Sunday, January 15, 2012

. . . .And Now Whopping Cough

Please daven for Yisroel Meir be Sarah Gittel, baruch dayan emet as one child has been niftar according to the Lakewood physician who speaks about the importance of vaccines and those who are "ruining it" for the rest of the community at 1:53pm. He recommends that if your child is in a play group or school where there are non-vaccinated children that you should pull them out.

16 comments:

Zach Kessin said...

Whooping cough should be a thing of the past, The Anti-Vaccine crowd has a body count that they are accountable for!

ProfK said...

Truly sad that a child should have died and another be mortally ill. In a very real sense the parents of this dead child are the ones who "killed" him by failing to protect him with an easily available vaccine that has proven itself for decades. And should the sibling also not make it, then these parents will have committed "murder" twice--what else can you call it when parents act in such an irresponsible manner, putting their children and other children at risk?

Anon1 said...

I was told that in Yisroel Meir's (now Refael Yisroel Meir's) case, the parents had been given medical advice to delay the vaccination because of health reasons, and were planning to do the vaccination ---only now this happened. I suggest that commenters not aware of a specific situation refrain from mouthing off against specific parents!

Miami Al said...

The "anti-vaccine crowd" has death on their hands, parents are not a fair target. The vaccines are in the 95%+ effectiveness range, NOT 100%. The reason we vaccinate EVERYONE is "herd immunity," if 98% of the kids are vaccinated (2% have health reasons preventing it) then the area is effectively vaccinated because the disease can't strike there.

Once your vaccination rates drop to 85% or so, there are enough bodies to spread the illness.

Not vaccinating does put your children at risk, but it puts everyone at risk as well. I wish the medical community would deal realistically with this instead of yelling at the parents... If people are concerned about a non-proven link (and pretty well demonstrated non-link) with autism for vaccination before two, make a second effort to vaccinate children at age 4, when the risk of developing autism is gone.

Anonymous said...

ProfK- I believe the baby who died r'l was under 2 months old. The first shot is not given before 2 months, and there are 2 more after that, so a baby is generally not fully innoculated against this particular disease until 6 months old. Measles shots are not typically given until after a year. It's not just herd immunity that's an issue, but simply young babies of responsible parents who haven't been vaccinated yet because they weren't old enough. I do not let my older child play with unvaccinated kids. SOmeone once said "but if you believe they work, then it shouldn't matter"- except it DOES matter, because I have a baby at home who is not YET fully vaccinated.

JS said...

The majority of the blame belongs with the anti-vaccine crowd - the types who actively believe vaccines are a form of poison and run to homeopathy and other home remedies instead of to a doctor. These people spread lies and disinformation and lead parents who are uneducated, ignorant, or just fearful to make terrible choices.

My wife has a family member who falls into the latter category. She's the type of person who is always nervous and anxious. She latched on to these anti-vaccine nutcases due to concern that a relative has a child with autism and she refuses to vaccinate her child (though it appears she is starting to come around).

There needs to be a two-pronged approach. The medical and scientific communities need to forcefully refute the disinformation. It's not enough to dismiss people as crazies or just tell people they're wrong. They then need to work with parents who are not ideologically bent, but just fearful to get their kids on a different vaccination schedule.

Anonymous said...

Ironically, many of the same types of people who are anti-vaccine are the same people who believe that global warming is a conspiracy made up by the far left and that environmental regulations are bad, even though pollution and contamination of the air, soil, drinking water is a far greater danger to their children than environmental contamination.

Mark said...

Anon 9:59 - I believe the baby who died r'l was under 2 months old. The first shot is not given before 2 months, and there are 2 more after that, so a baby is generally not fully innoculated against this particular disease until 6 months old.

You are missing the point entirely!

The 2 month old baby caught the disease FROM someone who wasn't properly inoculated. The people at fault are those who spread false rumors about the dangers of inoculation, and those who accept those rumors as fact and don't inoculate their children.

The two greatest inventions that have improved our life expectancy are antibiotics (to prevent people from dying of easily treatable infections) and immunization (to prevent the spread of diseases that hurt/kill people).

Anon 1:23, I've seen anti-vaccine people on the laft, the middle, and the right. It's not exclusive to one political viewpoint. It is, however, exclusive to those who are scientifically ignorant and fearful.

Miami Al said...

The first greatest life extended has been clean drinking water. Vaccinations are number two, and it's a close number two.

Anonymous said...

Mark, I am Anon 9:59, and YOU missed MY point entirely. ProfK above blamed the parents of the baby- I was pointing out that it may not have been their fault. The parents may have been perfectly responsible and planning on getting the shot at the recommended age, but someone else who did not vaccinate ruined it for them and killed their baby.
Did you read my entire post? I am fully aware that non-vaccinaters put other children at risk. In addition to the herd immunity issue, you have very young babies at risk because they're not old enough to have had the chance to be vaccinated. My older child has had all his shots already, but the younger one is under six months and has only had some. I don't worry about the older one catching something, but I do worry about him being in contact with non-vaccinated kids and passing the germs to my not-yet fully vaccinated baby. That's why I don't let him play with those kids.

Anonymous said...

Your healthy, vaccinated child cannot pass germs from another child to your baby. Germs don't work that way. If you want to be super cautious, wash his hands and change his clothes after playing with an unvaccinated playmate.

Anonymous said...

How can someone be so irresponsible? What do they hope to gain by not vaccinating their child?

Anonymous said...

My nephew, Refael Yisroel Meir ben Sara Gittel is almost 8 months old. He is still in critical condition but there is some progress with his lungs slowly clearing, thank G-d.

He was not vaccinated although all his siblings are, because he was not in good enough health to be vaccinated.

Anonymous said...

Of course you can be a carrier of whooping cough (or any other disesase) even if you're fully vaxed. Had an outbreak here of chicken pox from... a vaccinated girl who got shingles. For 24 hours or so after the chicken pox vaccine, you can give (you guessed it) chicken pox to those around you.

My brother got whooping cough at 2 months old, and the whole family was put on some medication and had to stay out of school for a week. He was not in contact with anyone unvaxed as we know.

The bigger problem might be the doctors who don't consider whooping cough a possibility. My brother was in the ER 3 (!) times before they diagnosed it. He might have gotten it from someone vaccinated who had a less severe case and didn't even know it.

Those who don't vaccinate aren't doing it because they're afraid of autism. Most of them have read more on the subject than your child's pediatrician, and have valid concerns about vaccines which are as of yet unaddressed.

Do some research yourself, instead of relying on third-hand information (my doctor says that people who don't vax say that...)

Dina said...

Herd immunity does not apply to pertussis. Here's an informative discussion on the subject (sources are mentioned).
http://www.mothering.com/community/t/868355/please-explain-herd-immunity-to-me

Being that the pertussis vaccine does not prevent carriage of the illness, or infection from the illness, it is not subject to the benefits of herd immunity. It is far more likely, in fact, that the whooping cough this child got was from someone who WAS vaccinated, who got therefore a more mild case.

Mordechai said...

It depends on the vaccine. Hepatitis B vaccine is for a sexually transmitted disease. Is your newborn going around having sex. If abba or ima are sleeping around the baby might need the shot otherwise no reason for it.


The chickenpox is not a dangerous disease. No reason for this shot either. Indeed the vaccine gives limited immunity while the disease gives lifetime immunity. Much better to get chickenpox as a child rather than become infertile catching rickets as an adult.

Don't let Big Pharma sell you a bill of goods. Don't ever let your child take more than one shot at a time and never allow them go give your child a shot with Mercury in it.