Parents Refusing H1N1 Vaccination For Children...Think Carefully
Posted: Saturday, November 07, 2009
by Joel Hendon
http://hebronics.org/index.html
It is amazing to me, the number of people who fear vaccinations more than they do some deadly disease. I have known many people who will not take the regular annual shots for anticipated seasonal influenza. There were many years in which I did not take them, not because I feared the shots but simply that I did not fear the influenza. Until the winter of 1990-91, when it made a believer of me.
I have heard people complain that they took the shot and the very next week (or just a few days) they had the flu. Well, what they should understand is that it takes about two weeks for the vaccination to become effective. And I've heard others say they had the flu anyway that winter. Well I guess that is possible, I've read some pretty reliable sources which state that you might still get the virus but it would likely be milder than it would have been if you had not been vaccinated. Plus, some times they give you the type vaccine which they anticipate will be most prevalent tha year, and lo, some other type pops up. So they are not always fool proof.
Now, this so-called swine flu, is somewhat different to that of others. It is more rampant in younger people than older and more young people die with it than older people. My personal opinion is that this is simply because children are in school and exposure is greater than for most older people. I don't know why that should be different than for any other type, but it would seem that perhaps, it may not stay airborne as much as the others and you have to come in closer contact to get it??? But never the less, I will be vaccinated when/if the vaccine becomes available here for us.
I read today that about 20% of the families in Vashon Island, Washington are not
having their children vaccinated. And, the Ocean Charter School at Marina del Rey, California, 40% of the kindergarten children received exemptions from the vaccine. To me, this is frightening. I would be trying to get my child at the head of the line for it, if I had a kindergarten aged child.
Michael Specter, author of Denialism, says we can all believe in irrational things, and that many people act on those irrational things. I don't know if he is right or wrong about that, but I do believe many parents ideas concerning vaccinations sometimes approach the status of being irrational.
I have heard some complain of one thing or another, such as some doctor or nurse making a mistake and even sometimes hear of some problem with the pharmaceutical company, and maybe some died because of it. But consider this, how many of these type things have you known of? One out of tens of millions of cases? Then how many people do you know of who died from the flu? One out of one thousand? Ten thousand?. The odds are many thousands of times greater that your child might die from the swine flu, than from the vaccine. I know one thing for sure, I would grieve uncontrollably if I refused to have a child vaccinated and then, it died from the virus. I don't know if I could handle that or not. My wife and I raised three darling daughters which I love more than my own life. If we had lost one of them over a wrong call of mine...I don't know.
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Top-level comments on this article: (3 total)Joel,Good article although I am still on the fence about it. Maybe if I had small children I would be more concerned. Your point is well-taken however.Hi Nancy, thanks for your comment. The risks of the vaccine are very few. There is a very rare problem that I know of, called the Guillain-Barre syndrome. It is a dangerous but very rare side effect. It can cause paralysis and even death if not quickly treated. One of my daughters developed it once and had no idea what was happening to her, but she happened to have a good doctor who recognized it and stopped it before it did any damage.Now, I'll bet that takes you off the fence...but really this is a rare thing and can be cured relatively quickly although there is no time to fiddle around with it.
Joel, thanks for writing this! However, the first swine flu episode more people died from the vaccine than the flu. Also, some things to consider with any flu vaccine - first they have to isolate a bug then work on making a vaccine etc. By the time it is marketed it is for a "bug" that was around about 6 months ago. As an RN I have seen mass vaccinations in long term care hospitals - I cannot tell you the numbers of residents who right at the correct incubation period got a fever, cough and etc after taking the vaccine. Many manufacturers would try to claim it was not due to the vaccine but I saw that year after year. Most RNs fall into 2 categories - the kinds that have pills for everything in life and those (like me) who rarely take a prescription. I have had the Shingles vaccine and get my tetnus updated regularly. Other than that I do not sign up because I have seen the other side of this coin myself. Don't know what I would do if we had kids (we don't). There has also been a recorded incidence of Guillian-Barre syndrome after some vaccines. Just some things to think about. MarijoHi Marijo, thanks for commenting. I'm sure you are truthful in what you say. However, those who suffered fever and coughs probably did not get it from the vaccine. It is a known fact that the virus germs from which the vaccine is made, are dead. I also know that some people suffer from some type of alergy from egg albumen which is part of the vaccine, or used to be, I'm not sure if they still use that or not. Now, I'm not sure but I believe I heard that the nasal spray vaccine does contain some live virus. But, all in all, I still prefer to take the vaccine. I almost died in 1990 from the flu and I could not go through what I did then again, I don't think. I've never had any reaction whatsoever from these vaccines. Everyone must decide for them selsves.Yes, I am also allergic to egg, mold and feathers and I must say that rules out a lot for me too - you are SO right about the allergies. Am not sure if the original swine flu vax was live or ???Marijo
i totally agree with your logic and thoughts about irrational beliefs ... my concern is about the chemicals that are added to the vaccine and how they might affect the child ... a fellow teacher at my school had her daughter vaccinated and as a result suffered asperger syndrome symptoms ... if that happened to my child because i 'made' her be vaccinated, how could i live with myself? her daughter went from being happy go lucky to being withdrawn ... i know the stats are against you but someone has to make up those stats and you can't believe that it will be someone else's child ... it could be mineThanks for your comment Serge, and you make excellent points. As I have said above, each one has to make their own decision. I no longer have the responsibility for having children vaccinated, and I'm thankful I don't.
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