I think we need to be very practical about these issues. We all know that transplantable organs are in short supply; many people awaiting transplants have died because there was no organ to give them. Also, our Big Pharma-industrial complex has managed, from time to time, to produce severe shortages of medications, including vaccines. With Trump in the White House we can only expect these shortages to get worse.
Now, if a full-grown adult without impaired cognitive functioning wants to decline a vaccine or an organ transplant, that is their right, and I would do nothing to stand in their way. With children, however, it is more of a grey area. After all, particularly in a Republican Administration, parental rights over their children must be preserved without question; child abuse is over-reported anyway.
The one bright spot in this whole area is the fact that unvaccinated persons have a slightly greater chance of dying from measles, tetanus, polio, etc. And that means one less MAGA voter, which will benefit society as a whole. Remember, every dark cloud has a silver lining….
OK. I'm an old. So old, that I was too old to get the benefit of any of these vaxx and therefore, had all these childhood illnesses--measles, chicken pox, mumps, rubella, even scarlet fever. The measles left me hearing-impaired. That shizz is for life. It never goes away, never gets better and, in fact, as I get older, the hearing loss gets worse.
Now, why would I want that for my own children? It's pointless suffering that will follow them throughout their lives. One of my cousins ended up with encephalitis from the measles. Do these idiots really want that?
They have no idea what the damage is from these childhood diseases, because they were all vaxxed by their parents and have never seen what can happen.
The politicians and influencers opposing vaccines are competing for The Josef Mengele Prize in Public Health and Medicine. It's awarded at death and comes with an automatic two level advancement in afterlife status. They will be surprised to find out that every contestant gets the prize, it's in Hell, and it's two levels down.
[I don't actually believe in Hell, but there are times when I wish it upon some people.]
Ta, Robyn. Everyone here already knows I nearly died of measles at six years old. The vaccine came later. Only one good thing has come out of those "childhood diseases." I asked my PCP to check my chicken pox titers (I remembered Younger Sister having it but did not recall having it myself; coming right on top of almost fatal measles) so I could get Shingrix if needed. Anything over 645 means one is immune. My number was 1,111.
I work as a professional nanny. During every initial phone interview I always ask prospective employers their stance on vaccinations. Fortunately, every parent has been pro-vaccination so I've never ended a call early. When I started this career 38 years ago, it was a question that never would have occurred to me because all parents vaccinated their children then.
One right-winger "God,Guns, Country" type I once knew gave me a whole tirade on her "due diligence as a parent" regarding vaccines. Some think that being a parent imbues you with special powers of critical thinking, or advanced clinical knowledge of child development and psychology. Parents are the toughest part of teaching, I found. "I know what's right for my kid!!" you hear a lot... with is true, sometimes. But when it comes to science, social skills, actual nuts'n'bolts education... no. After under grad and grad coursework on the above, and decades of experience with thousands of actual kids, chances are pretty good that I know better what's good for your kid, than you do.
If you're able to, ask your doctor about getting a blood titre test. This shows how immune you are to VPIs. I get one every few years because I'm immunocompromised and work with kids, I want ALL the vaccines.
It's particularly important you keep on top of your whooping cough/pertussis boosters. And, of course, Covid boosters and the annual flu vaccine.
Used to be when there weren't so many guns, not a lot of people died from shootings. Now that there a lot of guns, plenty of people die from that. But the answer isn't less guns. It is more guns according to the same idiots. Less vaccines make you safer, and more guns make you safer. Notice a sort of mental mismatch there?
If I were married to an anti-vax woman and we had a kid, we would be in for some serious, major-league, knock-down-drag-out fights. The kinds that could end the marriage. There are certain things you just can't compromise on.
I wonder how Jay Cutler and Kristen Cavallari worked it out. Actually, they didn't -- they divorced.
During the school year, if I'm not super-diligent about keeping the snotty faces out of my face, I get sick WAY too much. On breaks... not sick at all.
Gotta wonder how much of it is just heightened awareness. It took a worldwide pandemic for a lot of folks to even pay attention to what the government was doing in terms of vaccines or other public health measures—and then they only heard it through the republican filter of “now the evol gubmint wants to give your kids that Fauci Autism.” So every “new” thing they learn along those lines from that point forward (i.e., common sense public health measures we have benefited from for decades, that they just never heard about) sounds like some fresh conspiracy. And they can’t back down from that framing now, because rhen they’d have to admit they’d been ignorant and gullible.
And that, kids, is how ignorant solidifies into stupid and gets people killed.
I think a big part of it is tied into the re-emergent Christian nationalist meltdown that is Qanon and the Republicans as a whole.
The church was where the anti-vax movement started. Back when it was literally just being discovered and figured out in Europe the church immediately started throwing shitfits because disease was God's punishment for sin, so HOW DARE people try to deny God a way to inflict more suffering on the world.
Given that Qanon is literally nothing but evangelical Christianity with a sprinkling of sci fi on it, and the worldwide reactionary movement the GOP is a part of is mainly Christianity lashing out because it's finally losing (some of) the sociopolitical dominance it butchered so many people to take, it doesn't surprise me that anti-vax bullshit is resurging again.
And aside from all that, Christianity has always been anti-intellectual. If the churches of the world had their way, we'd have reverted back to pre-dark ages Europe as far as society goes. Christianity has to attack science every chance it gets since the two are mutually exclusive.
I think we need to be very practical about these issues. We all know that transplantable organs are in short supply; many people awaiting transplants have died because there was no organ to give them. Also, our Big Pharma-industrial complex has managed, from time to time, to produce severe shortages of medications, including vaccines. With Trump in the White House we can only expect these shortages to get worse.
Now, if a full-grown adult without impaired cognitive functioning wants to decline a vaccine or an organ transplant, that is their right, and I would do nothing to stand in their way. With children, however, it is more of a grey area. After all, particularly in a Republican Administration, parental rights over their children must be preserved without question; child abuse is over-reported anyway.
The one bright spot in this whole area is the fact that unvaccinated persons have a slightly greater chance of dying from measles, tetanus, polio, etc. And that means one less MAGA voter, which will benefit society as a whole. Remember, every dark cloud has a silver lining….
Darwinism takes too long. Carl Sagan wrote about ‘bamboozled’
people in his 1995 book ‘science as a candle in the dark’. Maybe these should just buy some magic crystals to get healthy.
OK. I'm an old. So old, that I was too old to get the benefit of any of these vaxx and therefore, had all these childhood illnesses--measles, chicken pox, mumps, rubella, even scarlet fever. The measles left me hearing-impaired. That shizz is for life. It never goes away, never gets better and, in fact, as I get older, the hearing loss gets worse.
Now, why would I want that for my own children? It's pointless suffering that will follow them throughout their lives. One of my cousins ended up with encephalitis from the measles. Do these idiots really want that?
They have no idea what the damage is from these childhood diseases, because they were all vaxxed by their parents and have never seen what can happen.
Idiots!
"...like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet."
RBG was talking about the Voting Rights Act, but the concept applies here, too
The politicians and influencers opposing vaccines are competing for The Josef Mengele Prize in Public Health and Medicine. It's awarded at death and comes with an automatic two level advancement in afterlife status. They will be surprised to find out that every contestant gets the prize, it's in Hell, and it's two levels down.
[I don't actually believe in Hell, but there are times when I wish it upon some people.]
Ta, Robyn. Everyone here already knows I nearly died of measles at six years old. The vaccine came later. Only one good thing has come out of those "childhood diseases." I asked my PCP to check my chicken pox titers (I remembered Younger Sister having it but did not recall having it myself; coming right on top of almost fatal measles) so I could get Shingrix if needed. Anything over 645 means one is immune. My number was 1,111.
Perhaps we are being uncharitable to these people. I'm sure they just want to bring back jobs making iron lungs, right?
I work as a professional nanny. During every initial phone interview I always ask prospective employers their stance on vaccinations. Fortunately, every parent has been pro-vaccination so I've never ended a call early. When I started this career 38 years ago, it was a question that never would have occurred to me because all parents vaccinated their children then.
One right-winger "God,Guns, Country" type I once knew gave me a whole tirade on her "due diligence as a parent" regarding vaccines. Some think that being a parent imbues you with special powers of critical thinking, or advanced clinical knowledge of child development and psychology. Parents are the toughest part of teaching, I found. "I know what's right for my kid!!" you hear a lot... with is true, sometimes. But when it comes to science, social skills, actual nuts'n'bolts education... no. After under grad and grad coursework on the above, and decades of experience with thousands of actual kids, chances are pretty good that I know better what's good for your kid, than you do.
I miss the days of parents deferring to the knowledge of experts instead of doing their own "research".
Fuck em. Let the Lord they’re so eager to meet sort them out.
If only that would happen before they take medically vulnerable people with them.
This is the only reason I find their stupidity maddening.
If you're able to, ask your doctor about getting a blood titre test. This shows how immune you are to VPIs. I get one every few years because I'm immunocompromised and work with kids, I want ALL the vaccines.
It's particularly important you keep on top of your whooping cough/pertussis boosters. And, of course, Covid boosters and the annual flu vaccine.
Make Herd Immunity Great Again.
MHIGA!
Stupid.
Used to be when there weren't so many guns, not a lot of people died from shootings. Now that there a lot of guns, plenty of people die from that. But the answer isn't less guns. It is more guns according to the same idiots. Less vaccines make you safer, and more guns make you safer. Notice a sort of mental mismatch there?
OK, Ok...so who what when why...
invented toilet paper, & and what did people do before that?
I'm thinkin',
somebody had this Brite idea called 'Charmin',
& then we all had to poop
Before that, history has no record.
Although, indoor plumbing was a new sensation, at the time.
I know the ancient Romans used a communal sponge on a stick.
I never actually say 'gross', but...
not butt, but, 'but'...
If I were married to an anti-vax woman and we had a kid, we would be in for some serious, major-league, knock-down-drag-out fights. The kinds that could end the marriage. There are certain things you just can't compromise on.
I wonder how Jay Cutler and Kristen Cavallari worked it out. Actually, they didn't -- they divorced.
I'd hope that would come up BEFORE you had a kid. There have been multiple court battles over that very question.
They can keep their unvaccinated little vermin away from me and mine.
During the school year, if I'm not super-diligent about keeping the snotty faces out of my face, I get sick WAY too much. On breaks... not sick at all.
I remember them telling us in teachers college that our first two years in the classroom, we would be sicker than we had ever been.
Gotta wonder how much of it is just heightened awareness. It took a worldwide pandemic for a lot of folks to even pay attention to what the government was doing in terms of vaccines or other public health measures—and then they only heard it through the republican filter of “now the evol gubmint wants to give your kids that Fauci Autism.” So every “new” thing they learn along those lines from that point forward (i.e., common sense public health measures we have benefited from for decades, that they just never heard about) sounds like some fresh conspiracy. And they can’t back down from that framing now, because rhen they’d have to admit they’d been ignorant and gullible.
And that, kids, is how ignorant solidifies into stupid and gets people killed.
I think a big part of it is tied into the re-emergent Christian nationalist meltdown that is Qanon and the Republicans as a whole.
The church was where the anti-vax movement started. Back when it was literally just being discovered and figured out in Europe the church immediately started throwing shitfits because disease was God's punishment for sin, so HOW DARE people try to deny God a way to inflict more suffering on the world.
Given that Qanon is literally nothing but evangelical Christianity with a sprinkling of sci fi on it, and the worldwide reactionary movement the GOP is a part of is mainly Christianity lashing out because it's finally losing (some of) the sociopolitical dominance it butchered so many people to take, it doesn't surprise me that anti-vax bullshit is resurging again.
And aside from all that, Christianity has always been anti-intellectual. If the churches of the world had their way, we'd have reverted back to pre-dark ages Europe as far as society goes. Christianity has to attack science every chance it gets since the two are mutually exclusive.