An Uncomplicated Life Blog: Mommy Monday: An Open Letter to Anti-Vaccine Parents

Monday, September 22, 2014

Mommy Monday: An Open Letter to Anti-Vaccine Parents

This is a little bit of a "political" topic for An Uncomplicated Life Blog, but I've seen a number of articles floating around facebook, the internet, and some idiots on reality TV talking about how they "don't want to vaccinate their kids because there's "stuff" in those shots." And I just had to weigh in on this. Because I now have a baby, and this directly effects me.

Allllllright, anti-vaxers. Let's just take a quick look at science, and history, and real facts here, shall we?

You "choosing" not to vaccinate your child is indeed not a choice for you. You're putting your child at risk for death, becoming disabled, becoming disfigured, paralyzed, and speech deprived. It's not a choice you're making for you; it's one you're electing to put your own child at risk for. Also, you're putting other children and adults at risk, too:




Likely, you've not seen what the measles have done to the people who survive the disease. Do you know that polio causes paralysis? Do you know that whopping cough KILLS? What you're telling me by not immunizing your child is that you'd rather your child suffer or become disfigured than give him/her a shot to prevent it, based on science-less propaganda. You're telling me you'd rather your child die than become exposed to "some bad stuff." You'd elect death over the what you fear is in immunizations. (There's nothing to fear; The CDC fully discloses what in immunizations. Go to the CDC's website for more info.)

What measles looks like on a baby

Here are some questions for you, anti-vaxer parent: Do you have a microwave in your house you use to warm food? Do you use cell phones? Do you feed your kid from plastic bottles, plates, utensils? Do you sometimes get fast food because the kids are begging for it and you're tired? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you've just exposed your kid to far more harmful "stuff" than is in any vaccine.

Now, I'm all about holistic health! I love and use essential oils. I eat local and organic food, don't even think about fast food drive thru's, and feed my son with glass bottles. We don't have plastic storage containers (think GladWare or similar) in my house. We spend twice what we should on diapers because I refuse to put the chemicals that are in Pampers/Huggies/Luvs on my son's skin, the biggest absorbing organ in the human body. I'm totally on board with that line of thinking! But guess what? You still need to vaccinate your kids. Living a healthy lifestyle isn't enough to protect them (or other children, or other adults) from creating and spreading an epidemic.

There has been scientific study after scientific study that disproves immunizations cause Autism. Here's one for reference. Also there's more mercury in breast milk than what is found in vaccines. Vaccines have been tested extensively since the 1930's for their effectiveness and safety, which is longer than nearly any drug currently on the market. It just doesn't make sense to me if you're taking birth control or blood pressure medicine but electing to not vaccinate your children!

Here's the deal, anti-vaxer parent: Public schools are starting to ban your kids. More schools will follow, as your kids cause more localized epidemics. The truth is, your children are a danger to society. Please, please go vaccinate your children. Not just for the health of your own baby, but for the better health of everyone's babies.

                                                                                     Xoxo Stay the heck away from me and my family

14 comments:

  1. I'm a big proponent of vaccinations. Like you, I'm also an advocate for holistic health but that doesn't mean we can ignore science and put children as risk, which we ARE doing. Thank you for this post. My sister was hospitalized for five months and long story short, it was a preventable illness and now our family very much believes in vaccinations, including the annual flu shot if you're around vulnerable people.

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    1. I hope your sister is ok! Yes, it drives me nuts when people know that I'm into holistic health and assume I'm one of the nuts who doesn't vaccinate. My son is vaccinated, thank you, and will continue to be until he's not on my healthcare!

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  2. I'm not a parent and absolutely want to vaccinate my children. Like you, I want to be the best parent I can be in other areas, cloth diapering, glass bottles, organic food etc. But not vaccinating? That is dangerous, selfish and crazy. Very well written!

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    1. I really don't understand these parents! They're (typically) making great choices... Until it comes to immunizations. Many anti-vax comments on an article I read the prompted this post consisted of, "Why would I be a blind sheep and vaccinate my child because that's what the government tells me to do? They're poisoning our kids!"

      No, vaccines are not poison, and you should find a different area in life to "go against the grain" if that's what you're after.

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  3. I am with Kristen - not a parent yet, but I will vaccinate my children. The other part of this is the people that are saying dont vaccinate were actually vaccinated themselves...that one I just don't get!

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    1. Well, they likely aren't vaccinated anymore. What I learned when I had Henry was that while "booster" shots are recommended every 10 years, it might react differently in your body. So I had had a booster seven years before having Henry, and thought I was good to go with all my immunizations. But the hospital said I wasn't immune after they did blood work, and I needed boosters before heading home. What if there was a epidemic caused by these people, and I thought I was protected then came down with the disease anyway because my booster wore off early?! Anti-vaxers need to stop putting the entire public at risk!

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  4. I DID read that article and thought it was fantastic!

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  5. Ok. Trying this again--

    YES! Thank you so much for posting this! I get so fed up with those anti-vac people.
    A lot of kids CANNOT be vaccinated due to immune disease, and they rely on healthy vaccinated kids to stop the spread of disease. These people are putting more than just their own children at risk. It really chaps my hide. Team Pro-Vaccination!

    On a similar note, my grandmother got polio and was bound to a wheel chair. She contracted it just before the vaccine was discovered. I know that she was a firm believer in vaccines. She knew first hand the horrors of one of the most preventable diseases out there VACCINATE!

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    1. FINALLY SEEING THIS!!! Yay, technology!

      Yes; ditto to everything you said. I was annoyed by these people before I had Henry, and now they straight up cause a RAGE in me. Just vaccinate your frickin' kids you morons. *drops mic, walks off stage, end rant*

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  6. I hope that the following is not too "complicated" for you, and fans of your blog (especially this misleading and fear-mongering post).

    This statement from the ​September, 2000​, issue of the journal​ Pediatrics​, in a study titled "​Annual Summary of Vital Statistics: Trends in the Health of Americans During the 20th Century (constructed by epidemiologists from both Johns Hopkins and the CDC), can shed some light on why the inference to vaccines being the reason that "Humanity was Saved from Infectious Diseases" is not really correct:

    "Thus vaccination does ​not​ account for the impressive declines in mortality seen in the first half of the century...nearly​ 90%​ of the decline in infectious disease mortality among US children occurred before​ 1940, when few antibiotics or vaccines were available."

    The study went on to explain the things that were actually responsible for the massive decline in mortality: "water treatment, food safety, organised solid waste disposal, and public education about hygienic practices." Also,"improvements in crowding in US cities" played a major role. Clean water. Safe food. Nutrition. Plumbing. Hygiene. Appropriate working hours and age. ​These ​are the ​primary​ reasons that humanity was "saved". This is not "made-up", nor from "articles floating around facebook, the internet, and some idiots on reality TV."

    I will also share with you the "fatality/harm" rates ​before ​the vaccines for each of the listed diseases were introduced -

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  7. Polio​ (1955 ​Vaccine Introduced​, which I'll just list from now on as "​VI​") - 1 in 100,000
    (deaths/paralysis) ​Population Not Harmed​ (I'll refer to this as "​PNH​") - 99.999%

    Measles​ (1963 ​VI​) - 1 in 500,000 ​PNH​ - 99.9998%

    Pertussis​/​Whooping Cough​ (late 1940's ​VI​) - 1 in 77,000 - ​PNH​ - 99.9987%

    Tetanus​ (late 1940's ​VI​) - 1 in 200,000 - ​PNH ​- 99.9995%

    Mumps​ (1967 ​VI​) - 1 in 2,000,000 (fatalities/sterility/deafness) ​PNH​ - 99.99995%

    Rubella​ (1963 ​VI​) - 1 in 1,000,000 (fatalities/birth defects) ​PNH​ - 99.9999%

    Diphtheria​ (late 1940'S ​VI​) - 1 in 83,000 ​PNH ​- 99.9988%

    Varicella​/​Chicken Pox​ (1995 ​VI​) - 1 in 2,300,000 ​PNH​ - 99.999957%

    Hepatitis B​ (1991 ​VI​) - 1 in 1,4000,000 ​PNH​ - 99.999929%

    HIB​ (1985 ​VI​) - 1 in 600,000 (fatalities/brain injury/deafness) ​PNH​ - 99.999833%

    Note​: The ​date​ the vaccine was introduced refer to the ​widespread use​ in the United States for each vaccine.

    The ​fatality/harm​ rate reflects the number of people who died or suffered permanent harm from
    each disease out of the​ ​total population​ at that time.

    Source​: ​CDC-Reported Cases and Deaths from Vaccine Preventable Diseases, U.S, 1950-2011: Vital
    Statistics Rates in the U.S, 1940-1960 - Online Database

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  8. "Likely, you've not seen what the measles have done to the people who survive the disease."

    This is highly unwarranted and hyperbolic overkill. An interesting look into how “afraid” people were of the measles in decades not long past would be the clip shown in the Brady Bunch (I know, but there it is) where all the children come down with the measles, and were absolutely delighted, to say the least. Also, I suspect, given your hostility towards people who choose not to vaccinate themselves or their children (which is, by the way, a choice, contrary to what you believe), that you subscribe to the “Vaccine Herd Immunity” theory. If you would like an “uncomplicated” explanation and examination of this theory, you are completely free and able to utilise this article, titled “Herd Immunity: Can Mass Vaccination Achieve It?” -

    http://www.tetyanaobukhanych.com/herd_immunity.html

    When opining about the measles, it is easy to see that you believe that people who are immune to this virus do indeed protect others from being infected. This is true. But let us take a look at how our overall community (“herd” nowadays - how poignant) immunity was actually better (more successful and less-prone to ruptures of this security), in a simple, uncomplicated way. In the pre-measles vaccine era, 95-97% of children aged fifteen were fully immune to the virus. Infants under one year of age rarely became infected with it, due to the trans-placental antibodies of the naturally immune mothers. Now, consider vaccines as a method of “herd immunity”: 11% of infants under the age of one year were infected during the Disneyland fiasco (in which no immunocompromised children or adults died). Were you aware that as many as 86% of those who caught measles at Disneyland were fully up to date on their MMR vaccinations for measles, mumps and rubella, according to a study published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics? Yet, unvaccinated people - the majority of which had most likely never been in contact with the virus, and as so, were unable to infect anyone, even had they wanted to - are still blamed. If you read the article I have given you on “Vaccine Herd Immunity”, you will see other cases of purportedly “vaccine-preventable diseases” in populations who do in fact have the required 95%> “vaccine herd immunity” threshold.

    It is unfathomable that someone can be “all about holistic health!”, and yet not understand this issue, and misinterpret immunity so extraordinarily.

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  9. I cannot believe that someone who claims to be “all about holistic health”, and who has an interest in this topic to the point where you feel you are qualified to berate parents who are making decisions for their children based upon actual evidence and experience, and who are really just doing what parents have been doing for tens of thousands of years (not intervening in their child’s health when there is no need to), is unaware of the obvious differences between ingesting a substance and injecting it (referring to your belief that “more mercury in breast milk than what is found in vaccines”, and that mercury in vaccines is therefore harlmless)

    As to polio, and your little nugget of wisdom, “Do you know that polio causes paralysis”, you are about to learn the truth of the matter, in an uncomplicated couple of sentences:

    Up to 95 percent of people infected with polio have no symptoms. However, infected persons without symptoms can still spread the virus and cause others to develop polio. About four to five percent of infected people have minor symptoms such as fever, muscle weakness, headache, nausea and vomiting. One to two percent of infected persons develop severe muscle pain and stiffness in the neck and back. Less than one percent of polio cases result in paralysis.

    As to all that “stuff” in vaccines, here is the ingredient list (excipient) in the cauldron of “health” that you inject over and over and over again in to your normal, growing infant/child/adolescent:

    https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/downloads/appendices/b/excipient-table-2.pdf

    I would never presume to tell you that you have no right to vaccinate your child, because you do. It troubles me that you would do say with such a lack of information regarding this medical intervention, but hey, you are that child’s parent. It’s totally up to you to model your child’s healthcare. This opinion piece was written in 2014, by the looks of it, and you probably will never see this reply, nor will your ardent followers who are just as confused as you are on the topic, but, just as you feel it is YOUR duty to berate, chastise, condemn and denigrate - all under the guise of “educating” - this community of people and parents, I feel that it is MY duty, right here and right now, to give some much-needed balance to a piece that has more holes in it than a house-sized wheel of Swiss-cheese. I do apologise for having to post this in several comments. I hope this wasn’t too complicated.

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  10. Hepatitis B​ (1991 ​VI​) - 1 in 1,400,000* ​PNH​ - 99.999929%. My apologies

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