Mumps?!?

[malkin]

There was an annoying article in a local weekly whining about a hospital requiring flu shots for all staff--even clerical. The hospital clerk wanted an exemption from the vaccine, to allow her immune system to work "as nature intended."

If I had more time right now I'd write a letter to the editor pointing out that apparently "nature intends" for lots of people to die of the flu.

[zoom-zoom]

I always want to throw out that thing about people forgetting history being doomed to repeat it. Polio is one that people take so lightly. I knew a couple of folks who had polio as children. These were vibrant adults who were condemned to walkers and wheelchairs.

My sister has an autistic son. She doesn't believe the debunked theories connecting vaccines and autism. She's said that even if she did, she'd still not have kept her son from his vaccines...better he be autistic than dead.

[OakLeaf]

I wonder whether acceptance of vaccines might be higher if they weren't pushing the flu vaccine (and vaccines for other minor illnesses) so hard.

Diseases like polio and smallpox are one thing. But we've all had the flu. It feels awful for a couple of weeks, maybe a whole month occasionally, but is it really so bad that we want to monkey with our immune systems to prevent it? Yes, a very small percentage of people die of it ... people die. We are not immortal. Each and every one of us has to die of something.

I got the flu every year for years. Every time I'd be in bed for two weeks. When they came out with the flu vaccine I got that every year ... until I started having an inflammatory reaction to it (four to six months each time). So it was interesting to me that this year when I got an intense but short-lived flu, I had a milder and briefer version of the same reaction I get to the shots - it is the virus, not the adjuvants, that sets off an inflammatory arthritis. The possibility that that might progress really scares me. Would I be getting that reaction if I hadn't had so many shots? Would I rather have the flu once in a while than inflammatory arthritis (you bet I would)?


PS to the OP - try 1972, not 1952. Way to make the majority of us on this board who've had the mumps and chicken pox - two more diseases that make kids feel pretty sick for a while and that's all - feel old.

[zoom-zoom]

I wonder whether acceptance of vaccines might be higher if they weren't pushing the flu vaccine (and vaccines for other minor illnesses) so hard.

Diseases like polio and smallpox are one thing. But we've all had the flu. It feels awful for a couple of weeks, maybe a whole month occasionally, but is it really so bad that we want to monkey with our immune systems to prevent it? Yes, a very small percentage of people die of it ... people die. We are not immortal. Each and every one of us has to die of something.

As many as 49k people have died from the flu and flu-related complications in a single year in the US. I don't consider that a few people. That's over 24x the # of people who live in my town. And the greatest risks are to those who cannot receive the vaccine, like infants. Is it OK to tell a parent that their kid died from the flu, but they had to die from something, so it's NBD?

I have asthma...every time I get the flu I end up in the ER for a breathing treatment. I always get the vaccination, but herd immunity doesn't work if relatively few people do so. And sometimes the vaccine doesn't work as well as other times, but it generally provides some protection...and more protection the more people who get it.

[OakLeaf]

Is it not possible to honestly acknowledge the sad realities of life without being called callous?

What if the profits Big Pharma derives from vaccinations against common, normally minor, diseases, were directed instead to improving air quality. How many respiratory illnesses would be prevented and how many deaths would be postponed (deaths cannot be prevented)?

1% of the population or more has inflammatory arthritis. The link with vaccines is well established. This too can be a truly horrible disease.

[zoom-zoom]

Is it not possible to honestly acknowledge the sad realities of life without being called callous?

What if the profits Big Pharma derives from vaccinations against common, normally minor, diseases, were directed instead to improving air quality. How many respiratory illnesses would be prevented and how many deaths would be postponed (deaths cannot be prevented)?

1% of the population or more has inflammatory arthritis. The link with vaccines is well established. This too can be a truly horrible disease.

Correlation ≠ causation. Vaccines sure are a convenient scapegoat for a lot of things and lately seem like the cause de jour for every ill.

And arthritis ≠ death. One is a treatable condition.

[bmccasland]

I've been vaccinated 3 times for MMR. Once as a kid, in my 20's when I worked for a hospital and if you were in a certain age group/vaccinated during certain years there was a possibility that the vaccine was ineffective. And again in my 30's when I was going to work for a hospital, again, and they titered me, only to discover that I didn't have an immunity. Got another round of shots. Wound up not staying with the hospital, or they would have titered me again. There'a a possibility that I still don't have an immunity. But considering I no longer work in emergency medicine, I'm not that worried.

Keep your feverish, rashy children to yourselves please.

[Owlie]

The thing with flu shots is that they're always a guess. I don't think they should be mandatory unless you're living/working in close proximity to someone who is in one of those "high risk" groups. Otherwise, if you want it, get it, and if you don't, don't

And it aggravates me to no end, the people who refuse to vaccinate their kids. I think a vaccine for chicken pox is pretty silly, but MMR...

Oak, my mom had a similar inflammatory reaction to the hepatitis (A? B? I don't remember.) vaccine. That's the only one (apart from chicken pox, but I got that the normal way!) I didn't have. Presents a bit of a problem if I want to work with human tissue samples, though.

[goldfinch]

Is it not possible to honestly acknowledge the sad realities of life without being called callous?

What if the profits Big Pharma derives from vaccinations against common, normally minor, diseases, were directed instead to improving air quality. How many respiratory illnesses would be prevented and how many deaths would be postponed (deaths cannot be prevented)?

1% of the population or more has inflammatory arthritis. The link with vaccines is well established. This too can be a truly horrible disease.

Flu vaccines are a major life saver. The flu is not a minor disease. Part of the problem is people call various bugs the flu whether or not they know they have the flu.

If you want to redirect resources, how about redirecting the billions people spend on homeopathy, which has been researched to death, has no active ingredients, and does not work.

As far as the connection with arthritis, a link with vaccines is far from well established. From the CDC:

After decades of vaccine use in the U.S., current research shows no definitive evidence proving vaccines cause chronic illness.
According to the Arthritis Foundation, there is no known link between vaccines and fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, or lupus. . .


In a comprehensive 1994 study of adverse events associated with vaccination, the Institute of Medicine reviewed the possibility of a link between diphtheria and tetanus vaccines--these vaccines are generally given in combination--and arthritis. The Institute found that it is biologically possible for these immunizations to be associated with arthritis, primarily because the tetanus toxoid has the potential to induce serum sickness, which is a source of a temporary form of arthritis. However, the Institute also found that the evidence available in scientific studies up to 1994 was inadequate to determine whether this biologically possible link actually occurs. Since those findings were reported, one group of researchers found a link between rubella vaccine and temporary, acute arthritis, arthralgia (joint pain) or myalgia (muscle pain) when the vaccine was administered within 12 months of giving birth.(2) Another group found no evidence of any increased risk of developing chronic arthritis, arthralgia, or myalgia within the 12 months following vaccination; the women in this study were of childbearing age.(3)

Similarly, the Institute found that a link between hepatitis B vaccine and acute or chronic arthropathy (inflamed, painful joints) also is biologically plausible, but the studies available are inadequate to accept or reject a causal link to vaccination. A link between the disease, hepatitis B, and arthropathy has been proven.

http://www.hhs.gov/nvpo/qa.htm#Do%20vaccines%20cause