Long rant follows. Feel free to skip!
It's a big story because of the Disneyland outbreak, but the political interest is also because of climbing numbers of parents choosing to not vaccinate, based on, "personal research." This research is often limited to single minded blogs and, "studies," with NO peer revision. Without peer revision the data is worthless. If it can't be replicated, it's a theory that can easily be disproven by science. I used to question vaccines because I lived with staunch anti-vaxxers and read Andrew Wakefield's report on vaccines and autism. My problem was always that his data couldn't be replicated, but he was a serious scientist who worked with children on the spectrum. It was hard to ignore. Then he admitted he lied and falsified data. That pissed me off enough. Then I became a parent. Now I take the sh!t VERY personally.
At Disneyland, they think an international traveler was carrying the virus, but not yet symptomatic. You are contagious up to four days before the first symptom. It has a 90% contagious rating and can live airborne for more than 2 hours, so literally thousands of people were directly or indirectly exposed. If patient zero hit every ride in the park, every spot could have been swimming in the virus for two hours. Think about the people that move through there. There are 48 known cases of measles contracted by people who were at Disneyland in that time frame. 25 of those people were not vaccinated. The others didn't have enough titers that developed from their own vaccine. That happens. They fall under the category of people who depend on herd immunity. (My daughter falls under the same category, as she can't have her MMR yet, due to a benign brain tumor she has been on medication for since birth.) All 48 have taken the virus and theoretically spread it before knowing they had it. That number would have been at the very least cut in half had people been responsible. The bigger picture is that these kids who are unvaccinated by parental choice are often the kids of parents who associate with like minded families. One unvaccinated kid can spread it to dozens more. They can take it to school. They can pass it to kids too young or sick to get vaccinated. It's one of the easiest viruses to spread and one of the easiest to control. It stops being a personal choice when your kid can make my kid/grandmother/friend sick.
Of course, this whistle blower from the CDC also has all of the anti-vaxxers saying, "SEE?!!! I TOLD YOU!!!" GRRRRRR! lol
Pretty pretty please don't you ever ever feel like you're less than
f**ckin' perfect!Updated On: 2/4/15 at 06:45 AM
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