Monday, January 14, 2013

FMB: Friendship (2)

I think Dr. S is entirely correct.  I read some random blogger's post today about should she get her 1-year-old vaccinated for the flu before they go on a plane (in case you have been living under a rock, the answer is YES, EIGHTEEN TWENTY CHILDREN HAVE DIED OF IT ALREADY) and I became incoherent with rage.  And I'm never ever reading that blog again! 

Idiots.

(I know that people's reasons for not vaccinating their children are more complex than simply being idiots, but frankly, it boils down to: Idiots. Also anyone who takes that stupid, stupid 'vaccine book' at face value is, equally, a moron.) 

5 comments:

  1. Yikes! Patrick is still worried about getting the flu when he goes on an airplane next week, though we were both vaccinated in the fall. I admit, I waited too long to get the kids vaccinated. They had appointments in December, but I didn't write it on my calendar and forgot to go. They were finally vaccinated in January. (Horrors! Seriously. I'd like to keep them home until spring but I think I couldn't take it after the winter holidays.)

    I was discussing the flu situation with C1's kindergarten teacher. "Oh, I never get a flu shot. I've been lucky so far. An aide in Ms. Other Kindergarten Teacher's classroom was just sick for a week with the flu." Really?! You work in a school with tiny germ-factories and don't get a flu shot?! Instead I said, "You know, this season is really bad, a 17-year-old just died in MN. It's not too late to get a flu shot." But the children all came in, and she didn't really reply. *sigh*

    I guess more people die in car accidents every day than from the flu, but STILL. Take precautions, people.

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  2. Anonymous11:19 AM

    I am the daughter of a school nurse/public health nurse and get all manner of vaccinations.

    Despite my entire household getting flu shots (including the baby who needed 2 shots since he's under 1yo), our pre-schooler got the flu, brought it home and gave it to the baby. I was hoping it was just a random virus, but a trip to the pedi for the baby and he tested positive.

    So far nobody has come back with, "That's why I don't bother getting the flu shot!" BS, because how many times can you explain efficacy, selection of strains for the vaccine, herd immunity, etc.

    Believe it or not, a woman from my mother's group is in her 2nd trimester and said last night that she got her daughter and husband vaccinated, but hadn't gotten one for herself yet. She actually said, "Always putting myself last." To which I replied, pointing at her belly, "You need to put that baby first and get your shot!"

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  3. I was one of those idiots - I read that book - until my daughter got pneumonia at 4 months... Am now a convert. In fact daughter #2 is, as we speak, sweating away in an immunisation fever upstairs. I really was an idiot. You should have talked sense to me...

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    Replies
    1. Sorry. Didn't mean it personally, I was in a bit of a pet.

      My objection to the book is, almost nobody reads the entire PDR sheet with EVERY drug they're prescribed (the one with the molecular diagram of the drug and the complete manufacturer's info, generally 5000 words+), but those damn things are in that stupid book. I once read the sheet for my asthma inhaler (fluticasone + LABA) and, you know, they're required to print every complication anyone reported in the clinical trial even if it's clearly insane. So the asthma inhaler lists 'athlete's foot' as a reported side effect (not confirmed), which is medically impossible as the levels of steroid are undetectable in the bloodstream. You'd basically have to spray it on your toes five times a day to get athlete's foot. And yet, that book treats every 'reported' side effect as if it were gospel, without taking into account the very real risk of disease. (If you ever want to be depressed, look up the measles stats for the UK.) Even worse, the side effects are more 'real' to people because it's things they're familiar with, whereas the actual vaccine-preventable illnesses are more like griffons: I've never, ever seen anyone with one of those diseases, myself.

      To me, it's kind of like Dr. Phil giving pseudo-psychological advice. The man has a PhD in physical education. .

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