I woke up this morning to hear about the tragic death of a baby in Minnesota. They stressed the fact that the child was not vaccinated and urged everyone to vaccinate against H. influenza type B. As a matter of fact, they used this as an example of what can happen if you don't vaccinate for ANY of the childhood illnesses. I decided to go online and check out the facts to find out exactly what happened. This is what I found:
On WebMD Health News dated Jan. 23, 2009 is says, "..."The situation in Minnesota might be isolated, or it might be the beginning of a trend in other places," Schuchat said at a news conference. "We are working hard to determine which of these stories is the right one."
One of the five Minnesota Hib meningitis cases was in a 5-month-old child too young to have finished its first series of Hib shots. Another case was in a child who got all the shots but who turned out to have an immune deficiency.
The other three cases -- including the death -- were in infants whose parents refused to vaccinate them. Parents of two children objected to vaccines; the parents of the third child were waiting to vaccinate until the child was 5 years old."
In twincities.com it said, "Five children were diagnosed with HiB in Minnesota in 2008, the most since 1992, the state Health Department said. One child died. Officials blamed a national shortage of the vaccine that led some national advisory groups to recommend skipping a fourth and final booster shot so supplies would last longer."
How tragic!!! I can't imagine being the parent of that baby that died. It's horrible!! However, if you read all the facts of the five cases of Hib, one of the children was "too young to have finished its first series of Hib shots" and another was a child who had "an immune deficiency". The OTHER three cases, including the death, were infants who did not vaccinate.... if you read other articles you will learn that it was partly because there is a vaccine shortage! Google it and you will see for yourself.
So my question is this: why are they making such a big deal about the fact that the child was not vaccinated in the news? Why did I not hear a single word about the VACCINE SHORTAGE?! Good questions. I believe that they should be focusing more on the efficacy of vaccines and why so many vaccinated children are still getting the diseases. I read and hear in the news about how they are thinking of doing more "booster shots" because they are seeing some vaccines fail. As a matter of fact, they are considering doing boosters shots by around middle school age. Can you imagine the cost.. in all respects?!! Even if there was a 100% vaccine rate among all the vaccines given, there would still be a percentage of failure rate.... for whatever reason. It seems as though either the bugs are changing or the vaccines are not working. It would be interesting to find out if they have done any research on that.
I believe the media is misleading the public into thinking that the increase in incidents is because more parents are not vaccinating their children. I hear people saying that Measles is starting to make a comeback because more and more parents are not vaccinating. Although I totally understand about "herd immunity" and all that... as a microbiologist I also know how organism will mutate over time and how resistant they can become to antibiotics, etc... They are more complex than people realize. The HIV virus that causes AIDS, for example, is a good example of how these organisms do whatever necessary to survive. Now... I have no scientific data to back up my claims, but I believe that by injecting these organisms into our system, we are definitely making changes in our immunity that probably go contrary to what our bodies were designed to do. For example, when we contract childhood illnesses such as measles and chicken pox... and even the mumps, we are acquiring valuable antibodies and memory cells that will live in our systems for our lifetime. Both my mother and father had the mumps, chicken pox, and possibly the measles. They told me that most of their friends did too. NONE of them died. I remember as a child getting the chicken pox. It was sort of a "rite of passage" and although I got a REALLY bad case of it, it was more of a nuisance and inconvenience than anything else. Why are they saying NOW that the chicken pox kills and the vaccine saves lives? Maybe in a SMALL portion of the population (immunocompromised individuals)that is true. Why not just make it voluntary then... instead of mandating it?
The big thing I understand is that if a child is not vaccinated, he is actually more at risk from a recently vaccinated child. The reason is because there are some vaccines that are shed off of healthy kids and therefore they are contagious. I have to argue with those who feel differently. There are some who feel threatened by individuals who are not vaccinated. It's as if those people are a "ticking time bomb" or something. That is just not true.
I think each individual case needs to be treated as such. It's not a one-size-fits all approach. With my own children I have followed different paths. I know the risks involved in the choices I make. I weigh my options and try to figure out which one is right for that particular child. I am not going to say it's been easy. However, I feel better knowing the facts and I feel I am making a more informed decision.
I wish the media would give all the facts instead of trying to sensationalize the stories. I am so glad that I am more skeptical these days. I know there is a lot of money involved with drugs and vaccines. You will never see an anti-vaccine ad on t.v. because they have too much money vested in them. (I bet you never thought about that... did you?)
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Skepticism is not judgmental.
It's figuring out the options
with the data you are given.
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