From Respectful Insolence and my blogging hero, Orac, this today; also posted in Science Based-Medicine. Shout it from the rooftops. One of the biggest dominos that started anti-vaccine nonsense is a fraud. The domino did big nasty, weak, bad, stupid research. Why the original story from the Times isn't running on the front page of every major newspaper in the freaking world, I don't know. Well, I do. There's LOTS of bad news to run, and while vaccines and the come-back of diseases I've never seen is a big deal, I guess collapsing global economies touch more people on a daily basis.
I am completely, utterly infuriated about vaccine nonsense. I'm decidedly, emphatically pro-vaccine. I tell new patients in my office that if they move, I will vaccinate them for something. I'm not kidding. I start to froth at the mouth if I talk about vaccines for too long. Parents who are anti-vaccination don't stay in my practice for long. I'm not miserable to them, but I don't buy into the nonsense, and my dog-like rabid mouth-frothing is certainly a turn-off.
It's a luxury that individuals can even think about not vaccinating. It's a big, fat, middle-class, latte-loving, victims-of-our-own success in lowering infant mortality and iron lung-openic state that it can cross individuals' minds to skip vaccines. If somebody on every street had polio there would be a race to see who could use up the vaccines first. If three kids in my midwestern town died of epiglottitis I wouldn't be able to keep Hflu vax in stock. Every year when flu cases start to uptick and the news shows up on the local news/newspaper I go through another case of flu vaccines. Not that it's necessarily gonna help, but it gets people in the door and on to my vaccine conveyor belt. Then the brainwashing can begin as my patients can join my cult of vaccinated zombies. From there it is a short step to having the evil big Pharma brain chip implanted. Before they know it, these poor patients will start spitting every time somebody mentions black cohosh.
I'm not heartless. If parents don't want to give their kids 6 vaccines at once, I'm cool. We'll get you back in a week or two for Jab, Part Deux. Just as long as the vaccines happen in a semi-timely fashion. Do I wince when my kids get vaccines and start howling? Sure. Do I think twice about vaccinating them? No. I hug my vigorous punks and utter a little prayer to the scientists who sat diligently, patiently reviewing data, crunching numbers, studying, mulling, and working to protect their children, my children (and me) from polio, diptheria, lockjaw, mumps, hepatitis. My children can escape these diseases, dying, and death.
Do I wince when I get a vaccine? My nurse will tell you I whine like a baby when she gets near me with a needle (she relishes the opportunity to stick me with something sharp and wide-bore), but bring it on, baby. I happily will forgo post-tussive pertussis emesis. I don't need Hep B. Lockjaw won't look pretty on me. Furthermore, I drive my patients crazy enough! I don't need to be a disease vector as well.
I'm starting to foam and need more coffee. Thank you, thank you for vaccines. Shout out to Orac and his gang of anti-vaccinationist bouncers. Thanks for their hard, clear-eyed, diligent work in calling out bad anti-vaccine science and for carefully explaining why it's bad.
Go get your shots.
Out, Iced.
PS If you leave me nasty comments I'm going to print your note and set fire to it while I throw salt over my left shoulder and do a rain dance while sticking a pin in a voodoo doll of you.
I am completely, utterly infuriated about vaccine nonsense. I'm decidedly, emphatically pro-vaccine. I tell new patients in my office that if they move, I will vaccinate them for something. I'm not kidding. I start to froth at the mouth if I talk about vaccines for too long. Parents who are anti-vaccination don't stay in my practice for long. I'm not miserable to them, but I don't buy into the nonsense, and my dog-like rabid mouth-frothing is certainly a turn-off.
It's a luxury that individuals can even think about not vaccinating. It's a big, fat, middle-class, latte-loving, victims-of-our-own success in lowering infant mortality and iron lung-openic state that it can cross individuals' minds to skip vaccines. If somebody on every street had polio there would be a race to see who could use up the vaccines first. If three kids in my midwestern town died of epiglottitis I wouldn't be able to keep Hflu vax in stock. Every year when flu cases start to uptick and the news shows up on the local news/newspaper I go through another case of flu vaccines. Not that it's necessarily gonna help, but it gets people in the door and on to my vaccine conveyor belt. Then the brainwashing can begin as my patients can join my cult of vaccinated zombies. From there it is a short step to having the evil big Pharma brain chip implanted. Before they know it, these poor patients will start spitting every time somebody mentions black cohosh.
I'm not heartless. If parents don't want to give their kids 6 vaccines at once, I'm cool. We'll get you back in a week or two for Jab, Part Deux. Just as long as the vaccines happen in a semi-timely fashion. Do I wince when my kids get vaccines and start howling? Sure. Do I think twice about vaccinating them? No. I hug my vigorous punks and utter a little prayer to the scientists who sat diligently, patiently reviewing data, crunching numbers, studying, mulling, and working to protect their children, my children (and me) from polio, diptheria, lockjaw, mumps, hepatitis. My children can escape these diseases, dying, and death.
Do I wince when I get a vaccine? My nurse will tell you I whine like a baby when she gets near me with a needle (she relishes the opportunity to stick me with something sharp and wide-bore), but bring it on, baby. I happily will forgo post-tussive pertussis emesis. I don't need Hep B. Lockjaw won't look pretty on me. Furthermore, I drive my patients crazy enough! I don't need to be a disease vector as well.
I'm starting to foam and need more coffee. Thank you, thank you for vaccines. Shout out to Orac and his gang of anti-vaccinationist bouncers. Thanks for their hard, clear-eyed, diligent work in calling out bad anti-vaccine science and for carefully explaining why it's bad.
Go get your shots.
Out, Iced.
PS If you leave me nasty comments I'm going to print your note and set fire to it while I throw salt over my left shoulder and do a rain dance while sticking a pin in a voodoo doll of you.
Posts
I've done another round-up post -- who is saying what about the Deer articles on Wakefield in the London Times. I've included this post.
ReplyDelete11 years on, Wakefield Manufactured Data showing MMR-Autism Link?
I don't think these revelations will shake the hard-core anti-vaxxers, but I do think that it might allay the fears of nervous parents.
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. This post sounds like me on my soapbox spouting to noone in particular on at least a weekly basis about anti-vaccinators.
ReplyDeleteI read this in NHS Blog Doctor:
ReplyDelete"How many of you have read Peter Pan? Do you remember Tinker Bell? Do you remember her saying that every time someone says that they do not believe in fairies, a fairy dies? It is the same with immunisations. Every time someone says they don't believe in immunisations, a child will die." My line in a sand has been drawn for a long time, and maybe a lot of little blog lines in the sand will help slowly stop the insanity!
Wow, how naive does that sound? One can but try...