Parents not always choosing vaccinations for kids
By Tasneem Raja and Chris Mooney, Mother Jones
It’s easy to find bad information about the safety of vaccines on the Internet. That’s, well, the Internet. But what’s scarier is that in many states, parents who buy into those myths can easily opt out of immunizing their children. In some cases, it’s no harder than checking a box on a school form saying that vaccines are against their “personal beliefs.”
In a 2012 study of vaccine exemption policies across the country, a team of researchers led by Saad Omer, a professor of public health at Emory University, found that of the 20 states that allowed personal belief exemptions for enrollment in a public school or child-care program, less than a third made it “difficult” to do so (for instance, by making parents re-apply for one each year, explain their beliefs in writing, or get a notarized letter of approval from a health care provider).
In the nine “easy” states identified in the study, the rules required only signing a form. Indeed, Omer suspects that some parents sign vaccine exemption forms not because they actually hold anti-vaccine beliefs, but simply because it’s easier than juggling the doctors’ appointments, missed work, and other inconveniences of getting kids vaccinated.
Ive often wondered about what happens when unvaccinated kids grow up and get some of the diseases their parents chose to not vaccinate them against. I know some of the diseases can be more harmfull to adults. I think its unfortunate for those kids and others that might be exposed.
From what I’ve heard and read, there is definitely a problem with some vaccinations. There is definitely a problem with flu shots. It has been documented and is verifiable that there is harm to us. People have died from vaccinations. Fact!
More people have died from disease than have died from vaccination. Countless millions more.
(We get flu shots every year. The hub is somewhat immune compromised so it’s important he not get sick. 10 years now neither of us has contracted the flu.)
Dog, once again we find common ground!
Scott, here is an excerpt from the CDC website relating to vaccine side effects and death. Feel free to show us the research that proves your point.
MISCONCEPTION #4. Vaccines cause many harmful side effects, illnesses, and even death – not to mention possible long-term effects we don’t even know about.
Vaccines are actually very safe, despite implications to the contrary in many anti-vaccine publications (which sometimes contain the number of reports received by VAERS, and allow the reader to infer that all of them represent genuine vaccine side-effects). Most vaccine adverse events are minor and temporary, such as a sore arm or mild fever. These can often be controlled by taking acetaminophen before or after vaccination. More serious adverse events occur rarely (on the order of one per thousands to one per millions of doses), and some are so rare that risk cannot be accurately assessed. As for vaccines causing death, again so few deaths can plausibly be attributed to vaccines that it is hard to assess the risk statistically. Of all deaths reported to VAERS between 1990 and 1992, only one is believed to be even possibly associated with a vaccine. Each death reported to VAERS is thoroughly examined to ensure that it is not related to a new vaccine-related problem, but little or no evidence suggests that vaccines have contributed to any of the reported deaths. The Institute of Medicine in its 1994 report states that the risk of death from vaccines is “extraordinarily low.”
Well. I agree with Dog and Bigger on this one. I mean for Centuries Humans looked for cures for various plagues and now that we have vaccines, I say use them.