everyone else is absurd, unless you are powerful enough to force your decisions on society. Although why you think you have the right to endanger me and my loved ones against my will is an interesting question.

      Society is a meaningless idea

      Oh, right. That's why.

      --
      ...sometimes, in order to hurt someone very badly, you have to tell that person terrible lies. - PA
    85. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Jessified · · Score: 2

      I have the same philosophy but I only apply it to the the eugenics people. That is, the people who believe in eugenics should be sterilized.

    86. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by AtomicDevice · · Score: 1

      So if hitler did it that means we can't do it? Goodbye highways, you'll be missed. I guess we'll just kiss interstate trade goodbye until we build a bazillion railroads (what's that hitler? You used railroads too!? Oh Crap.)

      You don't want to get vaccinated? Fine, go live in the mountains and never make contact with everyone. For the same reason we don't let people walk around strapped with unstable explosives (it's dangerous), we don't let people not get vaccinated (it's dangerous).

      But but but! Almost no one gets that disease anyways, and my little johnny has a one in a billion chance of a bad reaction to the vaccine! NO ONE GETS THAT DISEASE BECAUSE THEY ALL GOT VACCINATED.

      --
      Ze Atomic Device! It iz Ztolen!
    87. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by daem0n1x · · Score: 1

      WTF??? Vaccination is to prevent infections. Allergies are not infections. They are not caused by micro-organisms and are therefore not contagious, so what does herd immunity have to do with it?

    88. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      These children which aren't getting vaccinated because their parents don't understand science are putting other children at risk.

      I'm confused now. Doesn't that indicate that the vaccinations don't work?

    89. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by daem0n1x · · Score: 1

      In a free society you have the choice to be stupid... If you take away that choice then its no longer a free society.

      Wrong. Your right to be stupid ends where the rights of other people begin. That's why it's not illegal to get shitfaced drunk but it's illegal to drive in that condition.

    90. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by roman_mir · · Score: 1

      . Although why you think you have the right to endanger me and my loved ones against my will is an interesting question.

      - my position on vaccines is irrelevant, it's not about vaccines themselves, the merits of vaccines, the dangers. None of it is what I am talking about. I am talking about the fact that the collective must not be able and cannot force an individual to take action like that, to work for the collective or to be property of the collective, and all individuals must fight the abuse of the individuals by the collective.

      Collective becomes the evil force that tries to overpower the individual, that's the part that is despicable - deserving hatred and contempt.

      You may believe that 'as a group' you say something that it must mean something, but all that means is that there IS a group that wants things to be ran that way. There are individuals, whether they are a group or not is irrelevant, who want things to be the exact opposite - they do not want the collective to dictate to the individual, to own him. We are in the process of observing this very battle right now, economically speaking.

    91. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by daem0n1x · · Score: 1

      I also bet the old geezer would object to you saying his life was worth less than some kid who just barely stopped drooling on himself.

      Not if he has a conscience. No old geezer that I know of would object.

    92. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Depends on who owns that "some property". If they know you are on it and don't want you there, it is their right to eject you.

      Second, if you do get squatter's right to own the property, you now owe property taxes... and thus are still in the society.

      Without some membership in the society, you are not protected against any attack, for any reason.
      And such attacks are not a crime.

      Only by membership in the society are you protected.

    93. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by __aaeihw9960 · · Score: 1
      Here goes:

      Special Education students are segregated, sometimes to sections of buildings, but sometimes to their own buildings (depends on the needs, district set-up, if there's an intermediate school district involved which the district gets services through, etc). In my county, the school districts negotiated through their intermediate school district to split up and share the special ed students by their needs, so nearly all the students with deafness in the county go to one school, regardless of where they live in said county (and there's... 8+ school districts here), while the students with total blindness end up elsewhere, and the severe downs syndrome and behavioral problems elsewhere still, each place with its own staff of teachers and professionals trained to deal with those issues.

      That's because most schools have neither the funds nor the facilities to have one-on-one aids for each of those groups, so they pool their money and do it effectively. If we had properly funded and staffed schools, there would be no issue here, and the students would be in a full-inclusion classroom (unless s/he was a threat to other students).

      Secondly, the public schools are responsible for the safety of the students, while the students are at school, and in most states while travelling to or from school. There's a latin term for it that involves the word "parent".

      This, well, this I agree with. But I'm not sure why they wouldn't be. If the student is on school grounds without the 'parent', or if the student is traveling in a school vehicle without a 'parent' who do you expect to be responsible for the health and well-being of the minor child? I assume you say this to further your next point.

      Schools already segregate children with severe nut allergies to wings of buildings, or specific rooms. It's an easy argument to make that for the health of ALL students, the ones w/o vaccinations cannot be in the primary student population.

      Do you have citations for the complete segregation of students with nut allergies? I will assume you mean at lunch, with separate tables. If the student has severe enough allergies, there may be no other way for him or her to eat safely - unless you wrap him or her in plastic, but I'm pretty sure that most kids these days still need oxygen.

      In other words, if you are arguing that schools will be able to segregate based on vaccine/no-vaccine, I doubt it. From what I've seen, and I know, it's anecdotal, most parents who refuse to have their children vaccinated make the initial choice because of religious convictions. So, how long would a school get away with segregating based on what the parents would perceive as religious belief?

    94. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      shut up, fucking ayn rand brainwashed retard

    95. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by sargon666777 · · Score: 1

      In a free society you have the choice to be stupid... If you take away that choice then its no longer a free society.

      Wrong. Your right to be stupid ends where the rights of other people begin. That's why it's not illegal to get shitfaced drunk but it's illegal to drive in that condition.

      You still have every right to make a stupid decision. It doesn't mean there are not consequences for those decisions. For example is it a stupid decision to buy small magnetic desk toys (e.g. BuckyBalls, Zen Magnets). In and of itself the answer is clearly no; however, a child may swallow them, and get injured (which is clearly the parents fault). So the solution should be to eliminate the magnetic desk toys from the market therefore insuring that you cannot make a stupid decision such as letting your children swallow magnetic toys. When you try and legislate away rights to prevent stupidity you end up with stupidity inevitably (e.g. banning magnetic desk toys. This is a real example as the CPSC in the US is attempting to ban this right now. Visit http://savemagnets.com/ if you want to sign the petition to allow me to be stupid if I wish with my magnetic desk toys. Ultimately you have the right to make a decision, and society has a right to enforce the consequences of that decision.

      --
      Am I lying when I tell you that im telling the truth? Or am I telling the truth when I say that Im lying?
    96. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      sure you can.

      and they will.

      because you can't stop them you fascist little fuck.

      and i don't care what state, or national, or global government you press for.

    97. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by azalin · · Score: 1

      Require vaccination before entering any public school, kindergarten, college or taking any job that requires customer interaction.

    98. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      no, because the concept of "property" cannot exist outside society.

      for example, wildlife isn't part of our society. they disregard your property boundaries.

    99. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by crakbone · · Score: 1

      He did shoot himself in the head and swallow cyanide. We could probably stop doing that.

    100. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by jc79 · · Score: 1

      Right. So that Intenet thing you're using to communicate with other individuals, that was created by a meaningless organisational structure? That government which your parents paid taxes to to do things like educate you and keep you safe from criminals, that is a meaningless organisational structure? The extended family and community which you grew up in and kept you nurtured to the point where you could read Ayn Rand and regurgitate nonsense such as you posted, that's just a meaningless organisational structure?

      You are alive today because of the collective endeavours of millions of humans who worked to increase our knowledge about the world, invented medicines and medical procedures, even invented world-wide telecommunications networks to share their knowledge for the good of all of our species. If that isn't society, I don't know what is.

      Humans are a social species. Get over it, put down the narcissistic libertarian bullshit books, and join in the fun.

    101. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is 100% wrong, this is totally against the way America was created. If these people were vaccinated then why would they be at risk from a person that wasn't? They supposedly can't get the disease if they have had the vaccine.

      And if you think the Polio vaccine still works in you, you really need to read up on it. It wore off in probably 99% of the population many years ago.

      I really wonder who the uneducated people are in this argument, from my stand point it looks to be you.

    102. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by dr2chase · · Score: 1

      Hmmm, so thinking about this, maybe what they ought to do is have (in a cost-independent world, ha-ha) is have some variation in the vaccines themselves, and really work hard to get coverage (because nowhere near everyone gets the flu vaccine). If you go all-in against H1N1wxyz, then a mutation away to H1N1vxkz gets an advantage.

      I do recall also seeing the result of a simulation, suggesting that the right people to vaccinate against flu are kids. Not only do they have terrible hygiene and spend their days in dense mixed groups, they also have relatively ignorant immune systems.

    103. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by tnk1 · · Score: 3, Informative

      Vaccination does not work for everyone, and it does not work for everyone equally. Complete vaccination of whole populations serves two purposes. Firstly, to protect against the disease, but secondly, to reduce the pool of disease carriers to a level where an outbreak is unlikely or even ceases.

      In short, if the vaccination does not work for some child, or there is a child with a bona fide allergy to the vaccine who cannot take it, that child is much less likely to contract the disease at all if no one around them is a carrier.

      Taken to it's furthest extent, we can eliminate entire diseases that way. With no one for the disease to jump to, it dies off in the isolated hosts and can no longer reproduce. That's why smallpox no longer exists outside some very, very well guarded labs. And if you know anything about history, smallpox killed huge numbers of people, and scarred, disfigured, and otherwise damaged those it didn't kill. Making it almost completely extinct is a very good thing and is a direct result of vaccination.

    104. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're free to choose for yourself, but not when you're talking about communicable disease.

      This is, of course, why sex must only take place in the presence of a government monitor who can certify your correct use of a condom and that none of your activity might lead to an elevated risk of breakage. This errant belief that your sexual practice is a private matter between you and your partner is dangerous and must be stamped out as it is placing the community at risk. Why, there have even been reports of people believing it is somehow "ok" to engage in high-risk activities such group sex or anal intercourse "in the privacy of their homes". Someone needs to explain to them that the rest of the world shouldn't bear the risk of them being kinky.

    105. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by iter8 · · Score: 1

      And what if I don't want to live in society? Will society let me independently exist, or will they force my participation, through such means as property taxes? And if I'm not given a choice, who's the parasite?

      Born, never asked, eh? I think the choices then are be dead or live on an isolated island in the remote Pacific. With rising sea levels, the second choice may not be the better option. With the human population spread across the globe the way it is, it's getting pretty hard not to be part of some sort of society.

    106. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by jodido · · Score: 1

      And of course it's not the anti-vaccine parents who are at risk, it's their kids. Vaccination should be mandatory. Full stop. It's a matter of protecting children. Not vaccinating children is a form of child abuse--and not just abuse of your own child, either.

    107. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Then they too would have had a chance to reproduce.

      Having the chance to reproduce is not enough. Reproduction requires reproduction.

    108. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by MightyYar · · Score: 2

      Some people have allergic reactions to the vaccines themselves. You can let those people remain un-vaccinated and herd immunity will still work. I think you typically need about 90% vaccination rate to stop a disease.

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    109. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by sustik · · Score: 1

      You are missing the problem too. Vaccination is administered at a given age for children. Older unvaccinated children can infect younger yet unvaccinated ones. The chance of that is reduced if the older kids are vaccinated. (Note, that older kids may travel more and get infected say abroad and bring back the bug, a bug to which the younger kid would not be exposed at that age. Anyway travelling to Africa? Get vaccinated weeks before!!)

      It is not necessary that 100% of the population is vaccinated in order to effectively eradicate a bug. Annually changing flu shots are sufficient to be administered to fraction of the population (typically, older people, hospital workers, etc.) which will prevent an epidemic.

    110. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by tnk1 · · Score: 2

      It *might* work, but it is extremely not cost effective. Parents of special education kids have no choice in the matter, their kids need assistance and that is that. Parents of non-vaccinated children have a simple solution that is right in front of them, and often public funded or at least defrayed. Setting aside whole wings or creating whole schools for them is ridiculous if they can easily comply.

      If it was an open scientific question as to whether vaccination was dangerous, you might have a point, but it isn't. Vaccinations are good for society and they can end diseases which kill or cripple young people. This has been studied over and over again.

      If we could simply allow these children to die due to their parents' negligence, I don't think we would necessarily have to intervene. However, this is a public health issue and it needs to be enforced for the good of the rest of society.

    111. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by tnk1 · · Score: 1

      You have no idea how vaccination programs work if you are making that statement.

    112. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by operagost · · Score: 1

      Those other children who got measles hadn't been vaccinated, correct?

      --

      Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
    113. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Sarten-X · · Score: 1

      having the freedom to keep others from being free to harm you is part of true freedom

      And how do you plan to do that, without harming others?

      Do you somehow define what is or is not "harm", such as "certain folks get guns, but civilians do not", and expect everyone to live by your definitions? Do you magically remove the natural desire to harm?

      Or do you simply choose to not live in a society that is "truly free", but rather one that is mostly free but also mostly fair?

      --
      You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
    114. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by operagost · · Score: 1

      You're attacking a straw man. Only truly extreme wackjobs actually believe natural selection doesn't happen. Natural selection is compatible with biblical beliefs and can be observed within a generation.

      --

      Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
    115. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by operagost · · Score: 1

      Other countries are also amazed that we don't have a state religion, ban all weapons, or persecute Muslims and Scientologists.

      --

      Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
    116. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bah. "Hitler did it" is not an argument against anything. Hitler did a lot of normal and sane things. He also started a large war and a terrible genocide - still not an argument against the sane things.

      Hitler ate food. Hitler wore shoes. Hitler had a car. Hitler owned a dog . . .

    117. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by operagost · · Score: 1

      We're oppressing the majority of people for a select few? Doesn't sound very democratic. I though progressives were trying to increase democracy.

      --

      Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
    118. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

      I would agree if intelligence and opinions on vaccination were 100% genetically determined, but they're not.

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
    119. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Jeremy+Erwin · · Score: 1

      The problem with this sort of segregation is that you might have a deaf kid, or a blind kid, or a physically handicapped kid relegated to institutions which do not properly challenge his brain.

    120. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't doubt that this is going to go through the upper reaches of legal system sooner or later,

      Now that is an idea. Sue some anti-vaccine people for for putting your kids health at risk. (similiar to how you sue a factory doing heavy pollution). Win the case, and you have your mandatory vaccines.

    121. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by publiclurker · · Score: 1

      Unless you actually are Hitler. then go right ahead.

    122. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Asmodae · · Score: 1

      It amazes plenty of people INSIDE the US as well.

    123. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your circular logic is less than convincing. If I simply assert squatter's claim to some property, will society leave me alone?

      Why would society do that? They could simply have a war with you, and drive you out. A squatter's claim is not worth much if there is no society to back it up. You may have better luck if you can find some others that agree - revolt and establish a society with your kind of rules. But if you want to leave society, you'll likely have to leave any land ovned by current society behind you.

    124. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      Actually, watching your elections, it IS kind of amazing you don't have a state religion.

      On the other hand, if you left your country once in a while, you'd find that there are lots of places without state religions, no bans on weapons, no religious persecution, and no whooping cough epidemics in public schools either!

    125. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by hrvatska · · Score: 1

      The flu vaccine does not really prevent the flu (20% effective). Instead, it prevents serious complications of the flu (80% effective)..

      This claims much higher rates of effectiveness.

      Only one large randomized, controlled trial of influenza vaccine has been conducted among an elderly population. During the 1991-1992 influenza season, a group of Dutch people 60 years of age and older not living in long-term care facilities (e.g., nursing homes) was studied (Govaert et al., 1994). In this study, vaccine efficacy was 58% in preventing clinically-defined influenza with serologic confirmation of infection.

      In a four-year randomized, placebo-controlled study of inactivated and live influenza vaccines among children aged 1–15 years, vaccine efficacy was estimated at 77% against influenza A (H3N2) and 91% against influenza A (H1N1) virus infection (Neuzil et al., 2001). A two-year study of children aged 6–24 months found that the vaccine was 66% effective in preventing laboratory-confirmed influenza in one year of the study (Hoberman et al., 2003). Only children who were fully vaccinated (i.e., had either two doses if not previously vaccinated, or one dose if previously vaccinated) versus unvaccinated children were included in the analysis. In the other year of this study, few cases of influenza occurred, making it difficult to assess the vaccine's efficacy (Hoberman et al., 2003).

    126. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Nemyst · · Score: 1

      If it were only those parent's kids, I'd be in favor of vaccination being voluntary.

      I wouldn't. If you were born out of crazy parents who think vaccines are some conspiracy by the government, would you find it fair that YOU are getting endangered because of THEIR beliefs? Not all children share the beliefs of their parents, and punishing them for it is just as bad as punishing other kids for it.

    127. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by publiclurker · · Score: 1

      There are a lot of places like Somalia where there really isn't anyone around to pay tribute too. Unfortunately, that tribute is what pays for everything that the parasites like to leach off of, so there is no chance that they would actually leave.

    128. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Exactly when have I stated that I believe that you can never cause harm to others in a just and proper fashion? That's the opposite of what I've been saying.

      I'm very explicitly disputing that notion, because, yes, I can even accept that sometimes you have to cause harm to prevent other harm.

      I can respect those who choose for themselves the path of absolute pacifism, they are welcome to make that choice. For themselves. They can argue for it, but I do not agree with them.

      But I have no problem with them doing it when they're genuine about it. The problem I have is with the people who purport to that path of virtue, but are using it as a cloak for their own abuses. That's why I do not agree with the notion.

      Me? I'll flat out tell you that I am going to be intolerant of intolerance, and sometimes I can even justify the use of force. Yes, there are things I consider it appropriate to hate. I don't engage in the navel-gazing that leads so many people to say "hate is wrong" mostly because of the disingenuous people who adopt it as a tool to try to make people who really are interested in stopping genuine intolerance and bigotry shut up.

      And yes, I do reject the idea of living in a society that purports to a self-deceptive idea of freedom. Has this been unclear to you from the start?

      If so, then please tell me how I can make it clearer to you.

      BTW, just because I can justify the use of force in some cases doesn't lead me to thinking I can't find some uses of force to be unjustified. In fact that I can justify proper use of force makes it necessary for me to make the decision that some uses are bad.

      However you'll forgive me for not giving you a treatise on my exact beliefs on the subject. For one thing, I find that putting things into such a fashion actually tends to lead to abuses.

    129. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by publiclurker · · Score: 0

      No, I'm sure that being an adult makes him a "big boy", son. Maybe someday you'll learn how to act like one too.

    130. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by roman_mir · · Score: 1

      The Internet that I am using to communicate with others was not created by a meaningless organisation. The Internet that I am using was built by companies that wanted to make a buck.

      These companies are not the ones trying to force me either to pay income taxes and they are not the ones saying that everybody must be forced to be vaccinated.

      Have you failed every logic class or just most of them?

    131. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by CAIMLAS · · Score: 1

      Older unvaccinated children can infect younger yet unvaccinated ones. The chance of that is reduced if the older kids are vaccinated.

      Why?

      Vaccination doesn't result in the body producing its own immunity. You need a booster shot to remain immune, unlike if you were to actually catch a virus.

      For most of the benign (in a modern, sanitary, nourished society) illnesses we vaccinate for these days (MMRs come to mind), why does it even make sense to vaccinate?

      You've got some vaccinations which make absolutely no sense for this reason, like a flu vaccine. Why would you want your kid to get that, for your 'convenience'? Horribly, horribly selfish. It makes a lot of sense if someone is immunodeficient, such as if the individual is elderly. But outside of that? No, it's just feeding the pharma system and costing you money.

      It astounds me how so many people who are so avowedly anti-pharma don't even bat an eye at global application of "vaccines are good"!

      --
      ~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
    132. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Asmodae · · Score: 1

      Why should it? If you are not of society than you are at best a resource to be consumed, at worst, a blight to be purged. If you are a resource with perceived value society MIGHT attempt to preserve you (national parks, clean air, various natural wildlife, etc). If not, then society has no problem eliminating you entirely (like polio). Society has no need or desire to look after or 'leave alone' those that choose to live outside it. If you want to be left alone you'll likely need a standing army large enough to assert your own will. Or you might be able to move to some location remote enough that there will be no interaction between you and society.. but that means, no electricity (unless you build it yourself), no medicine, no emergency response, etc. Even those people tend to call the ranger station in emergencies so they not REALLY outside society. And if/when society shows up and wants it resources back... well, better have your army ready.

    133. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by CAIMLAS · · Score: 1

      If the state is going to require my children to be sent to their institution, it seems somewhat unreasonable to me that they should also be able to mandate my children to have needless shots (in many cases, eg. MMR) before hand.

      Keep in mind that a vaccine does not stop the person from actually getting the illness, and in fact may in some ways make it worse. This is becoming increasingly clear, but it may take a while for the dissonance to clear up before people realize it.

      Using your logic, if I sneeze in a public place, you should be entitled in defending yourself from me by hitting me in the face.

      --
      ~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
    134. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I am talking about the fact that the collective must not be able and cannot force an individual to take action like that, to work for the collective or to be property of the collective, and all individuals must fight the abuse of the individuals by the collective.

      Nope, the real fact is that the collective ARE able and CAN force individuals to take action, and individuals do NOT have to fight this if they don't want to

      Each individual decide for themselves if they will fight. Some of them might decide to join the collective willingly, if they think it's more profitable for them that way.

      And that's what really matters: profits.

      If it's profitable for a person to join a collective, they will, even if said collective will then proceed to force other individuals to become slaves.

      Collective becomes the evil force that tries to overpower the individual, that's the part that is despicable - deserving hatred and contempt.

      It's not evil. Just like how a bigger company can overpower a smaller company through economies of scale, a collective is only trying to secure the survival of its own individuals. There's nothing evil about looking out for #1. The collective has no obligations to the individual after all, the same way I as an individual have no obligations to you as an individual. If I'm not responsible for you, why should government be responsible for you?

      We are in the process of observing this very battle right now, economically speaking.

      There is no battle. There is only the market trying to discover the right price, the right balance between freedom and slavery. "Freedom" is just another thing to be traded on the market. Sometimes there's a lot of freedom, sometimes there's none. There is no single level of freedom that is "right" and always right and would never ever change. Well, until post-scarcity maybe, but that day may never come.

      Since post-scarcity may never come, there will always be profitable opportunities in slavery, and thus collectives (and individuals) will move towards slavery, because people want to make money and live better.

      If freedom is such a wonderful thing that leads to more profits and better living, the people (your beloved individuals) will naturally support it and freedom will rise all on its own, welcomed with great applause, not with "battles"

    135. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Ginger+Unicorn · · Score: 1

      Why should I listen to you, you're Hitler!

      --
      (1.21 gigawatts) / (88 miles per hour) = 30 757 874 newtons
    136. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by CAIMLAS · · Score: 1

      ... but the parents of many of the whooping cough victims did vaccinate their children.

      People aren't thinking this shit through - or, apparently, paying much attention at all.

      --
      ~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
    137. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by daem0n1x · · Score: 1

      If the state is going to require my children to be sent to their institution, it seems somewhat unreasonable to me that they should also be able to mandate my children to have needless shots (in many cases, eg. MMR) before hand.

      Nobody says you should put your kids in a public school. Home-school them, or use a private school.

      Keep in mind that a vaccine does not stop the person from actually getting the illness, and in fact may in some ways make it worse. This is becoming increasingly clear, but it may take a while for the dissonance to clear up before people realize it.

      WTF??? Care to show some facts?

      Using your logic, if I sneeze in a public place, you should be entitled in defending yourself from me by hitting me in the face.

      At least in my country, not taking precautions to avoid contaminating others with a contagious disease is a felony.

    138. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by jahudabudy · · Score: 1

      and all individuals must fight the abuse of the individuals by the collective.

      And the collective will (I won't pretend that any of this rises to the level of moral imperative; it's simply how human interactions will happen) fight abuse of the collective by the individual. The rest of us are over here making individual sacrifices so that all of us (the collective) can have nice things. Like herd immunity, in this instance. An individual that comes along and wants to share in our nice things, but doesn't want to make the same sacrifices, is not going to be well received. And simply by virtue of the fact that there are more of us means we, the collective, have more ability to assert our will than you the individual does. And it's an unfortunate fact, society is not a la carte; you can't just pick and choose which parts to participate in and which parts you'd rather not. I agree that there needs to be mechanisms in place to insure a balance in society - the individual should not be completely consumed by and subordinate to the collective in every aspect. However, there are instances where the individual must be subordinate to the collective, or we can't have a collective at all. And whether you like it or not, it is human instinct to form collectives; the average member of the collective is better off than he/she would be outside the collective. We would not be much above the level of hunter/gatherer without some form of cooperative society. You can rail about moral imperatives and rights all you want, but insisting that everybody else has to respect your choices at the expense of our own well being and comfort if futile. As long as more people see a benefit to the collective than don't, those that want something different are SOL. It would be great if you could wander off and do your own thing somewhere else, but the planet is pretty full. Besides, you don't really want that, you still want scientists and farmers and all the nice things society (the collective) produces. You just want the collective to observe the rules you want rather than the rules that an apparent majority of other people want.

      --
      ...sometimes, in order to hurt someone very badly, you have to tell that person terrible lies. - PA
    139. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      One obvious solution is to bring back quarantines for people who don't get vaccinations.

    140. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by stuff+and+such · · Score: 1

      Shouldn't these numbers be normalized wrt to population size?

      --
      my UID occurs in pi starting at the 384,199 digit after the decimal point.
    141. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by CAIMLAS · · Score: 1

      You're not applying logic evenly and are thinking circularly.

      We already know that there are outbreaks of various vaccinated diseases from time to time. Measles and whooping cough, for instance. They occur even within vaccinated populations.

      If vaccines are not 100% effective and 100% safe, there can't be a liability associated with not having said shot. For instance, my wife is not immune to rubella. She has had 4 MMR boosters from the age of 16 to 21, and each time prior to the booster she tested negative for immunity. Does this mean that if someone gets ill from rubella and it can be traced to my wife, they could sue the pharmaceutical? Of course not.

      Just as there is a marginal likelihood that a vaccine isn't effective (supposedly), there's also a likelihood that the non-vaccinated child has nothing to do with this stuff. There was a local case a couple years back where there was a mumps outbreak at a local private elementary school. Parents got wind of the fact that one of the kids was unvaccinated, so of course a witch hunt was undertaken. The kid was tested for immunity. Turns out he hadn't had it yet himself/he had no immunity or sign of recent infection, and all the kids who got it had been vaccinated. A reasonable person has to wonder who the carrier was, and if the vaccine is effective, why were there enough students who caught it that it was even noticeable as an 'outbreak'?

      There is sound reasoning in not getting (at least some) of the vaccines. Kids can be sick for a couple days, it's not a problem. The loss is a couple days of fun and playing in today's healthy, nourished society. The loss, should they get the vaccine, is having to constantly get booster shots and, in some cases, getting the illness later in life to very serious ill effect.

      --
      ~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
    142. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Let's use the flu as an example.

      If tomorrow, we knew all the possible strains of the flu and everyone on Earth (100%) vaccinated successfully, the flu would no longer have hosts and die off fairly quickly.

      However, this isn't a real possibility because the flu mutates so rapidly. Every person it infects has a chance of altering the strain. Unless everyone develops immunity simultaenously, the flu vaccine will never be as effective as the polio vaccine. This is why the flu vaccine is not that effective. It can change forms with every infection. That's why forms of it can jump from birds to pigs to humans. That's why it was a concern a few years back.

      People without vaccines are sources of virus mutations if they catch the virus. This is not even counting the problems that come from allergies to vaccines and other complications. Vaccines, like all medicine, is not 100% effective.

      Enforcing vaccines does not make it 100% effective either. But it does raise the chance of success.

    143. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by negativeduck · · Score: 1

      While I agree with you this is also the problem of the day we live in. To much information allows people to make non practical decisions. Several of the vaccines are known to cause severe side affects. And life altering complications for that child who was before that vaccine healthy and doing just fine, people see these "horror" stories and can't manage to take that "risk" along with their children. My wife was one of these and I had to talk and carry a long conversation with her about it needless to say the vaccines happened after we talked through it. But people often don't understand their true odds and can only focus on the "OMG" factor.

    144. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No. Society runs on the rule of laws which you keep referring to. If there was no society it would be the rule of gun. You could probably work within the confines of society to reach a position of least interference, but you would probably still rely on it for some things. Like the country not being invaded by another country.

    145. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, they shouldn't be forced to wear a dunce cap for being stupid. That's unreasonable because it's too common. On the other hand it would be reasonable for they and anyone else who is unvaccinated to wear a dunce cap or some other indicator to show that they chose to remain highly infectious, so other people could make the informed choice to stay away from them.

    146. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What about flu shots? If everyone got the flu shot we would likely run out before the high risk people (the young and elderly) had a chance to get it.

      Obviously if we can't produce enough of a vaccine to protect everyone, we should encourage what vaccine we do have to go to the most vulnerable (add doctors and hospital staff to that list, since they're likely to be heavily exposed, and the last thing we want is someone to head the hospital for some other reason and pick up the flu from a nurse or orderly).

    147. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by cdwiegand · · Score: 1

      Yes, so my son, who is allergic to eggs (and we didn't know, or feed him eggs, until he was 18 months old), would have DIED with the flu vaccine injection, which he would have taken at between 6 and 12 months of age. Thanks for pretending to kill my firstborn. His allergy is considered moderate (not mild, as his kindergarten teacher found out when, after being given a muffin that no one told us about, he proceeded to throw up all over his bed, while sleeping, several hours later, after complaining about a tummy ache). I am half way to pulling him from school anyways as they just don't take allergies (except nuts) seriously.

      Parents are the end-all arbiter of our kids situation - not the school, not the President, and not some scientist who lives in a perfect world where everyone is free from disease. Thankfully, we didn't give him the flu vaccine. Our doctor has told us, directly and point blank, had we done so he would be dead. And we didn't know until after he had a rash from eating a few eggs we fed him that we even found out about the allergy (after professional testing).

      Luckily, the other vaccines are, for the most part, non-allergenic.

      --
      . Define sqrt(x) as something really evil like (x / rand()), and bury it deep. Watch your coworkers go nuts.
    148. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Glothar · · Score: 1

      Yes and no.

      The changes seen with influenza are more than just natural selection. It's aggressive mutation, with specific adaptations to encourage mutation and direct it toward areas that are beneficial for the future replication chances of the virus.

      In short: It's evolution.

      Over the past few decades, the virus has gained a whole new gene. It's adapted to anti-influenza drugs. It's adapted its polymerase to be be stable at higher temperatures (thus allowing for better transmission outside the normal winter months). Ah, but that's just microevolution... you say. Yes, the same way that we don't know how the Grand Canyon formed because we have only ever observed micro-erosion. And continental drift doesn't occur because we have only seen micro-tectonics.

      If you don't believe in evolution, then you've got nothing to fear from Influenza, because none of those things will happen. Instead, you have to fear God, because he's the one changing things around, presumably because he likes infecting people... or because he hates scientists.

      Note: I'm using the generic "you" here, and not specifically aiming my comments at the previous poster. However, if you refuse to acknowledge the Theory of Evolution, then my comments are pointed at you.

    149. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by residieu · · Score: 1

      If you have a healthy immune system. If you don't there's a good chance you end up dead.

    150. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Glothar · · Score: 1

      I think the vaccine-variation idea was considered, but last I heard, it had troubles with ethics boards. Basically, short of getting explicit agreement from people getting the shots, there are medical ethics issues with giving someone a vaccine when you have evidence in hand that says the vaccine you are giving to another person is more likely to protect them both.

      It might be better for everyone on the whole, but it also starts sounding a lot like Socialism, and in the US, we tend to try and kill it with fire (or nuke it from orbit) whenever we see that. Sure, we're all a little worse off because of it, but if one person benefits, then it's all worth it.

    151. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      Or, you could just make different or better versions of the vaccine, which don't have eggs or the other allergenic components (or at least different components, so that two versions of the vaccine should cover almost everyone as so few people would be allergic to both kinds).

      But this would require funding, and for pharma companies to not be concerned about profit ueber alles.

    152. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      We need to get rid of trains. Hitler was a big proponent of trains, and was liked because he got the trains to run on time.

      We also need to get rid of economical automobiles. Hitler was a proponent of that, and commissioned Ferdinand Porsche to design the Beetle, a car that was highly inexpensive so that nearly everyone could afford one (and was called the "People's Car": "Volkswagen").

      We also need to get rid of jet aircraft; Hitler's army worked hard to develop jet engines, and deployed a few aircraft with them at the end of the war, though it was too late by then.

      Finally, we need to get rid of all recordings of music by Wagner, since Hitler was a big fan of his music.

    153. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by roman_mir · · Score: 1

      It is the individual that makes things.
      It is the individual that owns a farm and runs it.
      It is the individual that runs a store.
      It is the individual that runs a construction company.
      It is the individual that runs a manufacturing plant.
      It is the individual that at least used to run investment banks as partnerships.

      Actually until the collective, this society took over the individual freedoms with regulations, rules, central banks, fake money, income taxes, labour laws, etc., the individuals used to do everything very well. Even just in the 1970 NO investment bank was a publicly run company, not a single one. All investment banks were individually ran partnerships (maybe 2 people, maybe 5 people, but they were individual running their business), so when the society screwed up the freedom in the market to enough point, these partnerships disappeared and now you have only public investment banks. But what disappeared with the individual partnership and appeared with the public option? It is the RESPONSIBILITY. The individual responsibility. Those partners had their own money on the line, make a bad move, fuck with your client and you lose your business, and that was a very powerful incentive to be a good individual, good enough to make money and good enough to stay in business, that's what I mean when I say 'good' - working for profit, but not running a fraud of a bank, running an actual useful company.

      The society, the collective, the government is what destroys things.

      What individuals create, the collective destroys.
      What individual invent, the collective uses to kill.
      What individual build, the collective steals.

      There are no nice things created, built, invented by the collective. Collective is a meaningless concept, there are only individuals, and when this meaningless concept becomes the centre, rather than the Individual being the centre, the priorities change, the morals change, everything changes in a very terrible manner. The individuals are enslaved, they become property of the collective.

      There are now 66 million people in USA that are getting this so called 'public assistance' from 'the government' one way or another. It's in quotes, because that money is simply stolen from the individuals who made it and it's redistributed so that the mass of the non-individuals can carry on with their meaningless existence.

      If the individual is destroyed and stays destroyed, you will have nothing. There will be nothing created, there will be nothing invented, there will be nothing built, nothing will be made. But this cannot last for too long, it's not in the nature of people just to lay down and die, so there will be soon enough a choice - let the individual be free or die. There will be no 'society', there will be no 'collective' that will give you anything. The saying is that the government that is big enough to take care of your every need, is the government that is big enough to steal your every freedom, and this is easily done with democracy, democracy is the gateway to totalitarianism, and this does destroy the individual.

      But the obvious question is - who are you going to be living off of? With nobody creating, building, inventing there will be nothing to steal and to redistribute. And so that society will collapse, obviously the government is way, way, radically, hugely oversized. Obviously the individual is way, way, radically, hugely suppressed.

      This is an extreme part of the spectrum that you are reaching, it will swing in the opposite direction. It will, be prepared to observe the opposite side of this at some point in not so distant future.

    154. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by residieu · · Score: 1

      So if protection is not 100% effective we should consider it worthless?

    155. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Jason+Levine · · Score: 1

      No, we're recognizing that not vaccinating isn't merely an action that only affects your own family. It's an action that affects others.

      I have the right to stand on a street corner and wave my arms. I don't have a right to do that if waving my arms means I'll be smacking people in the face.

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
    156. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      The anti-vaccine people aren't always uneducated, many of the ones that I encountered were college grads. I guess they slept through biology class.

      To be fair, I'm college educated, and I never had any biology classes in college, only chemistry and physics (and of course lots of engineering classes, like statics and dynamics and materials science). I only took biology classes in high school. It's not that I didn't want to, but there just wasn't time; maybe if they hadn't made me waste time taking that horrible Philosophy of Science class for my humanities credit (holy shit, what a boring class that was), I could have fit in a college-level biology class.

    157. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      I'm just curious: why hasn't this happened with any other diseases besides Smallpox? We've been vaccinating against polio, measles, mumps, etc. for ages now, probably longer than the time the smallpox vaccine was used.

    158. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Jason+Levine · · Score: 1

      True, but we tend to give parents some leeway when it comes to raising them. We don't declare that parents who raise their kids in Religion A are dooming their kids to hell and thus the kids should be raised in Religion B. We don't take kids away from parents who let their kids watch too much TV. We don't arrest parents if they give their kid soda and ice cream.

      Yes, in the mythical world where a parent not vaccinating only affected their kids, I'd still argue parents should still make the sensible choice of vaccinating their kids, but I'd be leery of getting the government involved. (As opposed to in our world where not vaccinating affects others in which case I support government mandated vaccines.)

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
    159. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bendor there's no such thing as 2!

    160. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by mapkinase · · Score: 1

      There are rules and there are rules. Everybody would agree that the progress of developed countries is moving from less rules to more rules and new rules are made according to the principle of how easy it is to monitor if the rule is broken or not (example, no country has a rule that "bad drivers should be not driving", but they have plenty of rules instead that easy to monitor, like speed, while having very little relevance to the actual rule: "bad driviers should not be driving").

      Same here with vaccines. The real rule that has been implemented since Black Death epoch is to isolate sick (actually, contagious) from healthy. Since it's very difficult to determine if the person is contagious or not, the rule is replaced with simple: "no vaccination, no school for you".

      --
      I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
    161. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by MightyYar · · Score: 1

      It's also completely unnecessary so long as you can inoculate the rest of the population. The beauty of vaccination is that you don't have to get everyone to wipe out a disease - but you do have to get the vast majority.

      Of course, you mentioned eggs, so you are probably talking about the flu vaccine, which is seasonal. So yeah, you have a good point that it may be worth coming up with alternative production methods - though they'd probably cost Mr. Egg Allergy a small fortune.

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    162. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As long as you post a notice that says you are not part of society and if someone wants to take the property and/or kill you thats fine the police won't be involved.

    163. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, they studied this. The smarter you are the more likely you are going to believe in crackpot shit like the anti-vax junk.

    164. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by compro01 · · Score: 1

      You've got some vaccinations which make absolutely no sense for this reason, like a flu vaccine. Why would you want your kid to get that, for your 'convenience'? Horribly, horribly selfish. It makes a lot of sense if someone is immunodeficient, such as if the individual is elderly. But outside of that? No, it's just feeding the pharma system and costing you money.

      What deficient logic are you utilizing to suggest that vaccinating immunodeficient individuals is a useful idea? That's ineffective pretty much by definition. You protect those individuals by vaccinating everyone who would come in contact with them.

      Also, universal flu vaccinations make a whole lot of sense. Ontario started offering flu vaccines to everyone for free about a decade ago at a cost of about $40 million/year. About 42% of people take them up on that offer.

      Comparing pre and post program information, the universal vaccination program prevents approximately 35,000 flu cases (about 61% of cases), 111 deaths, 786 hospitalizations, 7,745 emergency room visits, and 30,000 doctor visits every year. Even just from direct costs there (and not counting the costs of sick days from work), it's a money saver.

      --
      upon the advice of my lawyer, i have no sig at this time
    165. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      WOW that was super fact and research based......

    166. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually until the collective, this society took over the individual freedoms with regulations, rules, central banks, fake money, income taxes, labour laws, etc., the individuals used to do everything very well.

      Nope, some of the biggest accomplishments in history were done by collectives

      Things like Great Wall and the Pyramids were built by collectives.

      Wars were waged between collectives. Wars which created great empires and nations.

      Religion (government isn't the only form of a collective) imposed great influence over the course of humanity, in the past, present, and the foreseeable future.

      The Internet itself is a collective of computers and devices working together.

      But what disappeared with the individual partnership and appeared with the public option? It is the RESPONSIBILITY. The individual responsibility.

      Of course, since great things come with great responsibilities, greater than any individual can bare. So you spread the responsibility out, in return you make it possible to do great things.

      Notice how there are very few partnerships that can become as big as corporations? Even many "robber barons" of 19th century US incorporated their businesses.

      Collective is a meaningless concept, there are only individuals, and when this meaningless concept becomes the centre, rather than the Individual being the centre, the priorities change, the morals change, everything changes in a very terrible manner.

      Well, that hasn't happened, and unlikely to ever happen (that's why full blown socialism has never shown to work). The great thing about humanity is that most humans are capable of balancing the individual and the collective. It's something people tend to learn soon after they're born - babies are quick to learn that while they're individuals, they're also part of a collective - that of their immediate caretaker's, usually called a "family"

      If the individual is destroyed and stays destroyed, you will have nothing

      Sure, but since individuals are not being destroyed and they are not staying destroyed, that's not a concern.

    167. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by CAIMLAS · · Score: 1

      WTF??? Care to show some facts?

      Yeah. Ask anyone who's ever had to get a 'booster' shot (pretty much everyone, if they've gone to the doctor and been tested for it) how effective their first shot was. You know, the first shot that was supposed to give them life-long immunity.

      Ask someone who's gotten chicken pox in adulthood for the first time how bad their case was and compare it to people who got chicken pox as a child, before chicken pox vaccination became common (or available). My father had chicken pox when he was 35; he was in the hospital for a week, sick for a month, and almost died. That is a common non-childhood response to chicken pox, but it's what's going to happen to people who don't get chicken pox as children if they do not keep up a regular regimen of chicken pox vaccinations throughout their lives.

      At least they're finally admitting that, with chicken pox vaccinations, there isn't a life-long immunity. It's a good thing, I suppose, because unlike most of the other things children are vaccinated for which aren't deadly in later life, chicken pox is.

      It's as plain as the nose on your face, if you'd just open your eyes.

      At least in my country, not taking precautions to avoid contaminating others with a contagious disease is a felony.

      It's a felony to sneeze in public in your country? What a bunch of germaphobes. There the hell do you live, Japan?

      --
      ~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
    168. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by the+gnat · · Score: 1

      I'm just curious: why hasn't this happened with any other diseases besides Smallpox? We've been vaccinating against polio, measles, mumps, etc. for ages now, probably longer than the time the smallpox vaccine was used.

      I think there are two major reasons. One is that the smallpox vaccine was unusually effective. The second, and more important, reason is that smallpox was unusually deadly and horrific: Wikipedia says "Of all those infected, 20–60%—and over 80% of infected children—died from the disease." Even in the 20th century it killed more people than every war combined; the survivors were frequently scarred for life. Once it was recognized that eradication was actually possible, it became a moral imperative.

      People who doubt the effectiveness (or morality) of vaccines really need to read about smallpox; the eradication was one of the greatest medical advances in history. It was also one of the few examples of international governance working perfectly, with the US and the Soviet Union actually cooperating, and it managed to affect even the most chronically poor and strife-ridden areas of Africa. Most first-world citizens will have never encountered a smallpox victim (I was born the year it was officially eradicated), so they tend to be blind to how murderous the disease was, and how much its disappearance has improved quality of life worldwide. Far from encouraging overpopulation, it has probably done the opposite: nothing reduces the birth rate as effectively as decreasing childhood mortality (and generally improving economic conditions).

      Polio is almost gone - it really should have been wiped out by now but there have been various organizational problems and recently there has been resistance to further vaccination in Nigeria and I think Pakistan. But I would be surprised if it isn't officially eradicated by the end of the decade.

    169. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by gorzek · · Score: 1

      Indeed. That is precisely why most vaccines are centered around the so-called "childhood diseases"--because children are a large investment of time, money, and other resources, and for them to be robbed of the chance for a healthy, productive, and long life is a detriment to society as a whole.

      (Note that I am not suggesting we ignore the health needs of the elderly, just that there is a clear, rational incentive to protect children from preventable but dangerous diseases.)

    170. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by tnk1 · · Score: 1

      Quite the opposite. Smallpox was the first vaccine that was used.

      "The term vaccine derives from Edward Jenner's 1796 use of cow pox (Latin variola vaccinia, adapted from the Latin vaccn-us, from vacca, cow), to inoculate humans, providing them protection against smallpox." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaccine

      The polio vaccine was developed only in the 1950's. Smallpox was eradicated only in the 1960's or so. The reason the other diseases haven't died out is that vaccination for them has simply not gone on long enough at the necessary levels.

      Unfortunately, if this anti-vaccination movement ever really takes off, we may never reach the necessary levels of vaccination to eliminate the other diseases.

      Which leads me to another point. No one has had to be vaccinated for smallpox in decades. Vaccination, if done correctly, can definitely cause its own demise as a required treatment. In short, as opposed to letting some die and some live with immunity, immunity is no longer required at all if vaccination policies reach their fruition. Of course, it may be wishful thinking that we can vaccinate away all diseases, but it should be possible with at least a few more.

    171. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thimerosal (mercury) was removed from the standard vaccines that children get, but not from the flu vaccine. There are two special versions of the flu vaccine, one for pregnant women and one for children, both without mercury, but it's difficult for an adult to get mercury-free flu vaccine because of the screaming anti-anti-vax hate brigade trying to shame you into accepting the cheaper vaccine, and these vaccines are meant to be taken yearly instead of once or twice per lifetime.

      I think part of the resistance to removing mercury from vaccines is that it would be a tacit admission that generations of children may have been poisoned. Removing it from the childhood ones but continuing to dose adults with it is a good compromise, a way to solve the alleged problem but let the profession save face.

      But we should acknowledge saving face isn't part of a sane risk assessment, either. This is the same profession that brought you trephaning, ECT, hysteria, the "four humors" and bleeding. I find your abundance of faith disturbing.

    172. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Kijori · · Score: 1

      "Squatter's claim" is a construct of society - a right of occupation gained by occupation. If you reject society you cannot assert any such claim.

      You can live outside society if you travel to part of the world where civil society has broken down and find somewhere out-of-the-way to live. You will have no right to live there - rights are a construct of a modern legal system - so you may find yourself thrown out and forced to find somewhere else if someone more powerful wants your house or property.

    173. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by daem0n1x · · Score: 1

      WTF??? Care to show some facts?

      Yeah. Ask anyone who's ever had to get a 'booster' shot (pretty much everyone, if they've gone to the doctor and been tested for it) how effective their first shot was. You know, the first shot that was supposed to give them life-long immunity.

      Ask someone who's gotten chicken pox in adulthood for the first time how bad their case was and compare it to people who got chicken pox as a child, before chicken pox vaccination became common (or available). My father had chicken pox when he was 35; he was in the hospital for a week, sick for a month, and almost died. That is a common non-childhood response to chicken pox, but it's what's going to happen to people who don't get chicken pox as children if they do not keep up a regular regimen of chicken pox vaccinations throughout their lives.

      At least they're finally admitting that, with chicken pox vaccinations, there isn't a life-long immunity. It's a good thing, I suppose, because unlike most of the other things children are vaccinated for which aren't deadly in later life, chicken pox is.

      It's as plain as the nose on your face, if you'd just open your eyes.

      So, get your booster shots. I never caught varicella, but one of my kids did, so I shouldn't have a problem. Varicella vaccine is not mandatory in my country, anyway.

      At least in my country, not taking precautions to avoid contaminating others with a contagious disease is a felony.

      It's a felony to sneeze in public in your country? What a bunch of germaphobes. There the hell do you live, Japan?

      No, it's not. But to deliberately contaminate someone with an infectious disease is.

    174. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      These children which aren't getting vaccinated because their parents don't understand science are putting other children at risk.

      I'm confused now. Doesn't that indicate that the vaccinations don't work?

      AARRGGGGGGG!!!

      No, it means that the effectiveness of a vaccine varies from one individual to another, but for a population it is very effective as long
      as it is used by most of the population. When too many idiots skip out due to this nonsense, then the entire population is at risk

    175. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by borroff · · Score: 1

      Unfortunately, "college graduate" and "educated" aren't synonyms. Most liberal arts majors couldn't tell you how a vaccine works. I had a close friend who was an honor student at a decent college, who thought the atom bomb was dropped in 1900. Millions of "educated" Americans think the theory of evolution may be in doubt, a far larger percentage than anywhere else in the world - a larger percentage than in the Vatican.

      You can't change a person's mind with evidence, if they're invested in their position; they'll just dismiss you. The Vaxxers desperately want someone to blame for their childrens' conditions, and they've chosen vaccination as the goat.

    176. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Try selling this line of reasoning to the Pro-Abortion crowd...

      My body is my body, unless gstoddart wants to inject something into it for the "good of society".

      And the kicker is that one outbreak in 2008 is the proof that this needs to be done, 'for the children'. If I had known that the vaccinated kids are the ones at increased risk, as this article and other posters have surmised, I don't think I would have gotten my own kids inoculated. After some thought, I think this is not the case and in reality there is a big benefit to getting vaccinated.

      This is another story about some very tiny percentage of people having a problem that some how gets turned into OMGWTFUSASUXS.

    177. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Enter herd immunity. The failure rate of vaccinations are typically below that of the line between "isolated outbreak" and "epidemic". Your argument is moot.

    178. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      'humans are herd animals'

      Except you, right?

    179. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by ultranova · · Score: 1

      If I simply assert squatter's claim to some property, will society leave me alone?

      That's up to whoever actually owns the property, now isn't it? Why on Earth do you think you could simply assert that something of theirs is now yours?

      --

      Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

    180. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      And if we had a government that handled public health like they do in civilized countries, this wouldn't be such a problem. If you're going to make everyone pay for their own vaccine, then you have no right to tell them they need to get vaccinated, nor do you have any right to talk about "herd immunity". If herd immunity is that important, give out the vaccines for free.

    181. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by MightyYar · · Score: 1

      Hyberbole?

      Lets take the flu vaccine, which is not even really in contention here because the flu is generally so mild - people are mostly worked up about MMR and such. But let's use the flu.

      If your kid had a reaction to the vaccine, which does happen, he'd be in a clinical situation and probably would not die. Last year in the US the flu hospitalized over 40,000 and killed over 2,000. That's a miniscule hospitalization rate (based on our 300 million population, which is probably flawed because not everyone got the flu) of only about 0.01%, and a death rate of only 0.0007%. Tiny, but at least there are numbers. I'd love to compare flu vaccine deaths, but there weren't any.

      Our doctor has told us, directly and point blank, had we done so he would be dead.

      I think I need to have a word with your doctor. It's quite a claim, that your kid would have been the only infant that year to die from a flu vaccine.

      Anyway, your child is exactly who I was talking about when I said we should exempt for allergies, though I was not referring to the flu shot, which I think is not such an important disease that we need to have a mandatory vaccine every single year. I'm talking about the MMR, DTap, Chicken Pox, Polio, Rotavirus, and maybe Hep A. The others: Flu, Hep B, and Pneumonia... well, you'd have to be an idiot not to use them, but at least you probably aren't affecting everyone else.

      This should not be your decision. It's not fair to expose other children to your vaccinated child and it's not fair to sequester your child. The only remaining option is to just force your hand, unless I'm missing something. Parents are not the end-all arbiter. We take kids away from parents all the time.

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    182. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by MightyYar · · Score: 1

      They do give out the vaccines for free. The US government buys up something like 2/3 of Merck's MMR, for instance.

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    183. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by fm6 · · Score: 1

      He liked dogs and never ate meat. Oh Lord, when I think of all the dog-walking vegetarians in America today, I despair!

    184. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're absolutely right. Let's bring back smallpox. If we don't bring back smallpox, then everyone will have to get flu vaccines.

    185. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by leonardluen · · Score: 1

      Both numbers are from the US, so mostly are.

    186. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Sprouticus · · Score: 1

      It amazes people from inside the US too.

    187. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by jahudabudy · · Score: 1

      Dude, I think you might want to take a deep breath here. A collective is just a collection of individuals, working towards a common goal under a shared set of rules. It is neither meaningless, nor some all consuming Borg-like bogey man that is going to destroy society. How can a single concept be both impotent and the biggest threat to mankind? And I don't quite understand how the idea of people contributing to society is going to kill us all by....destroying society?

      Obviously the individual is way, way, radically, hugely suppressed.

      Where? Certainly not in America, or any other society I've personally experienced. I get that you don't like having other people tell you what to do and you object to being forced to contribute back to the society that enabled your production, I'm not most best fond of it, but that's just the way it is. It is impossible for you (or me), as an individual, to produce the electricity that powers the refrigerator you built to keep fresh the food that you grew to feed yourself. Extrapolate that out to all the things you need/enjoy in life and it takes a team of people just to make your life possible. I understand you would like for that team to operate under the paradigm you prefer (whatever that is - I don't really understand exactly how you think society SHOULD work), but it doesn't. The fact that our society is functioning indicates that most people are mostly OK with the current teamwork paradigm. I'm sorry you're not; like I said earlier, it would be great if you could go live in the wilderness by yourself rather than have to interact with other people in a manner you don't like. In fact, if you really wanted to live the life of an individual, you probably can find some wilderness somewhere; the world isn't quite that small yet.

      --
      ...sometimes, in order to hurt someone very badly, you have to tell that person terrible lies. - PA
    188. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by leonardluen · · Score: 1

      replying to my own post...

      the world wide number for deaths from the flu would be around 500k per year according to wikipedia

      and as high as 50 million to 100 million during a pandemic.

    189. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Sprouticus · · Score: 1

      By living IN the society, you are part of it. If you remove yourself to somewhere where no government or people exist, perhaps you could remove yourself from society. But as soon as you live amongst others, you are given rights because of that, whether you want them or not. You cannot stay outside of it because society has imposed itself upon you by giving you silly things like the right not to be killed by other humans.

    190. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Have+Brain+Will+Rent · · Score: 1

      Without taking a side inn the pro/anti-vaccination debate I still find your claim unreasonable. It is not the un-vaccinated person putting your son at risk, it is the result of him needing a kidney transplant as an infant that is putting him at (significantly higher) risk.

      --
      The tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny - Aesop
    191. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by roman_mir · · Score: 1

      A collective is just a collection of individuals, working towards a common goal under a shared set of rules.

      - no it's not. 1. There is no goal. 2. There are no shared rules.

      There are rules that are imposed and will stay imposed upon the individuals until the system collapses.

      There are some individuals who gain from using this power over the rest of the individuals, that's what is sold to you under this concept of 'shared goal'.

      I do not have a shared goal with anybody for example. I don't share your goals, at least not on purpose. I have my own goals and your goals are not my goals. I am sure that you have your goals, and they are not mine either.

      And I don't quite understand how the idea of people contributing to society is going to kill us all by....destroying society?

      - it's very easy. Lemmings jump into the water together, some die for sure. Your economy right now is a result of such collective behaviour that is destroying that economy. The majority of the people don't understand the economy, that don't understand money, they don't understand inflation, they don't understand production, they don't understand business. They believe that consumers drive the economy rather than producers, which is complete nonsense, consumption is a trivial consequence of production. Production is driven by individuals, consumption right now is a collective effort, with the collective, collectively engaging in behaviour that is destroying the economy by destroying the money.

      Where? Certainly not in America, or any other society I've personally experienced.

      - in America, yes, in Europe as well, in many other places as well. The places where individuals right now are not suppressed are places where people are much freer to do business as they see fit. It is all about business, it is all about production and it's all about being able to not be robbed by the collective obviously.

      I get that you don't like having other people tell you what to do and you object to being forced to contribute back to the society that enabled your production, I'm not most best fond of it, but that's just the way it is. It is impossible for you (or me), as an individual, to produce the electricity that powers the refrigerator you built to keep fresh the food that you grew to feed yourself.

      - this is a false argument, it supposes that I owe MORE THAN I PAY for the services that I buy.

      You see, I actually PAY for services I need, I don't have any other obligations to anybody for the services that I buy. All services that are worth buying are produced by the free market, the government steals from the individuals by creating monopolies in most obvious business sectors and by hiking the prices and then forcing people to give up part of their income to pay for these overprices services they may or may not need at all.

      A refrigerator manufacturer does not own me, you see, once I pay for the fridge he cannot come back to me and say: you owe me more of what you are producing right now.

      I already paid the fair price, that transaction is over. Same with all these nonsense arguments (teachers, cops, etc., whoever your gov't pretends are there with you every step of the way as you are going through your life. They get paid, they are not there for free, their services were paid for unfortunately.)

      The fact that our society is functioning indicates that most people are mostly OK with the current teamwork paradigm.

      - that's my point.

      The society is breaking the individual and the society is falling apart. I am very glad that it is falling apart, I want to see all of the attributes of modern society to be revamped, no more theft from one and redistribution to another, whoever it is, for whatever purpose.

      it would be great if you could go live in the wilderness by yourself rather than have t

    192. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Have+Brain+Will+Rent · · Score: 1

      Absolutely. And it is an even more slippery slope than that. The general case is: does "society" have a right to medicate you against your will because it is good for "society". And you could substitute "government" for "society"... not sure which is scarier though.

      From there it is: Does society have the right to alter your biology to suit society's purposes?

      --
      The tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny - Aesop
    193. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Have+Brain+Will+Rent · · Score: 1

      Ahhhh... so then correctness is determined by the number of people supporting your position?

      --
      The tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny - Aesop
    194. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Have+Brain+Will+Rent · · Score: 1

      So basically any time "we" observe that parents behavior may result in developing a child (=> adult) who may endanger others (one day, perhaps) then "we" are entitled to interevene and dictate the way that child is raised?

      Wow. OK then... I think kids being raised to believe that "society"/"the state"/"the mob" has a right to tell you what beliefs your children must have (or at least be taught to behave as if they have them) poses a significant danger to humanity and believe that all people who believe in that right should be sequestered. That's ok too, right?

      --
      The tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny - Aesop
    195. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Natural immunity" is both a mix of nature and nurture. There are many diseases that isn't not much what your genes are,but what you age is. Because most people of a health age will survive, there is no genetic benefit to gaining immunity. You also have natural resistances passed down from your mother's anti-bodies. Those have nothing to do with genes.

      Many vaccines don't make up for genetic traits, but make up for lack of exposure. The only way to gain exposure is for an out-break. See the issue?

    196. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Secondly, the public schools are responsible for the safety of the students, while the students are at school, and in most states while travelling to or from school. There's a latin term for it that involves the word "parent".

      For those of you who were wondering, it's in loco parentis

    197. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure how you got from "quantitative risk/benefit analysis" to "the number of people supporting your position." It seems to be a strangely common leap though, so if you have any hypotheses maybe someone can develop a treatment for it.

      In the meantime, I think I'm going to decline your offer.

    198. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Have+Brain+Will+Rent · · Score: 1

      I was commenting on your claim that "It actually amazes people from outside the US that children unvaccinated for things like whooping cough would be allowed into a public school."

      Either your claim was irrelevant to your prior claim or it was intended to bolster it. The latter seemed to be its purpose. Thus my comment about popularity not equalling correctness. I'm sorry if that wasn't clear to you.

      --
      The tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny - Aesop
    199. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      Ah, so you ignored the quantitative risk/benefit analysis part to comment on the aside. Got it. I'm still not renting.

    200. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by jahudabudy · · Score: 2

      You see, I actually PAY for services I need

      Not all of them. I believe this is the fundamental disagreement we have. You receive many benefits from society that you do not pay for, could not pay for without the aid of everyone else. To bring it back to the article, you benefit from herd immunity and the lack of disease it brings. There is simply no way for you to "pay" for that benefit; it requires a group effort. And unfortunately, things like this simply won't work if we allow people to approach society like an a la carte menu. That is in fact the entire point of the article - allowing you the freedom to abstain puts ME at risk. So yes, your freedom is limited in order to provide health to all the people that are not you out there. It is me, and my neighbors, acting in our own best interest as a group. Yes, if this sort of behavior goes too far, it will be a problem. Too much abuse of the individual by society harms the fabric of society (and of course, the abused individual). Alternately, allowing each individual to contribute exactly as he wishes, and no more, to society will also harm society. Which harms ME and my neighbors, and we don't like that. So we all struggle to find the balance between individualism and being a member of society. Of course I wish I could do just exactly as I please and no more, but I see the advantage in sacrificing some personal liberty towards a shared goal. You clearly don't, and think life would be better if you were allowed to do exactly as you please and no more. You're wrong, and luckily it's a self-defeating philosophy. Ironically, you'd have to get enough other individualists to work together to impose YOUR philosophy on me and those others that see a benefit to having a society. We have a natural advantage there, since we already believe in and appreciate the idea of working together towards a goal.

      --
      ...sometimes, in order to hurt someone very badly, you have to tell that person terrible lies. - PA
    201. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      They do? Seems to me that most people (at least in the middle class) have to pay for their vaccines (though I don't have kids, so I can't really speak from experience, maybe I'm wrong about this). They sure don't give flu vaccines out for free, and the vaccines I got myself in recent (within 15) years I had to pay for myself or with insurance, though admittedly they weren't the childhood vaccines like MMR.

    202. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by budgenator · · Score: 1

      It was hard to explain it to Mary Mallon as well.

      --
      Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
    203. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      you can exist independently of society; it's just a such a darn miserable existence that no one chooses that

      Can you? In the USA the only undeveloped land you can live on without inherently breaking the law by doing so is controlled by the BLM. You are not permitted to do much there without permits; you can camp, or take pictures or even shoot at targets, but pretty much anything else requires that you cross a government agent's palm with silver. The roads are frequently closed of late for one reason or another, which range from highly legitimate (fighting forest fires) to completely specious (unspecified "operations".) Without a permit there's nothing to eat. So while you can exist independently of society, it depends on not getting caught actually existing, which is a marginal sort of existence at best.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    204. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Have+Brain+Will+Rent · · Score: 1

      I'm sorry you misunderstood what I said. I thought it was clear to what I was referring in your post but obviously it wasn't to you. Do as you please, of course, but if you are genuinely interested in two-way communication I'd suggest a little more consideration of what someone is saying to you before you hit that reply button.

      --
      The tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny - Aesop
    205. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by MightyYar · · Score: 1

      It's a mix, and I suspect it depends on your state.

      For instance, if I bring my kids to the doctor and the doctor gives the shot, it looks like they bill my insurance company. If I take the kids to a clinic, they get it for "free". I put free in quotes because obviously they take my money forcibly through taxes, then roll it around in a federal bureaucracy, reducing the value of the money, and then buy vaccine with it.

      Anyway, another example is that my county sometimes provides free flu shots. Once (with swine flu), I had to drive an hour all the way across the county to get the free shot because the doctor didn't have it. Usually I get it free through work, or stop in to Walgreens for $12 or whatever it costs.

      But we got a bit off-topic. I have no problem providing "free" vaccine as part of whatever law that gets passed mandating the vaccines.

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    206. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by roman_mir · · Score: 1

      Not all of them.

      - all of them.

      Unfortunately I still end up paying some of the tax burden, not all taxes can be minimised. I used to pay much more in taxes than now (I didn't have all the necessary tools and knowledge at the time). But saying that individuals are not paying for all of the services they buy completely neglects the fact that we are paying for everything either directly or through taxes (in this broken world) but also this completely neglects the fact that we are paying for all of this with much lower standard of living.

      The standard of living that the people have, depends on productivity of the people, and the collective is a system that steals, prevents and destroys productivity. Unfortunately for all, we are all paying for the loss of productivity that is caused by the ever growing government.

      As to 'herd immunity', as I stated a number of times, I am not against vaccines, I am against the violent use of government force to mandate that the individuals must be vaccinated.

      There is simply no way for you to "pay" for that benefit; it requires a group effort.

      - of-course I pay for this. I pay for this with the diminished standard of living due to the productivity because of the diminished individual freedoms.

      There is no excuse for the collective to subjugate the individual, AFAIC any collective that engages in this practice must and will be destroyed (and from my POV it's the great thing that happens when the equation is rebalanced).

      Alternately, allowing each individual to contribute exactly as he wishes, and no more, to society will also harm society.

      - this is completely wrong, based on a false premise that individuals are not contributing to the society simply by being productive and successful, but that they must also be robbed to 'contribute'. That's the part that takes a while to go around in this society.

      but I see the advantage in sacrificing some personal liberty towards a shared goal

      - there cannot be such thing as 'sacrificing some personal liberty'. There is no 'some' in this case, it means that eventually no personal liberties will be left, that's all it means.

      That's why altruism is a terrible thing, by the way, it allows the promotion of such damaging, anti-life ideas as 'self sacrifice'.

      and luckily it's a self-defeating philosophy. Ironically, you'd have to get enough other individualists to work together to impose YOUR philosophy on me

      - no, the great part is that your philosophy is going to destroy your very system, that's the good part.

      The bad part is that your philosophy is a huge setback to the progress, to the economy, to the standard of living of all.

    207. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      If I take the kids to a clinic, they get it for "free". I put free in quotes because obviously they take my money forcibly through taxes, then roll it around in a federal bureaucracy, reducing the value of the money, and then buy vaccine with it.

      No need to use quotes; it should be obvious that that's what "free" means when you're talking about receiving a benefit from the government without paying any additional money up-front. That's one of the proper functions of government: taking money in taxes, and then providing services to the people that benefit the society at large. If herd immunity though public vaccinations are important for public health (and for the people worried about money so much, benefit the economy greatly by extending lifespans and reducing production delays due to sickness), then taking money in taxes and buying vaccines for everyone is most certainly a valid government benefit, far better than giving poor people money to sit on their asses and not work or giving money to rich people to cover their blunders in the financial industry. Even better, the government is allowed to regulate industries, so for something so vital to public health, they can force manufacturers to lower their prices, to share their engineering/design information with other mfgrs so that multiple companies can make the vaccine, and if that doesn't work, they can even forcibly nationalize those industries. Nothing wrong with any of this.

    208. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      By the sample you give you give I can draw either one of 2 conclusions. 1-Either none of the other children infected had been immunized either, or 2-The vaccine itself is ineffective. In either event the immunization process is pointless, since it does not serve the purpose for which it was intended. It therefore must have an ulterior purpose. Training the many to salivate when the government rings the bell.

    209. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In 1952 at the height of the polio epidemic there were only 60k cases and 3k deaths in the US..

      Yep... We got better at treating it.

      What you fail to mention is how many of those 57k that managed to live were crippled.

    210. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Vaccinations do not work 100% of the time, and some people, who would get vacanations, cannot for other health reasons.

      Neutral Observer my behind, your nothing more then another person pushing your own opinion. Too bad facts dont align with you or your position. Huffing and Puffing, and ignoring reality will not make you right. Get over yourself already.

    211. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by s73v3r · · Score: 1

      Except those children are largely innocent, and as has been shown by this article, not everyone who suffers is the kid of an anti-vaxxer.

    212. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by s73v3r · · Score: 1

      Herd immunity requires a certain, high percentage of the population to be vaccinated before it will work. If enough anti-vaxxers take hold, herd immunity is compromised, and the virus has a sizable enough population to take hold.

    213. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by s73v3r · · Score: 1

      No, the anti-vaxxer is increasing the population of persons without immunity, giving the disease a much bigger population to take hold in, and possibly mutate in.

    214. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by s73v3r · · Score: 1

      Vaccination doesn't result in the body producing its own immunity

      Yes, it does.

      You need a booster shot to remain immune, unlike if you were to actually catch a virus.

      This is false, too. Many people who were "naturally immune" from being exposed to the virus will also have their immunity wear off after time.

      For most of the benign (in a modern, sanitary, nourished society) illnesses we vaccinate for these days (MMRs come to mind), why does it even make sense to vaccinate?

      Because the infinitesimal chance of something going wrong with the vaccine, and the side effects from it, are far, far, far less than actually CATCHING the disease.

      It makes a lot of sense if someone is immunodeficient, such as if the individual is elderly.

      You just described the class of people who likely cannot get vaccinated.

      It astounds me how so many people who are so avowedly anti-pharma don't even bat an eye at global application of "vaccines are good"!

      Because most of us aren't complete fucking retards, and can look at history before and after vaccines, and see what harm those diseases did before vaccines became commonplace.

    215. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by s73v3r · · Score: 1

      First, you're an ass.

      I'd say the ass is the one putting everyone's children at risk for the most retarded, and non-scientifically backable reasons.

      Second, I have a doctorate in a scientific field and I'm sure as hell I know more about vaccination than you.

      Unless your doctorate is in medicine, microbiology, or the study of viruses and disease transmission, likely not.

      Why don't you do a slashdot search and also note that the vast majority of recent outbreaks have occurred in VACCINATED children.

      That's what we're talking about. People who are unvaccinated are putting those of us who are vaccinated, but to where the vaccine didn't provide 100% immunity, at higher risk.

    216. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Have+Brain+Will+Rent · · Score: 1

      Look at it this way, there is the child with the damaged immune system, and another child without a damaged immune system. Both are in the presence of the child who hasn't been vaccinated. The risk to the child with the damaged immune system is higher than the risk to the other child - clearly the escalation in risk (which was what was brought up) is due to the damaged immune system.

      While I feel sorry for the child with the damaged immune system I'm not convinced that that is sufficient reason to demand that other children undergo a medical procedure, any medical procedure no matter how benign it might seem.

      This reminds me of all the schools that send kids home if they bring peanut butter in their lunch... because some kids are allergic to peanut butter. So the kids don't get to eat what they want and the parents have to use more expensive sandwich contents (it's pretty hard to beat peanut butter on price). This has "just happened" with no public debate about it.

      --
      The tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny - Aesop
    217. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by s73v3r · · Score: 1

      Generally not the same ones, though. But nice try with your false equivalence.

    218. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by s73v3r · · Score: 1

      If the state is going to require my children to be sent to their institution

      They don't. You can home-school, or go to a private school. It's just that many private schools have the same requirements because they're not run by idiots.

      it seems somewhat unreasonable to me that they should also be able to mandate my children to have needless shots (in many cases, eg. MMR) before hand.

      No, because it's been determined that those shots are NOT 'needless'.

      Keep in mind that a vaccine does not stop the person from actually getting the illness, and in fact may in some ways make it worse. This is becoming increasingly clear, but it may take a while for the dissonance to clear up before people realize it.

      Citation or STFU.

    219. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by s73v3r · · Score: 1

      Yeah. Ask anyone who's ever had to get a 'booster' shot (pretty much everyone, if they've gone to the doctor and been tested for it) how effective their first shot was. You know, the first shot that was supposed to give them life-long immunity.

      Nobody claimed it would. Immunity fades, just like the immunity you get from contact with the disease can fade. However, in the vaccine's favor, you have a far lower risk of complications than you do from actually getting the disease.

      It's as plain as the nose on your face, if you'd just open your eyes.

      He asked for facts and data. You gave him neither. You gave him bullshit and anecdotes.

    220. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by s73v3r · · Score: 1

      And what if I don't want to live in society? Will society let me independently exist

      Yes. Leave, and you can independently exist.

      or will they force my participation, through such means as property taxes?

      Ahh, so you want to live in society, but not "participate". So you want all the benefits of society (roads, medicine, police protection, electricity, etc), but you don't want the responsibility.

      And if I'm not given a choice, who's the parasite?

      I would say the one who insists on living with the benefits of society, but throws a childish temper tantrum when asked to live up to their responsibilities.

    221. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by s73v3r · · Score: 1

      No, because by doing so, you are still using a construct of society.

    222. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by s73v3r · · Score: 1

      Your premise is entirely flawed because it requires enough people not being vaccinated by choice.

    223. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by s73v3r · · Score: 1

      This conclusion is utterly worthless and without merit. The fact of the matter is, you do not have the right to engage in activities which endanger other people. Not vaccinating and sending children to school is one of these activities.

    224. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by s73v3r · · Score: 1

      Yeah. People like you, who have no fucking clue what they're talking about.

    225. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Have+Brain+Will+Rent · · Score: 1

      I shall assume that you have no actual response to what I said and being unable to tolerate that you instead are just asserting your opinion as fact.

      --
      The tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny - Aesop
    226. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Carnildo · · Score: 1

      You know who dies of whooping cough? Mostly, it's infants who are too young to be vaccinated. By the time you're old enough for the vaccine, your lungs are developed enough that whooping cough probably won't kill you.

      --
      "They redundantly repeated themselves over and over again incessantly without end ad infinitum" -- ibid.
    227. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Have+Brain+Will+Rent · · Score: 1

      It has nothing to do with the number of people choosing not to be vaccinated. It addresses the logical claim of the increased risk, relative to other people otherwise why even both talking about the compromised immune system, resting with the non-vaccinated person rather than with the one who has no immune system. Read first, think, then respond.

      --
      The tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny - Aesop
    228. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by lewiscr · · Score: 1

      We took a wait and see approach.

      When the first study came up saying there was a link, we did a risk/reward scenario. If we vaccinated, there was an increased chance of autism. If we didn't vaccinated, there was very little increased risk (herd immunity hadn't been compromised yet). Neither one of us is a biologist, so we were in no position to evaluate the study. We talked to several doctors, half of which also choose not to vaccinate their children. As a bonus, this path gave us more options: we could always change our mind later, but you can't un-vaccinate.

      Several new study come out saying that the first study was full of shite. The risk is much lower, because the current known side effects all have a much lower probability. At this point, we had all of our children vaccinated.

      Isn't that what critical thinking is? Evaluating information, making the best decisions you can, and re-evaluating things when the information changes?

    229. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You really have no clue.

    230. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by iter8 · · Score: 1

      We were directed by the physicians not to vaccinate. This was 20 years ago, so I think the anti-vaccine movement wasn't as strong and immunosuppression wasn 't as advanced. Someone above mentioned that non-vaccinated kids were not the risk, but that the condition that required the transplant was the risk factor. Of course, it was, but childhood disease can kill or cripple seemingly healthy kids, if you can't be vaccinated against things like measles, having almost everyone around you vaccinated is the next best thing. Lowering the accumulated risk seems like a good thing. As you say, when dealing with a chronic condition, you're always making those kinds of risk/reward judgments.

    231. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by msauve · · Score: 1

      Has your inability to recognize the difference between reality and conjecture been recognized by your attendants, or will your committal be extended?

      --
      "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
    232. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      so by extension of your logic, parents b, c and d should pretty much seal their kids up in plastic and keep them home as well, since they're putting everyone else at risk as well. I mean.. "A person's rights to raise their kids how they want don't extend to putting other kids at risk." extends to everyone, including you, right?

    233. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by theNAM666 · · Score: 1

      I suspect they didn't go to biology class?

      My mom is a 90-something senior with "severe immological deficiencies" (to choose an insufficient phrase). That people near where she lives are not only choosing not to immunize, but exchanging cultures through the mail and trying them out on their kids after refusing to immunize their kids, "drives me crazy."

      Best of luck. I'd make an ironic joke about those who believe its all a plot by "The Man," but most here wouldn't get my irony. I can't really believe the US has come to this...

    234. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by rs79 · · Score: 1

      My ex died of flu in her 40s, just last year. I had it for two days.

      --
      Need Mercedes parts ?
    235. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by rs79 · · Score: 1

      I've seen facts. They don't look like that. If you can't distinguish facts from informal logic ("rhetoric") why are you wasting our time?

      --
      Need Mercedes parts ?
    236. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by rs79 · · Score: 1

      There are many tropical countries you can't enter without certain shots. Yes it's good for society when you don't wipe out an entire village because of your stubborn ignorance. This isn't tyranny, this is common sense.

      Enough poeple have died because of anti-vax ignorance lately that the only reason you'd say what you did is that you aren't aware of this.

      Keeping the body count low is the goal here, your paranoia about state tyranny (hi Ayn!) is secondary.

      --
      Need Mercedes parts ?
    237. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by rs79 · · Score: 1

      "And what if I don't want to live in society?"

      So leave already.

      --
      Need Mercedes parts ?
    238. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Have+Brain+Will+Rent · · Score: 1

      Well thank you for asserting your opinions as if they were facts or even a logical argument for your position. Too bad they're neither.

      As for what other countries require of visitors - that is certainly they're right. It seems to me the discussion was what countries/society can demand of its own citizens. So even that comment is irrelevant.

      As for your reference to Ayn Rand, I'll refrain from implying you are a known authoritarian demagogue, because see that kind of comment really doesn't add anything at all. Well, wait, I guess it does show the person making it lacks the ability to conduct a proper argument. .

      --
      The tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny - Aesop
    239. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by MightyYar · · Score: 1

      I'm just saying that it does not matter to me whether they make me vaccinate my kids with my own money, or whether they take my money and then give me the vaccinations for "free". Either way, I'm out xx dollars for a vaccination.

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    240. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      Maybe that works for you. For someone who's poor, they don't have extra money for vaccinations for their kids. So, they're going to just skip them altogether if they're not free. So without making them free, you have no herd immunity, because tons of poor people (and people who simply didn't feel like spending the money) won't be vaccinated at all. You can't force people to spend money on vaccinations, especially if they don't have it.

    241. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by MightyYar · · Score: 1

      I'll repeat myself:

      But we got a bit off-topic. I have no problem providing "free" vaccine as part of whatever law that gets passed mandating the vaccines.

      But the scenario you described wouldn't even happen today, because poor people are covered with Medicaid.

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    242. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by jwdb · · Score: 1

      But isn't that to be expected? If you're truly outside of society, then you don't have any cooperative agreements (the social contract, treaties between countries, etc...) with it and are therefore in direct competition with society for resources. Seeing as you're not part of society, it owes you nothing, and can run roughshod over you to take the resources for itself. Isn't that what one pack of animals would do to a loner, or to another, smaller pack?

      If you really were to live outside of society, why should it care about respecting your independence if you have something it wants? That's why it's a miserable existence: only by being homeless and destitute can you escape the hungry eye of society.

      And if you're not part of society, why would you care if you break its laws? That only matters if you expect it to treat you as a member.

    243. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      And if you're not part of society, why would you care if you break its laws? That only matters if you expect it to treat you as a member.

      Because a) it will treat you like a member whether you want it to or not and b) it owns all the land, literally. Private property ownership has its up sides, but it's got massive downs too.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    244. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      woop woop woop woop woop

      Godwin's Law activated, all reasonable conversation abort, abort.

      woop woop woop woop

    245. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It -is- insightful to know there are people out there that will hear something like "vaccinations" and then follow it to its absurd conclusion of vaccinating everyone for everything ever thought of ever ever.

      By all means please keep trying to kill the human race.

    246. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why is it child A's responsibility to risk his health for child B, C, and D?

      Would you give Gardisil to your son ?

    247. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by jwdb · · Score: 1

      It only makes sense to talk about ownership rights within society as it's a grated right, not an implicit one. Outside of society, the only property that society "owns" is the property that it can and will defend. Society may own all land on paper, but I'm sure there are plenty of places a dedicated loner could squat undisturbed.

      That it treats you as a member is an upside, because the alternative is that it relocates, jails or shoots you as being a dangerous wild animal infringing on its territory, same as a bear or a tiger.

    248. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      not true, you are speaking for others.

    249. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Quite right. It's not me chugging a bottle of Jack Daniel's and then driving my car at unsafe speed that puts you at risk, it's you being a pedestrian and not having a ton of specially designed metal protection (plus airbags) that puts you at risk. I can't see why people should restrict my freedom to drive my own car and take the bottle away just because you escalate your risk by walking rather than driving.

      The nanny state these days, eh?

    250. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      so even if vaccines were never developed you would still be more likely to die from flu than one of those "stable diseases".

      The problems is that flu is not stable. That means, it changes all the time, and resistance against flu A doesn't protect you against flu B and flu C. If there was a vaccine against (almost) all types of flu, it should most definitely be mandatory.

    251. Re:Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      the artificial herd immunity through mass vaccination is the most evil idea invented by Big Pharma to have unlimited market for their evil toxic shit... it is extremely extremely evil as it introduces the form of medical inquisition and terrorism, defiles all logic and its absurdity can only lead to atrocities made by those who bought into artificial immunity scam.... human immune system is already PERFECT, it does not evolve !!! it can be ONLY messed up by insane junk scientists and illogical full of fear people who accept their Frankenstein inventions like vaccines or chemotherapy... the right to our body is the basic human right... NOTHING should ever be forced upon our bodies and ESPECIALLY vaccines on which official inserts there are listed very dangerous side effects...actually vaccines should be banned as a very criminal baby killing and human harming business !!! Forceful vaccination are fascistic idea that is on the level of concentration camps and nazists...

  4. Re:SCAREMONGERING. by MightyYar · · Score: 4, Informative

    Vaccines are not that profitable. Please adjust your tinfoil hat.

    --
    W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
  5. How is this news now? by VendettaMF · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Every reputable medical doctor, along with every pundit even slightly knowledgable about medicine or even basic biology has been warning of this issue ever since the antivaxxer morons got their idiotic campaign going.

    --
    kartune85 : Incapable of reason, observation or learning. A kind of dim, drab, flightless parrot.
    1. Re:How is this news now? by i+kan+reed · · Score: 1

      Look, sometimes people need to engage in some low-level accidental genocide before they see their mistake. It's not asking too much to have a couple dozen dead children so some suburbanites can learn the value of modern medicine. Unless of course they double down on human nature, and blame someone else for their mistakes, and keep killing and mutilating children.

    2. Re:How is this news now? by rarumberger · · Score: 1

      Yes, right there. You know as well as I do that their response will be to double down. These people are undeniably ignorant, and have shown themselves immune to rational thought and the scientific method. Kids start dying en masse, the immediate response will be "my kid caught [such-and-such-easily-preventable-infection] because some immunized kid carried into the classroom! We must ban vaccinations!"

    3. Re:How is this news now? by CAIMLAS · · Score: 1

      Ah, so we're resorting to No True Medical Doctor or Knowledgeable Pundit arguments now, are we?

      You would, of course, be incorrect. You wouldn't know it, of course, because you're only listening to what you hear on nationally broadcast news.

      --
      ~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
    4. Re:How is this news now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It takes time to collect and analyze data.

    5. Re:How is this news now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah. Sometimes reputation means more then truth. Sorry to mention. Slight knowledge is not enough to make a reasonable decision - and current biology has just only slight and fragmented knowledge about immunity. Basically we use tool that we have close to zero understanding of how it works. Not to mention that we can not predict how many flaws we simply do not see. Half of the human population were infected with SV40 in contaminated polyo vaccine, and we yet know nothing about what effect it had, has and will have.

  6. There's a shock... by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I suspect that, rather than "Despite the successes of childhood immunizations", it would be because of those successes that the 'controversy' is presently raging...

    Because of the effectiveness of widespread childhood vaccination, we've had at least a generation of people with minimal firsthand exposure to all the wacky pathogenic fun that used to be quite common. Plus, depending on the herd immunity requirements for a given pathogen and vaccine, being part of the first n% of opt-outs is basically cost-free. It isn't until you get closer to herd immunity breakdown that being unvaccinated starts to carry any serious additional risk of infection.

    If you have a situation where people's knowledge of the risks is largely historical and the odds are pretty good that you can free-ride your way past them in any case, it (sadly) seems only to be expected that there would be room for assorted controversy to flourish.

    1. Re:There's a shock... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When was the last time you were seriously concerned about getting smallpox?

    2. Re:There's a shock... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      rtfa: The people who refuse the vaccines on the basis of some stupid beliefs are putting the people that can't take the vaccines because of some medical condition at risk.

    3. Re:There's a shock... by Dog-Cow · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Also I don't get why unvaccinated students are putting other students at risk.

      Another example of the reason why stupid should be painful. And given the topic, fatal.

    4. Re:There's a shock... by pscottdv · · Score: 4, Informative

      According to the article, some people cannot get vaccinations due to allergies or other medical conditions. Those people are put at risk.

      Also, some vaccinations are not 100% effective, so anyone for whom the vaccination was not effective is put at risk.

      --

      this signature has been removed due to a DMCA takedown notice

    5. Re:There's a shock... by Dr_Barnowl · · Score: 5, Informative

      Also I don't get why unvaccinated students are putting other students at risk.

      A couple of reasons ;

      i) Vaccination isn't a perfect shield against disease.

      If vaccination gives you 90% immunity, and you spray a whole school with the disease, 10% of the kids will get it. But happily, diseases don't spread like that - they need human hosts. If the only person you come into contact with is your teacher, and they get the disease, you'll be exposed. But if he's vaccinated too, your chances of getting it just went down to 1%, because his chance of contracting it is lower. Herd immunity matters because it reduces the number of carriers, which decreases the risk that anyone, vaccinated or otherwise, will even contact the disease, let alone contract it.

      ii) The more hosts a disease has, the more it will mutate.

      Viruses reproduce at a prodigous rate under great selection pressure - they mutate quickly. Chances are, that one will develop a mutation that makes the current vaccines less effective, or ineffective. The more chances the virus has to reproduce, the more likely this will happen. Therefore unvaccinated folks are doing the equivalent of putting a sign in their lot saying "Terrorists welcome! Come experiment here to discover new ways to kill decadent infidels!"

    6. Re:There's a shock... by Jason+Levine · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If you don't use a condom, the only people at risk are you and your partner. (Well, and anyone else that person sleeps with, but the immediate risk is just the two of you.)

      If you don't get vaccinated, you can spread diseases to people who are too young to get vaccinated, people who's vaccinations didn't take (vaccination isn't 100% effective for everyone), people who can't get vaccinated due to allergies/illness/etc. And you don't have to have intimate contact with these people. Walk by one of them in a store and you might have passed on your virus. Sneeze on your hand, touch your desk, and you'll pass your virus on to the person who sits there next class period. This is bad enough when we're talking about something minor like a cold. However, if you're talking about whooping cough, mumps, or polio, your lack of vaccination could mean severe injury or death to someone else.

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
    7. Re:There's a shock... by HungryHobo · · Score: 5, Informative

      "Also I don't get why unvaccinated students are putting other students at risk. Wouldn't vaccinated students be risk-free? This article reads to me like "Teenagers foregoing condom use putting teenagers who don't have sex at risk" ... "

      sigh.

      not this idiotic crap again.

      There's always some moron who's too lazy to actually do some reading first to at least know what they're challenging.

      in a certain percentage of people who get vaccinated the vaccine doesn't "take".
      it varies by vaccine. in some the uptake is 95%+ in others 80% or lower. in some it's only a hair above the percentage of the population who need to be immune to maintain herd immunity.

      so if you get the shot there's only a 95% chance that your body will react to it and make you immune.

      there's also the immune compromised, the very young and the very old.

      so johnny idiot decides vaccines are evil and doesn't get his kid vaccinated. nod only does johonny idiots kid get sick or die but also a certain percentage of the children of non-negligent parents who just got unlucky or were sick. they suffer because negligent parents drag everyone bellow the herd immunity threshold.

    8. Re:There's a shock... by Type44Q · · Score: 1

      Mod parent up; I realize that all anti-vaxxers are completely and totally insane and therefore by definition have no valid points to make... but if they did (just saying...), it might include some of these...

    9. Re:There's a shock... by Sique · · Score: 1

      Vaccination is not a 100% success. Some people are vaccinated and still not immune, because their immune system was not able to create the right immune answer to the vaccine. Those people are especially at risk, because if someone catches the real thing and infects them, their immune system again will probably not answer sufficiently. Other people can't get vaccination because of allergies or other contraindications. Normally herd immunity (the fact that around you most people are immune anyway and thus not carrying any infectants your immune system failed to create an immune answer to) protects those people. Unvaccinated people dillute the herd immunity, and if it falls beyond a certain threshold, the protection wears off.

      --
      .sig: Sique *sigh*
    10. Re:There's a shock... by Agent0013 · · Score: 1

      Just remember that society has lost the herd immunity we used to have from Whooping Cough. The rise in cases of this is from people getting the vaccine. In the olden days more people would have gotten the cough and been immune for life. Now that most people have been vaccinated we are seeing a much larger spread of the disease due to the vaccine wearing off and not being as effective as the company says.

      I'm not anti-vaccine, but I do think we should think about what vaccines are appropriate. When I was a kid we got half a dozen vaccines, now it's multiple dozens of shots for all kinds of pointless things. Some of the diseases are super rare, and if the kid catches it, it's as bad as getting a cold. Why do we need to shove crap into a developing child's body and immune system when it isn't life saving in some way.

      I also don't think we should allow the government to enforce laws that tell us what we have to put into our bodies. Wasn't it called "Bliss" in A Brave New World, but at least it wasn't mandatory. They just gave you your daily allowance. But you were looked at as being a weirdo if you didn't take your Bliss.

      --

      -- ssoorrrryy,, dduupplleexx sswwiittcchh oonn.. -Quote found on actual fortune cookie.
    11. Re:There's a shock... by JasterBobaMereel · · Score: 1

      Fat causes heart disease is a tricky one ....

      Coronary heart disease one form of heart disease is caused by excessive amounts of some types of Cholesterol a fat, and this is normally correlated with obesity, eating Trans-Fats, and some foods regarded as fatty, (Red meat, cheese) but other fatty foods can reduce the risk, and others are neutral ....

      Diet is simple - a balanced diet is good for you.... it can be hard to have a balanced diet in modern society...

      --
      Puteulanus fenestra mortis
    12. Re:There's a shock... by UnknowingFool · · Score: 1

      I would put some of this blame on the failure to understand science and medicine. And opportunists like Andrew Wakefield who put himself above the care of his patients. Vaccines are effective for the vast, vast majority of people. Some people do experience negative reactions in all medications. But these numbers are very small. The anti-vaccine proponents act as if this has been hidden from them in some sort of conspiracy.

      --
      Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
    13. Re:There's a shock... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I know, they all say it's just a little prick, but it hurt so much the first time I never let anyone stick another one in me again.

      Great example of the value of context.

    14. Re:There's a shock... by HungryHobo · · Score: 1

      toughen up pussy.

    15. Re:There's a shock... by lcam · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Insanity is in the eye of the beholder.

      My issue with vaccines have to do with their quality. Injectable vaccines around where I live contain a preservative based on mercury. Why? Well, it's cheap, we mass produce vaccines and need to keep the price down. Economics.

      The general belief is that vaccines help more than they hurt, that being said, for the 5% (or whatever the statistics happen to be) for the patients who have a more violent reaction, their illness was caused by the vaccine, the very thing that everyone believes was supposed to protect them. And if not for that exposure, they would be perfectly healthy. Another side effect. And that's another price to pay for an effective campaign against diseases that doctors work to protect their patients against. How do we reduce that number? Well, further R&N => more expenses... Economics.

      So it isn't insane to suggest that we all need to be aware of the quality of vaccine we permit our kids to be exposed to. Certainly my position is not an extremist position like "no vaccines", but I'll be exercising my freedom to chose.

      For all you "gentlemen" out there supposing that freedom is a bad thing, you might as well be advocating for more Airport Security, higher population densities in FEMA camps and the outright ban on aluminum foil so that other people who actually think about the issues can't get any for their hats!

      I think extremism is the actual "danger factor" with the issue of vaccines or any issue (especially religion).

    16. Re:There's a shock... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sissy

    17. Re:There's a shock... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      someone picked the wrong doc to pop his cherry...

    18. Re:There's a shock... by miketheanimal · · Score: 1

      Because of the effectiveness of widespread childhood vaccination, we've had at least a generation of people with minimal firsthand exposure to all the wacky pathogenic fun that used to be quite common.

      Indeed. BTW, how old are you. I'm 55, I've had measles, I've had chicken pox, I've had mumps, I've very likely had rubella. My wife is 48. She's had all those, she's had whooping cough. No big deal, and neither of us can remember "all the wacky pathogenic fun". In 1988, when MMR was introduced in the UK (measles vaccine had been around a while but take up was patchy) there were 16 deaths (http://www.hpa.org.uk/web/HPAweb&HPAwebStandard/HPAweb_C/1195733811885): since measles was endemic and virtually all kids would get it, that would be 16 deaths in around 600000. Not nice, but absolutely awful either. So vaccines may be good (broadly, I agree); vaccine *policy* may be good (broadly, I disagree); but most of the things vaccinated against were not the mass killers/mass complications that the pro-vaccine people would have others believe.

    19. Re:There's a shock... by Type44Q · · Score: 1

      Insanity is in the eye of the beholder.

      Indeed it is; elements of my earlier post should probably have included the /sarc tag, I suppose.

      Certainly you bring up some reasonable and valid points; my single biggest concern re: vaccines is the conspiratorial fashion in which TPTB are attempting to frame the debate: if you mention some of these issues, the sheer number of trolls that instantly jump out of the woodwork to mod you down (having surplus amounts of modpoints to spare, apparently) indicates to me that there's something about this whole issue that most of us (whether we tend to be pro-vaccine, anti-vaccine or somewhere in the middle) seem to be missing...

    20. Re:There's a shock... by antifoidulus · · Score: 2

      Also keep in mind that most vaccines have a minimum age in which they can be safely administered, it's not like rhyme doctor sticks a measles vaccine in a baby as soon as the umbellical chord is cut. For measels vaccines should not be given before the first birthday, meaning those that don't vaccinate their children pose a threat to pretty much every baby out there....

    21. Re:There's a shock... by Firethorn · · Score: 1

      I live contain a preservative based on mercury.

      I have to ask, where do you live and what's your source on the vaccines? Thermisol has been eliminated from US vaccines for a couple decades at this point, plus there have been no studies showing that the incredibly small dosages in shots actually cause any harm.

      --
      I don't read AC A human right
    22. Re:There's a shock... by lcam · · Score: 1

      Vaccines are a controversial issue.

      On one side you have the entire medical industry that supports the widespread use for the benefit of all at the "cost" of a few.

      And on the other side a few who figure they know what's best for themselves and elect to chose.

      The push made by the first group is to deny the second group the right to chose because the choices the second group is making is undermining their master plan.

      The best possible results would be for the second group to elect participation perhaps with additional attention given to their issues by the first group. But it seems, the issues people may have with vaccines are considered "annoyances" and the push is to steamroll the issue regardless. We need only wait to see if governing bodies support that strategy; the sad part, IMO, is that freedom and liberty are going to be the only casualties of this dispute. Damage inflicted by both sides who cannot seem to handle their freedoms and liberties in a responsible way!

      They are all trolls, I tell you, all of them. The medical industry and the anti-vaxxers, and their actions will cost me my right to choose! So maybe they really are all insane.

    23. Re:There's a shock... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is not "some". ALL vaccinations are below 100%. The ones that are mandatory in most of the world have at least 85% (probably more, 90% is more likely) coverage, and high-risk below 1/100k.

      You REALLY, REALLY need herd immunity for two factors:

      1) To cover those for which the vaccin "didn't take", and this is _NOT_ a small crowd, more like 5-10% of the population, depends on the vaccine/pathology.

      2) To cover for slightly mutated pathogens, as the immune response varies for each individual, herd immunity ends up rising coverage slightly, and decreases the risk of resistant pathogens gaining a foothold a great deal.

      It should be an outright crime to not vaccinate anyone for anything less than strictly medical reasons, and you should still limit the number of unvaccinated people in any crowd to less than 1% (yes, that means unvaccinated children should be denied entry on classrooms where there are already way too many unvaccinated children, regardless of the reason they have not been vaccinated).

    24. Re:There's a shock... by bluefoxlucid · · Score: 1

      There's also the theory that the body is very good at dealing with fat ... if you don't have carbs. More importantly, if the fat is primarily energy and not excess. Carbohydrates supply an immense amount of energy--carb-heavy foods are dense. Think about how much fat is in meat (hint: it's in the meat) versus rice (hint: rice is starch with a little protein and some micrograms of vitamins) or wheat (same deal, 12% protein is HIGH for wheat). We eat potatoes and bread and rice and such things, massive energy intake, easy to break down, never mind the straight sugar (HFCS etc...) that we guzzle down ... and then blame fat for heart problems. Why would your body convert fat to energy when it's cheaper energy-wise to break down fat into lipoproteins and reassemble it for storage, versus turning it to energy or using carbs/proteins to build fat from raw materials?

      There's the other less important argument that sedentary lifestyle is really the bottom line. Your diet may have an impact--but if you're a manual laborer, the energy usage may negate the impact entirely. Trust me, bicycle racers don't have diet distributions; they have food energy intake. You need protein, vitamins, and energy. If you're Usain Bolt training every god damn day to run faster than any other human in existence, that's as far as it goes: your body burns everything you stick in it. If you just do construction for a living, or bicycle for leisure or transportation (5 miles from work? Bike!), your diet probably matters less than if you wake up, drive to work, sit at a desk all day, drive home, and then sit on the couch eating a TV dinner. Just sayin'.

      The problem may be sedentary lifestyle; but beyond that, a more balanced diet helps for a less active lifestyle. Of course that all matters on how active you are: extremely active, get energy; mid-level active, the balance shifts; very sedentary, your diet needs much less energy input and will be sensitive to how much energy you can derive from various inputs and how storage factors in, and is very dependent on your own base metabolism. In the end, we don't understand what 'balanced' means, and we've gotten this idea that fat is bad and should be minimized and so food energy should come from carbs (meat contains fat, it's recommended to eat more grain for energy)--which is not balanced.

    25. Re:There's a shock... by bluefoxlucid · · Score: 1

      Actually they made a nurse do it.

    26. Re:There's a shock... by NeutronCowboy · · Score: 1

      now it's multiple dozens of shots for all kinds of pointless things.

      I think you're quite nicely illustrating fuzzy's point: you have never actually SEEN the impact of a measles, dyptheria or whopping cough epidemic. That's the only reason you could think that those vaccinations are for things that are kinda pointless. All those diseases are not 100% deadly, but they are nasty enough and spread easily enough that the impact on society is very, very expensive, with a death toll that does make people sit up and take notice.

      --
      Those who can, do. Those who can't, sue.
    27. Re:There's a shock... by stdarg · · Score: 0

      I don't understand why such a big deal is made of herd immunity and the risk to people who can't be vaccinated for medical reasons. I'd love to see the actual numbers involved. How many people can't get vaccinated, what are their odds of death? How does that compare to the millions of other ways people can die due to other people's actions?

      And then you have to weigh the cost of the solution. Forcing everybody to get vaccinations, or threatening to withhold services like public education, is way over the line for me in terms of what government should be doing. It's radical. Why not ban all use of nuts and nut products to help people with nut allergies? How is that cost to society less than the gross infringement of our rights? Why not institute a nationwide speed limit of 15 mph for cars with built-in engine limiters to enforce it? Imagine how many lives would be saved! Yet the convenience of driving fast apparently outweighs all those lives.

      Really, who today would seriously suggest such a low nationwide speed limit to save lives? Yet the nutcases come out of the woodwork to suggest harsh punishments for people who refuse to vaccinate their children because someone else *might* get sick as a result.

      I support vaccination but I'm horrified at what people suggest to "encourage" vaccination.

    28. Re:There's a shock... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I didn't know that vaccinations turned regular people into rude, stupid people!

    29. Re:There's a shock... by stdarg · · Score: 1

      Everybody takes risks that could lead to sickness or death every day. Some people have higher risk due to health problems, some because of age, some because of their own choices. Don't you just have to accept that you may have a higher risk than others, and you can't force other people to do things to reduce your own risk?

      "I demand that everybody stop driving because I don't want to be hit by your car. Think of how many lives we'll save!"

    30. Re:There's a shock... by lcam · · Score: 1

      Brazil.

      As I understand it, you are correct. Small doses of mercury does not cause noticeable harm. It's only when the body has accumulated the metal in a quantity surpassing some threshold that it becomes a problem. And it is not used in US vaccines for some time now.

      That being said, we only need a few industries that produce consumables like paint or whatnot, even though the quantity of mercury is very low, and cause exposure (in small quantities) and create a future problem. This example (paint used on toys) has recently been addressed in the US.

      I'm examining vaccination options here that do not contain mercury.

      I think it's important to mention that, to me at least, it's not clear that medical professionals have the patients well-being as a primary point of concern. It seems that many of the routines and strategies are more related to their personal convenience, medical studies, risk mitigation, or economics before patient well-being. It's for that reason that I seek results from independent studies that support information they may provide me.

      As a perfect example, here newborns get eye-drops containing silver-nitrate to prevent more serious eye irritation like those cause by gonorrhea. The eye-drops causes a milder eye irritation in the newborn but still is applied as standard practice even when the mother has blood, urine and stool tests done that indicate that no gonorrhea is present. The decision for the general application of silver nitrate was made because the eye-drops may prevent an eye irritation for a newborn who's mother lives in the Amazons and has neglected her pre-natal exams. Sort of like a preventative measure just in case type thing.

      So the attitude is: let's degrade all mothers, regardless of what concerns they may have for their well being or the well being of their child, to the level of an prostitute who works in the Amazon and who got knocked up once to many times and doesn't care whether or not she is ill. Brazil sucks.

    31. Re:There's a shock... by MattskEE · · Score: 1

      With an experienced administrator injections are not too bad, just a very brief very small prick, though they injection site can ache a bit for several hours sometimes.

      Anyway, you have probably worked up this fear of injections over and over in your head to the point that you remember it as worse than it is. I'm also a bit nervous about getting injections, but I always go anyway and it's never as bad as I think it's going to be. Try getting one around flu season just to see what all of the fuss is about. When you make the appointment or show up at the clinic let them know that you're uncomfortable about injections and ask for the best person they have to do it - unless they're in a bad mood or super busy they'll help you out. And remember to relax, tense muscles will make it hurt more.

    32. Re:There's a shock... by MattskEE · · Score: 1

      You want a nurse doing it, not a doctor. Doctors are usually too busy to do most of the injections they prescribe, and they're not the ones in clinics around flu season. For the best injection you want somebody who has experience, that's generally the nurse. A good one is so fast, precise, and good at distracting you that you might not even realize when they did it.

    33. Re:There's a shock... by CAIMLAS · · Score: 1

      He was making a rhetorically sarcastic statement, I believe.

      If there were any veracity to the claims of unvaccinated children being dangerous to vaccinated children, it would be because vaccines don't work. But of course that isn't the case - vaccines work. That's why everyone is about ready to get rapey on the people supporting non-vaccination. Because the parents who don't vaccinate their kids are endangering the vaccinated kids.

      The logic fail here is astounding. ASTOUNDING.

      --
      ~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
    34. Re:There's a shock... by CAIMLAS · · Score: 1

      Also, some vaccinations are not 100% effective, so anyone for whom the vaccination was not effective is put at risk.

      No, they're not. Ever hear of herd immunity?

      If there's no carrier, then naturally it's not something which can be transmitted.

      The truth is that the immunity is much lower than the ~95% promised, and that the claims of immunity

      MMRs are supposedly a life-long immunity inducing shot. You know, an ubiquitous shot for three very common unpleasant but not life threatening childhood illnesses. My wife has had a half dozen of them and still lacks immunity. I have had two, and failed an immunity test 7 years ago. Our children have all had MMR - that is, measles, mumps, and rubella. Only the eldest has had the vaccine, and the only reason we know the others have had these illnesses is because we had them tested for antibodies.

      (Most of) our children will never get MMR again. Due to our parents' trusting nature and the embellishment of the government medical establishment, however, my wife and I could very well get any of them and either become ill, or get a low grade infection and infect others. While none of them, is seriously life threatening for a healthy individual, the same isn't true for today's children who are getting vaccines for pretty much everything, including chicken pox.

      In truth, since vaccines require a 'booster', it can be safely said that vaccines are 100% ineffective at providing immunity. All they do is delay possible infection and provide temporary immunity (even if that immunity lasts 10-20 years). It would not be surprising in the least if the vast majority of 40 year olds in the US today do not actually have immunity to the majority of early vaccination illnesses. I feel sorry for the children of today who seem to get vaccines for everything from chicken pox to the flu. I mean, seriously? They'll have no natural immunity (or resistance) to anything by the time they're adults.

      --
      ~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
    35. Re:There's a shock... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      in a certain percentage of people who get vaccinated the vaccine doesn't "take".
      it varies by vaccine.

      How do you distinguish between people whose vaccines don't take, and those who don't get vaccinated? How are we supposed to allocate the blame for "putting other students at risk" when the efficacy is less than 100%? Because otherwise this is an admission that the benefits of vaccination are somewhat exaggerated.

    36. Re:There's a shock... by residieu · · Score: 1

      I've got a bullet-proof vest for you here. I'm going to start shooting at you whether you put it on or not. It's not guaranteed to save you (I may hit you in the head), but it's up to you.

      Personally, I'd rather take the potential immunity (even if it's only an 80% chance) than go completely without

    37. Re:There's a shock... by CAIMLAS · · Score: 1

      I would say "not unless the unvaccinated child gets measels in isolation from other children," but you seem to be implying that vaccines do not actually work. IF they worked, then no vaccinated baby would be at risk from an unvaccinated child, correct? Therefore, your statement is false.

      Truthfully, an unvaccinated child is going to be better prepared after s/he gets said illness because they will have full immunity. They will not have to get a booster; they will not have only partial immunity.

      I don't see what the big fuss is about children not being vaccinated. People have been brainwashed, because the responses from pro-vaccination people are vitriolic, demonizing and irrational.

      There are many, many unvaccinated adults out there who can be carriers of these viruses, many more than there are unvaccinated children. These children pose no additional 'threat' over the adults in the childrens' lives.

      --
      ~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
    38. Re:There's a shock... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      On the mercury issue. Modern vaccines that contain mercury contain about as much mercury as a serving of fish.

      But still, up to you how big a deal you think that is.

    39. Re:There's a shock... by CAIMLAS · · Score: 1

      Vaccination is very rarely effective anywhere near close to 100% for an individual, and substantially less than 100% for per capita. This is pretty evident by the number of people who "need" regular MMR "boosters", people who have had vaccines as children getting severely ill with supposed childhood diseases in their 20s and 30s, and the fact that people flip out irrationally when they find out a child is unvaccinated.

      The irony is that they're probably flipping out because they realize they themselves are still able to get deathly ill from measles, because they were vaccinated and have no natural immunity.

      --
      ~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
    40. Re:There's a shock... by CAIMLAS · · Score: 1

      in a certain percentage of people who get vaccinated the vaccine doesn't "take".
      it varies by vaccine. in some the uptake is 95%+ in others 80% or lower. in some it's only a hair above the percentage of the population who need to be immune to maintain herd immunity.

      Well by god, why are they allowed to go to school then if their vaccine doesn't take? They're a risk to other students!

      --
      ~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
    41. Re:There's a shock... by bluefoxlucid · · Score: 1

      Does this bullet-proof vest attach via spikes inserted into my arm?

    42. Re:There's a shock... by bluefoxlucid · · Score: 1

      I'm always terrified and it's always worse than I expect. When the needle penetrates the skin there's a large pop like the sound of an electrical circuit arcing and crackling, and the whole area (like, entire upper arm, etc) explodes in pain like I've been hit with a taser.

    43. Re:There's a shock... by residieu · · Score: 1

      This one? Yes it does. They'll hurt less than the bullets, though.

    44. Re:There's a shock... by Kijori · · Score: 1

      Interesting. So in addition to the 100% chance that I won't allow some doctor to penetrate me with a sharp, pointy object, there's also a 5%-20% chance that penetration won't result in anything more than having it in me for a few seconds before it squirts out a couple ccs of juice and he pulls it out--which more affects the rest of the population, sans the people that aren't opposed to the penetration but don't want strange people squirting fluids inside of them.

      I know, they all say it's just a little prick, but it hurt so much the first time I never let anyone stick another one in me again.

      You need to look at it on a more general level.
      Say the vaccine is 80% effective and everyone is vaccinated. There is a 20% chance that your particular vaccine won't provoke any immune response. However the immunisation scheme as a whole will still protect you through herd immunity. You still therefore enjoy very good protection.

      This, however, only works if the vast majority of people accept that benefiting from vaccinations outweighs the discomfort or inconvenience of them. If large numbers of people forego the vaccination herd immunity fails and the vaccine really is only 80% effective.

    45. Re:There's a shock... by Agent0013 · · Score: 1

      now it's multiple dozens of shots for all kinds of pointless things.

      I think you're quite nicely illustrating fuzzy's point: you have never actually SEEN the impact of a measles, dyptheria or whopping cough epidemic. That's the only reason you could think that those vaccinations are for things that are kinda pointless. All those diseases are not 100% deadly, but they are nasty enough and spread easily enough that the impact on society is very, very expensive, with a death toll that does make people sit up and take notice.

      Sure, measles, dyptheria, polio, and other serious diseases. Whooping Cough might be one, but the last article I listened to made it sound like the problem is getting worse due to the vaccinations. Another one I think is making things worse is the chicken pox vaccine. The number of cases of shingles, a very serious and possibly deadly disease, are going up from what they were prior to the vaccine being created. Previously everyone got chickenpox as a child, which is a much less deadly disease. Those people would be immune from shingles for life. Now people's vaccine runs out and they get shingles and die! ;-) I do realize that sometimes chickenpox can be serious, but if we look at the bigger picture, which way makes the person safer overall.

      I also think that there is some development that needs to happen with the childs immune system before it is as effective at utilizing a vaccine. So I would wait a little longer than the recommended time for some of the vaccines. Especially if you don't travel over-seas.

      --

      -- ssoorrrryy,, dduupplleexx sswwiittcchh oonn.. -Quote found on actual fortune cookie.
    46. Re:There's a shock... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Check the facts, Mike. From TFA:

      Nationally, because of generally widespread vaccination coverage among children, vaccine-preventable childhood diseases that once caused substantial disease burdens and death in the United States remain rare occurrences. Measles once infected four million people and killed 4,000 of them each year, mostly young children. With high measles vaccine coverage over several decades, endemic measles was eliminated in the United States as of 2000. The current routine childhood immunization schedule is estimated to prevent 42,000 deaths and 20 million cases of disease and to save $14 billion in direct medical costs per U.S. birth cohort.

      [Emphasis mine]

    47. Re:There's a shock... by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      And it is not used in US vaccines for some time now.

      Thimerosal is in flu shots. We can get them at the drug store (which is also the pharmacist) or the supermarket. Thimerosal is only used for multi-use vials here. "all vaccines routinely recommended for children 6 years of age or younger and marketed in the U.S. contain no thimerosal or only trace amounts (1 microgram or less mercury per dose), with the exception of inactivated influenza vaccine, which was first recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices in 2004 for routine use in children 6 to 23 months of age." So there you have it...

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    48. Re:There's a shock... by Natural+Join · · Score: 1

      My son was born in 1999; my first daughter in 2000. My son got the MMR with thimerisol in it. My daughter got the MMR without thimerisol. My son gets straight As is school. My daughter has severe autism; at age 11 she's about as functional as a 3 year old.

      This is just an anecdote; two data points aren't enough to say much. The important fact is that huge studies on thimerisol and the MMR have shown that thimerisol doesn't affect autism rates.

    49. Re:There's a shock... by lcam · · Score: 1

      oh dear

      Thanks for the links.

    50. Re:There's a shock... by miketheanimal · · Score: 1

      So? "Measles once infected four million people and killed 4,000 of them each year, mostly young children". What year and over what period? Four million in the US population sounds around the birth rate, so that's one death per 1000; if that's around 1988 then the UK was a lot healthier - one death per 35000, but I bet it was longer ago than that, I'd assume the US wasn't that must worse. Ditto the savings: if you don't have the dates then the information is worthless.

    51. Re:There's a shock... by miketheanimal · · Score: 1

      http://www.healthsentinel.com/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2654:united-states-disease-death-rates&catid=55:united-states-deaths-from-diseases&Itemid=55 By the time the measles vaccine was introduced in the US, the death rate was down to under 1 per 100,000. Since almost everyone would have contracted measles once, and assuming a population of 200 million with an average life expectancy of 50 years, then that's about 4 million births per year, or 40 deaths. You are free to argue for vaccines, but please don't selectively quote misleading statistics, even TFA does.

    52. Re:There's a shock... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So you refuse to get vaccinations because the needle hurts? Wow.. thats all there is to say, wow.

    53. Re:There's a shock... by NeutronCowboy · · Score: 1

      Uh.... dude, sorry to break it to you, but shingles are a RESULT of chickenpox infections. If you've never had chickenpox, you don't get shingles. And yes, chickenpox is much more serious than shingles, if for no other reason than that it is highly contagious.

      I also think that there is some development that needs to happen with the childs immune system before it is as effective at utilizing a vaccine. So I would wait a little longer than the recommended time for some of the vaccines.

      Did you do some sort of study to come to this conclusion? Or is this just a gut feeling? I mean, Hepatitis vaccines.... fine, give them when they're 8 years old. Even bad luck with an infected needle at a hospital should be a pretty low chance for that. And no one is talking about yellow fever vaccines. So really... you're again illustrating fuzzy's point: people are making decisions on vaccines while being 100% in their understanding of the diseases and the vaccines.

      --
      Those who can, do. Those who can't, sue.
    54. Re:There's a shock... by theNAM666 · · Score: 1

      >If you don't get vaccinated, you can spread diseases to people who are too young to get vaccinated, people who's vaccinations didn't take (vaccination isn't 100% effective for everyone), people who can't get vaccinated due to allergies/illness/etc.

      Don't forget (at least): the elderly; those with compromised immune systems from disease or other conditions; ...

    55. Re:There's a shock... by Firethorn · · Score: 1

      I stand corrected. One's mind cannot hold everything, and I didn't do a recheck.

      Still, you're only 18% of the shots a child of 6 has received having it... (USA, CDC vaccination schedule to age 6)

      --
      I don't read AC A human right
    56. Re:There's a shock... by Firethorn · · Score: 1

      That being said, we only need a few industries that produce consumables like paint or whatnot, even though the quantity of mercury is very low, and cause exposure (in small quantities) and create a future problem. This example (paint used on toys) has recently been addressed in the US.

      When it comes to biology, form matters. Mercury locked up in the organic compound Thimerosal is different than the elemental form, which is different than the methyl form. While I'm interested in science and biology, I make no bones that beyond that point it's too complicated for somebody without a large amount of specific training in the matter(IE a degree).

      One modification to Drinkypoo's post - while there are still flu vaccines in the USA that contain Thimerosal, two of the major manufacturer's of the flu shot are making vaccines free of the material. Though current production is ~50% of what would be necessary to totally eliminate it for children if you followed the recommended schedule. Duplicating information - that would be ~18% of the shots recommended by the CDC might contain the mercury.

      It seems that many of the routines and strategies are more related to their personal convenience, medical studies, risk mitigation, or economics before patient well-being. It's for that reason that I seek results from independent studies that support information they may provide me.

      While doctors are supposed to treat the individual, I fail to see how NOT following medical studies, published risk mitigation, and economic recommendations is a bad thing. If they aren't spending the money to to serum studies* on everybody, following the published vaccination schedule is the 'best' way to ensure immunity in their patients. They're using medical studies on immunity from vaccination to follow a risk mitigation strategy that is geared to provide maximum risk mitigation at minimum economic cost. It's also a personal convenience to be able to follow a chart pasted to the wall, rather than need to interpret tests for other vaccinations.

      On the Silver Nitrate eye drops - are you sure that it's main use is to prevent the irritation from gonorrhea, or is it possible that it's mainly to prevent a problem common in hospitals?

      *It costs more to determine whether you're immune to a given disease than it does to simply hit you with a booster for it. Thus they really only do serum studies when doing research into the effectiveness of vaccines.

      --
      I don't read AC A human right
    57. Re:There's a shock... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The people who took the necessary steps are not to blame. It's not their fault the vaccine didn't work, they tried. The ones who willfully refused protection, it's all on them.

    58. Re:There's a shock... by lcam · · Score: 1

      I did read the FDA link someone posted. The information there is consistent with your "form matters" context. But regardless, I prefer to avoid the mercury exposure; if someone says that gallium-arsenide is a compound the body ignores, writes a science paper showing that, I am still not inclined not to try it. I don't have that degree :)

      I've taken a flu shot once, I caught a mild flu. I can't say I experienced any clear benefit. It's been several years since that occasion and from time to time I come down with a mild flu, sometimes more noticeable and sometimes less. I figure I don't need it. While I wouldn't think I need a polio vaccine If I didn't have one, I admit I'd wish I'd taken one if I contracted the disease. But a flu is much less serious, I just prefer not to take on the mercury. I will admit though, that studying flu vaccine consumption patterns is a good way to study the vaccine acceptance as a social issue.

      My point about routines and strategies being related to personal convenience, medical studies, risk mitigation over patient well-being has to do with a systemic skew of priorities, cost being one such systemic factor, than the process of research into vaccines or medication.

      The specific example I have that is the nexus for my concern: Here where I live, amongst families with enough income to afford private health care, the caesarian birth rate is about 80%. Meaning only 20% of women in this cohort give birth through the birth canal. The reason for this "cultural" shift towards a surgery based birth has to do with a cost-benefit analysis of the health industry. The surgery lasts about an hour from start to finish and pays the same as a natural birth which could occupy a hospital room and doctor from 10 to 20 times the amount of time.

      Scientific studies show that a major surgery like a caesarian increases the risks and time to recovery of the mother considerably. It should be used when conditions put a life at risk in order to justify this increased risk. In Europe and the US only about 10% to 20% of mothers give birth by caesarian. The issue becomes why? No scientific evidence suggests that women here are less capable. The issue is a doctor doesn't want to lose a weekend at the beach to accompany the labor period of a patient when he can do his job on a friday and have a weekend off. So it's common practice to schedule a caesarian with a mother explaining that her hips are too narrow or that the birth cord is wrapped around the infants neck... regardless of scientific studies or World Health Organization recomendations.

      It comes down to a doctor performing his job the way he studied and learned it and what is convenient for him, not necessarily because science has elaborated a method to be better.

      What does all this have to do with vaccines and thermosol?

      *It costs more to determine whether you're immune to a given disease than it does to simply hit you with a booster for it. Thus they really only do serum studies when doing research into the effectiveness of vaccines.

      And it costs more yet to need to reverse a previous assumption to implant a practice that is more suitable. Do they really know what's going on or are they guessing, the fewer times they revise the protocol, the less such a question is asked. If something works why try to fix it? Also, I have no evidence that one area of medicine is inclined to be more devoted to their work than any other.

      The term allergy was coined by a pediatrician in 1906 who was working with vaccines at the time. It is based on a latin word used to coin a condition known at the time as serum sickness, a condition some of his patients would exhibit. Metabolically, if I understood the information I gleaned, the serum (vaccine) would cause a biochemical imbalance in the interfacial water (water between the cells) that the body would have to counteract to find a new equilibrium. If the body could not find a new equilibrium death would occur

    59. Re:There's a shock... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If the vest is made of chemicals known to be dangerous long-term and if shortly after putting it on I can die just because of it, I would think twice or thrice. Maybe I'd be better off just avoiding you or spending my resources on a gun to keep you at a distance so you think twice before you come close-enough to be shot at.

    60. Re:There's a shock... by Firethorn · · Score: 1

      I've taken a flu shot once, I caught a mild flu. I can't say I experienced any clear benefit.

      The way it's been described to me is that 'most people' can't tell the difference between the common cold and actually contracting 'the flu'. Basically, a 'mild flu' is a different virus and is actually a 'bad cold'. Besides, the flu vaccine isn't 100% - it's the most common multi-virus vaccination. In the USA(don't know about Brazil, your formulations might be different) it's a combination of the 3 'best guess' vaccines for the varieties they think are going to be big. If they guess H1N1, H3N4, and H5N2 but you're exposed to H2N3, well, you're not vaccinated against it. They'll also sometimes take that they stuck vaccine X into last year's shot, figure that protection still exists in most of the flu-shot getting population, and put candidate #4 in, because it's 'almost as probable' as #3 which was in last year's. Yes, statisticians, studies, and committees are involved.

      While I wouldn't think I need a polio vaccine If I didn't have one, I admit I'd wish I'd taken one if I contracted the disease.

      I think this is part of what fuels my firm belief in vaccination - All I have to do to see the effects of disease is look at my grandfather; he never fully regained the use of his legs after contracting polio as a child. He talked about how when he had it he ended up in the Shriner's hospital and he was so close to death that they did the final rites 3 times.

      The issue is a doctor doesn't want to lose a weekend at the beach to accompany the labor period of a patient when he can do his job on a friday and have a weekend off. So it's common practice to schedule a caesarian with a mother explaining that her hips are too narrow or that the birth cord is wrapped around the infants neck... regardless of scientific studies or World Health Organization recomendations.

      Umm... Wow. Here in the USA I think the C-Section rate is lower because, as you say, the risks are higher, and a doctor could very quickly find himself being sued, perhaps even part of a class action(profit motive gone). In Europe they'd get investigated for going with the ultimately more expensive option, and get told off. Plus, natural-birth movements in both.

      It comes down to a doctor performing his job the way he studied and learned it and what is convenient for him, not necessarily because science has elaborated a method to be better.

      Yeah, it's quite possible that they were trained that 80% of women need C-Sections, and it takes somebody with a certain 'spark' to sit up and realize 'wait a second...'

      And it costs more yet to need to reverse a previous assumption to implant a practice that is more suitable. Do they really know what's going on or are they guessing, the fewer times they revise the protocol, the less such a question is asked. If something works why try to fix it? Also, I have no evidence that one area of medicine is inclined to be more devoted to their work than any other.

      When it comes to disease prevention through vaccination, what generally happens is that they do all their studies and such before approving a vaccine for general use. This includes having a population vaccinated before everybody else, they're the ones they track to determine whether 1 shot is good, whether multiple are needed, the best times to give them, etc... After a point, it's more about optimization (is 7 or 8 years between vaccinations good?). How much does vaccinating the public cost, how much does the disease cost, how much disease cost(between death, medical care costs, lost work, etc...) is prevented, whether 'herd immunity' levels of immunity are reached, etc...

      All this is boiled down to a set of pamphlets that are easy for doctors throughout the country to understand. Brazil likely has different diseases and vaccination concerns, but it shouldn't be that diff

      --
      I don't read AC A human right
    61. Re:There's a shock... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And even then, complaining that it's only 80% effective because you're scared of a little needle is childish.

    62. Re:There's a shock... by lcam · · Score: 1

      Thanks for the reply. I think we are on the same page with a lot of our ideas.

      I am the father (of the newborn) actually, and yes breast-fed... :)

      You asked for a reference regarding a pediatrician coining a variation of a latin word for something known until then as a serum sickness: http://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/14/8/1399 Download the full PDF version and look at the bottom of page 23.

      I initially got a hold of this paper reading some anti-vaxx materials. It's interesting because it goes into the biochemistry of serum applications (vaccines included). The material certainly indicates a lot of details that vaccine development need to consider. And while it may give some credibility to the idea that vaccines can be dangerous, we all need to accept that we are our own last line of defense...

      I believe the anti-vaxx view and interpretation of the paper may be an extreme interpretation, however that being said, vaccine studies rely in part on statistical analysis of observations made to exposed organisms. If those observations are not impartial because of some political motivation, then there truly be more merit in concerns regarding vaccines.

      My "ref needed" point is because I gleaned that information from someone in a conversation but haven't researched the claim. No wikipedia ref there sorry.

    63. Re:There's a shock... by HungryHobo · · Score: 1

      How do you distinguish between people who crash because they drive drunk and people who crash because they sneezed while driving sober?

      one willfully disregards the safety of others, demonstrates that they don't give a shit about the safety of other and the other just got unlucky.

    64. Re:There's a shock... by HungryHobo · · Score: 1

      How do you distinguish between people who crash because they drive drunk and people who crash because they sneezed while driving sober?

      one willfully disregards the safety of others, demonstrates that they don't give a shit about the safety of other and the other just got unlucky.

      There's a difference between trying your best to avoid maiming other people and saying "fuck you all" and intentionally setting out on the course of action which puts others at risk.

    65. Re:There's a shock... by Firethorn · · Score: 1

      I initially got a hold of this paper reading some anti-vaxx materials.

      I'd be careful about those. I'm not a biologist, but from what I've seen of them they pull many of the same tricks with misinterpreting scientific data and deliberately using bad sources as the intelligent design, anti-smart meter/wifi, chemtrail, and other wacko/conspiracy theory types do.

      Simply put, there's lots of scientific studies and they don't recommend a new vaccine until the odds of it helping you are overwhelming over the odds of it causing any harm.

      If those observations are not impartial because of some political motivation, then there truly be more merit in concerns regarding vaccines.

      That's why the recommendations are made by committees of doctors; multiple levels of them.

      To put it another way: The whole 'vaccination causes AUTISM!!!!' was started by a doctor with an interest in a lawsuit against vaccine companies; he stood to gain if it succeeded. Instead he eventually ended up losing his license.

      My "ref needed" point is because I gleaned that information from someone in a conversation but haven't researched the claim. No wikipedia ref there sorry.

      Part of the reason I asked is that the phrasing seems disjointed/odd to me and was seeking more context. Still, I think I understand it now. Do you realize that 'equilibrium' in that context could be examined in light of the 'Black Death' and Malaria? Basically, you suffer through up to a 90% death rate for the population in question until those who happen to be naturally immune repopulate. Or, in the case of Malaria, spread a genetic abnormality that kills those that get both copies, but provides immunity to those that get one, through most of a population. Sure, it might kill the 25% that gets both copies, and the 25% that get neither die from the disease, but hey, women can have a dozen babies easy!

      --
      I don't read AC A human right
    66. Re:There's a shock... by lcam · · Score: 1

      Still, an interesting tidbit (this historic context of the word).

      In Chinese medicine an equilibrium is the balance of two opposing forces (yin and yang energy), life and death as disease may be at issue are only two such forces. PH levels, levels of salts, happiness and anger, odds of helping and odds of harming etc. all represent other such equilibriums.

      I'd be careful about those. I'm not a biologist,...

      Your caution reminds me of a quote from Winston Churchill. "There are three types of lies: Lies, Damned lies, and Statistics" :)

      Any science depends on observations and interpretations of those observations. While I agree with your tone regarding the wacko/conspiracy types and how their pseudo-scientific findings can seem credible, I'd like to point out: if you look at the standard definition of religion: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/religion, science fits all but the fourth definition and only because the term scientist doesn't appear.

      The idea that science is based on knowledge rather then believe does not separate it from any other religion because all their "knowledge" is still based on belief. The belief that what is observed and measured is truth, in fact, observation and measurements are still faculties a human beings. Scientists distance their other beliefs or volition from their papers to try and put it in an impartial light but that too isn't always beneficial or even possible.

      but from what I've seen of them they pull many of the same tricks with misinterpreting scientific data and deliberately

      Half the world scientists can't agree on the cause of global warming, there are significant political agendas that look to science to back it. So when you use the words "tricks", "misinterpreting data" and "deliberately", I don't think any scientist, whether medical or otherwise is more or less wacko. Back to the same "insanity is subjective" theme.

      Global warming is more a political "hot topic" than vaccines because we hear about it more, but it's no less polemic. It makes perfect political sense to try and discredit anyone who might challenge that delicate equilibrium for the good of the population. Therein lies the real issue, our various levels of committees of doctors can very well be in collusion, after all it's their credibility that comes to question if they don't agree. They are strong only if they remain united, classic games theory. They actually have no other choice.

      To put it another way: The whole 'vaccination causes AUTISM!!!!' was started by a doctor with an interest in a lawsuit against vaccine companies; he stood to gain if it succeeded. Instead he eventually ended up losing his license.

      I won't be joining the herd to feel secure by choosing to believe everything my committees of doctors say; I even go so far as to say that they may actually know but won't say because they too can't fall out of the ranks without personal consequences. But I offer no more generosity to the credibility of the "wacko/conspiracy" types after all they are the flip side of the same coin. I am not a biologist, so all I can do is shrug. It's an interesting paper, there are other interesting papers out there too. The world isn't perfect and nor are vaccines.

      It seem that resisting vaccines because of a few hidden cases (case for conspiracy) where they did harm is a political trend. But if there where no vaccines, it would be very easy for people to easily justify those few lives for the lives of so many others a vaccine could save. It's only now that disease seems to be such a remote possibility to some people (thanks in part to vaccines, but also hygiene, scientific knowledge an others) that they feel inclined to give issue attention. Politics again!

      So weighing the benefits vs the side effects... :) Please feel free to email me: lcambilargiu@gmail.com I've enjoyed our conversation.

      PS. Sorry about chopping your original posting to bits. I'll try to be more mindful next time.

    67. Re:There's a shock... by Firethorn · · Score: 1

      The belief that what is observed and measured is truth, in fact, observation and measurements are still faculties a human beings.

      The true difference between science, at least good science, and religion is that when something happens to call a belief of science into question, the beliefs are changed, or at least tested in new ways. With religion it often simply results in entrenchment. With science, if I really wonder how my TV works, I'm free to go back to the basic principles and test them on my own. With Religion, you very quickly hit the 'you just have to take it on faith' point. The belief part comes in that the world, and many of the systems in it, are simply too complicated for a single human to understand, and many others are too complicated without spending years of study in the effort. You could say that life gets in the way. But I'm free to investigate anything.

      Half the world scientists can't agree on the cause of global warming,

      Most of the world's scientists aren't climatologists. This isn't the days of Ben Franklin where one man could hold an appreciable degree of knowledge in every known subject. That being said; most climatologists agree on most points. There's a lot that goes into 'global warming', 'climate change' and such, and yes, scientists do disagree on specific percentages, but they're fairly close. That being said, I think it's still very much up in the air as to whether the economic cost of stopping it is worth it, or whether simply absorbing the economic costs of rising oceans is. I've seen studies, for example, that say that amount of potentially productive farmland would increase if global temperatures went up a bit.

      It seem that resisting vaccines becau

      --
      I don't read AC A human right
    68. Re:There's a shock... by SleazyRidr · · Score: 1

      We won't stick anything else in you as long as you promise to go live on an island and stop interacting with anyone else.

    69. Re:There's a shock... by bluefoxlucid · · Score: 1

      Is there chicken on the island? I like chicken. Sometimes I fail to cook it properly and it gives me a headache the next day though. Once I ate rotting ground beef raw and got a stomach ache for like 5 hours, almost cried, was painful. Fresh meat sounds good, fresh venison is probably safer than 4 week old bison... is there deer on the island?

    70. Re:There's a shock... by lcam · · Score: 1

      I can't agree more with the first response you have given. However the knowledge or faith barrier is used in a very similar way especially in the medical field and it rears its head as a challenge of credibility when someone "is not qualified" regardless of the science. More so when the issue of someone's life is at issue. I find that line of reasoning a very similar parallel to "take it on faith". All the information easily found by Google regarding illnesses is actually recognized as a competitor/threat to doctors within the industry; they resist the idea that people can know more about an issue because it sometimes creates barriers for "effective" treatment. I believe doctors actually prefer a less informed patient because it makes their work easier; I talked to a pediatrician yesterday (poor woman); she burned her credibitlity in my eyes. First she agreed that new-borns gain resistance to illnesses due to being breast-fed for a period of "6 months", I didn't challenge that, seems reasonable. Then she insists that I should have given the child a BCG (bone tuberculosis) vaccine during its second week of life because the child was "unprotected". I think her efforts to evade the following question where for the best.

      Economics vs science. The fact is it's perfectly ok for scientists to disagree, it's even healthy as far as the search for knowledge is concerned. Politically, though, it's unhealthy and serves only to create discord because you have these other people who throw their weight around in a way that does not result in further knowledge.

    71. Re:There's a shock... by Firethorn · · Score: 1

      Hmm... CDC has only HepB at birth-1 month. I don't see BCG at all; must be a thing for your country.

      Just because an infant gains 'most' of it's immune system from nursing doesn't mean that it doesn't have one or that vaccines don't work.

      Still, I'd like to point that just because somebody is a doctor doesn't mean they're a scientist. They're human too; which means they can be lazy.

      I support doing your own research to help ensure your own health; just realize that there's a lot of kooks out there with bad information. It's up to you, at that point, to sort the wheat from the chaff. It's entirely possible to know more about your own condition than a doctor. You're right there, after all, and only need to become expert on 1-6 syndromes. The doctor needs to know hundreds. Finally, I'd suggest working to find a doctor willing to work with you.

      --
      I don't read AC A human right
    72. Re:There's a shock... by lcam · · Score: 1

      Hmm... CDC has only HepB at birth-1 month. I don't see BCG at all; must be a thing for your country.

      BCG is that vaccine that leaves that lifelong scar on the upper arm... I don't have a scar on my arm so either I didn't get that one, or a new scar free vaccine is used stateside.

      Still, I'd like to point that just because somebody is a doctor doesn't mean they're a scientist. They're human too; which means they can be lazy.

      That's a very good observation. Doctors follow a doctrine of professionalism that is not entirely based on science. They have a system of beliefs about how things should be done and follow that system based on faith. A perfect example is how almost all natural births here are done with an episiotomy (vaginal cut). No scientific evidence exists to suggest that mothers or babies are healthier because of the incision rather evidence shows it's unnecessary, but it's performed anyway because that's the way they teach it in med school. Doctors believe it's part of the procedure and that without it birth is hindered/obstructed.

      I'm not saying that a more scientific based medical system is better. It boils down to each individual choosing some point between individualism and collectivism.

      I support doing your own research to help ensure your own health; just realize that there's a lot of kooks out there with bad information. It's up to you, at that point, to sort the wheat from the chaff. It's entirely possible to know more about your own condition than a doctor. You're right there, after all, and only need to become expert on 1-6 syndromes. The doctor needs to know hundreds. Finally, I'd suggest working to find a doctor willing to work with you.

      +1

      Working with a doctor is hard because very few people can listen and/or learn from someone they believe to be less knowledgeable. The credibility barrier.

    73. Re:There's a shock... by Firethorn · · Score: 1

      BCG is that vaccine that leaves that lifelong scar on the upper arm... I don't have a scar on my arm so either I didn't get that one, or a new scar free vaccine is used stateside.

      The scar on the arm vaccine, at least for the states, was the smallpox vaccine. Oddly enough, I'm one of the considerably less than 1% of those under 40 in the USA to be vaccinated against it. I very much had an immune response(so we know the vaccine took), but due to my reaction the infection spread more along the skin rather than going deep - I have no visible scaring from it. Had minor blistering down to my elbow though. Knew another guy they ended up giving two sets of pokes, only to determine that he's naturally immune.

      Reading up on BCG - it's used when babies are exposed to people with TB, it's 80% effective(in infants) for ~15 years, and it's not really used in the USA because it's less effective on adults and the risk analysis people here decided we don't have enough adults with uncontrolled TB running around exposing babies to make the vaccine worth it. Brazil has recommended the vaccine since 1967-68, the USA has depended upon 'detection and treatment of latent tuberculosis'.

      I've been vaccinated against a lot of stuff (shot records are now 3 pages long), but not TB. Of course, I get the annual scratch test for TB, which goes in my records... That and the flu shot are probably a page alone...

      Working with a doctor is hard because very few people can listen and/or learn from someone they believe to be less knowledgeable. The credibility barrier.

      As I understand it, the trick is a combination of a good doctor, a frank honesty that you're a specialist in YOUR condition(s), and building up a good working relationship.

      No scientific evidence exists to suggest that mothers or babies are healthier because of the incision rather evidence shows it's unnecessary, but it's performed anyway because that's the way they teach it in med school. Doctors believe it's part of the procedure and that without it birth is hindered/obstructed.

      Then your doctors/surgeons are particularly non-scientific; here in the USA they tend to at least pay attention to such studies.

      --
      I don't read AC A human right
    74. Re:There's a shock... by lcam · · Score: 1

      BCG is that vaccine that leaves that lifelong scar on the upper arm... I don't have a scar on my arm so either I didn't get that one, or a new scar free vaccine is used stateside.

      The scar on the arm vaccine, at least for the states, was the smallpox vaccine. Oddly enough, I'm one of the considerably less than 1% of those under 40 in the USA to be vaccinated against it. I very much had an immune response(so we know the vaccine took), but due to my reaction the infection spread more along the skin rather than going deep - I have no visible scaring from it. Had minor blistering down to my elbow though. Knew another guy they ended up giving two sets of pokes, only to determine that he's naturally immune.

      Reading up on BCG - it's used when babies are exposed to people with TB, it's 80% effective(in infants) for ~15 years, and it's not really used in the USA because it's less effective on adults and the risk analysis people here decided we don't have enough adults with uncontrolled TB running around exposing babies to make the vaccine worth it. Brazil has recommended the vaccine since 1967-68, the USA has depended upon 'detection and treatment of latent tuberculosis'.

      I've been vaccinated against a lot of stuff (shot records are now 3 pages long), but not TB. Of course, I get the annual scratch test for TB, which goes in my records... That and the flu shot are probably a page alone...

      Working with a doctor is hard because very few people can listen and/or learn from someone they believe to be less knowledgeable. The credibility barrier.

      As I understand it, the trick is a combination of a good doctor, a frank honesty that you're a specialist in YOUR condition(s), and building up a good working relationship.

      No scientific evidence exists to suggest that mothers or babies are healthier because of the incision rather evidence shows it's unnecessary, but it's performed anyway because that's the way they teach it in med school. Doctors believe it's part of the procedure and that without it birth is hindered/obstructed.

      Then your doctors/surgeons are particularly non-scientific; here in the USA they tend to at least pay attention to such studies.

      Interesting. I don't know if I ever got the small-pox vaccine. Just out of curiosity, was it your option to be receive the small-pox vaccine? Did you have a specific reason you would share, for having received that vaccine? Does it have something to do with your work?

      Anyway, I believe it will prove to be a valuable vaccine to have taken, but that's only because of a conspiracy theory I've heard... Never mind.

      Yes the BCG vaccine targets bone tuberculosis. I understand it takes 3 months to take effect when it works.

      I used to get the TB scratch test at school every year because my mom has the disease. Her immune system reacted by encapsulating the bacteria with calcium so her chest X-rays have white spots in them... Anyway in the 80's when I was going to school, I had to take those tests as a measure the school board took because of the circumstances... I don't think my mom ever had the TB vaccine but she did receive treatments when it was detected about 40 years ago.

      Thanks for the tip regarding building a working relationship with a good doctor.

    75. Re:There's a shock... by Firethorn · · Score: 1

      Interesting. I don't know if I ever got the small-pox vaccine.

      Well, my shot records used to be kept in a small book I kept with my passport, and copies in medical records; it's now kept online by my employer(who provides my healthcare).

      If you're under ~50 you probably didn't get it; it's my understanding that the USA didn't stop vaccinating until the disease was confirmed dead in the wild.

      Just out of curiosity, was it your option to be receive the small-pox vaccine? Did you have a specific reason you would share, for having received that vaccine? Does it have something to do with your work?

      Very much work; option was 'get the vaccine or don't work here anymore'. Smallpox, Anthrax, Hep-A&B are the 'unusual' ones. TDAP, MMR, Pneumococcal, Meningococcal. I haven't been shot up with Varicella because I had chickenpox as a kid, but I'll get the Shingles shot when I hit 55. Flu shot every year, normally the nasal spray. Haven't had any side effects yet. Note: Risk of side effects are the highest the first few years, after that you 'probably' have some immunity already.

      I don't think my mom ever had the TB vaccine but she did receive treatments when it was detected about 40 years ago.

      TB Vaccine is highly contra-indicated when you already have TB. The vaccine also makes the scratch test ineffective - you'll always show positive.

      --
      I don't read AC A human right
    76. Re:There's a shock... by lcam · · Score: 1

      Good information. While normally I'm an advocate of immunity through exposure...

      If I where interested in getting the small-pox or anthrax vaccine, do you foresee red-tape or some type of administrative resistance to the administration thereof?

    77. Re:There's a shock... by Firethorn · · Score: 1

      Anthrax would be easier than smallpox - you need a GOOD reason, basically government support to get the smallpox vaccine. Being dead in the wild; I wouldn't worry about it unless you fit special indicators. Anthrax you can get from cattle.

      "Immunity through exposure" is exactly how vaccines work. We deliberately weaken the virus/disease, even kill it so that the immune system can 'learn' the signs of the disease so it can react faster if you're exposed later.

      Diseases tend to be exponential events. If your immune system can be reacting in hour 8, rather than day 7, your symptoms can be a couple OOM lower in magnitude.

      --
      I don't read AC A human right
    78. Re:There's a shock... by lcam · · Score: 1

      Could it be local government, like state or municipal level government that may make a solicitation for such a vaccine or are we talking about military or federal level requisites? I'm interested in getting the vaccine.

      Food-born bacteria that exist naturally in meats or fish double in population every 40 minutes if left at room temperature. That problem is almost solved by refrigeration where 99% of cultures go dormant, so indeed there is an exponential growth curve. It takes like 2 hours and 30 minutes for a piece of meat to get to the point where it is no longer consumable. So I believe the immune system takes action faster if not immediately although perhaps the bodies resistance to a foreign pathogen be minimal at first and increase with time (perhaps exponentially up to a certain point).

    79. Re:There's a shock... by Firethorn · · Score: 1

      You're looking at Federal Level, mostly working for a lab that actually handles the few remaining samples. Military would be the 'easier' subset, just due to scale.

      Food-born bacteria that exist naturally in meats or fish double in population every 40 minutes if left at room temperature.

      It actually took me a minute to see where this was coming from. I'm talking about disease in general - and how the disease, whether virus, bacteria, or other replicates once it's in the body. Remember, 90% of our vaccines are against viruses, which don't multiply outside the body anyways. Plus, you can't refrigerate your body to slow down the disease.

      Basically, with a disease you ALWAYS get a small initial exposure - a virus could be a few dozen actual bodies, but once it gets in the cells it multiplies rapidly, you could have millions of viral bodies within a few days. After a while the immune system starts reacting, and it's generally exponential as well, at least up to the body's resources. Hopefully it ramps up faster than the disease, plus as time goes on the immune system 'learns' the disease and gets better at detecting and neutralizing it.

      It takes like 2 hours and 30 minutes for a piece of meat to get to the point where it is no longer consumable.

      Depends on the meat, the exact temperatures, exposure, etc... In reality, the 150 minute time span is a general rule of thumb for how long it takes for enough bacteria to multiply to actually cause an infection in an compromised immune system individual. There's additional multiplication necessary to reach levels high enough to cause symptoms.

      So I believe the immune system takes action faster if not immediately although perhaps the bodies resistance to a foreign pathogen be minimal at first and increase with time (perhaps exponentially up to a certain point).

      It depends on the disease. There are LOTS of already existing defenses against things like bacteria, especially in your digestive tract. It's already a rare bacteria that makes it through the stomach, for example. If it makes it through there, it has to compete against the naturally occurring gut flora. Contact with a skin penetration can be far easier(for the bacteria), as well as inhalation. The human body is actually pretty hostile for bacteria.

      Your immune system is more reacting within hours for many diseases - colds, for example. But depending on the disease it can take longer, and can take longer yet to reach maximum response. That's where drugs like antibiotics come in - they rarely actually kill all the bacteria, but it's like opening another front. You already have the ramping immune response, then you go and kill a bunch of the bacteria and more importantly you slow down their reproduction.

      Viruses, until relatively recently, we had no option but to support body function until the immune system could control it on it's own. Now we have some drugs that help, but they tend to be expensive. However, it just so happens that once an immune system has 'learned' a virus, it's very good at neutralizing it. It also 'remembers' viruses for varying amounts of time, but trending past 30 years for most. Thus vaccination - which is basically an artificial method to teach the immune system a virus, so it hits 'code 4' almost instantly vs taking days to do so. That way the immune system is hitting like a sledgehammer at 10k viruses, not 10M.

      Viruses are, relatively speaking, the sneakier ones, not having biological processes to speak of on their own.

      --
      I don't read AC A human right
    80. Re:There's a shock... by Firethorn · · Score: 1

      Oh yeah - and if you're in Brazil, you're probably out of luck. To my knowledge Brazil has nothing to do with smallpox anymore, retains no stores of the virus(that's the USA and Russia), and probably doesn't even have stocks of the vaccine anymore.

      I should note that the smallpox vaccine is one of the nastiest going. You don't need it, don't get it. And this is coming from somebody who's very pro-vaccine(grampa has been handicapped from his fight with polio for most of his life).

      --
      I don't read AC A human right
    81. Re:There's a shock... by lcam · · Score: 1

      You're looking at Federal Level, mostly working for a lab that actually handles the few remaining samples. Military would be the 'easier' subset, just due to scale.

      Thanks, an interesting tidbit. I supposed as much. You know that information would provoke conspiracy theorists to exhibit compulsive behaviors like arm twitches, right?

      Food-born bacteria that exist naturally in meats or fish double in population every 40 minutes if left at room temperature.

      It actually took me a minute to see where this was coming from. I'm talking about disease in general - and how the disease, whether virus, bacteria, or other replicates once it's in the body. Remember, 90% of our vaccines are against viruses, which don't multiply outside the body anyways. Plus, you can't refrigerate your body to slow down the disease.

      Basically, with a disease you ALWAYS get a small initial exposure - a virus could be a few dozen actual bodies, but once it gets in the cells it multiplies rapidly, you could have millions of viral bodies within a few days. After a while the immune system starts reacting, and it's generally exponential as well, at least up to the body's resources. Hopefully it ramps up faster than the disease, plus as time goes on the immune system 'learns' the disease and gets better at detecting and neutralizing it.

      It takes like 2 hours and 30 minutes for a piece of meat to get to the point where it is no longer consumable.

      Depends on the meat, the exact temperatures, exposure, etc... In reality, the 150 minute time span is a general rule of thumb for how long it takes for enough bacteria to multiply to actually cause an infection in an compromised immune system individual. There's additional multiplication necessary to reach levels high enough to cause symptoms.

      Fair enough, the 150 minute => non-consumable thing has to do with consuming raw fish in Japanese cuisine, I didn't specify that in the previous post (oops). Cooking meats kills almost all bacteria. And of course, we can't cook a living body! (just because you made a similar comment above. : )

      It depends on the disease. There are LOTS of already existing defenses against things like bacteria, especially in your digestive tract. It's already a rare bacteria that makes it through the stomach, for example. If it makes it through there, it has to compete against the naturally occurring gut flora. Contact with a skin penetration can be far easier(for the bacteria), as well as inhalation. The human body is actually pretty hostile for bacteria.

      Your immune system is more reacting within hours for many diseases - colds, for example. But depending on the disease it can take longer, and can take longer yet to reach maximum response. That's where drugs like antibiotics come in - they rarely actually kill all the bacteria, but it's like opening another front. You already have the ramping immune response, then you go and kill a bunch of the bacteria and more importantly you slow down their reproduction.

      Viruses, until relatively recently, we had no option but to support body function until the immune system could control it on it's own. Now we have some drugs that help, but they tend to be expensive. However, it just so happens that once an immune system has 'learned' a virus, it's very good at neutralizing it. It also 'remembers' viruses for varying amounts of time, but trending past 30 years for most. Thus vaccination - which is basically an artificial method to teach the immune system a virus, so it hits 'code 4' almost instantly vs taking days to do so. That way the immune system is hitting like a sledgehammer at 10k viruses, not 10M.

      Viruses are, relatively speaking, the sneakier ones, not having biological processes to speak of on their own.

      That is absolutely the way I understand it, thanks for that explanation. Bacteria competition is an inte

    82. Re:There's a shock... by Firethorn · · Score: 1

      I don't know if that works in the human body though because our immune system will not differentiate helpful bacteria from harmful ones and would probably wipe out such cultures just like any other foreign bacteria based pathogen.

      It actually works pretty well - that's what probiotic yoghurt and such

      As I understand, viruses also target specific classes of cells. Something to do with protein receptors on the virus being compatible with those on the target cell membrane. The HIV virus for example, targets T4 cells. Correct me if I'm wrong here.

      A few viruses can cross the species barrier, most target very specific cells, even the cross-species ones.

      A "special" class of virus known as phages targets bacteria (cells) that cause diseases.

      Actually phages are viruses that target bacteria in general, not just ones that cause disease. However, we're mostly interested in the ones that target disease causing bacteria.

      Another front. I imagine when that scenario occurs, the bacteria and the phage fall into some sort of equilibrium between each other and the host (as the immune system reacts, it too becomes part of the equilibrium) and continue to exist at certain levels. So it would be kind of like a vaccine except where the response body for a certain infection is also foreign.

      Phages, like all other viruses, have limited lifespan in the human body on their own. The human body is active with waste scavengers, it's hot, etc... So no, it's not like a vaccination. It's more like antibiotics - you give it to somebody who's sick. Giving to somebody beforehand is going to be approximately worthless. Worse than worthless if the body develops an immune response against IT. As you say, you need a specific phage for a specific bacteria. The advantage once you get past that is no worry about the bacteria becoming immune - the phage evolves to keep up with the bacteria. Combined with the immune response, it's quite effective when you have a matching phage.

      It's difficult for these types of remedies to work with FDA standards because of the great number of possible phages, the FDA insist on approving each one.

      Indeed. FDA approval is set up for generic drugs and treatments, it's far too intensive for type specific treatments. It'd help if they could get a 'type approval' process.

      And one last note, while we are talking about viruses, have you watched a film called "Bourne Legacy"?

      Not yet. As for the mutation thing, it's possible. Look up 'Retrovirus'. HIV, Hepatitis, etc... They utilize a enzyme called reverse transcriptase to write their RNA into DNA in the cell. These types of viruses are unusual in that they're based on RNA instead of DNA. It makes them more fragile.

      Some of them are capable of making the cell produce more viral bodies without killing the cell, and the cell can be a 'sleeper' for years before activating, normally due to some sort of stress.

      --
      I don't read AC A human right
  7. Anti-stupidity vaccine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Timing is everything.

    Note the proliferation of graphic news reports appearing a few months before 15 April in the US of tax-evaders and just plain folks who failed to file a return. They are arrested and harassed, all to scare the population into compliance.

    Note the story which sidesteps legitimate and ongoing questions of safety, efficacy, disease surveillance, and risk, while outrageously pairing "Informed choice" with false assertions of safety. Meanwhile the portfolio of Paul Offit expands.

    What's needed is a vaccine to stop stupidity and lust for money and power. However, its application would bring the herd, who relies on these for its survival, to an end.

    Continued tinkering with the human immune system is our next Fukushima. Convenience has its price.

  8. This! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    This is why vaccinations need to be mandatory. If you want to live in society, you have to follow society's rules and that includes rules that keep you from putting others at serious risk.

    And for those that refuse or still get sick, as a final solution they should be placed in camps where they can be concentrated for the health of the society. We should also place addicts too - they are a harm to society with the DUIs and whatnot.

    There are some others with deviant behavior that places others, especially children, at risk - like kiddie porn consumers - and they should be put into those camps. Muslims too - they are a threat to our society.

    We could put the Secret Service in charge - give them new snappy uniforms to make it look official.

    We can make a better society! For America!

  9. Re:SCAREMONGERING. by Dr_Barnowl · · Score: 4, Interesting

    He didn't need to be paid, the mind control nanobots they put in the vaccines made him do it.

    Alternate hypothesis ; anti-vaxxers are actually a shadowy conspiracy of the radical Green movement who want the human race thinning out a bit to lower our impact on Mother Earth.

    These diseases cause not just death, but maiming and suffering on a grand scale when allowed to spread unchecked. Not being vaccinated is on a par with smoking - it's a stupid and bad for not just your health but for the health of those around you.

    Vaccination must have been very successful for us to even HAVE an anti vaccination movement, because the memory of the horrors of childhood diseases makes anyone bearing it a lifeline proponent of getting your shots...

  10. Sources by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What I don't get is why some parents will listen to the theories of one discredited doctor, but will distrust the advice of every other doctor out there. Do they seriously believe all doctors are able to pull off some huge conspiracy and there is only one good doctor speaking the truth?

    1. Re:Sources by Glothar · · Score: 1

      What part don't you get?

      The parents aren't actually using any form of critical thinking. For whatever reason (emotional distress, religion) the parents want to believe that they shouldn't get vaccines, or that getting vaccines is the cause of something bad that happened. Or in some cases, something bad happened, and they are looking for a cause. Those people don't care about probability or nuances of genetics and immunity. They want someone to give them a simple answer. They want someone to blame. They want someone to tell them that they are right. They want to feel like they are in control. A million scientists telling them that their child got autism because of random chance, or that no vaccine can be 100% effective, or that strain mutations occur without any prior signs are not even remotely as convincing as one guy --regardless of what degree he might have-- telling them that they are right and vaccines really are bad. You don't even have to support it with experiments, just a folksey-wisdom argument and you're golden.

      Never underestimate the power of one person telling someone else what they want to hear.

  11. Darwin Strikes Again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Its really sad, because those who suffer will be the children who don't get vaccinated, the elderly who will be exposed to those children who get the disease, and the babies who are too young to get vaccinated yet. Those who should suffer have already HAD their vaccinations when THEY were children!

    When you live in a society, you DO have certain responsibilities to the society!

  12. Bad Risk Assessment by Jason+Levine · · Score: 5, Insightful

    At its core, the anti-vax movement is bad risk assessment for a few reasons. First of all, the horrors of the diseases that most vaccinations prevent against haven't been seen in a few generations. People my age (30's) with kids have never lived in a world where you could get polio or mumps at any moment and wind up dead, on an iron lung, deaf, scarred for life, etc. They score the risk of these infections as low because they don't see them. (The fallacy here being that the *reason* they don't see them is because of vaccines.)

    Then, they hear scare tactics from certain people (Wakefield, McCarthy, etc) who claim that vaccines contain mercury/fetal tissue/generic toxins/etc that will harm their child. One shot and suddenly your child will catch The Autism. (Picture that in a much scarier font and cue a woman screaming off camera.) This would be so horrible and so, they conclude, we must stop all vaccinations until they are proven 100% safe.

    The fallacy with this last one is that 1) there has never been a proven link between vaccines and autism, 2) even if there was, the diseases vaccines prevent are far worse than autism, and 3) no medical procedure is 100% safe. In fact, nothing anyone does is 100% safe. Driving in to work? You could get in a car crash and die. Better not commute to work until they can design cars that are 100% safe. Walking down the street? You could trip, hit your head, and die. Better not walk until they design 100% safe sidewalks.

    The fact is that risk that vaccines pose is minuscule (and mainly limited to allergic reactions or slight fevers) and the threat these diseases pose is huge should they make a comeback. It is only bad risk assessment that makes vaccines look like a bigger threat than the diseases.

    --
    My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
    1. Re:Bad Risk Assessment by Quakeulf · · Score: 0

      Within reason, let these idiots handle themselves as long as they don't force their ways upon others, and it will benefit the world.

    2. Re:Bad Risk Assessment by O('_')O_Bush · · Score: 1

      You missed the herd immunity part. Because these people are idiots, everyone else suffers. Leaving them to their own devices makes us all worse off, not better.

      --
      while(1) attack(People.Sandy);
    3. Re:Bad Risk Assessment by Agent0013 · · Score: 1

      Your close, but forget about a few key points.

      there has never been a proven link between vaccines and autism

      Maybe not, but the vaccine companies won't tell you the truth of the matter either. The company that makes the popular MMR vaccine was just discovered to have been lying about it's effectiveness for the last several decades. They ran tests in faulty ways to exaggerate the effectiveness score. You think they won't lie about any side effects or problems that it causes also. They are immune from lawsuits if there is anything wrong with the vaccine, so what do they care.

      the diseases vaccines prevent are far worse than autism

      Some of the vaccines stop super rare diseases that are no worse than getting a cold. Yeah, stopping polio is great. Give them the shot at 3 or 5 years old, not at one day old. And don't give 1001 shots for all kinds of pointless things. They want to give infants shots to prevent sexually transmitted disease (one of the hepatitus versions). Sure, that would be bad if they got it, but I don't think my 2 year old is having sex yet!

      The fact is that risk that vaccines pose is minuscule (and mainly limited to allergic reactions or slight fevers)

      See above comments about unkown risks due to company testing their own vaccines in secret.

      and the threat these diseases pose is huge should they make a comeback.

      Some are making a comeback due to the vaccines. Society has lost the herd immunity we used to have from Whooping Cough. The vaccines don't work as well as we were told and lots of people that got them are getting sick. Somethink like 80% of the cases of Whooping Cough are for vaccinated people. The unvaccinated are much less likely to get it. In the past, before vaccination, more people would have gotten the real disease and been immune for life.

      --

      -- ssoorrrryy,, dduupplleexx sswwiittcchh oonn.. -Quote found on actual fortune cookie.
    4. Re:Bad Risk Assessment by Jason+Levine · · Score: 1

      As O('_')O_Bush said, Herd Immunity means that, by not vaccinating, they *ARE* forcing their ways upon others. If not vaccinating just increased the risk to the unvaccinated kids without affecting anyone else in the least, I'd be 100% for optional vaccination. But if some random parent in my kid's school might make my kid sick because his vaccine didn't take or make someone else's child sick because they're too young to get the vaccine or have a valid medical reason not to (e.g. allergies), then they are forcing their way upon us to the detriment of our kids.

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
    5. Re:Bad Risk Assessment by The+Moof · · Score: 2

      Maybe not, but the vaccine companies won't tell you the truth of the matter either

      That's a pretty poor logical jump. I could make some extreme, fraudulent claim ("Vaccines cause flipper babies and a second head to grow out of your neck"), they could deny it, and your logic would state that what they said can't be trusted, therefore avoid vaccinations. The problem is the entire link to autism was fabricated. It wasn't the companies coming out and disproving data that showed a link - there was never a link in the first place.

      Some of the vaccines stop super rare diseases that are no worse than getting a cold

      This is actually a legitimate complaint. There are some things being vaccinated for that aren't needed. There are also some things they refuse vaccination for if you request it without determining prior exposure. My sister works in the health service industry, and she requested a vaccination for her children due to her exposure to the disease at work (I want to say it was tuberculosis). The doctor refused to do so until he did an exposure test to verify that her family was already exposed to the disease.

      Society has lost the herd immunity we used to have from Whooping Cough.

      The Whooping Cough problem you're referring to was due to the vaccination being less effective than previously thought. They also suggested modifying the vaccination schedule to maintain the immunity in society. However, antivaxers took the proposed schedule change as "it didn't work" (just like your post) and used that as an excuse to avoid it all together. So instead of fixing the schedule problem, they (and you) are saying throw it out entirely, because that must be the better option.

    6. Re:Bad Risk Assessment by miketheanimal · · Score: 0

      At its core, the anti-vax movement is bad risk assessment for a few reasons. First of all, the horrors of the diseases that most vaccinations prevent against haven't been seen in a few generations. People my age (30's) with kids have never lived in a world where you could get polio or mumps at any moment and wind up dead, on an iron lung, deaf, scarred for life, etc..

      That's right, people of your age never lived in a world where you could get polio or mumps at any moment. People of my age (55) have, so my experience might be a bit better than yours. I've had measles, I've had mumps, I've had chickenpox. So did all my friends. My wife (48) had all those and she had whooping cough, and so did several of her classmates. No big deal. Neither she nor I know anyone who were scarred for life, etc. Maybe we are both statistical anomolies, or maybe it just wasn't as bad as you seem to believe. I'm not suggesting it was perfect; but it just wasn't that way.

    7. Re:Bad Risk Assessment by UnknowingFool · · Score: 1

      Maybe not, but the vaccine companies won't tell you the truth of the matter either. The company that makes the popular MMR vaccine was just discovered to have been lying about it's effectiveness for the last several decades. They ran tests in faulty ways to exaggerate the effectiveness score. You think they won't lie about any side effects or problems that it causes also.

      If only there was a government agency that told you about diseases, vaccines, and risks.

      They are immune from lawsuits if there is anything wrong with the vaccine, so what do they care.

      If only Congress created a special court to deal with vaccines and side effects. You know one that would streamline the process and gets victims compensation quicker than multi-year lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies.

      Some of the vaccines stop super rare diseases that are no worse than getting a cold. Yeah, stopping polio is great. Give them the shot at 3 or 5 years old, not at one day old.

      First of all, some of the diseases are rare because of vaccinations. The whole point of this article is that vaccinating less is bringing them back. The vaccine schedule clearly shows the vaccines are given over a period of time starting at 1 month old. Newborns should have acquired immunities from their mothers only for a short while after birth. Waiting till children 3 or 5 years old, puts them at serious risk.

      And don't give 1001 shots for all kinds of pointless things. They want to give infants shots to prevent sexually transmitted disease (one of the hepatitus versions). Sure, that would be bad if they got it, but I don't think my 2 year old is having sex yet!

      Hepatitis B is not strictly a sexually transmitted disease. "The virus is transmitted by exposure to infectious blood or body fluids such as semen and vaginal fluids, while viral DNA has been detected in the saliva, tears, and urine of chronic carriers.

      See above comments about unkown risks due to company testing their own vaccines in secret.

      [Citation needed] The CDC vaccine testing process disagrees with you.

      Somethink like 80% of the cases of Whooping Cough are for vaccinated people. The unvaccinated are much less likely to get it. In the past, before vaccination, more people would have gotten the real disease and been immune for life.

      [Citation needed]

      Yes the vaccine has shown to lose effectiveness over time. More boosters may be needed.

      --
      Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
    8. Re:Bad Risk Assessment by __aaeihw9960 · · Score: 1

      So your argument is that one company lied about the effectiveness of a vaccine, so all companies lie about what their vaccines really do? Good lord, that's convoluted - and there's a difference between a lie about effectiveness, and a cover-up that vaccines cause autism. But, let's play your game, and let's apply that argument to other parts of life. The people who make nutella led everyone to believe that their product was healthy, and it isn't. SO, I'll stop eating food altogether.

      This also makes me chuckle:

      They want to give infants shots to prevent sexually transmitted disease (one of the hepatitus versions). Sure, that would be bad if they got it, but I don't think my 2 year old is having sex yet!

      You do realize that the point of immunizations is to prevent diseases, correct? Oh, and this:

      Somethink like 80% of the cases of Whooping Cough are for vaccinated people

      Do you care to cite that, or are we just to believe that you are a trained CDC professional?

    9. Re:Bad Risk Assessment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That said, there have been vaccines that have gone wrong or which are notoriously ineffective. The usual flu vaccine, being something of a guess as to which strain will be "popular" this year is a good example of something with known side effects and some adverse serious effects for a small percentage of people, which may or may not actually provide a benefit.

      Under US law, vaccine manufacturers have VERY limited liability for screwups, and those of you who want to legally mandate medicines might want to consider making sure that people who are actually harmed are able to seek compensation. It really does happen, though of course nowhere near as often as the anti science nutjobs claim.

    10. Re:Bad Risk Assessment by stdarg · · Score: 0

      At its core, the anti-vax movement is bad risk assessment for a few reasons.

      Bad risk assessment for who? If the movement is small, it's pretty accurate. They will benefit from herd immunity and not have to deal with the cost or potential problems of vaccination. It's kind of like being the only guy who doesn't wear condoms.

    11. Re:Bad Risk Assessment by w_dragon · · Score: 1

      Wikipedia to the rescue!
      Worldwide, whooping cough affects 48.5 million people yearly resulting in nearly 295,000 deaths.
      In 2000 the WHO estimated that there were ~45 million cases of measles worldwide with 800,000 deaths from it.
      Mumps: Death is very unusual. The disease is self-limiting, and general outcome is good, even if other organs are involved. There's a list of possible side-effects which includes rare cases of sterility and deafness.

    12. Re:Bad Risk Assessment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe not, but the vaccine companies won't tell you the truth of the matter either. The company that makes the popular MMR vaccine was just discovered to have been lying about it's effectiveness for the last several decades. They ran tests in faulty ways to exaggerate the effectiveness score. You think they won't lie about any side effects or problems that it causes also. They are immune from lawsuits if there is anything wrong with the vaccine, so what do they care.

      Agreed. These companies have no oversight and do whatever they want a lot of time.

      Some of the vaccines stop super rare diseases that are no worse than getting a cold. Yeah, stopping polio is great. Give them the shot at 3 or 5 years old, not at one day old. And don't give 1001 shots for all kinds of pointless things. They want to give infants shots to prevent sexually transmitted disease (one of the hepatitus versions). Sure, that would be bad if they got it, but I don't think my 2 year old is having sex yet!

      This is why you discuss with a doctor you trust on a reasonable schedule of vaccination against diseases that are a real risk. Skip the flu, wait on the hepatitus until your child is at a reasonable age, and get the polio when it makes sense. (By the way, the polio vaccine is a few drops administered orally. It's one thing that has helped a lot in the quashing of polio in the Third World).

      See above comments about unkown risks due to company testing their own vaccines in secret.

      Agreed. That's why you should get the necessary ones that have extensive research by neutral parties.

      The unvaccinated are much less likely to get it.

      Citation needed

    13. Re:Bad Risk Assessment by Jason+Levine · · Score: 1

      "If the movement is small"

      That's the problem right there. If it's a few nutjobs who claim that vaccines are the way the government is introducing mind control nanites into people, then herd immunity will be fine.

      If it's Jenny McCarthy, Donald Trump, and other big name celebrities telling everyone that vaccines cause autism through "toxins" (made generic so it's impossible to disprove), then many people stop vaccinating and herd immunity breaks down. We're seeing outbreaks now due to herd immunity collapsing, but the anti-vax community refuses to believe they could be the cause because this didn't happen when they were a small group.

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
    14. Re:Bad Risk Assessment by CAIMLAS · · Score: 1

      They score the risk of these infections as low because they don't see them. (The fallacy here being that the *reason* they don't see them is because of vaccines.)

      You realize, I hope, that the 'lifelong' immunity imparted upon people who got vaccines in the 40s, 50s were, in fact, not life long but ~10 years in length, and that over half the country's population had no immunity for the better part of 50 years before this was realized? Ironically, we saw no great surges of these diseases amongst the population during that period of time.

      --
      ~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
    15. Re:Bad Risk Assessment by CAIMLAS · · Score: 1

      Herd immunity is a myth, if only because vaccines only last 2-10 years. There is no such thing as life-long immunity from a vaccine, as the now ubiquitous booster shot demonstrates. Most of the population, yourself included possibly (i'm suspecting you're still a child under 18?), has lost the immunity from their initial vaccinations, if they ever had any in the first place.

      We have been well, well below 'herd immunity' from vaccinations for over 50 years of the past 100.

      --
      ~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
    16. Re:Bad Risk Assessment by CopterHawk · · Score: 1

      I think it is bad risk assessment at it's core (very few people really understand risk assesment anyway), combined with misinformation, but what really drives intellegent people remain anti-vac, even after being presented with the facts, is emotion and subconsious fear of accountability when it comes to something bad happening to their children. Given two possible outcomes: A. They decide to vaccinate and their child becomes severely ill due to an allergic reaction, they will blame themselves. B. They do not vacinnate and their child becomes severely ill from a disease they could have been vaccinated for, they don't see that as being as much their fault. Even if A is significantly less likely than B and harm to their child is equal, it is still seen as a significantly worse outcome and risk because it will have happend as a direct result of something they chose to do. Probably most anti-vax beliefs go back to poor understanding and/or missinformation, but among intellegent educated people who are anti-vax (and i've talked to several such people) the main cause always comes down to a cowardly (though perhaps subconsious) avoidance of accountability.

    17. Re:Bad Risk Assessment by Agent0013 · · Score: 1

      I am glad to see one other logical thinking person in this discussion. There is such venim on the forced vaccine side. I never mentioned anything about vaccines causing autism, but the words are put into my mouth so they can argue against me.

      --

      -- ssoorrrryy,, dduupplleexx sswwiittcchh oonn.. -Quote found on actual fortune cookie.
    18. Re:Bad Risk Assessment by miketheanimal · · Score: 1

      Whooping Cough, Measles. I don't live worldwide, I live in the UK. If you live in the third world then the balance is different.

    19. Re:Bad Risk Assessment by UnknowingFool · · Score: 1
      No but you put out nonsense like:

      Some of the vaccines stop super rare diseases that are no worse than getting a cold. Yeah, stopping polio is great. Give them the shot at 3 or 5 years old, not at one day old.

      and

      They want to give infants shots to prevent sexually transmitted disease (one of the hepatitus versions). Sure, that would be bad if they got it, but I don't think my 2 year old is having sex yet!

      and

      Somethink like 80% of the cases of Whooping Cough are for vaccinated people

      It makes people wonder how informed are you about vaccines.

      --
      Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
    20. Re:Bad Risk Assessment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My son has had Measles and Mumps, and all his shots. You are an idiot to say that Measles and mumps are worse than Autism. My son has Autism too ( the mildest form) He is unable to go to school and function independently. Being sick with a swollen neck, or a itchy rash for a couple of weeks is nothing compared to a life with Autism. Remember Chicken pox, how about RSV, rotovirus, none of these are worse that Autism.

    21. Re:Bad Risk Assessment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe not, but the vaccine companies won't tell you the truth of the matter either. The company that makes the popular MMR vaccine was just discovered to have been lying about it's effectiveness for the last several decades. They ran tests in faulty ways to exaggerate the effectiveness score. You think they won't lie about any side effects or problems that it causes also. They are immune from lawsuits if there is anything wrong with the vaccine, so what do they care.

      See above comments about unkown risks due to company testing their own vaccines in secret.

      This is a flaw in US regulations, not in the admission of vaccines. Obviously, drugs should always be tested by an independent authority, not the developer. If this is not the case in the US, then that problem should be fixed, although I seriously doubt it exists.

  13. The point of a vaccination? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Isn't the point of getting a vaccination to protect you from the disease? How does it matter if it's floating around in the air, on a dog, bird or mosquito, or another kid?

    Considering that when the very first time a vaccine is used, almost nobody has had the shots, how does it work so well at the beginning, when 99% of the people around you don't have it yet? I find the arguments against abstainers don't hold up to logical scrutiny...

    1. Re:The point of a vaccination? by Dog-Cow · · Score: 2

      I find that you deserve death by torture.

      My logic is just as unassailable as yours.

    2. Re:The point of a vaccination? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why is there such hate and lack of logic in responses to people that present logical arguments against vaccines? Why not actually prove the poster wrong? The fact that there is such vitriol against any open discussion makes me wonder if vaccine avoiders have a point... (FUD anyone?)

    3. Re:The point of a vaccination? by miketheanimal · · Score: 1

      Slashdot. This is science. Pro-vaccine is science by definition. Abandon all hope, mate.

    4. Re:The point of a vaccination? by Glothar · · Score: 1

      You haven't done a shred of research on this, have you?

      Vaccines work 85% of the time. If only 15% of the populace is susceptible, the vast majority of diseases will lack the concentration needed to spread across large geographic areas, thus limiting the scope of the outbreak and drastically reducing the number of people involved. For instance: Without humans to spread a disease, most viruses would be a single locale and only get a chance to infect 15% of the people in Sacramento, instead of 15% of people in North America.

      Then, if you were thinking logically... or just thinking... then you'd realize that at the beginning, the vaccine would give the first person an 85% chance of immunity. The "herd" immunity would be unchanged, because it's just one guy. As that number went from 1 person to 99% of people, the overall "herd" immunity would reach 85%. I don't know how this is at all illogical to you. Unless you never even tried to understand.

    5. Re:The point of a vaccination? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because you/the anti vax lot maybe heard the arguments but is clearly not listening.
      You stopped thinking logically once you heard all medical procedures carry a risk, you should have listened a little more and then see how the ratio's of risk are fundamentally pro-vaccination.

  14. Thank you Jenny McCarthy by schwit1 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Jenny McCarthy body count

    “I do believe sadly it's going to take some diseases coming back to realize that we need to change and develop vaccines that are safe. If the vaccine companies are not listening to us, it's their f___ing fault that the diseases are coming back. They're making a product that's s___. If you give us a safe vaccine, we'll use it. It shouldn't be polio versus autism.”

    Jenny McCarthy in Time Magazine, April 2009

    1. Re:Thank you Jenny McCarthy by jbonomi · · Score: 1

      I really, really want a bumper sticker that says "Jenny McCarthy causes autism."

    2. Re:Thank you Jenny McCarthy by forand · · Score: 1

      Gah Slashdot's preview had my close link tag in the proper location while the submitted version clearly does not. Sorry for the super long linked text.

    3. Re:Thank you Jenny McCarthy by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      That's why that playboy bunny is so dangerous. What she says sounds reasonable, unless you realize that her entire premise is based on fantasy, emotion and fraud.

    4. Re:Thank you Jenny McCarthy by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      Get one that tells the truth. Jenny McCarthy kills babies.

    5. Re:Thank you Jenny McCarthy by dbet · · Score: 1

      Well, the incidence of autism in the general population is about 1%. The incidence of autism in Jenny's house is 100%. You could be on to something.

  15. Hmmmm, color me confused.... by justcauseisjustthat · · Score: 0

    The only students at risk are those who do not get vaccinated, which means those children's parent chose to put them at risk.
    Personally I think vaccines are a good thing and as soon as patches with micro-needles make them painless, there will be one less hurdle.

    Mandatory vaccines are another step towards fascism, education and clear communication would get most people there (except Scientologists).

    1. Re:Hmmmm, color me confused.... by Dog-Cow · · Score: 1

      No. Vaccines are not 100% effective. If you are vaccinated, but no one else is, your chances for infection are much greater than they would be if otherwise because each one of those people has greater chance of catching and spreading the disease to you. The more people are vaccinated, the less chance each person has of contracting and spreading the disease.

    2. Re:Hmmmm, color me confused.... by usuallylost · · Score: 1

      The concern isn't for the children whose parents didn't get them immunized. The concern is for another group of children who can not be immunized due to allergies to ingredients in the vaccines. Basically the population refusing to be vaccinated is a vector to infect those who can't be vaccinated.

    3. Re:Hmmmm, color me confused.... by MozeeToby · · Score: 5, Informative

      The only students at risk are those who do not get vaccinated

      False. Some number of children can't be vaccinated for legitimate medical reasons, usually allergic reaction to the vaccine ingredients. Then there's a certain number, ranging from 1-5+% that the vaccine simply doesn't take, they are not 100% effective. These two classes of people rely on the fact that the diseases they are vulnerable to aren't present in the general population, if there is an outbreak, the sick people don't come into contact with enough vulnerable people for the disease to spread at a rate that can sustain itself. The numbers necessary are different for each disease, but generally range from 90-99% need to be immune to prevent a wide scale outbreak. These people are harming more than their own children (which would be bad enough), they put everyone else at risk too.

    4. Re:Hmmmm, color me confused.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe you're confused. You're certainly uninformed, in an era of amazing access to information. Maybe you're disingenuous, maybe you're stupid. None of these categories, sadly, are mutually exclusive. Still, just to debunk your viciously dangerous leading sentence:

      To improve your chances of keeping your house in a brush fire, it's not enough to keep the brush on your property trimmed back. Your neighbors have to do it too. Nasty fascist fire departments will encourage you and them to do so.

    5. Re:Hmmmm, color me confused.... by simplexion · · Score: 1

      Umm... you definitely are confused. Other children at risk are ones that can't be vaccinated due to genuine medical reasons. Vaccines do not stop you from being infected. They will reduce the severity and length you are infected but will not stop it.

      I agree that they shouldn't be mandatory but educating people is extremely difficult, especially when it is education in moderately difficult to understand science. We have people that believe the earth is less than 10,000 years old and evolution by natural selection is equivalent to a chimpanzee giving birth to a Homo sapien.

    6. Re:Hmmmm, color me confused.... by justcauseisjustthat · · Score: 1

      My understanding is an estimated 2 percent to 3 percent of U.S. children are allergic to eggs, causing issues with vaccines. Also children with known allergies can be given anti-allergy medications, such as antihistamines and corticosteroids, before vaccination to help ward off or lessen an allergic reaction. [plagiarism]
      Vaccines for non-flu illnesses are 99% effective.

    7. Re:Hmmmm, color me confused.... by CAIMLAS · · Score: 1

      You need to stop reading pharmaceutical literature. The numbers of "doesn't take" and "not 100% effective", not to mention "has lost vaccinated immunity" are grossly out of sync with the numbers in your post.

      --
      ~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
  16. It's the rise of the morons by fredrated · · Score: 1

    And I always thought society would get smarter and smarter.

    1. Re:It's the rise of the morons by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 1

      No, this is why governments are spending lots of money on "Smarter Cities Solutions." Those city folks just keep getting dumber and dumber. The cities themselves need to get smarter to keep up with the decline.

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    2. Re:It's the rise of the morons by daem0n1x · · Score: 1

      These manifestations of obscurantist stupidity are pretty much a phenomena of the USA and a few Muslim countries. There are no anti-vaxxers in Europe that I know of, nor Creationists. AGW deniers are a tiny minority. Most people have a deep trust in science around here, even in a backwards catholic country like mine (Portugal).

      Unfortunately, I can't say the same about Economics. Here, the neoliberal myths from the Chicago school are dictated as the Gospel without any critical thinking allowed. And there's no way the vast empirical proofs to the contrary will convince the Neoliberal Ayatollas ruling Europe that their great ideas are stupid and wrong.

    3. Re:It's the rise of the morons by d3ac0n · · Score: 1

      Just so you know;

        - The originator of the Thermiosol scare was a British doctor. The entire scare started there and continues, despite the complete debunking of his bogus study. There are anti-vaxxers all over Western society in part because of this one doctor.

        - Many many people in Britain and the rest of Europe don't buy the AGW bunkum. It doesn't make one "Anti-Science" to disbelieve junk science. NOTE: Not believing in AGW does not mean one rejects the idea that the Earth's climate can or does change. Change is the only constant in the Universe.

      So, Is the Earth's climate changing? Youbetcha. It's part of a long period cycle. Are humans causing it? No evidence to support that, so no reason to radically restructure our society to some Communist "Utopia" right now. (Not that Communism would solve AGW anyway. Command economies are far too slow reacting to be able to adjust for even a minor climate change.)

        - You are pretty much dead on on the Economic front. Too much "Chicago" or "Frankfurt" school thinking going on right now. Lefties never learn that their policies don't work.

      --
      Official Heretic from the "Church of Global Warming". Proven right thanks to whistle blowers. AGW = Flat Earth Theory
    4. Re:It's the rise of the morons by daem0n1x · · Score: 1

      Just so you know;

      - The originator of the Thermiosol scare was a British doctor. The entire scare started there and continues, despite the complete debunking of his bogus study. There are anti-vaxxers all over Western society in part because of this one doctor.

      You are right, there have been anti-vaxxer campaigns in some European countries. Fortunately, nothing that I'm aware of, here in Portugal. If it wasn't for Slashdot, I would have never known about the anti-vaxxer movement, and it sure looks like yet another obscurantist American phenomenon.

      - Many many people in Britain and the rest of Europe don't buy the AGW bunkum. It doesn't make one "Anti-Science" to disbelieve junk science. NOTE: Not believing in AGW does not mean one rejects the idea that the Earth's climate can or does change. Change is the only constant in the Universe.

      So, Is the Earth's climate changing? Youbetcha. It's part of a long period cycle. Are humans causing it? No evidence to support that, so no reason to radically restructure our society to some Communist "Utopia" right now. (Not that Communism would solve AGW anyway. Command economies are far too slow reacting to be able to adjust for even a minor climate change.)

      Oh fuck. Not the same fucking bullshit again. Yeah dude, have it whatever you like. I quit.

      - You are pretty much dead on on the Economic front. Too much "Chicago" or "Frankfurt" school thinking going on right now. Lefties never learn that their policies don't work.

      WTF??? You mean Reagan, Thatcher, Merkel, Barroso, Sarkozi, are all leftists after all? Wow!

  17. Rights by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    This really is a question of rights. Personally I think the promotion of rights has gotten out of hand, and I think most should get vaccinated.

    However, lets consider the pros and cons of vaccines.

    pro
    health benefits from negligible to lifesaving,
    herd immunity

    con
    side effects from minor discomfort to lifelong illness or death.

    Yes the chances of being sensitive and dying from a vaccine are too small, but shouldn't our own bodies be inviolable in all but the most extreme cases?

    Isn't part of living in a "free society" the right to make choices, even the wrong ones?

    The data suggests that in most cases the benefits are clearly in favour of getting vaccinated, and we should, but I think we should have the right to choose.

    1. Re:Rights by BVis · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Your right to swing your fist ends at the tip of my nose. Not vaccinating your kid exposes mine to potentially life-threatening disease. If you think that the (vanishingly small) risk of complications from vaccination is more important than my (vaccinated) kid's risk of contracting a disease that has mutated inside your (unvaccinated) kid.. well, you're bad at math. And, a selfish short-sighted asshole.

      I've never really understood why it is that something you were going to do anyway becoming mandatory means that you should automatically resist it. You've lost nothing except the choice you weren't going to make, and society has benefited. Making vaccinations mandatory is not the same as Hitler storming across Europe, get a grip. If the slope were really that slippery, we would have fallen down into the abyss a long long time ago.

      Obligatory car analogy: Sure, you have the right to drive around with faulty brakes. At least in this state, you do not need working brakes to pass the yearly inspection. You can argue that you're risking nobody except yourself.. except, you're not. Your passengers, and the other people on the roads that you slam into because you can't stop, would disagree.

      Part of living in a civilized society is recognizing when your actions have consequences for others that have no say in the matter. Yes, you can make the choice not to vaccinate your kid. But realize that your actions have consequences for others. (It may come as a shock to you that there are other people in the world besides you and your child.) One of the major problems we (USA) have as a society is the attitude of "I've got mine, fuck you." Take responsibility for your choice; keep your kid away from mine. If your idealism leads to my kid's death.. then it's not worth protecting. Die for your ideals if you want; it's your life to throw away.

      --
      Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.
    2. Re:Rights by JesseMcDonald · · Score: 1

      I've never really understood why it is that something you were going to do anyway becoming mandatory means that you should automatically resist it.

      Some people choose to stand up for others' rights, as well as their own. The fact that I would choose to be vaccinated, and thus am not personally affected by the mandate, has zero impact on the fact that I believe it is wrong for anyone to be forced to accept any unwanted, invasive medical procedure, including vaccination.

      You've lost nothing except the choice you weren't going to make, and society has benefited.

      This is a contradiction. If you weren't going to make the choice to reject vaccination anyway, then society has not benefited from removing that choice. The goal of maximizing vaccination is only served by removing that choice from someone who would have taken it.

      If anything, the choice itself (liberty) has positive value to society, even if no one ever chooses to exercise it, which means removing the choice from someone who would have chosen vaccination anyway is strictly detrimental. Is the heath benefit of maximizing vaccination of higher value than the cost in liberty to everyone, and in aggression against those who continue to refuse? There is no objective answer, of course, but from my point of view mandatory vaccination appears to be a very poor trade.

      --
      "The state is that great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else." - Bastiat
    3. Re:Rights by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What state is this, exactly? Just so I know to never f***ing go there...

    4. Re:Rights by BVis · · Score: 1

      I believe it is wrong for anyone to be forced to accept any unwanted, invasive medical procedure, including vaccination.

      And I believe it is wrong for your being an idiot (not vaccinating your kid) to result in another child's death.

      But congratulations! You had a choice! I'm sure the grieving parents will find that to be quite comforting.

      The goal of maximizing vaccination is only served by removing that choice from someone who would have taken it.

      What's your point?

      If anything, the choice itself (liberty) has positive value to society, even if no one ever chooses to exercise it, which means removing the choice from someone who would have chosen vaccination anyway is strictly detrimental.

      What real benefit is there from having the choice? Anything that makes a difference in the real world?

      The fact of the matter is that some people are choosing not to vaccinate their kids, because they're idiots. Why are you so emphatic about preserving people's rights to be idiots?

      Is the heath benefit of maximizing vaccination of higher value than the cost in liberty to everyone, and in aggression against those who continue to refuse?

      YES!!!!! This is the point I was trying to make.

      There is no objective answer, of course, but from my point of view mandatory vaccination appears to be a very poor trade.

      Really? An artificial construct that serves no purpose other than to make you feel a little better about yourself is so important that you're willing to risk lives over it? What right do you have to make that choice for them? If you want to die for your ideals, that's your choice, it's your life to throw away.

      Requiring immunization will save children's lives. Do you really think that your ideals are worth dead kids? I think that other kids' parents (myself included) would disagree.

      --
      Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.
    5. Re:Rights by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If your children are vaccinated how are they threatened? The vaccine is supposed to keep them from getting a particular disease if they are exposed to it.

    6. Re:Rights by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      does this postulate make sense to you:

      if the vaccines were effective, then the unvaccinated could not endanger the vaccinated.

    7. Re:Rights by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, your vaxed child poses a much greater risk to mine, since yours was injected with live viruses and bacteria. Your logic is seriously flawed.

  18. I call BS. Read the source article: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    http://www.newswise.com/articles/intentionally-unvaccinated-students-putting-other-children-at-risk

    “Vaccines are one of the great public health achievements of the last couple of centuries,” Dr. Buttenheim said. “They protect us from diseases that used to routinely kill hundreds of thousands of children in the United States and still kill hundreds of thousands globally.

    Sounds reasonable, until...

    Nationally, because of generally widespread vaccination coverage among children, vaccine-preventable childhood diseases that once caused substantial disease burdens and death in the United States remain rare occurrences. Measles once infected four million people and killed 4,000 of them each year, mostly young children. With high measles vaccine coverage over several decades, endemic measles was eliminated in the United States as of 2000. The current routine childhood immunization schedule is estimated to prevent 42,000 deaths and 20 million cases of disease and to save $14 billion in direct medical costs per U.S. birth cohort.

    I'm sorry but these numbers don't add up to the concern expressed in the article. This is one doctors opinion who's own statements don't match the articles own numbers. Seems like a bit of BS to scare people into thinking that their tax dollars are going to be paying for sick kids. Anyone have any numbers on the cost of these vaccinations in the US?

    1. Re:I call BS. Read the source article: by zoloto · · Score: 1

      He only used measles as an example. An aggregate of all now preventable disease deaths would.

  19. No, education should be optional: vaccine or GTFO. by Rogerborg · · Score: 2

    Tough on the kids, but if the flat earthers want to devolve back to their Garden of Eden fantasy, let's get the party started.

    The only real question is which group is going to end up as the Eloi and which the Morlocks. Me, I'm not that keen on the sun.

    --
    If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
  20. Wow I just posted regarding this... by wisebabo · · Score: 0, Troll

    From the Samsung posting...

    By the way, how much of the following do you agree/disagree with? If there is a high correlation between all of these perhaps, for everyones sake, we could just shorten disagreements by separating people into two groups. No judgement here, it just would save everyone a lot of time.

    Thinks Evolution is just a theory
    Thinks Global Warming is not real/is a conspiracy
    Thinks Obama is a socialist
    Thinks Obama is a muslim
    Thinks Obama was not born in the United States
    *New* Thinks Obama will hand over sovereignty of U.S. to U.N. (Lubbock county judge)
    *NEW* THINKS VACCINES CAUSES AUTISM (DONALD TRUMP)
    *New* Thinks "legitimately raped" woman are biologically capable of preventing pregnancy (inherent in Republican Party Anti-Abortion Platform)
    Thinks cutting government spending during a severe recession/depression is the appropriate thing to do
    Thinks the U.S. health care system is the best in the world which justifies it costing twice as much as the next major country (Germany) while neglecting millions
    Thinks Apple products are markedly inferior to the alternatives
    Thinks Samsung didn't copy Apple

    So, if people sort themselves into two groups say one called "Republicans" and the other say "Democrats" and would identify themselves as such, we could save everyone a lot of grief.

    1. Re:Wow I just posted regarding this... by schitso · · Score: 1

      +1 "I'm right, you're wrong because I say so"

    2. Re:Wow I just posted regarding this... by Dr_Barnowl · · Score: 0

      The only thing I really agree with there is that Apple products are inferior - but that stands alone as having many degrees of freedom as to the criteria on which you are judging it ; aka "many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view"

      I find Apple products to be inferior overall because they don't meet my needs in certain areas. I'm happy to concede that their hardware has some nice features, but things like the non-standard keyboard layouts, total unavailability of matt screen coatings on laptops, etc, bug the living crap out of me. I'd love to see a laptop with a metal unibody construction and a magsafe connector that had a decent keyboard (chiclet keys, yuch) with a standard layout. As it is, the Apple keyboard layout moves keys away from places that my fingers remember instinctively, and has craptastic keycaps and switches. The OS may well be very nice, but the majority of the time I'm in a terminal or a cross-platform IDE like Eclipse, for which OS/X which doesn't buy me any advantages.

    3. Re:Wow I just posted regarding this... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why did you slip two unrelated Apple fanboi posts on the end of your list? You were doing so well until then....

    4. Re:Wow I just posted regarding this... by dywolf · · Score: 1

      Because every Rep or Dem thinks exactly the same thing.
      This kind of stupidity is exactly why I refuse to associate myself with either label.

      --
      The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
    5. Re:Wow I just posted regarding this... by dkleinsc · · Score: 1

      So, if people sort themselves into two groups say one called "Republicans" and the other say "Democrats" and would identify themselves as such, we could save everyone a lot of grief.

      That's not really accurate though. The people who agree with those statements are properly termed "morons" or "idiots" regardless of party affiliation.

      You're right there's a correlation with voting Republican at the moment, but I'd attribute that to a related-but-not-identical third factor, namely getting all ones news and information from right-wing propaganda outlets like Fox News. But at the same time, how many people think that:
        - George W Bush ordered the 9/11 attacks
        - Obama has never ordered the summary execution of a US citizen
        - the reason we don't have a public healthcare option was that the Republicans demanded it in negotiations
        - Obama has never locked up a US citizen for over a year in solitary confinement without putting him on trial
        - If you taxed the richest 1% of Americans 90% for a year, you'd be able to eliminate the federal debt

      I'm sure that list could be made longer easily enough.

      --
      I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
    6. Re:Wow I just posted regarding this... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So, you associate with one of the parties because they don't think like you?

    7. Re:Wow I just posted regarding this... by NeoMorphy · · Score: 1

      Nice try!

      I am curious about what the real correlation would be, there are a lot of factors that make it seem like democrats prefer Apple, but I suspect they don't.

      For example, the states employing the most IT employees are also states that are more strongly democratic. A lot of companies will subsidize cell phones for their IT employees to use instead of pagers. If the top choices are Apple and Blackberry, then they end up with those and the results are skewed.

      If a study is done that looks at what choice is made when "they have a choice of any phone", then that might be a better indication. I suspect independents prefer android, because they don't like restrictions of choice.

      The rest of the choices are obviously Republican! ;)

    8. Re:Wow I just posted regarding this... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh GOD...

      We have half the people in the US.... HALF of 330 million people.... YES we have some of the stupid ones... a LOT of the stupid ones! However, to think we have a monopoly ....

      Thinks Stopping oil drilling in the USA because of the "environment" but thinks shipping the exact same product here in large ships over the ocean is brilliant

      Thinks wind power at 73 dollars a Megawatt hour will replace the 63 CENTS per megawatt hour natural gas and coal power we have without increasing their power bills the same amount

      Thinks forcing banks to give home loans to people who could never pay their mortgage in the name of "fairness" only to watch as they 60% default, ruin our credit market and then blame the sitting president for the collapse makes sense

      Thinks reducing carbon emissions in the US by closing coal fire plants and replacing our power with even DIRTIER power produced in countries without our environmental protection laws makes them feel all fuzzy

      Thinks "OH! We can't kill pretty pretty horsies!!!" so they make it illegal to sell your old horse to a rendering plant in the US, so EVERYONE when their horse is too old puts them in a HOT no water or ac or food truck on a THOUSAND MILE RIDE TO MEXICO where they are treated like garbage because there again are no laws to protect them and then killed for meat there anyways... Nice...

      Thinks spending 40% more than is being brought in is fine and thinks that if we could just increase taxes enough there is plenty of money despite the fact that if you took EVERY CENT of the "wealthy" it would only pay for the government for a few months.... So ... where do we get it again?? Hum....

      Thinks everyone who believes different than they do "secretly" has all the stupidest beliefs they have ever heard from "our side" themselves, yes all R's think woman's body can "fight off" sperm of such nonsense, and by the way what is "(inherent in Republican Party Anti-Abortion Platform)" is our belief that no matter the conception, it is still NEVER the BABIES fault.. That's what adoption is for.

      Thinks that "everyone is special" so education is focused now on the lowest common denominator and the truly gifted among us (shocker, they DO exist!) are not cultivated, then we wonder why we have a math, science and chemistry gap

      I can go ON and ON and ON

      Oh the difference, the beliefs you listed as being on our side are fringe beliefs held by very few among us

      The beliefs lists as being on your side by me are widely held....

      Serve and Volly friend

    9. Re:Wow I just posted regarding this... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      1.Thinks Evolution is just a theory
      2.Thinks Global Warming is not real/is a conspiracy
      3.Thinks Obama is a socialist
      4.Thinks Obama is a muslim
      5.Thinks Obama was not born in the United States
      6.*New* Thinks Obama will hand over sovereignty of U.S. to U.N. (Lubbock county judge)
      7.*NEW* THINKS VACCINES CAUSES AUTISM (DONALD TRUMP)
      8.*New* Thinks "legitimately raped" woman are biologically capable of preventing pregnancy (inherent in Republican Party Anti-Abortion Platform)
      9.Thinks cutting government spending during a severe recession/depression is the appropriate thing to do
      10.Thinks the U.S. health care system is the best in the world which justifies it costing twice as much as the next major country (Germany) while neglecting millions
      11.Thinks Apple products are markedly inferior to the alternatives
      12.Thinks Samsung didn't copy Apple

      1. It is a theory. If it is not, what is it? That said, I think "The Origin of Species" is the best example on record of how the scientific method can take data and draw some amazingly accurate conclusions from it. On the other hand I think "Descent of Man" is a large series of huge leaps of faith that too many people take as gospel truth. Where does that put me in your dichotomy?

      2. I think most of the proposed solutions to it are attempts to redirect wealth upwards and curb economic development. I also think the discussion draws attention away from much more important environmental issues such as massive deforestation and contamination of our oceans. Where does that put me in your dichotomy?

      3. Obama is a fascist, like every other major US politician since long before my grandmother was born. (note: Hitler was not the only fascist and not all fascism looks like Nazi Germeny. Look more at Italy for a closer example to our brand of fascism.) Where does that put me in your dichotomy?

      4. Don't care in any way shape or form. Where does that put me in your dichotomy?

      5. Don't care. He is a US citizen regardless. McCain was not born in the US. He was born in Panama. He is still a US citizen. Where does that put me in your dichotomy?

      6. The US has been giving soverinty away to various international institutions and treaties for generations. I see no reason to think this trend has suddenly ended under the Obama administration. Where does this put me in your dichotomy?

      7. I think the vaccine question is one of the basic social contract. I also think the current social contract is a losing proposition for the vast majority of individuals.(Too large a statement to go into detail. At its core the problem is an individual is restricted far more than they benifit.) Fix that problem and the vaccine question will go away. Where does that put me in your dichotomy?

      8. I think that conception is the only logical place to define the begining of life. I also think that I have no right to force my answer to that question on other people. I further think that these issues are used largely as a dodge for talking about real issues. Where does that put me in your dichotomy?

      9. I think that cutting military spending dramatically and raising domestic spending dramatically is the appropriate thing to do in a recession. Where does that put me in your dichotomy?

      10. I think our health care system is horribly broken and can only be fixed by tearing down a trillion dollar insurance industry, thus completely wrecking a large chunk of the economy. I further think the ACA was a giveaway to said industry and had nothing to do with fixing any of the major problems in our health care system. Where does that put me in your dichotomy?

      11. I think middle of the road hardware and locked down software sold at top of the line prices is an inferior choice for me. Where does that put me in your dichotomy?

      12. I couldn't care less. Nothing new under the sun as they say. Where does that put me in your dichotomy?

    10. Re:Wow I just posted regarding this... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I would probably answer most of those questions like a "Democrat", but I'm a Republican and have no plans to switch parties. The sad reality is that we have a vocal wing of the party made up of idiots. That doesn't mean that I am interested in the Democratic Party platform. It just means I see some of the same facts, but I come to different conclusions about how the government should be involved with them.

      And yes, it also means I have to suffer a lot more facepalm moments than I would prefer.

      I wish I could say something more inspiring than I plan to not vote for Obama, which is what I am doing. I think Romney is uninspiring and I'm just hoping he doesn't fuck things up more than Bush and Obama have done. I'm not holding my breath, but as Mr. Debs once said, "It is better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it."

  21. Who Benefits? by Crisses · · Score: 0

    First Question: If vaccines really work, then how are unvaccinated children putting vaccinated children at risk? Study data about recent outbreaks of the vaccine-available illnesses for a clue on this one... Is herd immunity a myth?

    Next: Is this issue one of those "Things the government & 'science' tell us are true but are actually only to benefit large corporate interests"? Every child from the day they are born has a "vaccine schedule" -- starting with Hep B vaccine which is a disease they must have unprotected sex or use injected dirty needles to get? Is this a case of over-vaccinated to go along with over-medicated children?

    Correlation or causation? Increases of childhood developmental disabilities vs. being vaccinated... are they related? It's so hard to tell, since they're constantly giving children vaccines when they're growing. But there's plenty of parents whose children have problems within 72 hours of vaccines being administered to make at least the anecdotal cases seem compelling -- at least THAT child should not have had those vaccines. Would you rather your child had the mumps, or encephalitis resulting in autism?

    Always! ask who benefits. Because I'd love to see the data that says that children benefit.

    --
    ---- I'm out of your mind!
    1. Re:Who Benefits? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Exactly! Where are the Autistic Amish kids?

    2. Re:Who Benefits? by cyp43r · · Score: 2

      Effective does not equal one hundred percent efficacy. There is a direct correlation between being vaccinated and not catching those specific diseases - it's not a high correlation between being immunised for measles and catching something else, and this is still being tested in those parts of the world that don't have vaccinations. The risk of autism is small to non existent (there is no correlation). Would you rather your kid have autism or catching tetanus and dying? Parents tell all sorts of anecdotes that turn out to be true, the most prominent of which is sugar rushes. The singular of data is not anecdote. -just because big pharmaceutical companies benefit doesn't mean children who get vaccinated don't either. It's like not eating food because 'Big Agro' is profiting.

    3. Re:Who Benefits? by daid303 · · Score: 1

      Because vaccines are not 100% effective. You have 4 groups of people:
      1) Immune (because of vaccine or natural)
      2) Not immune, but no disease found
      3) Not immune, disease carrier, but not sick
      4) Not immune, disease carrier, sick

      Group 1, Immune people are good, always. However, some people that do get the vaccine will not end up with immunity and thus end up in group 2. However, if these group 2 people come in contact with group 3 or group 4 then they become group 3 or group 4 people. The larger the pool of group 2/3/4 people, the larger the chance a group 2 comes in contact with a group 3 or 4.
      (Depending on the disease people can stay in group 3 forever, or for a limited amount of time before moving to group 4)

      So, by not begin vaccinated, you increase the chance of getting the disease, and also increase the chance of transmitting that disease to other people.

    4. Re:Who Benefits? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Next: Is this issue one of those "Things the government & 'science' tell us are true but are actually only to benefit large corporate interests"? Every child from the day they are born has a "vaccine schedule" -- starting with Hep B vaccine which is a disease they must have unprotected sex or use injected dirty needles to get? Is this a case of over-vaccinated to go along with over-medicated children?

      Correlation or causation? Increases of childhood developmental disabilities vs. being vaccinated... are they related? It's so hard to tell, since they're constantly giving children vaccines when they're growing. But there's plenty of parents whose children have problems within 72 hours of vaccines being administered to make at least the anecdotal cases seem compelling -- at least THAT child should not have had those vaccines. Would you rather your child had the mumps, or encephalitis resulting in autism?

      Always! ask who benefits. Because I'd love to see the data that says that children benefit.

      >It's not that herd immunity is a myth, it's just that vaccines aren't always 100% effective in every case. There are some vaccinated people who are still at risk for disease.

      >Are you implying that every scientist who does research in this area is acting in favor of "Big Pharma?" Meanwhile, plenty of the antivaxxers have a monetary agenda. The Geirs and Andrew Wakefield come to mind.

      >There have been studies out the wazoo about the lack of a link between vaccines and autism. Here's one: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0749379703001132

      >And while Hep B is primarily an STD, there are plenty of other ways to get it.
      http://www.epigee.org/health/hbv.html

    5. Re:Who Benefits? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      1 in 275 Amish kids have been diagnosed with ASD, nice try though.

    6. Re:Who Benefits? by dr2chase · · Score: 1

      Read previous comments like yours and their informative replies. You are a fucking idiot. Babies are not born vaccinated, not all people can get vaccinated, not all people acquire immunity from vaccination, and some vaccines are not permanent (tetanus and smallpox are both said to lose effectiveness over time, apparently also whooping cough).

      Whooping cough kills. Diphtheria kills. Polio paralyzes and kills. Mumps causes sterility in men and older boys. Smallpox kills (and the smallpox vaccine has/had more side effects than most). Tetanus kills. German measles causes birth defects. Measles damages and kills.

      The only vaccine that I know of where there was much debate at all about its necessity was the chickenpox vaccine -- but even that causes shingles if it recurs, and I have seen a case of shingles in my own child (one of the last kids to not get vaccinated because he got chickenpox from his brother as an infant -- a few more months, and he'd have had the vaccine), and it hurt like hell.

    7. Re:Who Benefits? by Crisses · · Score: 2

      Thanks for the insult. I know children aren't born vaccinated. Duh. Children are vaccinated the DAY they are born in the hospitals. Within hours of being born. For a disease they're not likely to get until at least teen years.

      I'm not saying there are no valid diseases to vaccinate against -- and people can do whatever they want. I'm saying that buying the government's line [on herd immunity/the safety &/or necessity of vaccinations...] without questioning it is for fucking idiots.

      Have you given birth? I have, twice. When you have a child, the assumption is you will vaccinate. If you don't stop them, they vaccinate your child within moments of birth. It starts with eye drops to prevent blindness from gonorrhea. If you know you don't have a VD, why are they putting drops in your kids' eyes? This is later followed up with Hep B vaccine -- same day as birth, before you're summarily dismissed from the hospital. Some of the diseases they're vaccinating your kids from are not the types that are spread by air or contact or drinking water... but they'll vaccinate your kid without full consent or full information.

      Legally, vaccination is an invasive procedure (akin to surgery), requiring full disclosure by the doctor of potential side effects, the information packet included with the vaccine serum, etc. What happens IN the doctor's office? They reach in the cabinet "It's time for your vaccinations..." and they pull out a bottle & a syringe & get to work...

      It's become so habitual that they're not even following their own industry regulations.

      You probably don't have kids -- like most of the "fucking idiots" posting on this topic. If you do, you almost definitely didn't go through the labor to have them, didn't see what they did to the babies when they whisked them out of the delivery room, and probably didn't go with them to the doctor's office when they got their vaccines.... And you're probably ignorant of what the vaccine schedule actually is, and how many vaccines they routinely give to children nowadays...usually in violation of law. It's an assembly-line procedure now. But it's not supposed to be. But that doesn't worry anyone here. :)

      --
      ---- I'm out of your mind!
    8. Re:Who Benefits? by UnknowingFool · · Score: 1

      Um, medicine is not sure what causes autism but signs point to genetic abnormalities. And the one study that linked autism to vaccines has been revoked due to 1) flawed or faked data and 2) conflict of interest.

      --
      Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
    9. Re:Who Benefits? by dr2chase · · Score: 1

      It wasn't an insult, it was an accurate description. If you paid attention to the vaccine schedules, you would know that kids are NOT vaccinated against whooping cough from the get-go. A couple of weeks ago I filled out the medical forms for our second-oldest going to college, and whooping cough is not the only one like that -- AND I know roughly what the vaccine schedules are. Only Hep B (then) is given at birth. Everything else is later, at two months, or afterwards. And yeah, that first DTAP is nasty; your kid gets a fever and turns into a limp rag for a little while.

      In addition, if you were capable of reading for comprehension, you would have noticed that I do in fact have at least two kids, because I wrote "and I have seen a case of shingles in my own child (one of the last kids to not get vaccinated because he got chickenpox from his brother as an infant -- a few more months, and he'd have had the vaccine)".

      Ever met anyone paralyzed by polio? I have, at least twice. Ever known anyone whose mom had German measles during the pregnancy? I have. Ever seen a case of shingles? I have.

      You anti-vaxxers are selfish and/or ignorant jerks. I don't see any reason to be diplomatic or charitable. These shots are hardly money-makers -- a kid gets about 2 dozen shots in his entire lifetime (remember, I just filled out the medical form for #2 -- he has 22 vaccinations listed, plus an entry noting that he actually had chickenpox. He has had one more vaccination since then, and another due early next year). Compared to the chronic-condition drugs that old farts like me get prescribed, this is chickenfeed. $100 per shot? That's a year or two of most "new" drugs.

      Before you claim that other people don't know what they are talking about, you REALLY ought to do your homework. Giving birth didn't turned Jenny McCarthy into a genius, and the same goes for you. No matter how intensely you believe a nutty thing, that still doesn't make it true.

    10. Re:Who Benefits? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sorry, Needs Citation , nice try though.

    11. Re:Who Benefits? by Ann+O'Nymous-Coward · · Score: 1

      Here's your citation.
      https://imfar.confex.com/imfar/2010/webprogram/Paper7336.html
      YOU LOSE.
      Not even a try, let alone a nice one.

    12. Re:Who Benefits? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Umm... yeah, they're vaccinating newborns against HepB because of risky behavior on the part of the child. Or, maybe, just maybe, because these behaviors are fairly common in society and the virus is most easily transmissible from mother to child?

      Of course not! You've just found the one trivially obvious but entirely comprehensive piece of evidence for the vaccine scam!

  22. What risk? by Meneth · · Score: 1, Interesting

    How can the vaccinated students be at risk? They're supposed to be immune.

    1. Re:What risk? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      RTFA: 'People who cannot get immunizations because of allergies or compromised immune systems rely on "herd immunity,"'

    2. Re:What risk? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Very well done! Vaccinations put those that refuse it at risk as well....I just cannot imagine kids going to school with zombies...

    3. Re:What risk? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Vaccines don't have a 100% success rate, so even people who receive a vaccine can still be at risk if herd immunity breaks down.

    4. Re:What risk? by Lectoid · · Score: 2

      I'd guess mutations.

      --
      Is it just me, or do you hate it when people say "Is it just me..."?
    5. Re:What risk? by dumael · · Score: 1

      Vaccines do not guarantee immunity, but are very, very likely to.

    6. Re:What risk? by MozeeToby · · Score: 1

      Vaccines are not 100% effective. Modern vaccination efforts rely on the effects of herd immunity to prevent outbreaks.

    7. Re:What risk? by Jason+Levine · · Score: 4, Informative

      Vaccines aren't 100% effective. There are some for whom the vaccine didn't work. If we were talking about a fully vaccinated population, it wouldn't matter. Herd immunity would protect these people (along with those too young to get vaccinated and those who have valid medical reasons like allergies). However, if too many people stop vaccinating, herd immunity breaks down and these people are subjected to a disease that their immune system isn't ready for.

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
    8. Re:What risk? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "My vaccination is unreliable, so get one too".

      (Captcha: "Antibody". I wish there where one against morons like you)

    9. Re:What risk? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      From the article:

      Dr. Buttenheim has explained people who are not vaccinated due to allergies or compromised immune systems rely on herd immunity, which is the protection they get from a disease when the rest of the population is immunized or immune.

      Not everyone else is being put at risk, just those who can't get the vaccine for another reason.

    10. Re:What risk? by fredrated · · Score: 1

      Can I have your autograph?
      If you are a women I think I love you.
      Someone that can actually think! I suppose you know your kind are going extinct?

    11. Re:What risk? by Guppy · · Score: 1

      How can the vaccinated students be at risk? They're supposed to be immune.

      There's always a certain proportion of vaccine recipients who do not seroconvert following immunization (this proportion varies depending on the vaccine in question); for most vaccines you can test for an antibody response afterwards, but in the general population this is not done for reasons of time and cost effectiveness. In the past, these individuals would have received some protection from herd immunity (which is effective until the proportion of unprotected individuals reaches a certain threshold -- think of it like a smoldering fire that snuffs itself out, because it could not spread to new fuel faster than the currently burning areas were consumed).

      For certain special populations where protection is critical, a verification of seroconversion might be routinely performed. For instance, in my medical school class, we had a student who did not respond to the Hepatitis B vaccination.

    12. Re:What risk? by tgibbs · · Score: 1

      Seat belts don't perfectly protect against injury in an accident, so don't make your kids wear one.
      Smoke alarms don't always enable the family to escape in a fire, so don't get one.
      Wearing a helmet when biking does not perfectly protect children from injury in a fall, so don't make your kid wear one.
      Crossing at the crosswalk does not perfectly protect against being hit by a car, so tell your kids it's OK to jaywalk
      Not getting in the car with strangers does not perfectly protect children from abduction, so tell your kids its OK

      Now, who's the moron?

  23. Re:SCAREMONGERING. by x1n933k · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    I'm looking at a quick list of vaccinations for from my local clinic that range between 20$ and 120$. 5 millions kids in California seems like a nice chunk of change.

  24. Re:SCAREMONGERING. by alen · · Score: 4, Informative

    revenue not profits

    you have to spend money on R&D, FDA approval, complying with all kinds of regulations selling to the government, bulk discounts. very little profit on vaccines

  25. A different kind of mandatory ... by giorgist · · Score: 1

    Maybe some schools should have it as a matter of safety. If your child is not immunized, you cannot come to this school because you put other children at risk. That way they will end up taking their kids to "open minded" schools. At these schools you will very soon discover some pretty grim statistics. Within a few years all these alternative schools will cease to exist. It is terrible that we treat kids as ginneapigs.

    1. Re:A different kind of mandatory ... by Whorhay · · Score: 1

      The problem is that if the schools are publicly funded they can't discriminate like that because you can turn down the vaccinations for religous reasons and such. A better alternative might be to give each school a maximum allowance for unvaccinated children. Maybe make it a ratio of vaccinated to unvaccinated kids, giving preference to children who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons. Allow the numbers to be tweaked dependant on mitigating factors like smaller classes and such. The idea being that you give the school a way to limit and manage risk without outright banning kids from school.

    2. Re:A different kind of mandatory ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Guys,

      For all your scientific inclinations, many of you fall in logical traps - unconsciously or when it is convenient'.

      CASE 1: Since when do we establish a human can have immunity solely from vaccines???????? There's no natural immunity to any disease? Oh, please, there are books about it and there has been research dedicated to it. Problem is, it is against the business of the 'doctors' to even talk about it.

      SEE: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19868740 and http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19868669

      CASE 2. An unvaccinated child comes to a FULLY-vaccinated school. Since the population is vaccinated, what risk is the child to the population? They're supposedly 'safe' , after all :- ) Just think plainly.

      CASE 3: An unvaccinated child comes to a NOT-SO-fully vaccinated school. Using your logic, the school poses a risk to the new child rather than vice versa. Also, because the unvaccinated children hitherto at the school have been in this environment for a while, they are more likely to be repellant to the

      CASE 4. An unvaccinated child comes to a FULLY-vaccinated school. The vaccinated children are safe from diseases they encounter outside the school, but they DO CARRY THEM, even though they do not contract the diseases. The person at risk is, again, the unvaccinated child, primarily. If this child gets ill because of the vaccinated children have transmitted the disease, what do you say? This may refer not only to the new child, but to any person the vaccinated children meet.

      CASE 5. Vaccination does not equal immunization. Period. What good is vaccination if its effects last for 3-5 years maximum.

      Also, how are vaccines not a business? Vaccines are one of the most common factors behind allergies (other long-term illnesses, too, like some forms of diabetes). Treating them is a business, definitely. And, please, the arguments that drug companies hardly make money on vaccines is ridiculous at best. If they did not, ask them if they'd be happy to stop producing them at all :- )

      More pubmed articles contradicting vaccination's being the panacea are available upon request.

  26. So how does rapine of corporations by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    So how does rapine of corporations change medical fact?

    Vaccines work and not vaccinating your children cause infections in others.

    GSK empploy people. Does that prove employing people is SCAREMONGERING???

  27. Why do the Vaccine's need to be filled with CRAP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Like Mercury...I don't know about you guys but the thought of injecting mercury into my bloodstream..not something I'm fond of..can't we make vaccine's without that..

  28. Everyone else can take the risk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    These people drive me crazy. I've talked to some of them. They don't believe in risking their child with a vaccination. But when I ask about vaccinations as a whole, they also don't want an end to them. Basically what they want is everyone else to vaccinate and risk their children; so they don't have to vaccinate their own.

    1. Re:Everyone else can take the risk by feldmark · · Score: 1

      It will take time, but if the trend continues, the children of the the vaccine refusers will be in the majority when the disease reappears. They will eventually be left with a choice of risking the disease or "risking" the vaccine. As long as we keep our own children vaccinated, the vaccine refusers are the ones who will suffer in the end. A sad but highly likely result.

      If my kids were allergic to vaccinations I would be forming groups with parents of other similar kids to investigate lawsuits against the vaccine refusers. A few of these, reported widely, might help turn the tide.

      I am also heartened by the act that some doctors are refusing to treat patients who do not vaccinate their children. There was a good WSJ article in Feb 2012: "More Doctors 'Fire' Vaccine Refusers" http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203315804577209230884246636.html

      Pediatricians fed up with parents who refuse to vaccinate their children out of concern it can cause autism or other problems increasingly are "firing" such families from their practices, raising questions about a doctor's responsibility to these patients. Medical associations don't recommend such patient bans, but the practice appears to be growing, according to vaccine researchers.....

  29. Re:SCAREMONGERING. by Sarten-X · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Having worked in the medical research field, I can tell you with certainty that vaccines are that profitable...

    • They're profitable for the data center operators, who spend six months running database queries to assemble a clinical trial.
    • They're profitable for the insurers, who no longer have to pay for treatment of some very difficult diseases.
    • They're profitable for the utility companies who charge for powering the lab equipment for several years while a vaccine is produced.
    • They're profitable for the data analysts, who are paid to go over the results from the lab tests only to say "chemical A did not significantly do anything different than chemical B".
    • They're profitable for the researchers who get paid for spending a decade understanding the biological mechanisms of any particular disease, and finding ways to disrupt them (and nothing else).

    Finally when it's all said and done, the actual pharmaceutical company can bring in billions of dollars in revenue selling the vaccine, which is just about enough to fund the next few projects.

    --
    You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
  30. Choice works both ways by Geeky · · Score: 4, Interesting

    How about letting choice run both ways? If you choose to refuse vaccination for your child, the school can choose to refuse to allow them in? Exemptions only allowed in the case of provable medical conditions such as allergies.

    That way, if your community decides that it wants vaccinations, you can either go along with it, find an alternative school somewhere else or choose to home school.

    --
    Sigs are so 1990s. No way would I be seen dead with one.
    1. Re:Choice works both ways by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The parents who are willing to sign a "personal belief" exemption will have no qualms about paying off a doctor for a "proven medical condition" exemption. And there will not be a shortage of doctors willing to sell exemptions either, see abuse of medicinal use of marijuana for proof.

    2. Re:Choice works both ways by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Simple and direct answer. Choose not to vaccinate your children, and you forfeit your right to a publicly funded education. Society has an imperative to compell behaviours that protect society as a whole.

      This whole discussion has been among the best I have read in years on /.

      The entire anti-vaxx issue is a metaphor for an underlying illness in our society. Many people no longer look further than their own knowlege base (or ignorance) for expertise, rather they themselves are the arbiter of all right and wrong. Part of it is the death of reason, but part is the ubiquitous access to nearly limitless information that the internet provides. This affliction is confined to those younger than a certain age, maybe 50 or so. As a doc, I deal with this every day. Patient: "Doc, I have tsutsugamushi fever! I read it on the internet." Me: "No, I'm pretty certain that is the flu, there is no scrub typhus in South Dakota." Patient: "You have to give me antibiotics, I have ...." anon.

      When everyone is an expert, noone is an expert.

      And when it comes to vaccines, people are going to die of diseases that should have been eradicated but weren't because freakin' Jenny Mac is some kind of freakin' expert.

      Too ironic: captcha= "expert"

    3. Re:Choice works both ways by Neutral_Observer · · Score: 0

      And keep your homo kid out of school too.

    4. Re:Choice works both ways by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm a big fan of choice, but that's unfair. The kids of parents who choose not to have their children vaccinated for common and serious infectious diseases should still be able to go to public school. But they should be required to wear an obvious tag to indicate "I'm potentially infectious for measles/whatever". Then parents of other kids can advise their kids to stay the hell away from the potentially infectious ones unless they are vaccinated.

      Informed choice. That's how I roll.

    5. Re:Choice works both ways by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How about letting choice run both ways? If you choose to refuse vaccination for your child, the school can choose to refuse to allow them in? Exemptions only allowed in the case of provable medical conditions such as allergies.

      That way, if your community decides that it wants vaccinations, you can either go along with it, find an alternative school somewhere else or choose to home school.

      You need to wear a GPS device that reports to a website so I can avoid any areas where un vaxxed people currently are for up to 24 hours.

    6. Re:Choice works both ways by RealTegan · · Score: 1

      Amen. This is how I feel. People who choose to not vaccinate should not be allowed to put their children into public schools. Period. No religious exemptions. No "I'm too stupid to understand what vaccines are" exemptions. The only exemptions should be medical exemptions certified by a doctor.

      In fact, I also feel that those potential plague carrier children should not be allowed in any public place that they can come in contact with other children whose parents aren't morons. No movie theaters, no parks, no swimming pools. Only private events for those who think they're too good for herd immunity.

      There are enough of these anti-vaxxers to have their own schools, that's what they should do. Then when the flu/measles/polio sweeps through the group, it'll only kill the children whose parents are idiots.

    7. Re:Choice works both ways by MrMe · · Score: 1

      Umm Yea. This already happens. Schools often ask for immunization records before allowing students in.

    8. Re:Choice works both ways by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That would be fine as long as you can then refuse to pay taxes that support that school. :0

    9. Re:Choice works both ways by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are a piece of trash.

      You really are, you are equating gay rights which only affects the person who is gay, to antivaxers rights? You do realize that not getting vaccinated puts others at risk don't you? I'm guessing you do, but you refuse to admit it.

      I hope that one day you will see with your own eyes how horrible some of these diseases are.

  31. Re:SCAREMONGERING. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    These all seem like wonderful things to be profitable for.

  32. From the bleedin'-obvious department by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

    Study Finds Unvaccinated Students Putting Other Students At Risk

    Uh, yeah, that's because that is exactly what vaccines are meant to avert. Did we need a study for that?

    (no, I didn't read TFA; yes, I am being a bit facetious)

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  33. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  34. Re:SCAREMONGERING. by Charliemopps · · Score: 4, Informative

    Vaccines are not like other drugs. They expire... rather quickly. A large percentage of them are thrown out at the end of the year. Then the research for next years vaccine starts again. It's a never ending cycle and it costs them a fortune. Unlike a drug like Viagra where then can spent a bunch of money researching it, then make pills that have a nearly indefinite shelf life and they do not have to start over every year unless some terrible side effect is found.

  35. Great to see Romney's getting such good advice by wisebabo · · Score: 4, Informative

    ... from his buddy Donald Trump who recently claimed:

    “Massive combined inoculations to small children is the cause for big increase in autism spread shots over long period and watch positive result.”

    That's almost as bad as Akins "legitimate rape" comment (note: Romney's running mate co-authored the anti-abortion bill by the Republicans.). If you think this thinking is restricted to "just" a potential senator and vice-president please note the Republican platform REMOVED the clause allowing for abortions in case of Rape or Incest.

    Judge them not (just) by what they say but what they do.

    1. Re:Great to see Romney's getting such good advice by dywolf · · Score: 1

      Ok, we can play this game.

      Associating Trump with the republican leadership is like assocaited mickey mouse with the Democratic leadership. If you want to cherry pick buffoons saying stupid crap we could go all day using both sides of the fence. He is no more is representive of the GOP as a whole than Marion Barry, Alan Grayson or Sean Penn are of teh Democratic party as shown by these quotes:

      ''Outside of the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the country.''
      —Marion Barry, former mayor of Washington, D.C.

      ''Why would you want to put people in charge of government who just don't want to do it? I mean, you wouldn't expect to see al Qaeda members as pilots.''
      —Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL), on the prospects of Republicans taking back control of Congress, May 21, 2010

      ''I think that people like the Howard Sterns, the Bill O'Reillys, and to a lesser degree the bin Ladens of the world are making a horrible contribution.''
      —Sean Penn

      --
      The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
    2. Re:Great to see Romney's getting such good advice by Minwee · · Score: 1

      “Massive combined inoculations to small children is the cause for big increase in autism spread shots over long period and watch positive result.”

      That's almost as bad as Akins "legitimate rape" comment

      It's even worse. At least Akins was able to speak in complete sentences. It is possible that Trump's brain was been hacked by a spam bot purple monkey dishwasher?

      Or is he really concerned about the rise in "Autism spread shots"?

    3. Re:Great to see Romney's getting such good advice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      To be fair to Trump, he was on Twitter when he stated that, not speaking.

      I can certainly understand not approving of people who choose to participate on the site, and the consequences it has for skewing language, but I will give some of the blame to the site itself.

      And in this case, the quote isn't exact. He had two tweets.

      Massive combined inoculations to small children is the cause for big increase in autism....

      followed by: ...Spread shots out over long period and watch positive result.

      Not quite how it was originally quoted. In this case, it's wisebabo who distorted things even further, though I won't say it was intentionally deceptive.

       

    4. Re:Great to see Romney's getting such good advice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      " Akins "legitimate rape" comment (note: Romney's running mate co-authored the anti-abortion bill by the Republicans.)"

      I fail to see the tenuous connection you are trying to make? What does one persons moronic lack of information have to do with anothers thinking killing unborn children is wrong?

    5. Re:Great to see Romney's getting such good advice by NeutronCowboy · · Score: 1

      Is anyone on your list advising Obama on policy, or helping the DNC shape the national platform? No? That's what I thought. The reason the republicans are indeed the scary fearmongers is because the republican leadership actually believes the shit Akin, and, to a lesser extent, Trump trots out.

      --
      Those who can, do. Those who can't, sue.
  36. Re:SCAREMONGERING. by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 4, Informative

    And that all goes into the drug company's pocket, because, of course, vaccines cost nothing to make.

    Vaccines make so little profit that there's difficulties in keeping the manufacturing of them going--and research into new ones has almost stopped.

  37. Am I taking crazy pills? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Maybe Im missing something here but if the other kids are vaccinated how does that put other kids at risk? Wouldnt the only other kids being put at risk only be the ones who refused vaccinations? Otherwise the vaccines would not be effective right? If thats the case I do not want my children injected with an ineffective chemical cocktail that doesnt even protect my child...

  38. Can we take a poll? by Type44Q · · Score: 1

    Everyone who's not a paid shill for the government or the pharmaceutical industry, raise your hand! :p

    1. Re:Can we take a poll? by mitchy · · Score: 1

      You forgot armchair pharmaceutical specialist. :-)

      Seriously though, the only thing about vaccinations that stinks to me is that it is entirely run as part of a for profit system. I'm not saying all vaccines are some sort of capitalist sham, but I also cannot believe that every single one that is being sold to us is genuinely needed. If you truly think these nice little companies just want to save the world with their produc^D^D^D^D^Dvaccinations, then I got some beachfront property in Kansas to sell you.

      My distrust of physicians and medical companies - which is a generalisation as I don't distrust ALL of them - stems from western medicine's decline into doctors becoming little more than drug pushers. Got a pain? Take a pill. Have a bump? Take a pill. Want to keep eating cheeseburgers without bothering to watch your weight or exercise? Take a pill!

      There's nothing wrong with the science behind vaccines, my beef is with the business.

      --
      "The mind is a terrible thing to, um, uh, oh bollocks." -- Me
  39. Re:Agreed by h4rr4r · · Score: 2

    You mean people who think they are special when they are not?

    You will grow up, your ideas will change and you may even come to realize that having a functioning society is good for even you.

    Being a human means being part of society, and to do that you have to expect some give and take. Vaccines or quarantine are one of those.

  40. Mandatory Vaccines? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Interesting how "my body, my choice" has such limited applicability.

    1. Re:Mandatory Vaccines? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nice abuse of logic. Think of it instead according to the old line: "Your right to swing your fist stops at my nose." If you want to skip the vaccines and live in a bubble, go ahead. If you live in society, your poorly thought out decisions on healthcare could have negative impact on those around you: how has already been described multiple times above this discussion.

    2. Re:Mandatory Vaccines? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Mod this mother fucker up!

      Why? Did they implement "+1 Stupid" as a mod?

    3. Re:Mandatory Vaccines? by Neutral_Observer · · Score: 1

      Then stop smoking in public air too. It is affecting everyone!

    4. Re:Mandatory Vaccines? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, and the "my body, my choice" abortion also affects others. Namely the human being whose life is forcebly ended.

    5. Re:Mandatory Vaccines? by NeoMorphy · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Interesting how "my body, my choice" has such limited applicability.

      Typhoid Mary would agree you if she were alive today.

    6. Re:Mandatory Vaccines? by PPH · · Score: 1

      Namely the human being whose life is forcebly ended.

      Enumerate the ways that this society allows the forcible ending of lives and we'll never get around to discussing abortion. Like chasing some kid down with a gun under the guise of a 'stand your ground' law, for example.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    7. Re:Mandatory Vaccines? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But abortion is the one that seeks to justify itself with "my body, my choice." We have the right to extinguish human life because of our body choices, but (it is proposed that) we can't choose to refuse forced medication because it MIGHT give somebody else a treatable disease. And for the record, I'm 100% in favor of vaccines.

    8. Re:Mandatory Vaccines? by PPH · · Score: 1

      But abortion is the one that seeks to justify itself with "my body, my choice."

      But we don't seem to have a problem with "my property, my choice" or "my broken nose, my choice" when it comes to the use of deadly force.

      Tell some redneck with a shotgun that those hobos are going to be pitching tents in his front yard for nine months and there isn't anything he can do about it. Then watch him scream about defending his property rights.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    9. Re:Mandatory Vaccines? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ok, let me try my best to explain: 1. Abortion -involves my body- I can choose it, even though it will definitely kill someone else. 2. Vaccine - involves my body - I have no choice to refuse because it MIGHT make someone else sick. See the inconsistancy? And yes, I know there's lots of other inconsistancies out there. But this is the one that's irking me right now.

    10. Re:Mandatory Vaccines? by DeadCatX2 · · Score: 1

      Society's bodies, society's choice.

      --
      :(){ :|:& };:
    11. Re:Mandatory Vaccines? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Namely the human being whose life is forcebly ended.

      If the thing in question cannot survive without the host (in this case, the mother), then it is a parasite, not a human being.

      If it can survive on its own outside of the womb, even if this requires incubators and other assorted machinery, then we might just have a human being. At that point we can start arguing.

      But before that point? There is no arguing. It's a parasite, feeding off of another human being, unable to survive on its own even with modern medicine.

    12. Re:Mandatory Vaccines? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Interesting. So if medical science progresses to the point where very young gestational age children can survive, you'll become pretty much a full pro-lifer? If so, then the ontological reality of what the unborn child actually IS is based on how far we've advanced in medicine. I don't know where you got your epistemology from, but I'd ask for a refund.

    13. Re:Mandatory Vaccines? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I would love to stop people smoking in public. If I wanted to smell like a vagrant, I would- I don't need "eau de trailer park" drifting over from some redneck. People should smoke in their home as much as they want, but keep it there- inside with windows closed. Not stinking up everyone else on the street, not littering everywhere they go with cigarette butts; my 4 year old knows better than to litter, why do smokers think it's ok?

    14. Re:Mandatory Vaccines? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can refuse the vaccine. Just don't expect to attend public school. You also shouldn't be allowed in places where people with compromised immune systems might be. This includes most public areas. Coverage for treatment for the disease you are refusing protection from should also be excluded from your insurance policy, or added as a rider. If you feel catching this disease is highly improbable, you should have no problem with this.

      It's your choice, live with the consequences of your decisions.

    15. Re:Mandatory Vaccines? by MiniMike · · Score: 1

      Abortion is a poor choice for an analogy. As vaccines offer protection, a better analogy might be the "choice" of wearing clothes. You wear clothes to protect your body from the elements (vaccines:diseases). Wearing clothes also protects the rest of society from seeing your ugly butt parading around (vaccines:herd immunity). Now, there are places you can go without clothes, such as your home (vaccines:home) or a nudist colony (vaccines:home schooling). There are also places you should not expect to go without clothing, such as schools (vaccines:schools). This is not a perfect analogy, because if someone does accidentally see you unclothed, they may be able to eventually erase the horrible image from their mind. But if someone catches a disease from you because you thought you knew better than hordes of medical professionals, they might be permanently injured or killed. So please consider putting clothes on (vaccines:get an inoculation) before you make someones eyeballs explode (vaccines:give someone a disease that disfigures or kills them).

    16. Re:Mandatory Vaccines? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We're more enlightened than that. Make your choice for your body. It's a risky choice that you're free to make. But don't expect to send your kid to school without vaccinations merely because you don't feel vaccines are necessary, don't expect to work in healthcare if your immunizations aren't up to date, and so on. Make your choice, but live with the consequences when the rest of society is informed about your choice.

      This is more like: IF you want your child to go to public school, then we expect you to have your child vaccinated unless there is a genuine, well-documented medical reason that they can't. If you don't want them vaccinated, then you'll have to make other arrangements for their schooling. Your call.

      Society is usually enlightened enough to let people make stupid choices, but freedom of choice does not make you immune from the consequences of those choices, and it doesn't prevent society from setting the terms if you want to participate in the services it provides.

      To use the inevitable car analogy, you are free to drive an unsafe vehicle if you want, but don't expect to (legally) take it on public roads. You'll have to find some private roads where nobody will care about your unsafe activities.

    17. Re:Mandatory Vaccines? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      About 2000 times as many people die each day from abortions than Typhoid Mary infected in her whole life.

    18. Re:Mandatory Vaccines? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Right, right. Anyone could say that to justify anything. "It was your choice to speak out against the government; live with the consequences of your decisions."

  41. Well, yes. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    "And for those that refuse or still get sick, as a final solution they should be placed in camps"

    Well, yes.

    We currently call them hospitals and quarantines.

    We have a similar thing for people who are a danger to those around them from physical violence: Prison and Psychiatric Hospitals. Or are you saying that it's really bad if people who have murdered (or think that a little green man is living inside every other human and must be brought into the light) or raped or cannot help but rape someone should be locked away for the safety of others?

  42. Re:Why do the Vaccine's need to be filled with CRA by ceoyoyo · · Score: 5, Informative

    Oh noes, the chemicals!

    First, most vaccines don't contain mercury anymore. Second, vaccines only ever contained very small amounts, as a preservative. If you eat fish even a few times per year, that plus your exposure through drinking water probably adds up to more mercury than you'd get from a vaccine, even if you did get one of the vaccines that still has mercury in it.

    The preservative is necessary to keep the vaccine from going bad long enough that it can be reasonably distributed.

  43. Obtaining data from schools? by Zen · · Score: 1

    I haven't decided if I think all of this stuff is sensationalism or not, but it doesn't really matter. If I ask my school for a count of the number of kids in the school that are unvaccinated, and a count for the number of kids in my kids actual classroom that are unvaccinated, first are they legally allowed to share that (anonymous) data with me, and second are they legally required to share that data with me? It seems that if there is a possibility that some moron is risking my own kids health, I should be able to find out about it.

  44. No big surprise by ericloewe · · Score: 1

    In other words, stupid idiots are putting other people at risk because "that's how they control us" or "That's how you become autistic!"

  45. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  46. What the Study Actually Says by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you read the actual study it makes the self-evident point that the more students there are with exemptions the more likely students will be exposed to people with exemptions. It does not measure disease prevalence or incidence. It would be nice if the poster or the editors actual read what they are posting about.

  47. Re:Why do the Vaccine's need to be filled with CRA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Don't eat tuna then.

  48. Home school the unvaccinated ones then by turkeyfeathers · · Score: 2

    Simple solution. If you don't want to vaccinate your kid, they don't get to mingle with healthy ones. Added bonus: the healthy ones probably believe in evolution and other ungodly things.

    1. Re:Home school the unvaccinated ones then by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A lot of the antivaxers would self-identify as liberal. While the brain-dead social conservatives produce about 90% of the ignorance in this country, they by no means have a monopoly.

  49. The Dark Ages, Part Deux by MetalliQaZ · · Score: 1

    Why must humanity be so derpy-derp?

    --
    "Here Lies Philip J. Fry, named for his uncle, to carry on his spirit"
    1. Re:The Dark Ages, Part Deux by dkleinsc · · Score: 1

      "Think about how stupid the average person is, and then realize that half of 'em are stupider than that!" - George Carlin

      --
      I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
  50. Re:SCAREMONGERING. by mug+funky · · Score: 1

    you really think a nation-wide health program would pay retail price for vaccines?

    travel shots are one thing, herd immunity is another.

    i know it sounds alien to say such a thing, but just because they're a pharmaceutical company, it doesn't mean that EVERY action of theirs is evil.

    now, i personally question the ethics of manufacturers of homoeopathic remedies - selling bottles of water (AUD$ 0.4 per bottle btw) for upward of 20 bucks and it does nothing whatsoever.

    just because homoeopathic companies aren't necessarily multinationals, doesn't mean they can't be callous and potentially evil as well.

    this world is made up of shades of grey. but there's also colours if you look closely enough.

  51. Re:SCAREMONGERING. by MightyYar · · Score: 1

    So it's your contention that vaccines are a conspiracy among the data centers, insurers, utility companies, data analysts, and researchers?

    I'll grant you that the global market has made newer vaccines more profitable than they were in the past, but vaccines still have very low profit margins. In fact, I doubt there is any profit at all on the older vaccines that we are arguing over here.

    --
    W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
  52. No Exemptions Allowed by musicon · · Score: 1

    In order to drive a car, you need a government-mandated license indicating a minimum competency level so you aren't a danger to others.

    In order to fly a plane, you need a government-mandated license indicating a minimum competency level so you aren't a danger to others.

    The right to practice law, become a doctor, and even have a job (by requiring social security number) is mandated by law.

    Why are people allowed to create a public safety problem by opting out of "required" vaccines?

    1. Re:No Exemptions Allowed by zoloto · · Score: 1

      A SSN is not a requirement for having a job. I would know as I legally terminated mine in the 70s and haven't had much of a problem since.

  53. Re:SCAREMONGERING. by UnknowingFool · · Score: 2

    First of all, do you know how much it cost to make that vaccine and how much total revenue it brings in compared to other medication. Here's why pharmaceuticals don't like vaccines: Some vaccines are only needed once. Sometimes you need boosters but at most it is a few shots over the lifetime of a person. A pharmaceutical is far more interested in selling something you need on a regular basis. For example generic Lipitor may cost $80 per month after insurance. I would bet you a year supply of Lipitor costs more than all the vaccines a person needs over their lifetime.

    --
    Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
  54. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  55. Re:SCAREMONGERING. by samkass · · Score: 2

    Well, then you want to catch every single child you can, to maximize the profit, right? After all, you invested in R&D, FDA approval & compliance with regulations. But once you have it on the assembly line, each vial of vaccine can't really cost much on top of those up-front costs.... so we'd better start immunizing all those stragglers too!

    Lawsuits, education (ie. defending against boneheaded accusations), distribution, storage... We're struggling in this country to keep vaccine makers interested in continuing to make a flu vaccine, and that's probably one of the best health-for-the-dollar investments one can possibly make. Death from flu is similar to death from drunk driving (~11K drunk driving deaths; 3K-40K flu deaths a year depending on the severity of the season), and yet not getting a flu vaccine is not ostracized like driving drunk is. And yes, getting more children decreases the risk you'll lose money, but it's also the best way for vaccines to work. An individual getting a vaccine is only 80-95% effective, but a community getting a vaccine breaks the entire disease cycle and the effect is multiplied dramatically.

    --
    E pluribus unum
  56. Unvaccinated children and autism by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Maybe unvaccinated children spread autism in vaccinated children.

  57. The irony by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    "They're stupid"

    "And that's why they need educated."

    Oh, the irony.

    1. Re:The irony by jythie · · Score: 0

      No irony there. I do not know where the poster is from, but that is a perfectly valid construct in several regional dialects of American English.

      People tend to forget that the internet contains more then their regional bubble, and that English is a whole family of languages with much less standardization then people like to think.

    2. Re:The irony by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sure, it's a perfectly valid English construct in the same way that "I ain't got no education" is perfectly valid.

      (FYI, many more Americans use the erroneous construct "ain't got no [noun]" than "needs [verb]ed".)

      Since you asked, I am originally from New Jersey and now live in Florida, but this particular butchering of English is something I haven't witnessed until recently.

    3. Re:The irony by dougisfunny · · Score: 2

      Ah, you must not be familiar with the subfamily know as the American-Engrish dialect.

      --
      This is not the funny you're looking for.
    4. Re:The irony by jodido · · Score: 1

      Widespread usage throughout the Ohio Valley, especially Pittsburgh. Used by college professors, and I once got a note from my bank saying "check needs endorsed." "Correct"? That's an argument we don't have the space to resolve here, but people who speak this way are not "stupid" or even "uneducated." Any more than saying "y'all" means you're stupid or uneducated. Unless, of course, you have the typical northerner's prejudice against southerners.

    5. Re:The irony by dcw3 · · Score: 1

      ... that is a perfectly valid construct in several regional dialects of American English.

      Okay, I'll call your bluff. Where?

      --
      Just another day in Paradise
    6. Re:The irony by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It sounds like something a toddler would say. "Mommy, I need changed."

      "Honey, you need to be changed." Or maybe not.

      How about this one: "I want one with mother nature." Is that valid? Does it even make sense? Should "I want to be the man" be shortened to "I want the man"?

      Let's call a spade a spade here: whatever it is, it's not valid English. It's goo-goo toddler speak.

    7. Re:The irony by eugene+ts+wong · · Score: 1

      Thanks for sharing the links. I only went to the second and it was enough for me. I'm baffled that some of them have never heard that it is considered wrong.

      Then I realized that John 4:4 of the KJV uses that style: "And he must needs go through Samaria.".

    8. Re:The irony by eugene+ts+wong · · Score: 1

      The style dates back to the days of the KJV.

    9. Re:The irony by mcgrew · · Score: 1

      Mod parent up? Mod parent DOWN. WTF is jstor.org? The Penn State U would have been a good one had it actually addressed the subject, which it did not. But how about the definitive citation?

      Definition of STUPID
      1a : slow of mind : obtuse b : given to unintelligent decisions or acts : acting in an unintelligent or careless manner c : lacking intelligence or reason : brutish
      2: dulled in feeling or sensation : torpid
      3: marked by or resulting from unreasoned thinking or acting : senseless
      4a : lacking interest or point b : vexatious, exasperating
      â" stuÂpidÂly adverb
      â" stuÂpidÂness noun

      .

      Definition of IGNORANT
      1a : destitute of knowledge or education ; also : lacking knowledge or comprehension of the thing specified b : resulting from or showing lack of knowledge or intelligence
      2: unaware, uninformed
      â" igÂnoÂrantÂly adverb
      â" igÂnoÂrantÂness noun

      You can cure ignorance, but there's no cure for stupidity.

    10. Re:The irony by Beorytis · · Score: 1

      I said mod parent, not mod great-great-grandparent.

    11. Re:The irony by jythie · · Score: 1

      Western PA is one example. Places that had large Irish populations since it is a construct that jumped from Gaelic (I think) to English.

    12. Re:The irony by dcw3 · · Score: 1

      Okay, I'll grant that it may be used in regional dialects, but it's certainly not taught in any American school system as valid. But that wasn't what you argued, so point taken.

      --
      Just another day in Paradise
  58. Concerning Vaccinations. . . by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I've worked at the CDC in Atlanta and spoken to some of the people in charge of vaccinations. On guy who was near the top (in my interview) asked very pointed questions about what I thought of vaccinating and made it very clear that he thought people who disapproved of vaccinations and their safety to be "crazy people". At the time, I was surprised there were such people who would disapprove. He said that, "They write letters to congress, they call us up, they even stage protests!."

    It was around this time that 9/11 happened. The CDC was very concerned that terrorists might get hold of some smallpox virus from some hidden Russian stores or something. A first run of smallpox vaccine was put together to give to people who would be working in the field. It was quit, however, as some people had very strong reactions to it. I think one person even died of a heart problem.

    I'm not really for or against vaccines. The human body is designed to take notice and react to what is put in them. The principle is good. Why not use that to our advantage. And in the above case, one can say that the company was in a rush and didn't get the mix right. But does that always excuse them? What about when they have a lot of time and money to get it right? Why do they always ask for (and get) a guarantee that there can be no litigation? If the vaccine is so safe and works so well and is so inexpensive (with our tax support), why should we have to force people to take them?

    With what I have seen, I do have questions. And personally, the only time I have ever had the flu bad, was the ONE TIME in the last ten years I had a flu vaccination. And from a civil rights and property rights perspective, the person who had the final authority and responsibility to determine what goes into a body is not the government but the individual (or parent). Forcing people to have vaccinations is NAZI logic. The logic seems to be to tell parents who don't agree, "Your child can't go into the school system then." But since they pay taxes into it, that is a double edged sword. All you need is one vaccine to go really bad and word to get out on the internet. In Sum, I am not against vaccines, if they are good vaccines. I am against the Lord/Serf attitude that is taken by government officials in control of the vaccination programs. Like it or not, voluntary is the way to go in a country like ours. It keeps the government from breaking rights of the people it does NOT have. I also think there needs to be transparency regarding the results of vaccinations. And if a vaccine causes a problem, there is a right to redress of grievances and peaceful protest.

    1. Re:Concerning Vaccinations. . . by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Calling people Nazi's is reflective of a Nazi tactic, namely attacking your opponents by associating them with a recognized group of evil.

      Well, it's certainly not one limited to Nazi's, not by any means. It's a common tactic everywhere for some reason.

      But you say if a vaccine causes a problem, there is a right to redress of grievance...but where's the right if a lack of vaccination causes a problem?

    2. Re:Concerning Vaccinations. . . by Nadaka · · Score: 1

      The expression of your right to not vaccinate your children infringes on the health of your children and children they contact to survive.

      Failing to vaccinate is as neglectful and abusive as failing to feed your children.

      The state has a responsibility to the children in public school, and is under an obligation to defend them against the threat that unvaccinated children pose.

  59. Re:SCAREMONGERING. by Jason+Levine · · Score: 1

    Even if we put aside the knowledge that homeopathy doesn't do anything, there's no chance of quality control. They themselves admit that the "water memory" is not measurable by any scientific instrument. So if I gave you one vial of homeopathic solution and one vial of distilled water that I bought in the grocery store, how would you tell the difference? How can you tell that the "homeopathic cure" you bought isn't really just tap water (or plain sugar pills in the case of the tablet variety)? How can you be sure that it was prepared as the homeopathy company claims it has been?

    The answer is that you can't. By claiming that their "cure" can't be measured by any instrumentation, they've admitted that they could be selling anything to the gullible folks who are buying it up. Unlike traditional medicine manufacturers where pretty much any lab can measure what's in a given drug sample. (No chance to swap aspirin with sugar pills without being found out.)

    --
    My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
  60. Re:SCAREMONGERING. by rjr162 · · Score: 1

    Funny thing... Just saw an ad in the local news paper (an ad for wegmans grocery stores) that generic Lipitor will now be free (90 pill prescriptions or something along those lines)

  61. Re:SCAREMONGERING. by Jason+Levine · · Score: 4, Informative

    In fact, that's the main reason behind the special "vaccine court" that handles claims of problems with vaccines. Vaccines make so little profit that any legal risk they pose to the company could tip the scales into them being not worth the effort. The vaccine court is a way to weed out the frivolous claims (i.e. "this vaccine turned my son autistic and my evidence is Jenny McCarthy") and take action on the valid cases. If vaccines were dumped into the main court system, lawsuits would spread like wildfire over every imagined complaint. The companies would have to defend themselves against them and vaccines just not be worth the effort, money-wise. They would be losing money (via frivolous lawsuits) and their production would be stopped. Then we'd all suffer through those diseases again.

    --
    My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
  62. YAY! POLIO! (or iLung)... by Thud457 · · Score: 1

    On the plus side, technological advancement had replaced the iron lung with much smaller, sexier CPAP machines.

    --

    the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

    1. Re:YAY! POLIO! (or iLung)... by Bill,+Shooter+of+Bul · · Score: 1

      That's sad. I liked Iron Lungs. They had a weight of purpose and sounded like a great metal band name. Plus, without iron lungs, we wouldn't have sad crying clown in an iron lung day: July 26th( or July 29th for the Orthodox amoungst us)

      http://pattyd.com/blog/2010/07/26/sad-crying-clown-in-an-iron-lung-day/

      --
      Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
  63. Re:SCAREMONGERING. by Sarten-X · · Score: 1

    So it's your contention that vaccines are a conspiracy among the data centers, insurers, utility companies, data analysts, and researchers?

    And the food producers who profit from the researchers buying food for their families, and the machinist who made the data center's racks, and the veterinarian who neutered the data analyst's dog, and even you! Yes, you! You're a part of it in some roundabout way that really makes sense only to economists and conspiracy theorists!

    I'll grant you that the global market has made newer vaccines more profitable than they were in the past, but vaccines still have very low profit margins. In fact, I doubt there is any profit at all on the older vaccines that we are arguing over here.

    A lot of the older vaccines' R&D is paid off now, so the only costs are production and distribution like any other product. Since the retail price for the vaccines has also dropped, my rough estimate pegs them at about the same profit margin as new vaccines: really really low.

    Plainly and without sarcasm (for once), vaccines are a very large market, with very slim profits. The millions of dollars drug companies spend on the catered dinners, advertisements, and private-island vacations for executives is pocket change compared to the billions spent in R&D costs.

    --
    You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
  64. No, it's the pace of progress & lack of select by d3ac0n · · Score: 1

    I have to politely disagree with your conclusion. If I may, I would like to expound upon my opinion.

    Based on the information available and at least on an individual scale, the average human is roughly as smart or smarter than our ancient ancestors were. Of course, no reliable testing data exists further back than a generation or two, so any commentary on human intelligence positive or negative is somewhat subjective.

    However, I think it is fair to say that the issues we are having today with the seeming increase in the number of "stupid" people is not so much an indicator of declining human intelligence, but an artifact of our modern society.

    Simply put, the pace of technological and social changes in society is occurring at a faster rate than the average human can keep up with. While we can keep up with the changes in a specific discipline, (say, automobile tech or computers or the like) it is nearly impossible for our brains to process all the changes that are happening at once. We simply can't keep up.

    Combine that with a massive increase in the available information (thanks to the Internet) and our ability to make rational risk-assessments becomes more and more compromised.

    Now compound that with the fact that western culture, capitalism and medicine have greatly reduced the average western mortality rates, thus allowing our population to increase and the average number of less intelligent and otherwise mentally challenged people to survive and you will have a spike in "stupid behavior".

    Really, there are only two ways to deal with this:

    1. Government regulated breeding. Only works as well as the regulators running it, and based on the current crop of regulators, I'd not want to bet my society (or my kids) on it. Not to mention the hideous tragedies such tyrannical policies would create.

    2. Increased educational focus on logic and reasoning and a "classical" education approach. IE: Logic & Reasoning, Math, Science, History and Arts & Technology as focuses in primary and secondary education.

    I personally think that option 2 would be far more effective in the long run than option 1. Far better to equip all of our children of all intelligence levels to be able to handle modern society via clear reasoning and improved risk assessment skills than to attempt the impossible task of breeding perfect people.

    --
    Official Heretic from the "Church of Global Warming". Proven right thanks to whistle blowers. AGW = Flat Earth Theory
  65. Re:Interesting Enough by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

    Your first link has some odd statements. It's well known that the whooping cough vaccine wears off. That's why you get boosters. Second, the seasonal flu vaccine DID seem to increase contraction of H1N1 by a bit, but the number cited by the article seems to be the raw number. A lot of people who get the seasonal flu vaccine do so because they work or live in conditions that are high risk for contracting the flu, H1N1 included.

  66. Re:SCAREMONGERING. by MightyYar · · Score: 1

    You could have just said "woosh"... :)

    --
    W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
  67. Re:SCAREMONGERING. by i+kan+reed · · Score: 2

    You say "on par", but the reality is that until vaccines were discovered, smoking wasn't that big a deal due to the probability that one of the diseases we now vaccinate against would kill you. Smoking is among leading causes of death because we managed to clear out a whole host of really nasty bugs.

    I personally believe in this day and age, anyone actively preventing vaccination of a child should be brought up on charges of crimes against humanity. Not even slightly hyperbolic.

  68. Re:SCAREMONGERING. by Crisses · · Score: 0

    I'm sorry, I fail to see the similarities between optional alternative "therapies" and a mandatory government-required system of vaccinations of which any and all profits roll into the same large companies. If the program was not profitable, the drug companies wouldn't produce the vaccines -- their boards of directors would shoot them (and they'd be legally fiscally accountable to their shareholders & boards for running a program at a deficit for decades...). So you have to assume that it brings in some type of profit -- or the companies wouldn't produce them.

    Comparing this to homeopathic remedies, that are entirely voluntary, is ridiculous. Please stick to the problem at-hand. [Note: it's quite likely the same drug companies are making money on homeopathic remedies under subsidiary labels too -- because they'll sell whatever the public will buy to profit their board & shareholders -- just like they started taking an interest in herbal remedies during the big FDA-herb-banning fights in the early 1990s]

    The vaccination program makes the drug companies money. Period. The more children are vaccinated, the more money. Period. This has nothing to do with what other companies are selling or with non-manditory medications/alternative therapies. This is an entirely different fact than whether we're benefitted by herd immunity, etc. If this program didn't make a profit, and the government thought it was of benefit to vaccinate regardless of whether a for-profit entity would supply the vaccines, the government would manufacture the vaccines or fund some small non-profit with grant money to do so. The fact is, there's profit being made here. The next question is what lobbying & what pressure is being put on legislators to insure these profits.

    --
    ---- I'm out of your mind!
  69. Yes. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yes you are taking crazy pills.

    Because despite your whine being answered multiple times (e.g. you cannot vaccinate a child too young to be vaccinated, but schools take in kids of differing ages, some of whom CAN take the vaccine but don't), you're still bitching about it.

    To be honest, this is a pretty clear indicator for any genuine fence-sitters that the anti-vaxxers are a load of mindless driven morons.

    Forty "how does that put other kids at risk?" and four hundred answers of how later, STILL there's more "how does that put other kids at risk?". Eminent proof that the anti-vaxx crowd DO NOT WANT to know anything and are completely immune to learning anything other than how bad vaccines are.

  70. Re:SCAREMONGERING. by jythie · · Score: 1

    Actually, the profits are close to zero even after the up front costs are taken care of. Vaccine production is not a very profitable business, with many producers taking losses some years. They mostly continue to exist because large institutional buyers promise to grab certain amounts in order to keep them in production. Most of the companies that make vaccines would be happy if the entire division got shut down so they could focus on more profitable things. Often governments have to pressure drug companies to keep the divisions open with threats (or promises) around other things.

  71. Re:SCAREMONGERING. by Sarten-X · · Score: 1

    Briefly considered, but I kinda wanted to make the point about old vaccines having about the same profit (which is why the pharma companies try so hard to keep control of their old patents), and the note about the millons vs. billions was something I wanted to put in the first comment, but it didn't fit the tone.

    "Whoosh" responses also irritate me, but that's just a pet peeve.

    --
    You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
  72. Re:Why do the Vaccine's need to be filled with CRA by Jason+Levine · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Not to mention that mercury was blamed for "vaccines cause autism." They removed the mercury. Autism rates still rose. So they changed their claim of why "vaccines cause autism" to something else. Every time the link they claim is proven false, they move the goal posts somewhere else so they can claim that "vaccines cause autism" hasn't *really* been disproven and that the burden is on everyone else to disprove claim #1,263.

    --
    My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
  73. Re:Agreed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You misunderstood. I have no problem with society or the concept of human beings living together in harmony. My point was that coercion is not harmony. It is violence. It is immoral and unjust, the polar opposite of harmony. I will believe this until the day I die.

    Since you asked, I am 37 years old, and my world view and political ideals are the product of over 20 years of thinking. So no, my "ideas" won't change. Sorry to disappoint you.

  74. If you make them mandatory more won't get them by trout007 · · Score: 1

    Right now I get my kids vaccinated. If it became mandatory I would immediately stop and reconsider.

    --
    I love Jesus, except for his foreign policy.
    1. Re:If you make them mandatory more won't get them by daem0n1x · · Score: 1

      Either you believe in vaccines or you don't. Making them mandatory doesn't change the effectiveness of the vaccines, so the measure you're announcing is just plain stupid and childish. I wonder if you're old enough to have children.

    2. Re:If you make them mandatory more won't get them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Some people ARE stubborn and childish. They do silly things out of sheer spite and sometimes go even further and develop whole ideology to support their primitive reaction. The other similarly primitive act is of course that of GGP's. It's funny how americans in particular like to simply throw more force against things when they don't go their way. Nevermind whether it actually helps.

    3. Re:If you make them mandatory more won't get them by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Either you believe in vaccines or you don't. Making them mandatory doesn't change the effectiveness of the vaccines

      Someone without enough medical knowledge to know if vaccines really work and/or are really safe is just trusting the establishment to tell them the truth. An establishment that forces something upon you is often less trustworthy.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    4. Re:If you make them mandatory more won't get them by trout007 · · Score: 1

      Exactly right. Not only that but when it's voluntary you have more assurance that problems will be brought to light and corrected quickly. When it's mandatory it becomes political and problems are buried.

      --
      I love Jesus, except for his foreign policy.
  75. Someone may be stupid by gr8_phk · · Score: 2

    It may be the anti-vaccine crowd, or it may be you. There is evidence that catching things is good for you long term and that vaccines may not be as effective at building the immune system as natural disease. Notice that I'm sidestepping the issue of vaccine safety and still making an argument. Now I'm a fan of eradication programs - I've got a small-pox vaccination scar and think it's great that the disease has been eliminated. I think it's great that we may soon see an end to polio. I'm up for eradicating the really bad stuff. Chicken Pox vaccine? Fuck that, it used to be a right of passage. Sure, if you don't get it as a child you should be vaccinated because getting it as an adult can be terrible. Or perhaps it should be a choice, but to make people get vaccinated? And flu? God no, not for healthy people at low risk (my grandmother died of it at 92, she probably should have gotten the vaccine). Hey, if they really are stupid then not getting it will be evolution in action and humans will become smarter - you should be happy. And lastly, if you get your kid vaccinated and they catch the shit anyway please don't run around blaming those who didn't vaccinate. We have to many people blaming thier problems on others and trying to tell other people what to do.

    Again, I'm all for eradication programs for the really bad stuff, but for the rest I think calling people who don't want vaccines "stupid" is just plain ignorant.

    1. Re:Someone may be stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It may be the anti-vaccine crowd, or it may be you. There is evidence that catching things is good for you long term and that vaccines may not be as effective at building the immune system as natural disease.

      Well, yes - catching stuff builds your immune system up - if you survive at all. We have the cold, the flu and various mostly harmless stomach bugs to help us build immune system strength. And we have vaccine for some of the deadly and crippling diseases.

    2. Re:Someone may be stupid by gr8_phk · · Score: 1

      And we have vaccine for some of the deadly and crippling diseases.

      Long term, eradication is cheaper than vaccines for the deadly stuff. Mandated vaccines are a form of corporate welfare.

    3. Re:Someone may be stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There is evidence that catching things is good for you long term and that vaccines may not be as effective at building the immune system as natural disease.

      Assuming you don't die from some completely preventable disease first.

    4. Re:Someone may be stupid by compro01 · · Score: 1

      Good luck with achieving eradication without using vaccines.

      --
      upon the advice of my lawyer, i have no sig at this time
    5. Re:Someone may be stupid by mk1004 · · Score: 1

      Chicken Pox vaccine? Fuck that, it used to be a right of passage. Sure, if you don't get it as a child you should be vaccinated because getting it as an adult can be terrible.

      Getting Chicken Pox makes you are at risk to get Shingles later in life. Outbreaks of Shingles are suppose to be extremely painful. IIRC, in rare cases, depending upon what part of your body it affects, it can cause blindness or death.

      --
      I can mend the break of day, heal a broken heart, and provide temporary relief to nymphomaniacs.
    6. Re:Someone may be stupid by NeoMorphy · · Score: 1

      Small-pox was only eradicated because of the vaccine. If people were opting out of the vaccine, it would still be around today and we would still need the vaccine. But because of aggressive world-wide vaccination programs, it was eradicated and now we do not need the vaccine any more. Eventually, measles will also be eradicated the same way, and then we can cross another vaccine off the required list.

      If we can eradicate other less harmful diseases the same way, then why not? Chicken-pox might not cause as many deaths, but it is still painfully fatal to some. Why would you want to play that lottery? Why not eliminate chicken pox the same way? Even if you survive it, there's a one in three chance of developing shingles when you get older, and that's going to suck, you'll wish you never got it in the first place.

      For those thinking the pharmaceutical companies would love the increased profits of everyone being forced to be vaccinated, think about this. Until a disease is eradicated, they will make a continuous profit from the never-ending vaccinations needed because of those who insist on propagating the disease.

    7. Re:Someone may be stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It may be the anti-vaccine crowd, or it may be you.

      It's definitely the anti-vaxers. and probably you too.

       

    8. Re:Someone may be stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think calling people who don't want vaccines "stupid" is just plain ignorant.

      BZZZT! Wrong. Thanks for playing.

      From TFA:

      Nationally, because of generally widespread vaccination coverage among children, vaccine-preventable childhood diseases that once caused substantial disease burdens and death in the United States remain rare occurrences. Measles once infected four million people and killed 4,000 of them each year, mostly young children. With high measles vaccine coverage over several decades, endemic measles was eliminated in the United States as of 2000. The current routine childhood immunization schedule is estimated to prevent 42,000 deaths and 20 million cases of disease and to save $14 billion in direct medical costs per U.S. birth cohort.

      [emphasis added]

    9. Re:Someone may be stupid by s73v3r · · Score: 1

      Chicken Pox vaccine? Fuck that, it used to be a right of passage

      Why don't you actually do some research on what Chicken Pox can do, especially in older people, before you say that.

      Hey, if they really are stupid then not getting it will be evolution in action and humans will become smarter - you should be happy.

      That's not evolution.

      And lastly, if you get your kid vaccinated and they catch the shit anyway please don't run around blaming those who didn't vaccinate.

      But in most cases, it is their fault, and they should shoulder the blame.

    10. Re:Someone may be stupid by s73v3r · · Score: 1

      Mandated vaccines are a form of corporate welfare.

      That is quite possibly the dumbest thing I have read in this discussion.

    11. Re:Someone may be stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The point of the vaccine isn't to protect you as an individual - it's to protect you as a member of a population. I'm sorry your grandmother died of influenza, but vaccinating only "at risk" individuals would not really be protective. You can be vaccinated against a disease and still catch it if you encounter it. However, with widespread vaccination, you reduce the habitat of the pathogen and have a much lower chance of encountering it.

      Sure, I've got my anti-tank missile launcher with me. It does a pretty decent job against tanks. I'd still rather not encounter a hostile tank.

    12. Re:Someone may be stupid by gr8_phk · · Score: 1

      How else would you describe a mandate for a chickenpox vaccine?

    13. Re:Someone may be stupid by climb_no_fear · · Score: 1

      As for chickenpox, at least half of all people 85 and older will have reactivation of herpes zoster, resulting in neuraglia (commonly known as "shingles"). Having shingles is a miserable existence. This can now be largely prevented by immunizations, also of those who have had chickenpox as a child. http://www.ok.gov/health/documents/shinglesadult.pdf

  76. Fiscal Responsibility by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If some idiot parent doesn't want to vaccinate their child, make them fiscally liable if it's proven that their child was the source of an infection in a geographical area. Insurance companies could sell anti-vaccine insurance policies, which I would assume to extremely expensive. Can't afford the insurance? Can't pay out of pocket for the projected possible outbreak? Welcome to society, get in line and receive your vaccine.

  77. Re:SCAREMONGERING. by smooth+wombat · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The fact is, there's profit being made here. The next question is what lobbying & what pressure is being put on legislators to insure these profits.

    If that is your sole argument, that someone is lobbying the government to force people to get vaccinated so these companies can make money, you've lost any semblance of logical argument.

    The fact that you consider homeopathic to be medicine, which it isn't, and choose to focus on the money aspect, which is completely irrelevant to the medically sound reason to be vaccinated, shows your lack of common sense.

    I can assure you when people were being vaccinated for smallpox or polio, no one gave a rats ass about who was making a profit, or if a profit was even being made. All they cared about was that the yearly sweeps of infections that plagued the country came to a stop.

    Are you now going to complain about all the money those big bad corporations made eradicating smallpox and polio? How about rinderpest, an equally devastating disease which has afflicted animals since before the time of Greeks? Are you going to complain about the money corporations made selling this vaccine to the animal industry to innoculate animals to prevent them from getting infected and making it the second time in human history that a disease has been wiped from the face of the Earth?

    It seems counter-intuitive to complain these companies are making money to produce a product which will, eventually, make the use of that product unnecessary (in the case of smallpox and rinderpest). After all, wouldn't it be easier to make something which only treats the symptoms rather than cures it? That way they could have a perpetual source of income.

    You and Jenny McCarthy would make a great pair. You should go on tour.

    --
    We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
  78. Re:SCAREMONGERING. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    My local walk-in clinic has almost every vaccine for $3-$5. Mid-west USA.

  79. Re:SCAREMONGERING. by Firethorn · · Score: 2

    If the program was not profitable, the drug companies wouldn't produce the vaccines

    I wouldn't say that vaccines aren't profitable. What I will say is that they're closer to computer equipment profit margins(1%), not jewelry store ones(50+%) like designer drugs have.

    My grandfather had polio. I'm all for vaccination. While we're at it, I support putting unvaccinated kids together in special schools. That way when a MMR type outbreak happens they all get it and the parents get to experience the consequences of their failure. Oh, and it makes the news in a splashy public way so more parents get their kids their shots.

    --
    I don't read AC A human right
  80. Great.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Great, Another "get vaccinated or children will die" piece. I rate these things pretty close to rants by the national security community that we have to "sacrifice our rights or the terrorists win". Yes vaccines are a valuable PART of modern medicine, yes they are PART of the reason for our improved health and yes they have HELPED to eliminate some of the more deadly diseases in our history. But, they are not the entire reason for our improved resiliency to disease (and arguably not even the primary reason). Improved hygiene is probably one of the bigger ones along with better knowledge and mitigation factors (wash your hands, cover your mouth when sneezing, use of disposable tissue). Even the most effective vaccines do not make a majority of individuals immune. Effectiveness of course varies wildly between age groups, vaccines & seasons, but on average I would wager that only about 60% of vaccinated people see any quantifiable improvement in resiliency to the designed for diseases, and in those cases its probably only a change from staying home sick for a week to staying home sick for two or three days. 10% probably become nearly immune, the rest you might as well have injected saline for all the good it did. And despite the claims by the medical community vaccines DO HAVE SIDE EFFECTS. These days they are rare and are for the most part minor, but people DO die from and ARE injured by them on exceedingly rare occasions. Brushing off these downsides is no better than those who claim that vaccines are akin to the next lead paint scandal. A complete and honest assessment of a vaccines upsides and downsides is necessary, not the "its my way or the highway" approach that is coming out of both the medical community & the anti-vaccination crowd.

  81. No, they're right! by argormar · · Score: 0

    By getting vaccinated, I am dependent on everyone injecting poison into their blood just to stay alive.

    By not getting vaccinated, I am dependent on evolution to cull the vulnerable so that future generations are immune to each disease naturally without having to inject countless cocktails of poison, genetically modified crap, adjuvents, and toxic preservatives into our bloodstream.

    Either we can have the natural lottery of the odd individual be destine to die, or we can intervene and ensure that our gene pool continues to degenerate to the point that everyone is completely dependent on the medical industrial complex simply to survive.

    It is obvious to me which path has more suffering and dependence. Vaccines, it does the medical industrial complex good!

  82. Re:Why do the Vaccine's need to be filled with CRA by Megane · · Score: 1

    They removed the mercury. Autism rates still rose.

    This needs repeating, in a post all by itself. And in boldface.

    --
    #naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
  83. So basically vaccines don't work then by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    if your 'vaccinated' kid is susceptible to anything from anyone unvaccinated, then clearly the vaccine didn't work.

    oops!

  84. Re:SCAREMONGERING. by Crisses · · Score: 2

    Makers of vaccines are legally protected from lawsuits.

    See [new news]: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/22/AR2011022206008.html
    or [established decades ago]: http://www.hrsa.gov/vaccinecompensation/index.html

    Drunk driving vs. flu deaths? Wow....

    I wish people would stop comparing vaccines with things wildly unrelated.

    --
    ---- I'm out of your mind!
  85. That was the HEIGHT only because vaccinations by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That was the HEIGHT only because vaccinations started, which halted the spread.

    It used to be that children without vaccinations would not be permitted in school. The only exceptions that existed were those children that were subject to egg allergy (as that was the incubator for the vaccine).

    It should still be the rule.

    1. Re:That was the HEIGHT only because vaccinations by leonardluen · · Score: 1

      The infection vector for polio isn't all that hard to control.

      it isn't like it is airborn. it spreads via fecal material.

      so primarily you just need to wash your hands regularily.

  86. Re:No, they're right! by ratbag · · Score: 1

    How's evolution working out for you? As an individual, living here today, for let's say 80 years? Or maybe you really think on a thousand-year or 10 thousand-year timescale?

    As a family person, do you play the lottery game with your children? Or as someone with friends, are you prepared to play that game with other people? When they've chosen not to play, but rather do the best they can for themselves and their families?

    The polite description for you would be "eugenicist". Selfish, misguided, conspiracy theorist, anti-science would also fit.

  87. "controversy" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yes, any differences between a few lying slimeballs and actual scientists is now a controversy. Similarly controversial are the topics of whether the Earth is 6000 years old, whether it is a disc, and whether time is cubic. Another controversy erupted recently over the question whether rape can impregnate women.

  88. Re:SCAREMONGERING. by tnk1 · · Score: 1

    I'm not sure where you think the government can simply make research come out of it's ass just because it feels like it. Just about everything we've done in this country that has a public component has also had a private one. Getting to the moon? Private companies probably profited handsomely. Developing public transportation? Defense contracts? Definitely private. The Internet? Public-private cooperation. Private entities were involved at the outset of many systems. Most science in every country has private grants or interest in it. Indeed, science itself was developed with a healthy dose of private interest and profit motive. After all, profits are one measure of how useful applied science can be.

    Sure, profits are made, but are we really using aversion to "profit" to override scientifically proven benefits of vaccination? And trundling out the fact that some sinister lobbyists may be involved? Like, the American Medical Association or Save the Children? Nothing like throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Vaccination programs are hardly breaking the bank and bankrupting people. This is something that *should* be making profits because it is a worthwhile program that deserves economic support.

    I get that the homeopathy example might have been a bit of an unnecessary pile-on, but the people who are anti-vaccination do tend to spout off ridiculous notions that sound like the homeopathy crowd, so I personally find the faux-pas to be forgivable.

  89. Quarantine yourself, then. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Because if YOU can carry the disease and pass it on to me, it goes from YOUR body to MY body. And YOU are refusing to let me choose.

    Funny how you complain of the "limited" application whilst you yourself are applying it to ONLY YOUR BODY. I don't get a choice, apparently.

  90. Fear Works by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm okay with truly religious objections to immunizations. However, if you do it out of fear, stupidity or ignorance, and my child gets sick, I'm goign to sue you, whether or not your child is sick, because you made my child sick. Stupidity should be painful, expensive,, or both.

  91. An exercise in arithmetic by tgibbs · · Score: 2

    But there's plenty of parents whose children have problems within 72 hours of vaccines being administered to make at least the anecdotal cases seem compelling

    To the innumerate, perhaps. Let's do some simple arithmetic:

    Autism is typically diagnosed around the same time that children receive their childhood vaccinations, even in children who do not get vaccinated. Let's ignore the likely possibility that due to media reports, parents are more likely to be alert to symptoms of autism right after vaccination, and assume that children are vaccinated on a random date, and first exhibit clear symptoms of autism on a random date. If autism is unrelated to vaccination, what is the probability that a child in the US will first exhibit autistic symptoms within 72 hours (3 days) after vaccination?

    3 days is 3/365 = 0.0082 year

    About 4 million children are born in the US per year. Let's assume that they are all vaccinated in a single year (yes, I know children get multiple vaccinations throughout childhood but I'm being conservative)

    Incidence of autism is hard to estimate as diagnostic criteria have changed and doctors are more likely today to consider a diagnosis of autism as opposed to simple mental retardation. Current estimates of incidence are around 1%, and a survey of incidence of autism in adults in Great Britain indicates this has been fairly stable for the past 70 years. But this is still somewhat controversial, so let's be very conservative and assume that only 1 child in 1000 will first exhibit clear symptoms of autism in a the same year as he or she gets a vaccination. How many children per year will, purely by chance, first exhibit clear symptoms of autism within 72 h of their vaccination?

    4 million * 0.001 * 0.0082 = 33 per year
    So over 10 years about 330 children would have first exhibited autistic symptoms within 72 hours after vaccination. Expand the period after vaccination to 2 weeks (I've heard people blame vaccination when their child was diagnosed a month or two after a vaccination), and that number rises to 1,524.

    So even if autism has nothing to do with vaccination, plenty of parents would have children who developed autistic symptoms with 72 h of vaccination.

    Which helps to explain the scientific adage: "The plural of anecdote is not data."

    1. Re:An exercise in arithmetic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It would be a lot easer to just show me the unvaccinated children with Autism.

      You clearly know little about Autism. You don't show a symptom, and go to the doctor the next day and get diagnosed, it always takes months. Childhood vaccines start in the hospital shortly after birth. Most doctors won't diagnose Autism until a child is 5, some as young as 3, very few younger than that. So the mercury has had a few years to brew before a diagnoses is even possible, and after 5 years you can pin point the first symptom with in a 72hr period, you are a better mom than me. If you read the DSM you will see that the symptoms have to been going on for a while, and that a lot of observations, and data must be collected. If you can get a diagnoses in less that a month you are amazing. Parents don't call the doctor and say my child lined all the cars in a row and spun around on the carped 20 times schedule me an apointment. They bring it up at a regular apointment. If the 2 were unrelated symptoms of Autism should show up at the visit the same day as the shots.

    2. Re:An exercise in arithmetic by tgibbs · · Score: 1

      Actually, I carry out research in the field of autism. There are certainly examples of unvaccinated children with autism--in some cases they are children of parents who have a previous autistic child, and who have bought into vaccine paranoia. These children manifest clear symptoms of autism around the same age as vaccinated children. There have also been studies that have looked at partially vaccinated children (who are considerably more common than completely unvaccinated children), and have attempted to correlate incidence of autism with number of vaccinations. No such correlation has been found

      Mercury has now been gone from virtually all vaccinations for more than 5 years, with no evidence of decline in autism incidence, so the mercury hypothesis is no longer taken seriously by researchers in the field. Frankly, the mercury hypothesis was never particularly tenable, because the symptoms of autism do not really resemble mercury toxicity.

      Yes, of course I'm aware that 72 hours, or even 2 weeks, after vaccination is a short time, but I was trying to keep the numbers conservative. If the diagnosis (or, if you prefer, the initial awareness of symptoms by the parents) occurs more than a month after vaccination, then the likelihood that the apparent correlation with time of vaccination is illusory, and actually due to chance, is greatly increased. Let's expand the "window" to 2 months (8 weeks) after vaccination. Then by the same simple arithmetic, we would expect purely by chance that over 600 children per year would have begun to exhibit autistic symptoms within this period after vaccination. If you allow 16 weeks, then the number will be over 1200, and so forth.

      This explains why even a large number of anecdotal reports is not considered meaningful to those who understand the arithmetic of coincidence.

      Intuition can seem very compelling, but it is not always reliable. Intuition is subject to the illusion of causality in much the same way that the eye can be tricked by optical illusions. Our minds are built to seek causality, and to perceive unusual events with proximity in time as related, even when they are actually coincidental. If an animal becomes ill after eating a particular food, it will avoid that food thereafter, even if they illness occurred by chance. If you have ever experienced this personally, you know that telling yourself that the illness probably occurred by chance will not shake your intuitive aversion to the "bad" food. So I understand and sympathize with the tendency of parents to seek some recent cause to explain why their child developed autism, and to seize upon vaccination with unshakeable conviction. It is because of this vulnerability of the mind that scientists have developed mathematical analysis to help them to avoid this kind of error.

  92. Smallpox vaccination by Firethorn · · Score: 1

    When was the last time that they required smallpox vaccination in order to attend school? Heck, when was the last time they even recommended it outside of special circumstances?

    Of course, the smallpox vaccine is one of the nastier ones, but even as nasty as it is, it's still incredibly safe compared to the disease - which would kill something like 30% of the infected last time it ran wild. Variolation, an 'early' form of vaccination* which killed 1% of those treated, was considerably better. Then they developed the cowpox technique, which was more like .1% dead, on up to the bifurcated tine poke vaccine, which is more like .00001%.

    The medical community is constantly doing risk analysis studies. They've dropped vaccines before, when they're sufficiently eradicated.

    --
    I don't read AC A human right
    1. Re:Smallpox vaccination by redneckmother · · Score: 1

      When was the last time that they required smallpox vaccination in order to attend school? Heck, when was the last time they even recommended it outside of special circumstances?

      I was required to have a second innoculation in 1972 for school.

    2. Re:Smallpox vaccination by Firethorn · · Score: 1

      I was required to have a second innoculation in 1972 for school.

      I'd say that 40 years is 'quite a while'. It's enough time that most of the parents of kids in school haven't been inoculated against the disease either. I was born in 1976, and I missed the required period by a few years. Mom wanted me to get the shot(given her experience with her father she has a healthy admiration for vaccines), but they wouldn't do it. I didn't get it until I was an adult and 'special circumstances', IE 'unusual career field'.

      I still hope we can stop giving the polio vaccine soon - worldwide it's hanging on by it's proverbial fingernails.

      --
      I don't read AC A human right
  93. Re:SCAREMONGERING. by tnk1 · · Score: 1

    Actually, I don't believe that is the case. Smoking kills people who have survived to adulthood to start smoking, and then kills them later in life. Most diseases you vaccinate against kill children, and children are not going to be smokers and usually have not lived enough to contract most forms of lung cancer.

    Vaccines saved more children who can then go on to smoke, which may have increased the absolute number of people dying from lung cancer, but the relative percentage was not affected by vaccinations. In other words, 100 people may now be dying of lung cancer instead of ten, but that's because the adult population is ten times higher (and now 900 people do *not* get lung cancer, as opposed to only 90 before).

    But I do agree that we need to take action against non-vaccinated children. We rely on herd immunity to keep us safe. I would prefer that the method of doing so be one that is humane, but it may be difficult to manage that outside of something that would resemble an internment camp or penal colony. Personally, I believe purposely unvaccinated children should be removed from their parents, vaccinated, returned, and that should be the end of it. Parents would be detained or lose custody as required only to ensure that the vaccinations were completed. And mind you, I despise big government, but there are definitely things government is meant to do which does not count as overreaching.

  94. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  95. Re:SCAREMONGERING. by ColdWetDog · · Score: 1

    You confusing a couple of things. Vaccines do outdate quickly, but except for influenza, the formulation is pretty stable.

    The big problem with vaccine production is that bulk production is a cast iron bitch. It's difficult and expensive. And because most of the buyers are large, bulk purchasers, few pay 'retail'. Then there are the lawsuits....

    --
    Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  96. Re:SCAREMONGERING. by torkus · · Score: 1

    Are you sure that's the case for vaccines like MMR or MMRV?

    Definitely true for the Flu virus - to the point that they need to reformulate yearly because the virus mutates so far. That's also a big reason why there's a yearly flu virus and the flu hasn't been eradicated. If the measles mutated like that, we wouldn't have vaccinated it (virtually) out of existence.

    Yes, Viagra had a huge up-front cost and now is a cash cow like so many others. But if the flu vaccine took years for approval and had a huge up-front cost it would be impossible to make and sell.

    Is there a lower profit on flu vaccines than viagra? Sure. Is it manufactured solely for the good of mankind? Certainly not.

    P.s. pills don't have an unlimited shelf life (though it's typically far longer than the expiration date on the bottle)

    --
    You can get rich if you own a politician, but you have to be rich to buy one in the first place.
  97. Easy decision by kalbzayn · · Score: 2

    Our son has autism and was about 4 1/2 when his younger sister was born (his twin sister does not). Our doctor congratulated us when we "decided" to vaccinate our youngest daughter because a lot of parents of a child with autism either are not or have to think about it a lot more than they should. It still makes me mad when I see the Jenny McCarthy types making their money promoting their anti-vax books and then I have to spend time explaining to relatives and friends that Jenny McCarthy doesn't have any real knowledge of science and is probably pretty useless source of information about anything except what kinds of bikinis are popular these days.

  98. Are you getting enough mercury? by tgibbs · · Score: 1

    When I was a kid, my parents painted every scratch and scrape with mercury antiseptic.
    But they don't do that anymore, and they took mercury out of almost all of the vaccinations (the only exception is multi dose flu vaccine, and if you really want, you can pay for the more expensive single-dose shot without preservative)

    Some say that autism incidence higher than when I was a kid.
    Could it be because kids today are not getting enough mercury?

  99. Re:SCAREMONGERING. by MightyYar · · Score: 1

    I'm grateful for your more thoughtful response.

    Patents don't really apply to many vaccines, since the rules are different. Merck pretty much has a forever monopoly on MMR, for instance. But Merck is only in the vaccine business because of pressure by the government - so pathetic are the profits. The reason is that the government is by far the largest buyer of vaccines, so they can exert a lot of pricing pressure. I think the government pays under $20 for the same MMR that costs the market over $40.

    --
    W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
  100. Re:Why do the Vaccine's need to be filled with CRA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you eat fish even a few times per year, that plus your exposure through drinking water probably adds up to more mercury than you'd get from a vaccine.

    There's a difference between ingesting Mercury (or aluminum salts) and injecting them directly into the muscles, fats, and blood stream. It's the same reason you can eat food that's questionable and probably be fine, but cannot rub that same food into an open wound. It's also a big part of why surgeons are very careful to sanitize/sterilize their equipment. What you said might be true, but there would have to be studies comparing intramuscular injections of mercury versus ingesting mercury. Are you aware of such a study?

    A lot of the anti-vaccine crowd *are* just stupid people. But there are legitimate concerns with preforming intramuscular injections of aluminum salts, formaldehyde, etc. More studies need to be performed on the effects of these chemicals when injected as they normally are via vaccinations. From my understanding most studies that have been performed on the safety of these chemicals focus on ingestion of them.

    TLDR: Vaccines are great, but please stop the rhetoric from the pro-vaccine side as well and stop labeling anyone that has concerns over vaccines a nutjob.

  101. Re:The obvious question then is... by Nadaka · · Score: 1

    Because vaccines are not 100% effective. They work because enough people are immunized that it prevents the disease from spreading.

  102. trust in big pharma? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    i trust big pharma to do 1 thing, and 1 thing only: do whatever it can to make money. no, i'm not just some idiot that doesn't understand the idea of vaccinations. but i'm also not that idiot that believes we need to buy every product they're selling either.

    i also trust big pharma to try to convince the world we need more vaccinations so they can sell us all more drugs. (easy example: HPV vaccine for men?) and i trust human nature that many companies would doctor any test results they need to, if it will make them more money. this also includes bribing any officials needed to get their pockets filled. what could be more profitable than convincing us that every human needs to buy their product or possibly die? even better- that we need to do this annually!

    sorry, but i think before taking every drug offered to me. isn't that what they teach in schools these days?

  103. Re:SCAREMONGERING. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So, then...why even do them? They're not required by law to make them. Follow the money, fool. Big Pharma, the bunch making this stuff does nothing that isn't profitable- and big profits when done in whatever levels they do it in.

  104. Natural resistance is not always a good thing. by NeoMorphy · · Score: 2

    Malaria caused a selection for sickle-cell anemia. The ability to survive does not have to mean survival of the fittest.

    One of our strongest attributes is supposed to be our brains and the ability to work out solutions and/or create tools to help us survive adversity. It should be clear by now that if we were to try and survive in the wild without using even the most primitive of tools or our capacity to reason, most of us would fail. Though eventually selection of the physically stronger, faster, tougher and more vicious would probably make us more like our primitive ancestors.

    Another consideration is that the children who "SURVIVED" grew up with immunity to diseases like chicken-pox. I chose the vaccine for my daughter because I did not want her to be one of the few who died. It's stupid lottery to play.

    1. Re:Natural resistance is not always a good thing. by serialband · · Score: 1

      Malaria caused a selection for sickle-cell anemia. The ability to survive does not have to mean survival of the fittest.

      That technically is the survival of the fittest. People keep mistaking the concept, and have an incomplete picture of survival of the fittest. It means the fittest for the environment. In this case, if you have the sickle cell trait, you will be better equipt to survive the environment with malaria. So you are the fittest if you have the sickle cell trait. If you ended somewhere where malaria is nonexistant, then you won't be the fittest in that new environment.

      Similarly, if you didn't have that sickle cell trait, and contract malaria, you may likely die. That makes you less fit for the malarial environment.

    2. Re:Natural resistance is not always a good thing. by NeoMorphy · · Score: 1

      You are absolutely correct. I should have said something like "survival of the healthiest".

    3. Re:Natural resistance is not always a good thing. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      that's true, but even then, you're deceiving yourself that your vaccinated daughter will not play in that stupid lottery. And not necessarily because of the unvaccinated ones. Vaccines do fail, unfortunately. My kid got whooping cough at school, even though the school in question was 100% vaccinated with tdap (no waivers reported) - horrible couple months in our lives.. I'm still glad that I've vaccinated my kid, because I can tell to myself, that I've done everything I could on my part. But I wish there were ways to decrease the failure rates and/or to have a reliable way to confirm whether your kid developed anti-bodies or not. Especially for TDAP vaccine - it doesn't seem to be effective considering recent outbreaks vs high rate of immunization..

  105. Re:No, they're right! by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 3, Interesting

    By avoiding modern health system, you'd be bringing us back to the Middle Ages. If you cut down the average life expectancy, it won't be effective to properly take care of the children, why send them to college until they're twenty-five when half of them will be dead before they are forty? Eventually we'd all sink to the level of dirt streets and chamber pots being emptied out of people's windows and famines and everyone of us would have a really bad time. Oh, and no Nintendo for you.

    BTW, meanwhile, evolution happily churns on, no matter whether you like it or not. You don't have to be worried about that.

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
  106. Research? by publiclurker · · Score: 1

    Exactly how many bubble gum wrappers did you read before you thought you could claim to have researched anything? And yes, just to save time, you are stupid. I think you know that since you were too cowardly to use your name.

  107. Huffington Post is part of the problem by INowRegretThesePosts · · Score: 1

    See:
    http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4283

    Huffington Post has been classified as the n. 10 worst anti-science website due to its promotion of crack-pot medicine, including the alleged vaccine-autism link.

  108. Re:Agreed by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

    You're totally right dude! Don't have kids and there will be less selfish idiots who value their personal liberty to not receive a vaccine over the importance of a clear-cut public health issue. Thanks so much!

    --
    "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
  109. do you buy an alcoholic a drink... by publiclurker · · Score: 1

    Or agree with him that he doesn't have a problem while he's puking his guts out in the gutter, or do you do any and everything possible to see that he doesn't hurt either himself or others around him. Suffering fools lightly only results in even more insufferable fools in the future.

    1. Re:do you buy an alcoholic a drink... by operagost · · Score: 1

      People aren't robots. They don't respond well to your black-and-white, 0 and 1 false dilemmas. Try reading a Dale Carnegie book or something.

      --

      Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
  110. Re:Why do the Vaccine's need to be filled with CRA by Whorhay · · Score: 1

    Many of the vaccines still contain aluminium, which can be toxic in the bloodstream. Although that's actually the whole reason it's there. By adding the aluminium the body's immune system will react more strongly and so less viral material is needed.

    It's kind of like how for bull riding competitions they put a belt on the bull that causes pain to piss it off. This ensures a better show as otherwise the bull might not care enough to buck the rider off.

    There is some concern though about whether when giving a young child a barrage of vaccines all at once it could be pushing the toxicity level higher than necessary. The method my family has chosen to mitigate this is to spread the shots out a bit.

    So far the only one I think we are outright skipping is Chickenpox. It seems like every child I know who has recieved the vaccine has ended up with chickenpox more than once. It appears to not give much in the way of lasting immunity and could possibly be setting us up for a large adult population that isn't immune. The majority of deaths from chickenpox have been from secondary infections due to poor sanitary practices.

  111. Re:SCAREMONGERING. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This line of thinking always makes me laugh, since the same people who argue that vaccines are all about making profit will often argue that 'they' won't release a cure for cancer because there is too much profit in treating the disease instead of curing it. So which is it?

  112. Re:The obvious question then is... by PPH · · Score: 1

    So the system can tolerate a certain failure rate. Just figure that part of that failure rate includes people who refuse the vaccination.

    Presently, there is no cost to opting out of vaccinations. So the fear is that parents will forgo the (slight) risk of side effects by selecting the zero cost option (no vaccination). Simple solution: Make sure that parents of unvaccinated children incur the cost of their decision through either higher insurance rates or a reduction in the income tax exemption for their child.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  113. Carrot, kowalski, 214.6 by publiclurker · · Score: 1

    What, we aren't just listing unrelated, off-topic items?

  114. Lots of Opinions, Few Facts, No Perspective by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It is interesting that the many /. posters that have strong opinions also seem to lack both facts and long term perspective. One of the issues that has not been addressed by pharmaceutical companies is multi-dose vials. Syringes are placed into these vials repeatedly (not the same syringes). This breaks the seal which keeps the vaccine sterile. In order to keep the contents of these vials sterile, the following additives are used:

    Mercury - Yes, it is still in flu vaccines. Thimerasol has been in use since 1928, was grandfathered into FDA approval, and is considered toxic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiomersal

    Formaldehyde - Another highly toxic substance: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formaldehyde

    Many, Many others - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_vaccine_ingredients

    To mitigate this exposure, vaccines need to be distributed in sterile single dose vials lacking these ingredients. This would, of course, reduce pharmaceutical company profits and therefore they will fight against it. There are some ingredients, however that would be hard to eliminate:

    Aluminum hydroxide - An adjuvant in vaccines.

    Now, if you are done bashing those who choose not to expose their families to a toxic cocktail (regardless of Autism fears), consider the long term effect of vaccination. The healthcare industry believes that they are "SAVING LIVES" when the reality is that they are simply prolonging them. Nobody wants to face death, but we all have to go eventually. I have seen this first hand when relatives begged to be "unplugged" from equipment keeping them alive at the end of their terminal illnesses. Perhaps it would be better if we learned how to face the inevitable instead of spending so much time fighting it.

    The net effect of vaccination is that we are eliminating the natural processes which keep our population in check. This also applies to healthcare in general. In other words, a side effect of vaccination is overpopulation. In the long term, our reproductive success comes as a detriment to all of the other species on the planet. To prevent the complete collapse of our society and our ecosystems, we simply need less people. We must learn from the Mayans or we will become them.

    Star Trek put it eloquently: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mark_of_Gideon

  115. You can't fix stupid by sjbe · · Score: 2

    And that's why they need educated.

    With apologies to Ron White, you can't fix stupid. There's not a class you can take or a pill you can eat.

  116. You are wrong to say that this is 'eugenicist'. by argormar · · Score: 0

    He is not saying to artificially select people.

    What he is saying can only be called anti-dysgenicist.

    1. Re:You are wrong to say that this is 'eugenicist'. by ratbag · · Score: 1

      Dropping into the third-person eh?

      From Wikipedia: Eugenics is the "applied science or the bio-social movement which advocates the use of practices aimed at improving the genetic composition of a population", usually a human population.

      No need for artificial-selection - your practice of non-vaccination is a practice aimed at blah blah blah.

      From the Oxford English dictionary: the science of improving a population by controlled breeding to increase the occurrence of desirable heritable characteristics.

      Again, you would like the breeding population to drop vaccination, with the hope that some gene for resistance to diseases is inherited (notwithstanding the fact we tried that for a few thousand years before vaccines came along).

      You quack like a duck.

    2. Re:You are wrong to say that this is 'eugenicist'. by argormar · · Score: 0

      Strange that after pasting those definitions which clearly show that what I am arguing for is not eugenics you still think otherwise. As you can see the definition is about using controlled breeding and artificial practices. Essentially the opposite of what I am advocating for. I am saying that we must stop messing with breeding using artificial things such as legal mandates enforcing vaccination.

      dysgenic: pertaining to or causing degeneration in the offspring produced.

      Laws enforcing vaccinations, mandated medical intervention, which is what the original article is very clearly meant to be justification for, does just that.

      I am against that, thus I am an anti-dysgenicist.

      You are not bringing any arguments to this discussion. You have not countered anything I have said. Your only tactic is to wrongly call my arguments eugenic, which is not only wrong, but irreverent.

    3. Re:You are wrong to say that this is 'eugenicist'. by ratbag · · Score: 1

      Your: I am dependent on evolution to cull the vulnerable so that future generations are immune to each disease naturally, matches pretty well with Wikipedia's: advocates the use of practices aimed at improving the genetic composition of a population, from where I'm standing.

      Anyhow, I see you're a brand-new user who's previously never posted. Others have already moderated you down to 0 (harsh, but fair, on a site with a scientific approach to life) and I'm just giving you the oxygen of attention. Good luck with making "anti-dysgenicsm" anything other than, in reality, eugenics.

      One final definition: "irreverent": showing a lack of respect for people or things that are generally taken seriously (my emboldening). You throw around words and phrases like "poison", "cull the vulnerable", "cocktails of poison", "crap", "toxic", "natural lottery", "destined to die", "medical industrial complex" and then expect to be taken seriously. No, I don't think I was being irreverent.

    4. Re:You are wrong to say that this is 'eugenicist'. by argormar · · Score: 0

      > Your: I am dependent on evolution to cull the vulnerable so that future generations are immune to each disease naturally, matches pretty well with Wikipedia's: advocates the use of practices aimed at improving the genetic composition of a population, from where I'm standing.

      So you are calling evolution eugenic? That is Interesting, but it is again irrelevant regarding my original point.

      And sorry for the typo in my previous message. I meant irrelevant: having no bearing on or connection with the subject at issue.

    5. Re:You are wrong to say that this is 'eugenicist'. by argormar · · Score: 0

      Also, I noticed how you dropped the traditional, official definition of eugenics which says 'controlled breeding' and thus does not match my argument which calls for natural breeding. You instead are now using the bias wikipedia who's intent is to make anything anti-dysgenic sound like eugenics so as to shut down any discussion exposing the evil being done by the medial industrial complex. Thus you have just proved I am not a eugenicist as you originally claimed by the fact that you altered the definition of eugenics in order to continue your incorrect labeling of my argument.

  117. Re:The measles outbreaks in england by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The funny part is my children don't get sick. My son on the spectrum is one of hyper immune variety.

  118. Re:SCAREMONGERING. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    R&D has already been paid for on older vaccines. That takes a lot of people getting a slice out of that equation but still leaves insurers, utility companies, and pharma companies. The margins may be slim, but they exist and slim margins with millions and millions of customers is still good profit.

  119. Yes, you can leave any time by publiclurker · · Score: 1

    Unfortunately, parasites want to leach off of everyone else instead of going away to where they won't damage the functional members of society.

  120. Re:Agreed by h4rr4r · · Score: 1

    Maybe in another 20 years you will grasp reality.

    For the same reason car insurance is mandatory, some things just have to be.

  121. Well, yes... by publiclurker · · Score: 1

    he is a human. Apparently you consider yourself an entitled two-legged tick who just hangs onto humanity and takes everything they can.

    1. Re:Well, yes... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Apparently you consider yourself an entitled two-legged tick who just hangs onto humanity and takes everything they can.

      Project much?

  122. Re:Interesting Enough by DrXym · · Score: 1
    The "safe vaccine" thing is just an excuse to hide behind. Nothing in this life can be proven safe. People die from drinking water. People get deathly sick from eating various foods. Even the antivaxxer hammering out his / her screed on the computer could get thrombosis and die from it, or electrocuted, or trip over the computer cable and split their skull. Yet they still do it.

    The risks of vaccines are well documented and so are the benefits. And the benefits of vaccination massively outweigh the risks of not doing so.

  123. No you wouldn't by publiclurker · · Score: 1

    Self-entitled, spoiled brats like to have temper tantrums when the adults ask them to do their share, but there is no way they would actually leave if it meant they couldn't sponge off of everyone else.

  124. Repenting will be difficult by INowRegretThesePosts · · Score: 1

    http://www.jennymccarthybodycount.com/Jenny_McCarthy_Body_Count/Home.html

    In these cases, I think the person has a tendency to cling to their beliefs. Because changing the beliefs entails coming to terms with what they did (in this case, causing many deaths).

  125. Please read the Supreme Courts Ruling by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

            http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/10pdf/09-152.pdf

            Design defects, in contrast, do not merit a single men-tion in the NCVIA or the FDA’s regulations. Indeed, the FDA has never even spelled out in regulations the criteria it uses to decide whether a vaccine is safe and effective for its intended use.55 And the decision is surely not an easy one. Drug manufacturers often could trade a little lessefficacy for a little more safety, but the safest design is not always the best one. Striking the right balance between safety and efficacy is especially difficult with respect to vaccines, which affect public as well as individual health.Yet the Act, which in every other respect micromanagesmanufacturers, is silent on how to evaluate competing designs.Are manufacturers liable only for failing to employ an alternative design that the FDA has approved fordistribution (an approval it takes years to obtain56)? Or does it suffice that a vaccine design has been approved inother countries? Or could there be liability for failure touse a design that exists only in a lab? Neither the Act nor the FDA regulations provide an answer, leaving the uni-verse of alternative designs to be limited only by an ex-pert’s imagination.
            Jurors, of course, often decide similar questions withlittle guidance, and we do not suggest that the absenceof guidance alone suggests preemption. But the lack of guidance for design defects combined with the exten- sive guidance for the two grounds of liability specificallymentioned in the Act strongly suggests that design defects were not mentioned because they are not a basis for liability.
            The mandates contained in the Act lead to the same conclusion. Design-defect torts, broadly speaking, havetwo beneficial effects: (1) prompting the development ofimproved designs, and (2) providing compensation for inflicted injuries. The NCVIA provides other means forachieving both effects. We have already discussed theAct’s generous compensation scheme. And the Act pro-vides many means of improving vaccine design.

            It goes on and on.

  126. Re:The obvious question then is... by Glothar · · Score: 1

    Simple Solution:

    In order for a parent to opt-out on a vaccination for their child, they have to pay for the vaccination of another child (presumably from a low-income family).

    At least we'd get something out of the idiots who refuse, and the offset of "child of idiot refuser" to "under-privileged child who might not have been vaccinated otherwise" might equalize the herd immunity rates.

  127. Re:SCAREMONGERING. by MightyYar · · Score: 1

    It's not good profit if there are more profitable things to do with your money.

    --
    W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
  128. Re:Why do the Vaccine's need to be filled with CRA by Just+Some+Guy · · Score: 1

    You're going to shit your pants when you find out what table salt is made of.

    --
    Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
  129. Choose Rotarix. The best way to be sure. by tr2sa · · Score: 0

    The problem is risk assesment - does any vaccination program evaluate your individual risks (hereditary atypical reaction, longterm gene regulation towards depression, batch contamination, increased tumor risks to name few) against average contagion risk at current time, against death risk from disease? What about silent atypical infections (like atypical rubella among vaccinated population, strain accumulating mutations)? I do WANT to vaccinate, I just find it bit weak if typical approach is that it is for common good and statistically you do not win the anaphylactic shock lottery ever.

  130. Mercury in Vaccines by adius · · Score: 1

    Maybe if they stopped using toxic mercury metal in some vaccines people would trust them more. Do you know how mercury damages brain neurons? Look it up. Don't inject that shit into my kids.

  131. Re:The obvious question then is... by rarumberger · · Score: 1

    Well, yeah, if it was only very small minority refusing vaccinations. The point is that vaccination refusal is becoming common enough that the system can no longer tolerate it. There will always be wingnuts, and as long as they're few in number, they're not really a problem. But when wingnut thinking becomes mainstream, we're all in trouble.

  132. So bascially.... by kilodelta · · Score: 1

    The idiots will kill all of us at some point. They've never heard of the herd immunity? What could happen is that the unvaccinated kids just die off while those who got the vaccination will thrive. I think the world could do without a lot of idiots.

  133. Re:Agreed by Tastecicles · · Score: 1

    it's not mandatory if you do not drive.

    --
    Operation Guillotine is in effect.
  134. Re:The measles outbreaks in england by zoloto · · Score: 1

    The amount of stupid in this post is outrageous. I can't decide whether or not to vote it funny or troll.

  135. Microglial Activation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I agree that many anti-vax folks don't know what they are talking about. I would also state that neither do the commenters here. Before you start calling people idiots, do a little research. No one here has mentioned the terms 'immunological adjuvant', 'chronic microglial activation', or 'molecular mimicry'. Anyone here ever read the study in which auto-immune disorders were triggered by injecting an immunological adjuvant in combination with a self-antigen? That's right, people with misgivings about vaccines are idiots...not like the commenters here. They use linux, they must know everything!

  136. In other news by jabelli · · Score: 1

    Water found to be wet, shit to stink, and the cake is a lie.

  137. Evolution... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Your choice: artificial selection or natural selection.
    Let's use science: which one has been proven to work, and which one has been proven to fail disastrously?
    Also, let's look down the road, maybe 100-200 years... (Most) humans got immune to (eg) polio. Without the expression of those genes, what will happen to them, or us?

  138. Call it a natural immune booster by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you could make it sound less clinical, I think less people would oppose it. We have reached a critical mass where people have a pure hatred for technology with no logically backing. It is all simply image. People wonder how Apple is successful and it all boils down to image. Arguing numbers and sound reasoning simply does not work.

  139. Re:SCAREMONGERING. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "I can assure you when people were being vaccinated for smallpox or polio, no one gave a rats ass about who was making a profit, or if a profit was even being made. All they cared about was that the yearly sweeps of infections that plagued the country came to a stop. "

    Actually, there was a clear and HUGE profit motive there: the profit motive for the thousands of people that would otherwise be out of work because they were either incapacitated for the rest of their lives or they were dead. In that sense, if you want to strictly confine the benefits of vaccines to financial gain, that's thousands of productive people growing up rather than dying in childhood, and they'd be out there buying product from innumerable companies throughout the entire economy instead of spending it mainly on healthcare for the rest of their lives.

    But if you mean corporate profits for the vaccine makers, no, there's no obvious benefit. Vaccines are a pretty slim profit margin for all the reasons you list.

    Of course, all of the financial rationale pales in comparison to the fact you're saving people's lives, but I guess the people making these "profit motive" arguments don't care about that much.

  140. Re:SCAREMONGERING. by DeadCatX2 · · Score: 2

    Just to reinforce your point...

    Dr. Jonas Salk was the man who came up with the polio vaccine. He could have patented it and become rich beyond his wildest dreams.

    And yet he did not. In fact, when Ed Murrow interviewed him and asked "who owns the patent?", do you know what Dr. Salk's response was?

    "No one. Could you patent the sun?"

    Bless that man's heart. Saving his fellow human beings from a lifetime of paralysis - regardless of their gender, race, creed, or religion - was all the compensation he needed. Surely, if anyone rests in peace, it is him.

    --
    :(){ :|:& };:
  141. Student A at risk because of imperfect efficiency by DrYak · · Score: 5, Informative

    Please explain for all the stupid people in the room how, if student A is vaccinated but student B is not, that this will make student A sick.

    From the top of my head:

    Vaccine aren't 100% efficient. There might by a few case where the student received the vaccine but didn't develop the antibodies. (Just an example: if you're sick with a fever, there's a risk that the ongoing inflammation will destroy the vaccine content (through macrophages) before antibodies are developped (through lymphocytes))
    There might be student aren't anti-vaxx but who aren't up-to-date just yet (they missed a dose or whatever).
    There are people who have a compromised immune system (that's an example from TFA) and can't get vaccinated.
    There are people who have allergies and for whom the vaccine might be risky (another example from TFA). (As an example: for practical purpose, flu vaccines are grown on eggs. If you're allergic to the egg proteins, no shot for you, even if you're not anti-vaxx).
    There are people who have been vaccinated but can't momentarily fight the disease due to a compromised immune system (AIDS, or even disease as simple as mononucleosis can momentarily b0rk the immune system).
    etc.
    (Case in point: with some disease (like the flu) it's better to vaccinate the population which is at risk of spreading the disease, rather than the group which is at risk of the disease - it better to vaccinate the care taking/nursing/medical personal, rather than the weak elderly patients.)

    You end-up with a bunch of people who aren't anti-vaxx, but which still aren't protected against the disease.

    - If the number of non vaccinated people is underneath a specific treshold. Nothing happens. When somebody gets the disease due to complex unlucky circumstances, nothing happens, because chances are the sick person will never meet another susceptible person. The disease just can't manage to find enough victims to spread among.
    - If the number of non vaccinated people rises above a specific treshold, the shit hits the fan: the disease get a big enough and dense enough population among which to spread. There's a far greater chance that the disease in one sick person will get a chance to meet a susceptible person to whom to jump. Disease which were taught to be almost eradicated suddenly appear again and run epidemic.

    By being selfish and refusing to vaccine, anti-vaxx will raise this number above the treshold. They will not only pose a danger to themselves, but to the population as a whole including all the "innocent" categories cited before who weren't anti-vaxx, but will suffer because of the anti-vaxx.

    In a completely selfish way, it makes sense for the anti-vaxx to refuse the vaccine: vaccine aren't perfect and there very slight chance of secondary effect (ranging from simple inconvenience to more serious effect). Even rarest problem don't have a rate of absolutely zero but slightly above. And if the disease is almost eradicated chance, the chance to catch is are nearly zero.
    But that behaviour is really dangerous for the community because as a consequence of it, the number of susceptible people is at risk at passing the treshold. They end up making the chance to catch the disease non-zero. By just wanting to avoid a statistically really rare inconvenience, they put the community at a bigger risk.

    The example is the polio. In theory it has been recently almost eradicated, chance of catching it are nearly non existant. But vaccine against polio isn't a synthetic product, but a "stunned" virus. There a very slight but not completely null chance to develop a serious effect, something like a polio (sorry I don't remember if it was either because the virus wasn't stunned enough, or because the immune system was compromised).
    So the reasoning inside the head of anti-vaxx goes "chance of problems with vaccine > chance of problems with polio" therefore "don't get the vaccine".
    But the problem is that, in consequence of just a reasoning, the treshold has b

    --
    "Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
  142. The CDC has a list of vaccine allergies by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/should-not-vacc.htm

    Often the allergic reaction is to whatever the vaccine was made in, e.g. eggs or yeast.

  143. Re:Agreed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You don't have to show your true colors. I saw them from a mile away. You are the type who defends your position with personal insults.

    Maybe in another 20 years you will grasp reality

    Oh, I grasp it. The solution to human nature is coercion. Violence. Threats. Physical force. Am I right? It sure works for the animal kingdom.

  144. open up vaccines if they are so important by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Vaccines should only be mandatory when they are completely open. I want to know exactly what is in each one before I get it.

  145. Even though I'm not anti vax... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I am not anti-vaccine, I understand both the personal and the public benefits of regular vaccinations. My problem is that due to some rather nasty childhood trauma I now have a rather extreme case of resistive trypanophobia. If anyone approaches me with a needle my concious mind shuts down and I go straight into fight-or-flight mode (minus the flight). So far, therapy has had exactly no impact on this problem. Intellectually I'm fine with them, emotionally? forget it.

    So, if you have a vaccine that doesn't need an injection I'll take it. I'm glad I can finally start taking flu vaccines again. But if it involves an injection, It also involves a high probability of damage to the health care professional administering it - and let's face it, they don't deserve to be beaten up.

  146. Valid references Nazi by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    1)
    Nazi are widely known everywhere we all grow up with plenty of stuff against them so using it makes a point the most people can understand.

    2)
    Using logic labels or descriptions of behaviors sadly is not enough for most people who are ignorant of them or fail to see the value of those labels; plus the descriptions of the objectionable behavior may not convey why it is a bad thing. So using some evil group is a quick way to summarize something rather than expand upon it and take up more time. Naturally it can be misused and abused-- that is what false analogy, strawman, over simplification and ad hom exist to point out. Simply because those errors could be applied is not a reason to make connections in order to be more effective in communication.

    Nazi's are authoritarian and many times their invocation is in place of the proper description but it is not incorrect to use them or Stalin because those are examples of extreme authoritarians to which no reasonable person would object to being classified as such. That is one of the big reasons for using extreme examples, because it avoids side debates quibbling over the example when the main point is the classification they are being used as an illustration for; and quite possibly also being used for guilt-by-association (a loose association.) The grand parent meant to say authoritarian but either lacked the word or wanted to emotional charge/emphasize his statement.

    3)
    If people were properly educated, they would be well versed in the terminology of politics which is required for a functional democracy -- which we do not have - sadly, the reason for public education was to make democracy function better but it has lost out to producing worker drones at all cost, even at the cost of its founding principles. As a agrarian society without technology, literacy was not necessary, and only the most primitive math was ever used; it was also a time where actual witch hunts were possible.

  147. One problem by ThatsNotPudding · · Score: 1

    One of the flaws of US primary education, is that the inmates (bug-fuck crazy fundies and anti-government wack-jobs) run the assylums (school districts). With one of the two political parties taking great pride in short-circuiting and actively trying to destroy rational, nationally consistent public education (because an dumb populace is easier to manipulate), the return of disease is only one of many brutal consequences of paranoia, self-interest, and goodly bit of racism.

  148. Illogicial by j0ebaker · · Score: 1

    Disconnect from the emotion of this issue and try to think logically and I will too.

    If vaccines allegedly protect children from viruses by infecting them,
    And a child A has been vaccinated,
    how can child B who has not been vaccinated be a threat to a protected child?

    And is not Child A a threat to child B because Child A is carrying a live virus?

    Do they not report that sometimes innoculations will actually cause the very outcome which they are designed to protect against?

    Do you really have a good basis to trust your government?

    How do you know that what they are putting inside you isn't intended to make you more controllable?

    I would defend myself against innoculations as strongly as if someone were coming at me with a knife.
    That's just how I think of it.

    We've been conditioned to be very emotional about this issue. I hope we can someday lay aside the emotion and rationally discuss this.

  149. Compounding the problem by Roger+W+Moore · · Score: 1

    Meaning, if you don't want to vaccinate your kids, that's your right, but you shouldn't be allowed to send them to school...

    ...where they would get educated so any kids they have would be vaccinated! This will compound the problem making it worse. At the same time I would be very much against forcing someone to have a medical procedure performed. While it might benefit others with minimal risk to the person being vaccinated the same can be said of blood donation and we will end up on a slippery slope. Not to mention that while the risk of vaccination is tiny and far less that the risk from catching the disease that risk is not zero and you can imagine the outcry when someone gets unlucky and becomes seriously ill or dies from an enforced vaccination.

    1. Re:Compounding the problem by daem0n1x · · Score: 1

      Not to mention that while the risk of vaccination is tiny and far less that the risk from catching the disease that risk is not zero and you can imagine the outcry when someone gets unlucky and becomes seriously ill or dies from an enforced vaccination.

      Bullshit. The risks of vaccination are tiny, and in a much lower order of magnitude of the risks of not being vaccinated.

    2. Re:Compounding the problem by Roger+W+Moore · · Score: 1

      Bullshit. The risks of vaccination are tiny, and in a much lower order of magnitude of the risks of not being vaccinated.

      Correct - as I stated and you quoted! The risks of the vaccine are a lot lower than the risks of the disease. However lower does not mean zero - there are still risks to having a vaccine. Google it (but beware the anti-vaxxer sites!). As a scientist I fully support vaccines - all my kids have been vaccinated as have I - but it would be dishonest to claim that vaccines have zero risk and because that risk is not zero I would be strongly opposed to forcing people to have them - but all in favour about educating them as to why they should choose to have them.

    3. Re:Compounding the problem by s73v3r · · Score: 1

      I really don't care about the slippery slope. If you want to enroll your child in school, then they get vaccinated. End of story.

    4. Re:Compounding the problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Meaning, if you don't want to vaccinate your kids, that's your right, but you shouldn't be allowed to send them to school...

      ...where they would get educated so any kids they have would be vaccinated! This will compound the problem making it worse. At the same time I would be very much against forcing someone to have a medical procedure performed. While it might benefit others with minimal risk to the person being vaccinated the same can be said of blood donation and we will end up on a slippery slope. Not to mention that while the risk of vaccination is tiny and far less that the risk from catching the disease that risk is not zero and you can imagine the outcry when someone gets unlucky and becomes seriously ill or dies from an enforced vaccination.

      Ok. Don't have your kids vaccinated, and go ahead and send them to school. Without telling you, we'll have someone with those diseases roam the halls, being sure to infect everyone. Sure, more than just non-vaxxed kids will get sick, but damned near EVERY ONE of the non-vaxxed will get a vacation. Maybe next year mommy will have a different take on vaccines.

    5. Re:Compounding the problem by rs79 · · Score: 1

      Correct. I fully support vaccination, but it's not risk free; mu sister in law got Guilleme barre from one and spent six months in bed, mostly paralyzed, then she was fine. But it's an extremely rare occurence, you're (much) more likely to die from what you're being vaccinated against than be harmed by the vaccine. Plus, these things are monitored so closely it's rediclous.

      --
      Need Mercedes parts ?
  150. BULLSHIT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Either the vacine works or it doesn't. If it works then they are protected, and the only only people in danger are those unvacinated, and that is their choice.

  151. Steptoe and chickenpox... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7pyRWhRvAA

    Steptoe and Son - Christmas Special

    Start watching from 37:30.

    "You can't have chickenpox at YOUR AGE".

    Why would he say that, unless EVERYBODY had had chickenpox as children?

    What a bunch of idiots you are.

    "Everyone's had chickenpox."

    It was the NORM - EVERY child had chickenpox, measles, and mumps. So why are these diseases suddenly so 'dangerous' today? They're not dangerous at all - it's all about MONEY.

  152. Re:Student A at risk because of imperfect efficien by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Thank you for a most intelligent and informed post.

    Since you're not a native speaker, a couple of English language hints for you:

    1. It's "threshold", not "treshold". (The initial th is voiceless, as in "thin".)

    2. One disease is rampant; two diseases are contagious. (The plural has 3 syllables, and all 3 s's are voiced like z, not voiceless.)

  153. my thoughts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    On the mercury front, most don't have any. However many still have Thiomersal, which contains mercury.

    On forcing vaccines, NO ONE should be FORCED to take them, that kind of thinking does not have a end.
    The one exception on this for me would be if we are going for PLANET-wide eradication, nothing less seems acceptable for the lose of rights.

    On vaccines in general, I am OK taking the ones for majors diseases, obviously the risk benefit ratio here is huge.
    However there are ones that the risk benefit ratio is closer, in that case I question weather it is necessary.
    There have been many instances of the public being assured that something was 100% safe, then we find out later it was not, this is what worries me about vaccines (also why I stay away from artificial sweeteners and fluoride).
    EX, mercury fillings,Rofecoxib, hell at one time we were told SMOKING was good, "calmed the babies nerves"

    Note: MSc Math

  154. Sadly, this has become a religious argument by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    AC, you're right on the HepB vaccine costs/benefits for newborns and why the official recommendation is poorly thought out. What you are seeing through most of the responses to your well reasoned position is that vaccines have become a religious argument for most people on slashdot -- coupled with a moral righteous fervor like few other things on slashdot can invoke, every time this issue comes up. Suggest putting at risk of death a new person just born in this world for an issue they have no significant risk of for a decade, and people will come down on you hard. Yet, suggest to people that they are putting others at risk because they eat poorly or don't take supplemental vitamin D, and suddenly it is a freedom of lifestyle thing. It's a crazy double standard. Anyway, there are tons more reasons vaccines are problematical, from the evolution of pathogens, to the need for women to breastfeed to pass on their immunity as their immune system scans for threats, to a possible limited number of immune cells to respond to threats, to the fact that every new lot of vaccine is a crapshoot without 50 years of human testing to look for long term effects (how can it), that much disease was reduced by better sanitation and better access to fresh food, and there is vast conflict of interest in this area including that vaccines drive a pediatricians larger business, and so on. It's just really sad people have been conditioned not to see that. Keep researching. I'd suggest looking at Dr. Fuhrman's stuff on superimmunity for kids through better nutrition.

  155. Humor in the title? by migloo · · Score: 1

    Story title: "Study Finds Unvaccinated Students Putting Other Students At Risk"
    I suppose this means vaccination is not effective.

  156. Begs the Question by jmactacular · · Score: 1

    "In 2008, a measles outbreak spread in California. It was traced to a child whose parents had decided not to vaccinate him. He brought the disease back from Europe, infecting other children at his doctor's office and his classmates."

    This begs the question, were the other children and classmates that got infected, vaccinated but still got sick anyhow? Or were all of the people who got sick not vaccinated?

    While vaccinations are essential, miracles of modern science, I would still like to know what the data is on effectiveness per vaccine formulation variation and so on. For example, I've read the current whooping cough vaccine is weaker and therefore less effective than its predecessor that had some minor side effects in some people.

    1. Re:Begs the Question by router · · Score: 1

      This situation was made for lawyers. Or something.

      andy

    2. Re:Begs the Question by s73v3r · · Score: 1

      Not everyone who gets the shot develops full immunity.

    3. Re:Begs the Question by jmactacular · · Score: 1

      Right, but as a geek, aren't you curious what the numbers look like?

    4. Re:Begs the Question by rs79 · · Score: 1

      "While vaccinations are essential, miracles of modern science, I would still like to know what the data is on effectiveness per vaccine formulation variation and so on. For example, I've read the current whooping cough vaccine is weaker and therefore less effective than its predecessor that had some minor side effects in some people."

      Then you should be reading the NIH site, not Slashdot.

      Kids that didn't get their boosters are vulnerable. That's why it's important to keep on top of the vaccination schedule for kids, dogs and cats. Really icky things can happen otherwise.

      --
      Need Mercedes parts ?
  157. Chicken Pox Vaccine by Roger+W+Moore · · Score: 1

    I wouldn't say that vaccines aren't profitable. What I will say is that they're closer to computer equipment profit margins(1%), not jewelry store ones(50+%) like designer drugs have.

    Then why develop a vaccine for Chicken Pox? The rate of complications from the vaccine is comparable to the rate of complications from the disease (at least it was with the stats a few years ago). Worse, while catching chicken pox gives lifelong immunity but having the vaccine only gives ~10 years of protection (again this was as of several years ago when the vaccine was newer) so boosters are needed. However what is really terrible is that chicken pox is far more serious if you catch it as an adult. So if the vaccine immunity wears off and you forget to have a booster as an adult you can end up with a far more serious case of shingles.

    The WHO used to primarily recommend the vaccine for developed countries only as a way to reduce lost productivity due to child care while a kid had the chicken pox disease. So if drug companies do not make money from vaccines why on earth did they invent this one? There are far more important diseases out there with serious health implications - why target a relatively innocuous disease, especially one which is far more serious as an adult? Our family has had every vaccination that is recommended except for this one but when our doctor suggested that we might want to skip this one until the kids were older in order to give them a chance to catch chicken pox we thought that this was strange advice and looked up why.

    1. Re:Chicken Pox Vaccine by s73v3r · · Score: 1

      Then why develop a vaccine for Chicken Pox?

      Because it can have complications which cause some really, really bad effects?

    2. Re:Chicken Pox Vaccine by Firethorn · · Score: 1

      Then why develop a vaccine for Chicken Pox?

      My guess is that we're working our way down the list of diseases. Smallpox killed like 30% of those it infected. Huge amounts of effort went into curing/preventing it. Polio led to a lot of death and lifetime disability(grandfather never could 'walk right' after). You were 'normally' okay with measles, but it was still highly contagious and killed a fair number.

      Dangers of Varicella - Before vaccination in the USA, 4M cases per year, leading to 10-13k hospitalizations, and 100-150 deaths. After vaccination - 90% fewer cases(fewer illness absences), 70% fewer hospitalizations, and 90% reduction in death rate under 20. One of the things they look at is total costs - not just deaths. If hitting up 100% of the population with a $20 vaccine will stop a 1% hospitalization rate costing an average of $100k, no deaths, they'll recommend it. Will said $20 vaccine prevent, on average, 4 hours of work lost? (most lose no time, but some are out for 2 weeks...)

      As for the longevity of the vaccination - Turns out that, much like herpes, you're never totally clear of the Varicella virus once you've had it - when you're older and your immune system weakens a bit, it can come 'roaring' back, now known as "shingles". Dad got it. Mom might of. I'm at risk, and will need the vaccine when I get older to ensure that I don't get it. Looking at the wiki page, it mentions that 90% of people are still protected(immune) in Japan after 20 years, the current data is shorter in the USA at 10(but studies are ongoing...).

      Then again, CDC's adult vaccination page says NOTHING is said there being a 'once a decade' booster. It's a two shot series, but that's not actually all that unusual - one vaccination I have was a serious of six shots, plus annual booster(anthrax). Should we stop giving Tetanus shots? That's the one that I see that is recommended every 10 years. What about Flu? Of course, 'Flu' is actually thousands of related viruses, and the annual 'Flu Shot' is actually a mix of 3 vaccines for 'best guess' at the common strains. Immunity lasts longer - So if strain 123 was predicted last year to be big and is predicted to be big again this year, they might not put it in the mix because the people who get the shot every year would already be immune(lots of extra data and statisticians are used to make this determination).

      If there was a real problem with kids who got their CDC recommended second dose at around 6 years losing immunity at 16, there would be a recommended booster. There isn't. There isn't even a recommended booster at 26(if it lasted the 20 years that Japan has confirmed thus far).

      --
      I don't read AC A human right
  158. Survival of the Fittest by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Everyone knows that vaccines only kill off the weaker pathogens leaving a super race of only the most deadly ones.

  159. Re:Interesting Enough by the+eric+conspiracy · · Score: 1

    If we had to prove technologies were safe before we started using them fire would have never been accepted and we'd still be living in cold dark caves eating raw meat.

  160. Re:SCAREMONGERING. by budgenator · · Score: 1

    Well not a crime against humanity, but I certain would consider a child who wasn't vaccinated due to personal belief against a disease, who then got the disease would be chargeable for child neglect. After all if it's God's will your that your child gets a disease or not, then it follows that if you go to prison if the un-vaccinated child gets ill, then it's God's will that your sorry ass rots away in prison.

    --
    Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
  161. Vaccination Belief? by Riddler+Sensei · · Score: 1

    Last year we were getting free vaccinations from our work place but you had to sign up for them. One of my co-workers op-ed out stating that he didn't "believe in vaccines". I responded, "Vaccines aren't ghosts. You don't get to NOT believe in them.".

  162. Yep. (More about polio vaccines & group immun by Ungrounded+Lightning · · Score: 1

    Very good explanation.

    One way to think about "group immunity" it is to compare disease spread to a nuclear reactor. Push in the control rods until one slow neutron produces less than one new one on the average and the reaction peters out. Pull them out until it produces more than one and the reaction grows exponentially. Same with a case of disease causing more or less than one new case on the average.

    Another way to think about it is that only the susceptible population matters for disease transmission. The immune are just background (like furniture) who might carry contagion on their surface until they're cleaned or it degrades, but won't generate new bugs. If there are too few potential victims the disease peters out, just as if there were only so few people wandering around in a wilderness that a sick person, while contagious, encounters less than one other person on the average.

    Too many skipping the vaccination means the population of susceptibles becomes dense enough for an epidemic to occur. If only those who skipped out got sick the rest of us wouldn't care. But I hear the no-immunity-developed rate for typical vaccinations is often the two-digit percentages. So a lot of people could be hurt if a disease gets going again. Further, even if the multiplier on the exponential IS above one, the higher it is the faster the disease spreads. So keeping it down makes it possible to contain and extinguish occasional outbreaks (with supplemental vaccinations, quarantine, increased sanitation, reduced interpersonal contact, and other public health measures), as was done late in the elimination of smallpox. Anti-vaxx ideologues and their victims defeat this, as well.

    Re: Polio: For a long time there were two types of vaccine: Salk and Sabin. (These days there may be more. Like something assembled from biotech-generated virus components made without any actual virus involved.)

    Salk was the first: It was made of killed virus. The surface proteins provoke the immune reaction. It has a slight risk of producing full-blown polio, if some virus doesn't get killed. (In the very early days there was a significant amount of that: Turns out the virus crystalizes under some conditions. When that happens the virus in the middle of the crystal doesn't all get killed. Oops! They got that figured out pretty quick and made sure the conditions weren't right in the killing stage. Meanwhile, even with a few cases caused by early defective batches of vaccine, they were still ahead of the then-rampant natural transmission.)

    Sabin was the second. It is a "weakened virus", a live, mutated, version of the virus that doesn't cause paralysis. (Think of polio as a cold that happens to look enough like motor nerves that, once you've had it, your body now thinks motor nerves are a disease and attacks them. Sabin vaccine gives you the cold, doesn't look enough like nerves to give you paralysis, but DOES look enough like wild polio that if you've had one you're immune to the other. Just like cowpox vs. smallpox.) It was preferred because actually having a disease gives much longer-lasting immunity than just being exposed to its components (plus an "adjuvant" to do enough damage to signal the body something is bad.) Also: As a live virus it is contagious. Thus the immunization is also contagious. If a few kids in a school don't get the vaccine, they may still get the "cold". And it doesn't need to be injected - just eat the sugar cube with the pink drop on it. The risk is that, very occasionally, the virus may mutate BACK into real, paralytic polio - and spread.

    --
    Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
  163. Re:SCAREMONGERING. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Unlike a drug like Viagra where then can spent a bunch of money researching it, then make pills that have a nearly indefinite shelf life and they do not have to start over every year unless some terrible side effect is found.

    You do realize that the research dollars for Sildenafil were mostly spent trying to create a drug to treat hypertension, right?

  164. Re:No, they're right! by s73v3r · · Score: 1

    Tell me, how well did your theory pan out during the heyday of polio and smallpox?

  165. The Unvaccinated by gizmo_mathboy · · Score: 1

    The biggest problem with that anti-vax movement is that the herd immunity protects not just the unvaccinated that the infected mingle with both those that get the disease third hand. People like young babies that can't get a vaccination because they are too young.

    Babies that wouldn't normally get whooping cough or measles or such because they were exposed to it because a sibling or parent (who was probably vaccinated) was exposed to a disease they then carried home.

    If we're starting to stop people from smoking in bars because of second hand smoke we sure as hell can force most everyone to be vaccinated because of third hand infections.

  166. Re:No, they're right! by s73v3r · · Score: 1

    Again, tell me, how well do you think your solution would have worked during the heyday of smallpox, or polio?

  167. Re:No, they're right! by argormar · · Score: 0

    It is known to have worked out great for immunity, just like I originally said. Thanks for asking.

    It even helped us beyond the original diseases:

    http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050307/full/news050307-15.html

  168. Clarifying some confusion by zooblethorpe · · Score: 1

    Yeah. Ask anyone who's ever had to get a 'booster' shot (pretty much everyone, if they've gone to the doctor and been tested for it) how effective their first shot was. You know, the first shot that was supposed to give them life-long immunity.

    Booster shots exist precisely because numerous types of vaccine are well-understood to *not* confer lifelong immunity. Tetanus immunizations, for instance, generally last for 10 years.

    I'm not sure where you came under the impression that all vaccinations are "supposed to give [you] life-long immunity", but that's simply just not the case: you appear to be confused, or misinformed.

    Cheers,

    --
    "What in the name of Fats Waller is that?"
    "A four-foot prune."
  169. Almost every person with a healthy natural immune system exposed to Poliovirus will brush it off with no symptoms and gain additional lifelong protection.

    Wrong.

    in fact, a strong immune system increases the risk of paralysis. The virus masquerades as nerve sheathes to try to delay immune system response by triggering a mechanism that protects motor nerves. If the immune system isn't fooled it will often go on to attack motor nerves as well, which is what causes the paralysis. (It's similar to Multiple Sclerosis, which can develop from an allergy to cow's milk.)

    5% [of those exposed] will have mild symptoms such as fever. Paralysis occurs in 1 of every 1000 of this 5%, and it's theorized that this group has genetic and anatomic susceptibility.

    Whose behind did you pull those numbers out of? The CDC's MMWR has the fraction of paralytic vs. non-paralytic cases (in the years they distinguished them before the vaccines started knocking the numbers down) running in the 35%-48% range, not the 0.01% you claim. Given that, I also chose to reject your 5% number for "any noticeable symptoms at all among those exposed."

    A polio victim's organization has a fine summary of those numbers, for those who don't want to look up decades of CDC reports and do their own math.

    --
    Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
  170. My kids are not vaccinated by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    After a high percentage of their cousins had sever and life changing medical conditions from vaccines, we passed on them. There seems to be something on my wife's side of the family, which does not agree with vaccines. We then moved to a small remote town with a low population that almost never leaves the area, and purchased a "vacation" cabin in the middle of nowhere. In the case of any outbreak we can home school the kids, and in the case of something huge we can retreat to the cabin. I'm not excited about not vaccinating them, but I'm glad I had a choice. Now it's up to them to make the choice. I also hope that a more mature body might be a good defense against whatever happened to their cousins.

    Their cousins from different parents came down with autism spectrum disorder shortly after vaccination. I've been told its' impossible, but it started within a day of vaccination in all cases. It was like day and night.

  171. Re:SCAREMONGERING. by s73v3r · · Score: 1

    Drunk driving vs. flu deaths? Wow....

    I wish people would stop comparing vaccines with things wildly unrelated.

    He was comparing the number of deaths annually from something that is largely preventable. If you can't see how those things are related, then you have no business commenting on here.

  172. On autism and vitamin D etc.... by Paul+Fernhout · · Score: 1

    http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health-conditions/neurological-conditions/autism/
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/autism-research-discovery_b_794967.html

    Another indirect datapoint about the link between autism an vitamin D deficiency: http://www.futurity.org/health-medicine/higher-autism-risk-for-march-conception/

    It may also turn out that some children are better at dealing with excreting heavy metals and other toxins than others for whatever reasons. See also Dr. David Brownstein on Iodine and Dr. Joel Fuhrman on vegetables and children's nutrition.

    A book on dealing with tough times when all else fails:
    "Dark Nights Of The Soul: A Guide To Finding Your Way Through Life's Ordeals"
    http://books.google.com/books?id=RKZreNYKNHQC

    Good luck!

    --
    A 21st century issue: the irony of technologies of abundance in the hands of those still thinking in terms of scarcity.
    1. Re:On autism and vitamin D etc.... by Firethorn · · Score: 1

      It may also turn out that some children are better at dealing with excreting heavy metals and other toxins than others for whatever reasons.

      Almost certainly true, however the point remains that the amount of mercury in the thimerosal contained within the vaccines that contained them is insignificant, even if it's not eventually excreted. Elemental Mercury does tend to bio-accumulate, after all. One would look more at the mercury releases from coal power plants in such a case though. Heck, emissions from vehicle tailpipes. Environmental exposure from other sources such as toxic paint.

      On vitamin D - Some sun-lamps tuned to allow babies to best produce the vitamin D they might need would be good - reading the wiki page shows that excessive amounts can cause serious problems, but don't point towards any mental conditions traced to it. You can't OD vitamin D on the basis of sunlight, you can with diet - Toxic dose for D is less than 5 times the daily mRDA.

      --
      I don't read AC A human right
    2. Re:On autism and vitamin D etc.... by Paul+Fernhout · · Score: 1

      "Toxic dose for D is less than 5 times the daily mRDA."

      That comment on vitamin D toxicity is misleading, and that misinformation has caused untold huge amounts of suffering in the industrialized world. (Even ignoring that you have not specified a time period -- in one day, in one year, in ten years?) See: http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/about-vitamin-d/what-is-vitamin-d/vitamin-d-toxicity/

      In general, Wikipedia medical information tends to be extremely mainstream, so you should be cautious when relying on it if you have a serious health issue. There is so much conflict-of-interest and group-think in the mainstream medical system that it is hard to sort through it all. Here are links to relations between vitamin D deficiency and mental issues (see the sidebar):
      http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health-conditions/mental-health-and-learning-disorders/
      And related to autism specifically, see:
      http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/news-archive/2009/new-harvard-paper-on-autism/

      To explore why your statement is misleading, first, here is what the US government says on vitamin D RDAs for reference:
      http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminD-HealthProfessional/
      Also summarized here:
      http://www.vitamind3-cholecalciferol.com/vitamin-d-rda.htm

      The US RDA for Vitamin D for a child or adult (currently 600 IU per day, recently raised) effectively is the same for a 30 pound child as a 300 pound adult; how can that make any sense, given that vitamin D is used by every cell in the body? (The level of 400 IU D3 daily for a newborn infant is probably OK though.)

      I am not sure what you mean by "mRDA" whether minimum RDA or maximum Upper Limit (UL). The maximum upper limit there is currently 2,500-4000 IU D3 daily depending on age (after being recently raised from much lower amounts) or about four to seven times the minimum RDA. Again, it is about the same for a 30 pound child as a 300 pound adult. (And that is after the maximum upper limit was recently increased a lot.) Those maximums for children and adults are more likely what the daily US RDA should be, and the real maximums are probably a few times higher than that for most people.

      If you meant mRDA as minimum RDA, then your statement is just clearly wrong, because five times is pretty much below the upper limit now accepted as safe by even mainstream-conservative medical boards.

      But, let me assume, charitably, that you meant maximum "Upper Limit" by "mRDA". So, you are then suggesting that the toxic level for vitamin D supplementation is less that five times the UL published by the Food and Nutrition Board, which would mean toxicity at 12,500 to 20,000 IU D3? But you did not specify even a time amount (per day, for how long?). It's been said: "The dose makes the poison." So it is hard to know what you mean by that. Charitably, let me assume you meant taking that amount daily over a period of several years?

      But consider this. Most people with sufficient sun exposure in a day, like wearing bathing suit at the beach in summer in the USA around noon, will make about 10,000-50,000 IU D3 (in about 15-30 minutes if you are light skinned, and about two to four hours if you are dark skinned). That is between about 15 and 100 times above the US RDA of vitamin D. It is about two-and-a-half to twelve times the "upper limit". How can what you suggest (that a toxic amount is less that five times the maximum RDA which would be less that 20,000 IU, assuming the most defensible interpretation of what you wrote) be true then if the body makes so much when exposed to sunlight? It pretty much can't, at least not wit

      --
      A 21st century issue: the irony of technologies of abundance in the hands of those still thinking in terms of scarcity.
    3. Re:On autism and vitamin D etc.... by Firethorn · · Score: 1

      Wow... It's like you wrote a paper for me. Sorry it took so long to reply, had to digest your post in bits between work.

      In general, Wikipedia medical information tends to be extremely mainstream, so you should be cautious when relying on it if you have a serious health issue.

      RDA is trumped by individualized advice by a doctor, which you should be talking to if you have a 'serious health issue'. I was talking about the impression you gave that more Vitamin D could prevent autism, in which case you DO need to concern yourself with toxicity. Oh, and the 5X dose was for babies, I'm sorry didn't make that explicit enough. Baby = 0-1 years of age. Heck, Canada is even tighter - RDA of 400 IU for 0-1, Max of 1k IU. A baby's food supply should be strictly monitored and controlled, but that's still a fairly tight range. As I was talking about infant levels I'm going to ignore the rest of the OD stuff(and calling me an idiot) as irrelevant, especially given that my response was simply 'expose them to a light designed to stimulate natural production of Vitamin D, that way you don't have to worry about OD'. A sort of 'infant tanning/Vitamin D light' with a 20 minute timer should work excellent(might need to dose twice with really dark infants).

      Oh, and I found the retardation angle - OD of vitamin D in the mother during pregnancy can do it(per wiki).

      The US RDA for Vitamin D for a child or adult (currently 600 IU per day, recently raised) effectively is the same for a 30 pound child as a 300 pound adult; how can that make any sense, given that vitamin D is used by every cell in the body? (The level of 400 IU D3 daily for a newborn infant is probably OK though.)

      How can that make sense? Metabolism, basically. Kids are growing, most 300 pounds adults should be shrinking. Cell division, bone growth, all take relatively massive amounts of resources. Thus, and I was a bit surprised about this myself, starting at around 6 years old kids have the same 2k calorie recommended diet as adults. 600 IU vs 40k for the start of toxicity is a difference of 67 times, much safer, but like I said, I was going off the infant recommendations.

      mRDA = minimum recommeded daily allowance. As for your rant about not specifying duration of the dose; well, it's in the acronym - DAILY Dose, presumably over an extended period of time. You wrote a paper, I wrote 2 paragraphs, one of which was about something completely different. You expect me to be entirely scientific accurate in a 2 sentence paragraph? I was rounding, not trying to hit every case, etc...

      So, that is why your statement is very misleading. It may well scare some vitamin D deficient people away from supplementing at the appropriate levels.

      Hey, I was recommending a sun-lamp for infants(assuming the caretakers aren't willing to expose them to actual sunlight); not an adult supplementation schedule. Even then you need to be careful to not exceed the 20 minute schedule for light skinned infants - don't want to burn them.

      Reading your paper, I can't help but think that there is a difference between dietary D3 and D3 generated from solar exposure - you can OD from dietery(though in adults it takes massive amounts), but natural reactions prevent OD from the generation from solar exposure. It's also fat soluble; any negative effects of not enough can take quite a while to show up.

      But when have you ever heard of a kid eating a container of vitamin D and having any problems?

      The most common supplements out there are multivitamins, and Iron is the first thing in them that you'll OD on? You don't have incredible numbers of people out there with kids and VitD pills.

      However, producing all your Vitamin D through the skin exposes your skin to the aging process of sunlight exposure, so it is problematical to get it all that

      --
      I don't read AC A human right
  173. Re:Agreed by s73v3r · · Score: 1

    My point was that coercion is not harmony. It is violence. It is immoral and unjust, the polar opposite of harmony. I will believe this until the day I die.

    I'm sorry, but your conclusion is completely off base here. Society having rules for being part of society is NOT coercion. It is part of a people's right to self-determination.

  174. Re:Agreed by s73v3r · · Score: 1

    Oh, I grasp it. The solution to human nature is coercion. Violence. Threats. Physical force. Am I right? It sure works for the animal kingdom.

    But there's absolutely none of that at play here. So your conclusion is completely wrong.

  175. Another take on rights and responsibilities by Paul+Fernhout · · Score: 1

    "Your right to swing your fist ends at the tip of my nose. Not having your kid eat whole mainly nutritious foods like Dr. Joel Fuhrman outlines in "Disease-Proof Your Child: Feeding Kids Right" and "Super Immunity: The Essential Nutrition Guide for Boosting Your Body's Defenses to Live Longer, Stronger, and Disease Free", or not breastfeeding for the first two to four years, or not getting plentiful sleep, or not getting lots of outdoor exercise in the sunlight plus supplemental vitamin D, or not getting enough iodine and omega-3s, or not homeschooling and working from home to avoid disease transmission centers like schools and workplaces, or not living in a relatively stress-free home exposes mine to potentially life-threatening disease because yours has an immune system working less than optimally. If you think that the (vanishingly small) risk of complications from living a healthy lifestyle or short-term difficulties of breaking out of the "pleasure trap" your family is stuck in ( http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/article16.aspx ) is more important than my (well-nourished) kid's risk of contracting a disease that has mutated inside your (poorly fed) kid.. well, you're bad at math. And, a selfish short-sighted asshole.

    I've never really understood why it is that something you were going to do anyway becoming mandatory means that you should automatically resist it. You've lost nothing except the choice you weren't going to make, and society has benefited. Making eating well and getting good sleep and playing outdoors in the sunshine and so forth mandatory is not the same as Hitler storming across Europe, get a grip. If the slope were really that slippery, we would have fallen down into the abyss a long long time ago.

    Obligatory car analogy: Sure, you have the right to drive around with faulty brakes. At least in this state, you do not need working brakes to pass the yearly inspection. You can argue that you're risking nobody except yourself.. except, you're not. Your passengers, and the other people on the roads that you slam into because you can't stop, would disagree.

    Part of living in a civilized society is recognizing when your actions have consequences for others that have no say in the matter. Yes, you can make the choice not to feed your kid really well or to send your kid daily to a disease transmission center like a public or private school. But realize that your actions have consequences for others. (It may come as a shock to you that there are other people in the world besides you and your child.) One of the major problems we (USA) have as a society is the attitude of "I've got mine, fuck you." Take responsibility for your choice; keep your kid away from mine. If your idealism leads to my kid's death.. then it's not worth protecting. Die for your ideals if you want; it's your life to throw away."

    FTFY.

    --
    A 21st century issue: the irony of technologies of abundance in the hands of those still thinking in terms of scarcity.
  176. Re:SCAREMONGERING. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The hole in your logic has a four lane highway running through it.

    Facts man, you dont have any of them. Go get some.

  177. As a father to be by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I've been paying more attention to this issue. My partner is anti-vaccine, and I have to admit that I now share some of her concerns. We are both pro-science educated common sense people. Being in the naturopath industry she naturally takes on a more holistic stance on health issues.

    The vaccines that you and I got as a kid are not the same as today (in Canada at least). Today it's a cocktail of about 30 different vaccines with such things as H1N1 Contrast this to about 5 vaccines from 30 years ago. It's completely overkill. All this is administered to an infant during a time when their immune systems are still developing, thereby possibly jeopardizing their natural immune system development. The likelihood of a fatality of H1N1 is close to nil. I have issue with the brute attitude of over vaccination for the off chance.

    Can you select which vaccines you want -no. Can you get mercury free vaccines -no. Unfortunately it's a situation of take it all or leave it, and this is what prompts parents to hold off. The debate has also been in terms of "if you don't vaccine you're an anti-science idiot, and your kids deserve to die from karmic darwinism", thereby leaving out any broad discussion of exactly how vaccines are handled in the health industry. I don't wear a tin foil hat, but I do hold scepticism towards large pharmaceutical motives. Do you trust the word of Monsanto and McDonalds with regards to health? Of course not -their interests lie elsewhere. So, why should I trust the motives behind a super cocktail of vaccines pushed by pharmaceuticals?

    We're currently looking for alternatives (none so far) for the essential life threatening deceases like polio, measles etc. We both want our child to be immunized, it's just a bit more of a complex situation.

  178. Re:Why do the Vaccine's need to be filled with CRA by hackus · · Score: 1

    Your an idiot.

    Injectng mercury is a far cry from biological digestion, and the results are not even close chemically, or the causality that results from the delivery systems to the neurological systems vs DNA damage.

    Totally different issues and either one could be the cause for the rise in autism. (Vaccines vs Increase in seafood products/by products in food manufacturing.)

    -Hack

    --
    Got Geometrodynamics? Awe, too hard to figure out? Too bad.
  179. Study says... by hackus · · Score: 1

    If we don't vaccinate everyone, the pharma companies lose profits.

    There is absolutely no reason to get vaccines unless there is a outbreak in progress. Genomics has show us that outbreaks of viral diseases require elaborate and extensive study in populations to create a vaccine in an outbreak.

    Getting a Vaccine for a season is a marketing ploy, and will not help at all if there is no acute outbreak in the general population.

    When you see hospitals nation wide filling up, by all means, get a vaccine.

    -Hack

    --
    Got Geometrodynamics? Awe, too hard to figure out? Too bad.
  180. Re:Why do the Vaccine's need to be filled with CRA by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

    "Your an idiot."

    Possibly, but at least I can spell. Seriously, do you open all your conversations like that?

    "Injectng mercury is a far cry from biological digestion, and the results are not even close chemically, or the causality that results from the delivery systems to the neurological systems vs DNA damage."

    Injection and digestion are different, and the effects are potentially different. However, if you actually bother to look it up, you'll find that ingested methylmercury is absorbed readily and completely by the gastrointestinal tract, so there's not really that much difference between drinking methylmercury and shooting it up. And no chemical difference. Now, methyl mercury, which is most of what you get from water and fish, is not the same thing as thimerosal, which is the preservative used in some vaccines. but the OP was afraid of "mercury," not any particular kind of mercury.

    I can't address the second part of your run on sentence because it doesn't make sense.

    Totally different issues and either one could be the cause for the rise in autism. (Vaccines vs Increase in seafood products/by products in food manufacturing.)

    No, actually. Thimerosal is almost certainly (as very, very, very, very likely) not in any way linked to autism. There have been a LOT of studies on that, due to the fraudulent and unethical work of Dr. Wakefield and the ensuing hooplah. As someone else pointed out, thimerosal was even removed from most vaccines some time ago, and that had no effect whatsoever on autism rates.

    I'm not aware of any specific research looking at methylmercury exposure (from fish) and autism. Methylmercury poisoning can produce lowered IQ and attention problems. I don't know if it's ever been linked to more autism-like symptoms. However, a quick glance at some numbers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epidemiology_of_autism) doesn't show any obvious trend to increased autism rates in fish eating countries, not even in Japan (a high fish consuming nation) where methylmercury pollution has been a huge problem.

    -Hack

    Oh, do you write a medical column in a newspaper or magazine?

  181. Re:SCAREMONGERING. by wisnoskij · · Score: 1

    If they mad 5 cents per vaccination they would be that profitable with so many people using them.
    And I bet they make a hell of a lot more, this is even ignoring research money.

    --
    Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
  182. Re:Why do the Vaccine's need to be filled with CRA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I am not going to try looking up to see if the following is 100% accurate, but Washington state has exemptions for personal beliefs, religious beliefs, and medical issues. I think in order to get the former two you need to discuss the risks with a doctor, but I could be wrong about it. I agree that the parent should be fully informed before being granted any sort of waiver. However, we need to respect the personal and religious beliefs of those who don't belief in injecting foreign substances (viruses) in their body when it's otherwise healthy, even if it is statistically "foolish".

    If I'm not mistaken, if there is an outbreak, you get pulled out of school if you're not vaccinated. And I think it'd be a good idea to encourage children to have good hygiene in order to reduce the risk further.

  183. If my cat hasn't got her shots up to date,... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If my cat hasn't got her shots up to date, I am not allowed to leave her at the cat boarding house. This is because she has FIV or another illness, and my pass it on to the other cats.

    Why should parent be allowed to send their unvaccinated kids to the same kindergarten or school where I send my boy?

    Free choice is fine, but don't pass whooping cough or polio onto my son.

    1. Re:If my cat hasn't got her shots up to date,... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Typo:

      Was meant to read:

      This is because IF she has FIV or another illness, SHE my pass it on to the other cats.

  184. Re:No, they're right! by strack · · Score: 1

    i think youll find that modern sewage systems had a much more profound impact on the spread of disease than vaccines.

  185. Autism by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    With more and more evidence surfacing about the dangers of vaccination, I can say that I will never have my children vaccinated. Also who's grand idea was it to put mercury and aluminium into the vaccines. Both do serious harm to the human body.

    The human immune system is more then enough to get through most anything. Humans have been around for millions of years in various forms and vaccination has only been around for less then 100. Im not saying that modern medical science is useless, but until someone can prove that vaccinations are 100% safe and remove the mercury from them then I will refuse to allow my children to be poisoned.

  186. Re:Interesting Enough by SirCowMan · · Score: 1

    By CDC numbers, 96% of the US population has received the pertussis vaccine. The vaccine is '71-85% effective' according to a search engine summary of the pertussis Wikipedia page.

    Let us imagine environmentally exposing 1,000 people to the disease: say the chance of acquiring this disease being 10%, 96% of the people are vaccinated, and the vaccine is completely effective 75% of the time (75% effective), completely useless otherwise.

    Without the vaccine, a similar 1,000 exposed people would have 100 acquiring and suffering from the disease..

    With a 96% vaccination rate, 960 of the 1,000 exposed would have had the vaccine (vs. 40 that have not). 10% acquiring the disease is again 100 people. Of those 100 infections, the breakdown would now be 96 vaccinated vs. 4 non-vaccinated people.
    Of 96 vaccinated people, only 75% are effectively vaccinated -> 96 x 0.75 = 72, so the remaining 24 are no better off than not having been vaccinated at all.

    This means there are 24 + 4 = 28 total infected and suffering people. 24 vaccinated folks amongst 28 means 85% of infected and suffering people were vaccinated. In comparison though, 72% of those suffering from infections in the 1,000 no-vaccine scenario are prevented in the 96% vaccination scenario (96% x 75%).

    This, of course, is meant to be entirely illustrative, but the point should be evident: the expectation is that vaccinated people will be over-represented in samples where the population's vaccination levels are high and the vaccine is less than 100% effective.

    --
    !Equality through palindromes semordnilap hguorht ytilauqE!
  187. Re:No, they're right! by rs79 · · Score: 1

    I think you'll find modern sewage systems actually spread the SARS virus. A vaccine would have been better.

    http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2003/pr70/en/

    --
    Need Mercedes parts ?
  188. Re:SCAREMONGERING. by rs79 · · Score: 1

    " I'm sorry, I fail to see the similarities between optional alternative "therapies" and a mandatory government-required system of vaccinations of which any and all profits roll into the same large companies. If the program was not profitable, the drug companies wouldn't produce the vaccines -- their boards of directors would shoot them (and they'd be legally fiscally accountable to their shareholders & boards for running a program at a deficit for decades...). So you have to assume that it brings in some type of profit -- or the companies wouldn't produce them. "

    That's not how it works. The government, in the form of an NIH/CDC proceeding, will identify a vaccine that, say, everyone needs to get. Then they call the drug companies in and have a little talk and basically say this is what we need, how much. If they price is more than reasonable they suggest it's national security and they'll be taking the plant and the army will make it now how much and they agree on a price and they roll out the vaccine.

    It's best not to talk about things you know nothing about; passing on a hypothesis as fact isn't such a great idea either.

    --
    Need Mercedes parts ?
  189. Possible links between autism & D3 & nutri by Paul+Fernhout · · Score: 1
    --
    A 21st century issue: the irony of technologies of abundance in the hands of those still thinking in terms of scarcity.
  190. Re:SCAREMONGERING. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Since vaccines in many cases produce life-long adverse effects, among which allergies are the most prominent, how can you argue vaccines are not a business. The margin overall depends on the scale of the production and this is exactly why drug companies lobby and get the mandatory vaccine list longer and longer.

    Drug companies do not want you to contract a disease which is a one-off. Also, they do not want you to be dead, either (you cannot pay if you're dead). What they definitely want is a perpetual business and vaccines provide it through: (1) many rounds of vaccination against the same disease (2) allergies which is a superb business to be in - the patients pay through the nose for the rest of their lives.

  191. Re:SCAREMONGERING. by Reziac · · Score: 1

    "Alternate hypothesis ; anti-vaxxers are actually a shadowy conspiracy of the radical Green movement who want the human race thinning out a bit to lower our impact on Mother Earth."

    From some of the other activities I know of from the radical greens, ARs, and suchlike, there is probably more than a tad of fact in that hypothesis. Their goals are often the "unintended consequences", not the obvious.

    --
    ~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
  192. question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    authority

  193. overvaccination by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Science is the current state of knowledge about the incomprehensible magic known as nature. Anybody claiming otherwise, please read scientific views of about anything but some 200 years back in time. Many human inventions, with time, turn out to be good money-makers but very rarely, especially in chemical/medical science, do they stay as clear advancements. Vaccines fit the bill very nicely here.

  194. To all you anti-vaxxers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    To all you anti-vaxxers who try to arrogantly argue with doctors who have far more medical knowledge than you do: I know you won't listen to rational argument, so perhaps you will listen to an emotive argument:

    I am a doctor, yes the obsessive kind that actually reads and researchers medical literature out of interest and fun. My daughter (currently 3-years old) has up to date with all her vaccinations per the schedule. I even paid for vaccinations that weren't on the schedule, particularly varicella to the cost of USD$100 when she was only 12 months old. (Varicella is not covered on the schedule in New Zealand, cf USA). PS: medicines in NZ are much cheaper in NZ than USA, even those that are unsubsidised.

    Not only that, over the last 5-years I have paid for a number vaccinations for myself personally to the tune of about USD$700, including Gardasil (there is some evidence of effectiveness even after exposure to sex/HPV). I also get the annual influenza vaccine (provided free by my employer).

    Now, if that doesn't satisfy you, please choose your response:
    1. I am so corrupted by the drug companies that I am willing to pay $800 to get that $5 worth of kickbacks (in case you miss the sarcasm, I don't get anything).
    2. I am a heartless father that is trying to give my daughter autism
    3. I am so stupid and deluded that I have no business being a doctor.

  195. They by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1
    Put ALL of us at risk.

    If these abysmally stupid parents, who get their science info from a Playboy model and a thoroughly discredited "researcher" who was in cahoots with a lawyer in a cynical scheme to make money were just taking themselves from the gene pool, that would be a general plus for humanity.

    Unfortunately, they are endangering their children, other people's children, and other adults with their stupidity.

    In my mind, a parent that refuses to get their eligible child vaccinated, is as guilty of child abuse as a parent who deliberately harms their child, or refuses to get their child treatment for an easily treated condition that is otherwise fatal. Child abusers all.

    Otherwise I have no strong feelings on the matter.

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  196. ProVaxers are their own worst enemy. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The pro vaccine group are their own worst enemy. I cannot have a reasonable discussion with any I have tried so far (both online and in person). My children have received their scheduled vaccinations but they and I will not get the seasonal flu vaccine. Why? It doesn't work as advertised and has more risk than reward. Pure and simple. If you think it does please address the reviews by the doctors and researchers a cochrane.org as a start. Keep in mind that the folks at cochrane.org are not anti-vax, see most vaccines as being worthwhile and see no link between autism, allergies etc and vaccines.

    http://summaries.cochrane.org/CD001269/vaccines-to-prevent-influenza-in-healthy-adults
    http://summaries.cochrane.org/CD004879/vaccines-for-preventing-influenza-in-healthy-children

    By insisting (adamantly and quite ignorantly too I must say) that I am just a "anti-vax nutjob" and that I should "have my kids taken away" the pro vaxers really succeed in making me view them as just a bunch of brainwashed losers (just as I view the other side in this psuedo religious war). By claiming that all vaccines work and should be forced on people they are just as clueless as those they oppose.

    Every medical intervention needs to be evaluated independently. IMHO most vaccines have a risk reward ratio worth taking a chance with my kids health on. The seasonal flu vaccine does not. So before you force my kids to get the seasonal flu vaccine please address the research of cochrane.org and Dr Lisa Jackson who clearly showed that the healthy user effect was responsible for the vast majority of life saving claimed for the flu vaccine.

    Jackson’s findings showed that outside of flu season, the baseline risk of death among people who did not get vaccinated was approximately 60 percent higher than among those who did, lending support to the hypothesis that on average, healthy people chose to get the vaccine, while the “frail elderly” didn’t or couldn’t. In fact, the healthy-user effect explained the entire benefit that other researchers were attributing to flu vaccine, suggesting that the vaccine itself might not reduce mortality at all.

  197. Re:SCAREMONGERING. by MightyYar · · Score: 1

    It's so not-profitable that the government has to pull on Merck to keep making them.

    --
    W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
  198. Free Vaccines should be mandatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    When I was a kid, they vaccinated the lot of us in elementary school for some things. Maybe we were poorer than the average crowd and that's why they sent the vaccinators to us. I thought that was the norm for school. They also did an eye clinic to see if any vision problems existed in 4th grade. But for dental stuff, we just got the advertisement crap (comics, a sample of XXest or XXlgate, and the silly tablet you put in your mouth to see where it turns red to show you how much better you need to be brushing your teeth.)

    I agree with you whole-heartedly that they should provide free vaccinations for all as needed. And that they ought not let un-vaccinated kids into the schools. They did that for a while in colleges: if college kids couldn't prove measles vaccinations, they had to be vaccinated or they couldn't register for classes that semester. (SDSU 1995? 1996? Beuler... Anybody remember???)

    http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3072769&cid=41127913

  199. Re: poor people are covered by medicaid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Some states have started the push of making it harder for the poor and needy to actually assert their ability to collect anything for which they are qualified. Examples abound:

    Florida unemployment system: phones that go unanswered, the "runaround" when you do get someone on the phone; changing rules as the game goes on.

    California's Medi-Cal system: Jerry Brown is fixing a lot of the mistakes that his predecessor and Grey did earlier on, but check the details on actually trying to enroll your children into the system.

    Florida's band-aid Medical system: Rick Scott, Florida's governor (and former HCA CEO when HCA was indicted and found guilty of medicare fraud and fined billions of dollars [but that's another diatribe]) has been forcing Medicaid patients into "Medicaid HMOs" in many counties and making it difficult for pediatric patients to be added to the system.

    All states: good luck finding a doctor who is willing to take on Medicare or Medi-cal or Medicaid patients as new ongoing (non-emergency patients).

    And also search for "balance billing" by emergency room physicians and for the presence of debt collectors sneaking into emergency rooms and forcing (yes intimidating and FORCING by implying that they must pay before getting any medical care) ER patients into paying debts that may not even legally be owed. (search bill collectors in the emergency room)

    Anonymous non-Cowardice

    ----
    md5sum message2
    f81f05afa9d93d13a7e271cf83dfe467 message2

  200. Not so fast by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What risk are vaccinated students facing? The statnent should be "Unvaccinated students place other unvaccinated students at risk". And the risk is even somewhat further mitigated by their family's attention being focused on health care.

  201. Health Risks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The choice should belong to the community and the parents. We have to be able to begin the dialog that eventually causes the community to say No. After all, some bright health care experts had us willing to spray DDT everywhere, as part of the effort to combat Polio before the vaccine was available. And the first polio vaccine trials were a disaster, too.

    A parent's willingness to say no is the only check and balance we have against miguided public health care policies. Do not always assume the health care people are right. They sometimes aren't, and you don't want to discover that with a large public program.

  202. Darwin Awards by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is one way to cut down the cost of Social Security and Medicare.

  203. Completely innocent question... by Psychophrenes · · Score: 1

    Have all comments that may have a thread of opinion against vaccines been censored?
    That is, unless there's something about discussions that I don't understand...
    I'm browsing /. with a -1 filter, shouldn't I get all the nasty stuff and trolls and everything in between?

  204. Re: poor people are covered by medicaid by MightyYar · · Score: 1

    You may very well have good points, but I've already said that I support making the vaccines free as part of any legislation making them mandatory.

    In my state (PA), each county has a health department. In mine, you call your local clinic, make an appointment, and go get your free shots. If the local clinic is not working out for you (weird hours, etc), there are also community clinics that aren't free, but are very low-cost. Without doing too much research, I see that there is a clinic in my county that will do immunizations for $15 a pop.

    I have no idea what it's like to be on Medicaid, and I'm sure it sucks. I don't want to minimize what poor people have to go through. That said, there is charity care available. It probably shouldn't be made too great, or other people would take advantage of it without really needing it. You have to balance people's genuine need for charity with people's innate ability to leach the system. It's a very difficult problem.

    --
    W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
  205. Re:They're stupid you're stoopider! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Really. What are you worried about if your kids are vaccinated. If the vaccine works what are you worried about.

    I'm surprised to find that such a progressive community could be so ignorant.

    It seems clear that this creationist thinking discounts the reality of continued evolution.

    Feel free to weaken your immune system's response and intelligence by pumping it full of artificial responders. Go ahead and gamble with the chance that your baby may or may not contract a direct insult to brain functioning as a result of unproven herd truth scare science. Please.

    You can keep your institutes for non-thinking to yourself too with your petri dishes of multiple dead-virus carrying, spectrum disorder, non-critical, hyper oppressed, irrationally violent, emotionally stunted cretins.

    Then my bohemian, fully and naturally evolved, high functioning, monster children, with their big brains, healthy digestive tracts, and fertile adaptable genes can critically select your artificial, institutionalized, stunted, dumbfuck retards out of the gene pool.

  206. Re: Student A at risk.....polio information Part 1 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Perhaps you can explain the following for the so-called stupid people in the room:

    CDC and Friends Sprinting Towards the Polio “Finish Line,” by Suzanne Humphries, MD

    The CDC announced on June 8th that they are almost at the finish line of global polio eradication. LINK HERE. They’ve not had a case of wild polio since January 13, 2011. Whoopee! But they still have plenty of paralysis. In fact they have more and more every year. AND children with non-polio Acute Flaccid Paralysis(AFP), the new name for polio, are at more than twice the risk of dying than those with wild polio infection! In fact, more oral polio vaccine has correlated strongly with “non-polio” AFP. One must wonder what exactly the WHO, UNICEF, Rotary International and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are really going for.

    Many believe that a disease called “polio” has been eradicated in the Western hemisphere. Most everyone thinks that “polio” was eradicated by vaccination. To fully understand where polio went, one must understand what polio was. When one understands what polio was, it becomes clear that it is impossible to eradicate it with a vaccine. But that never stops vaccination interests from launching full- scale propaganda misinformation campaigns in order to vaccinate the children of the world, even though they fail in eliminating paralysis. “Wild” poliovirus may be gone from vaccinated countries, but what was once called “polio,” and frightened the wits out of parents world-wide, is still ubiquitous.

    The term “poliomyelitis” is a description of spinal pathology. The meaning of the word comes from Greek:

    polios= gray, and muelos =marrow, itis=inflammation; meaning “inflammation of the gray matter of the spinal cord.”

    All poliomyelitis means is that the gray matter of the spinal cord is inflamed. This can occur anywhere from the brainstem to the end of the spinal cord, and it has always had many causes, the least of which is a virus that lives in intestines of healthy people.

    The result of this inflammation, whether chemical or viral, leads to certain characteristic muscular symptoms that have been conditioned into the minds of several generations of people to appear as the classic atrophied limbs, iron lungs and other horrifying images.

    By definition and by historical documentation, these infamous images of polio should by no means be blamed solely on a specific wild-type (naturally occurring) virus. Environmental toxins, other infections, and laboratory-derived vaccine viruses were all implicated in paralytic polio over the years. Yet wild virus, even though it is said to be asymptomatic in 95% of infected, and only causes paralysis in a small amount of infected is the excuse for world-wide polio vaccination with live viruses that are known to cause their own outbreaks of polio in China, Nigeria and India.

    “Approximately 95% of persons infected with polio will have no symptoms. About 4-8% of infected persons have minor symptoms, such as fever, fatigue, nausea, headache, flu-like symptoms, stiffness in the neck and back, and pain in the limbs, which often resolve completely. Fewer than 1% of polio cases result in permanent paralysis of the limbs (usually the legs). Of those paralyzed, 5-10%[of that 1%] die when the paralysis strikes the respiratory muscles.”[1]

    Naturally existing polio is thought to have been a normal bowel commensal for hundreds of years before paralytic polio emerged as an epidemic disease, beginning in white populations. For instance, an in-depth study of a remote Indian tribe in the Rio das Mortes in the State of Mato Grosso, Brazil demonstrated the presence of the virus with consistent and high levels of immunity – and no disease.

    “The paradox of a virtual absence of paralytic poliomyelitis among such heavily infected groups as this, despite high antibody titers, is well known, but the interpretation of the observation remains u

  207. Re: Student A at risk.....polio information Part 2 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Tonsillectomy was at its peak in 1959 at 1.4 million surgeries and declined drastically in years following. DDT was outlawed in the USA but is still found all over India. Arsenic is no longer commonly used as an intramuscular injection up to 100 times in a single person to treat syphilis like it was in the 1940’s – but there is an abundance of unnecessary intramuscular injections in India. Differential diagnoses now exist for paralysis unlike the old days of polio epidemics before the hailed Salk vaccine came to be, when all that became numb or transiently paralyzed was “polio.”

    History is about to repeat itself in India, Pakistan, and Nigeria. In the USA there was a similar campaign and renaming- after the vaccine was accepted- just like occurs today in India. During a Detroit epidemic in 1958, four years into the Salk vaccine campaign, it was determined that nearly half of the cases of “polio” were not poliovirus-associated and were given other designations than polio.

    “During an epidemic of poliomyelitis in Michigan in 1958, virological and serologic studies were carried out with specimens from 1,060 patients. Fecal specimens from 869 patients yielded no virus in 401 cases, poliovirus in 292, ECHO (enteric cytopathogenic human orphan) virus in 100, Coxsackie virus in 73, and unidentified virus in 3 cases. Serums from 191 patients from whom no fecal specimens were obtainable showed no antibody changes in 123 cases but did show changes diagnostic for poliovirus in 48, ECHO viruses in 14, and Coxsackie virus in 6. In a large number of paralytic as well as nonparalytic patients poliovirus was not the cause. Frequency studies showed that there were no obvious clinical differences among infections with Coxsackie, ECHO, and poliomyelitis viruses. Coxsackie and ECHO viruses were responsible for more cases of “nonparalytic poliomyelitis” and “aseptic meningitis” than was poliovirus itself.”[5]

    Today in India, “polio” is a well-publicized problem, and DDT can be found on the shelves just about everywhere. India is the only country that still manufactures DDT, and remains the chemical’s largest consumer.

    DDT enhances the release and intracellular multiplication of poliovirus.[6] Thus it likely contributes to creating a monster out of a normally benign gut virus. Additionally, exposure to DDT induces symptoms that can be completely indistinguishable from poliomyelitis – even in the absence of a virus.[7] Here is a description of DDT poisoning, which is indistinguishable clinically from poliomyelitis.

    “Acute gastroenteritis occurs, with nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhea usually associated with extreme tenesmus. Coryza, cough and persistent sore throat are common, often followed by a persistent or recurrent feeling of constriction or a “lump” in the throat; occasionally the sensation of constriction extends substernally and to the back and may be associated with severe pain in either arm. Pain in the joints, generalized muscle weakness, apprehension and exhausting fatigue are usual; the latter are often so severe in the acute stage as to be described by some patients as “paralysis.”[8]

    Despite the known dangers of oral polio vaccines, that paralysis is on the rise, and that many other entities enhance the virulence of poliovirus, multi-billion dollar polio eradication campaigns march on, often vaccinating a single child 15 times (or more) with live vaccine by their 5th year of life.

    “In fact, at the end of 2005, children under 5 years old were reported to have received on average 15 doses of tOPV in UP and Bihar, compared with 10 in the rest of India, and only 4% of children were reported to have received fewer than 3 doses, of whom 90% were under 6 months old this level of vaccine coverage should have eliminated infection.”[9]

    It didn’t eliminate infection, and in fact more oral polio vaccine has correlated strongly with

  208. Re: Student A at risk.....polio information Part 3 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Here is a picture of what is happening in India, the country that hasn’t had a polio case since January 13, 2011:

    In India today, as the World Health Organization tracks polio during the vaccination campaigns, it seems that “polio” has declined while “acute flaccid paralysis” (AFP) has increased annually, reaching 60,000 new cases in 2011.
    The causes of AFP that have been identified are as follows:

    Poliomyelitis, Non-polio enterovirus, vaccine-associated poliomyelitis (not counted as polio), Rabies virus, Varicella zoster virus, Japanese encephalitis virus, Guillain-Barre syndrome, Cytomegalovirus, sciatic neuritis from injection, Transverse myelitis, epidural abscess, spinal cord compression, exotoxin of Corynebacterium diptheriae, toxin of Clostridium botulinum, Karwinskia, tick bite paralysis, Lyme borreliosis, Myasthenia gravis, polymyositis autoimmune, viral myositis, trichinosis, toxic myopathies among others.[11]

    As a result of the unrelenting OPV campaigns in India, there has been an exponential rise in “acute flaccid paralysis” while the number of documented cases of “polio” has declined.”

    “It has been reported in the Lancet that the incidence of AFP, especially non-polio AFP has increased exponentially in India after a high potency polio vaccine was introduced Sathyamala examined data from the following year and showed that children who were identified with non-polio AFP were at more than twice the risk of dying than those with wild polio infection non-polio AFP rate increases in proportion to the number of polio vaccine doses received in each area Nationally, the non-polio AFP rate is now 12 times higher than expected. In the states of Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Bihar, which have pulse polio rounds nearly every month, the non-polio AFP rate is 25- and 35-fold higher than the international norms The non-polio AFP rate during the year best correlates to the cumulative doses received in the previous three years. Association of the non-polio AFP rate with OPV doses received in 2009 was 41.9%. Adding up doses received from 2007 increased the association (R2 = 55.6% p 0.001).”[12]

    What is clear from the above graph is that massive “pulse” vaccination campaigns have done nothing to eliminate paralysis, and in fact there is evidence pointing to the likelihood that vaccination is related to the rise in AFP. Isn’t the vaccination really about eliminating paralysisor is it simply to replace wild virus with a vaccine virus no matter the outcome?

    Why doesn’t the World Health Organization notice the medical literature that points to the truth that paralysis has increased with pulse vaccination campaigns in India? How could they possibly explain the intensification of a failed and harmful vaccine campaign where a deadly form of non-polio AFP increases exponentially in children heavily vaccinated with oral polio vaccines?

    CDC says on June 8, 2012:

    “If we fail to get over the finish line, we will need to continue expensive control measures for the indefinite future More importantly, without eradication, a resurgence of polio could paralyze more than 200,000 children worldwide every year within a decade.” Now is the time, we must not fail.”

    I say God help the children of targeted nations.

    References:
    1. Center For Disease Control and Prevention. Department of Health and Human Services, USA. “Polio disease in short.” http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/polio/in-short-both.htm
    2. Neel JV et. al, 1964. “Studies on the Xavante Indians of the Brazilian Mato Grosso.”Am J Hum Genet, Mar;16:52-140 PMID 14131874
    3. Ibid Neel.
    4. Aycock L.,1942.”Tonsillectomy and poliomyelitis:epidemiologic considerations.” MEDICINE 21: 65-94, February
    5. Brown GC, 1960. “Laboratory data on the Detroit poliomyelitis epidemic-1958.”J Am Med Assoc. Feb 20;172:807-12.
    6. Gabliks J, Effects of insecticides on mammalian

  209. Re:Student A at risk because of imperfect efficien by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I guess if you believe that the end justify the means then you could have a valid argument. However, you would have to believe that the vaccines don't work for "everyone else" only on me , or else I would not be causing harm to "everyone" only the other selfish people who deserve to get sick anyway.

      Many children have died from vaccines, for diseases that they had a near zero chance of being exposed to. My 2 older children who were vaccinated in 2000-2006 have a laundry list of disabilitys Autism, ADHD, OCD, and others. When my youngest got his first shots (we turned down the in hospital shots (we did not believe that he was high risk for Hep A)) and the baby got croup so he was about 6mo. he stopped babbeling (trying to talk) and was silent for 3 months. We have not had any other vaccines. It took almost a year and a half for him to catch back up, if we would have kept giving him the shots he never would have, as they are given every 3 months.

    FYI more cases of Polio have been caused in the United States over that last 2 generations by vaccines than by exposure, so in accuality less vaccines would mean less polio, and if you are vaccinating your child with a weakened virus your (weakened) viruses (which have made people sick) are actually putting my child at risk.

  210. Question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Question: If the people who are vaccinated are protected and the people who aren't are willing to take their chances, what's the problem?

  211. Re:No, they're right! by SecurityTheatre · · Score: 1

    Have you EVER SEEN an epidemic? Do you know what polio does to people?

    Do you know how many millennia that Measles ravaged the population?

    You think that somehow immunity to Measles will magically appear when you stop giving vaccines? What?!?

    Measles, smallpox, rubella, scarlet fever, etc killed almost 40% of children before the age of 5 just 80 years ago.

    You WANT this?

    Vaccines are the primary reason that life expectancy increased from 45 to 70+. Antibiotics being the other... Do you advocate for the elimination of those as well? After all, the negative effects of their overuse are actually far more relevant than those of vaccines...

    Wow..... I'm stunned. I prefer to chalk it up to ignorance, rather than malice... I hope I'm right.

  212. VACCINATIONS HAVE SIDE EFFECTS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hasn't it occurred to any of you, that vaccinations have side effects? A vaccination is like taking a sledge hammer to a laptop computer. Your immune system is an incredibly sensitive miracle that protects you from a wide array of illnesses including autoimmune diseases. An autoimmune disease is where your immune system (i.e. antibodies) start and forever attack a particular type of tissue in your body. M.S., Rheumatoid Arthritis, Myastania Gravis, Lupus, and scores of other autoimmune diseases are on the rise and plague our society. Romney's wife has M.S., a god awful disease. Just the high percentage of kids with asthma should send a red flag that makes you wonder why this is happening. Immunizations are one of the factors in a screwed up immune system. One day, on my unit, after everybody got Flu Vaccinations, we had three people paralyzed with Guillan Barre, an autoimmune disease. Cancer is where one of your cells starts to divide without any inhibitions causing a large energy sucking tumor. Every day, millions of your cells divide and a dozen become oncogenic (cancerous). Your immune system recognizes they're whaco and a Cytotoxic T-cell attaches and kills that cell before it can get going. Do you really want to meddle with something that uses such a miracle of recognition? If you want to learn to get Healthy and stay Healthy, or get free medical care in a Hospital, read a great book, "The Healthcare Guide for Republicans", ebook at Amazon and Apple. mensunion org

  213. What about all the unnecessary vaccines ? by ToddInSF · · Score: 1

    Look at all the new vaccines big pharma has been pushing on the public.

    What about the stupidity in giving so many vaccines at once, increasing the likelihood of adverse reactions ?

    What about the adjutants IN the vaccines ?

    What about the fact that conferred immunity lasts, whereas vaccine immunity does not ?

    Rarely do people ask the pertinent questions when the rallying cry of "won't somebody think of the children" has shut down skepticism, and most people's minds.

    We have a huge federal government that has failed to properly regulate, that is corrupted by industry, and that wields power and authority primarily to deceive the public. We have massive programs to finance "research" that yields nothing most of the time, and we have a media that panders consistently to the lowest common denominators in society.

    Nobody should be surprised that people have failed to vaccinate their kids for the most common diseases, when they've no experience with them, and nobody should be surprised that people eschew all vaccines, when the number of vaccines that are being foisted on the public has increased so markedly.

    Blind faith in medical authority is just as irrational and inane as religious faith.

  214. Vitamin D toxicity worries overblown by Paul+Fernhout · · Score: 1

    Please look at the link you supplied:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_D#Toxicity
    "For infants (birth to 12 months), the tolerable upper limit (maximum amount that can be tolerated without harm) is set at 25 micrograms/day (1000 IU). One thousand micrograms (40,000 IU) per day in infants has produced toxicity within one month.[80]"

    So, after some body gave an infant 100X the RDA every day for a month, the infant showed signs of toxicity. I'd venture the signs of toxicity probably went away when they stopped supplementing (given the examples I cites about East German infants getting massive doses and going on to win the Olympics). If an infant 100X the RDA for iron, in one day they might be dead? Based on that comparison, vitamin D is a very safe supplement for children. The health consequences of getting one tenth the RDA are far greater than getting 10X the RDA. Error here is much better on the side of abundance.

    Still, for infants, I'd agree the US RDA is more or less correct, and there is probably no reason to ever give an amount about the RDA. Based on what I've cited from Dr. John Cannell's writings, the fears of what happens near that limit are overblown. And the "official" recommendations remain way too low for adults, as it is not much more than infants, and your comparisons while plausible sounding don't match the science, because vitamin D is used in every cell for signaling more than for "growth". (Even ignoring the RDAs are just probably wrong for lots of things -- his chatter on RDAs is all too true:
    http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/showthread.php?t=329928 )

    The bottom line is that humans are adapted to a life outdoors in the sun. That includes pregnant women getting enough sun. We deviate from that norm at the risk of our own health, and it is only in the past few decades that so many of us have become indoor creatures, with health consequences probably including autism. Some culture clashes even make that worse, like devout Somali Muslim women moving from near the equator where they lived in houses with open courtyards to northern latitudes around Minneapolis where they stay indoors all the times and wear a Burka otherwise, and then people wonder why so many of their children are autistic (as they do not know yet to supplement with 6000 IU D3 daily when pregnant and nursing):
    http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=vitamin-d-and-autism
    "What If Vitamin D Deficiency Is a Cause of Autism? A few researchers are turning their attention to the sunshine vitamin as a culprit, prompted by the experience of immigrants that have moved from their equatorial country to two northern latitude locations"

    P.S. I did not call you an "idiot" that I could see. But on this one issue, you are certainly echoing the conventional wisdom that has caused so much suffering over the past few decades (including bad advice we got from our own pediatrician). Good luck in finding the right amount of vitamin D3 that works for you and your family.

    --
    A 21st century issue: the irony of technologies of abundance in the hands of those still thinking in terms of scarcity.
    1. Re:Vitamin D toxicity worries overblown by Firethorn · · Score: 1

      So, after some body gave an infant 100X the RDA every day for a month, the infant showed signs of toxicity. I'd venture the signs of toxicity probably went away when they stopped supplementing

      Okay, we know that 100X the RDA generates toxicity in one month. Does 50X the dose take 1.5 months? 3 Months? What? Thus the 'tolerable upper limit', which I'll admit is probably set to a paranoid level, because that's what the USDA does. Still, for infants paranoia is generally better.

      In any case, please remember that my reaction to the low TUL was to recommend sunlight/sunlamp ~20 minutes a day. Kind of like how if you propose supplementing vitamin A I'd recommend going with a supplement high in Betacarotene vs the denser, more direct retinoids that you can poison yourself with.

      The bottom line is that humans are adapted to a life outdoors in the sun. That includes pregnant women getting enough sun.

      I agree; Heck, over at fark there was a posting about victorian beauty tips for women. This involved 'vapor baths', where the woman would essentially sit nude in the sun for an hour or so(probably through their pane glass windows, which would block some UVB, but not all). If they were 'energetic', dancing nude was recommended. It reminded me of this discussion - back then they tended to wear very covering clothing, thus the 'vapor bathing' would be a way to get the necessary vitamin d. ;)

      (as they do not know yet to supplement with 6000 IU D3 daily when pregnant and nursing):

      6k should be fine, but from the wiki - while maternal hypercalcemia during pregnancy may increase fetal sensitivity to effects of vitamin D and lead to a syndrome of mental retardation and facial deformities..

      Screwed if you don't get enough; screwed if you get too much. And the toxic amount is a 'mere' 10X what you recommend(50k IU daily). I'd recommend first listening to their doctor; and getting ~20-40 minutes of sun a day.

      ut on this one issue, you are certainly echoing the conventional wisdom that has caused so much suffering over the past few decades (including bad advice we got from our own pediatrician).

      There are so many quacks out there that I, by default, listen to the conventional wisdom, because it has the highest rate of being correct. Despite this, keep in mind that I've recommended, multiple times, using nature's way to get vitamin D - SUNLIGHT, in moderation. Fallback of an appropriately tuned sunlamp.

      --
      I don't read AC A human right
  215. Re:No, they're right! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    By getting vaccinated, I am dependent on everyone injecting poison into their blood just to stay alive.

    Actually, no, by NOT getting vaccinated you're dependent on everyone else getting vaccinated. Since you can catch and transmit the disease, while people that are vaccinated (almost) can't. And the more people that agree with you and are not vaccinated, the larger the impact of a potential outbreak, because there are more people to make sick.

    Us (humans) developing vaccines is part of "evolution"; we get rid of all the "weak" diseases.

    Of course, as for the pharmaceutical industry, I really do prefer evil corporate overlords over a high risk of disease. At least you can control the industry through oversight and laws.

  216. Keep your disease injected kids away from mine! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Some pretty stupid logic to think that a vaccinated child is at risk when put with non-vaxed kids. Ignorant. The vaxed child can shed certain diseases and actually infect the non-vaxed. You idiots go ahead and play Russian roulette with your children. I refuse to inject mine with poison.

  217. Are vaccines necessary? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I was fully vaccinated as a child (though the schedule was much less rigorous than it is now) and so were my three oldest children. I didn't doubt vaccines until 1985, when I went to the local health department to get my shots before traveling to Thailand (my husband's country) for the first time. That night I got very sick, with a high fever. The fever went away after a few days but my health has never been the same. And that's when I started looking into vaccines, what they contain, how they work, and if they're really necessary. It took me until 1995, after my health had worsened to the point of including severe food allergies, before I was ready to stop vaccinating my children. And even then I wasn't completely convinced at first. I had a baby that July. Three times I tried to take him for his vaccinations, and every time something happened to stop me--car trouble, etc. I was praying and doing research, and after the third time I gave up trying to vaccinate him, and I also stopped vaccinating my others. That "baby" is 17 now and very healthy. He's never had anything more than a winter virus. Meanwhile my oldest, who was fully vaccinated, had a hard case of the mumps a couple of years ago. He was much sicker than my daughter-in-law and granddaughters were, and they'd never been vaccinated. I struggle daily with immune system problems. But my 61-year old husband and my 76-year old mother--both said they received only one vaccine as children, probably for polio--are going strong and taking care of me. I believe in God and I believe that God equipped us with the immune systems we need. The problems come when we mess with things because we think we know better. Modern medicine and the "wonders" of chemicals have caused me more harm than anything I would have encountered naturally in the environment.

  218. Re:Student A at risk because of imperfect efficien by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    artificial herd immunity defiles all logical and analytical thinking: if vaccines work 100% than all vaccinated people are safe so no need to worry about non-vaccinated ones, if vaccines are NOT 100% effective & vaccinated people can contract specific disease in spite of having been vaccinated for it , it means that they can also be carriers and spread the disease the same way as non-vaccinated folk, so vaccinating all would make no difference as they can still get sick...besides even in the best scenario, everybody knows that vaccine induced immunity is temporary , never lasts for life.... how people can be so retarded to buy into the vaccine induced herd immunity ?!!! Because they believe in absurdities they can easily commit atrocities against us non-vaxers as they are driven by fear that totally blures their ability of logical thinking.. the same pattern was followed during inquisition times when general population bought the non-sense concept of witches and devil and they were burning millions of innocent people mostly women on stocks... now when we are finally free from religious inquisition we are at the gates (hmmm "Bill Gates... ?) of medical inquisition...Humanity did not make much progress at all... it is still in dark ages of barbaric mentality and so called technological advancement is only masking the real face of it.....
    usually non-vaxers are also more health conscious , eat better use more natural remedies and have generally stronger immune systems...there was NEVER any studies done to compare eg nurses vaccinated for flu versus nurses who are non-vaccinated... my friend is a nurse, she NEVER takes flu shots and she NEVER has flu but most of nurses who get flu shot also get flu!!! and stay sick sometimes for weeks! man !!! vaccines mess up our immune system! we can NOT and will NEVER be able to improve artificially the human immune system, we can only cause so many calamities in the form of chronic diseases , allergies, diabetes , cancer etc...the immune system is already PERFECT, we need to take good care of it by proper nutrition, proper life style and proper thinking and not falling into paranoia and idiotic hysteria about herd immunity and "dangerous" presented by non-vaxers to pro-vaxers.Actually it is other way around! Many vaccines cause shading for days or even weeks so vaccinated people are endangering non-vaccinated ones! Vaccinated people sooner or later enter the stage of compromise immune system so they can contract many strange bugs easier... etc etc...start thinking for themselves, do your proper research and do not parrot medical/pharma propaganda....

  219. Re:Student A at risk because of imperfect efficien by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    wow, the page automatically gives a name to me as an anonymous coward !!! that's really big courtesy !!!