via Usa Today.

This week there seems to be a lot of news about the problems caused by the anti-vax movement.  This story, sadly, fits right in.

The largest U.S. outbreak of measles to occur in 15 years — affecting 214 children so far — is likely driven by travelers returning from abroad and by too many unvaccinated U.S. children, according to new research.

The finding could highlight the dangers of a trend among some U.S. parents to skip the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine for their children, out of what many experts call misguided fears over its safety.

People get your kids Vaccinated!

Dr. Andrew Pavia, professor of pediatrics at the University of Utah and spokesman for the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), said, “The good news is that we are seeing introductions of measles that are being contained as small outbreaks.”

Pavia credits containment to high levels of vaccination and the rapid response by public health officials. However, if an outbreak occurred in a “really susceptible population the outcome could be very different,” he said.

Outbreaks start and these parents run to the doctor.  Only the power of medicine and modern science stop it from spreading.  The people that promote the anti-vax movement are hurting people and putting lives at risk.

“What would happen in an area with a lot of vaccine refusers? Then you might see a much larger outbreak,” he said.

Several measles-related studies were unveiled at the annual IDSA annual meeting, currently being held in Boston.

In the first report, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) researchers chronicled the nation’s ongoing outbreaks in 2011.

Most of those sickened were not vaccinated against the disease, CDC researchers said.

Duh!

Before the vaccine became available in the 1960s, some three to four million people contracted measles every year. Of those, 48,000 were hospitalized, 1,000 were permanently disabled and about 500 died, the CDC said.

Vaccines – They work bitches!

Unfortunately, “we have experienced an increased incidence of measles this year,” said Huong McLean, lead researcher and CDC epidemiologist. “Typically we see 60 to 70 cases a year, this year we have 214 as of Oct. 14.”

Among those people infected, 86 percent were unvaccinated or their vaccination status was unknown. Thirteen percent were under one year old — too young for vaccination.

Throughout the United States, 68 of the patients have been hospitalized, 12 with pneumonia.

Many of these people only get sick because others do not get the vaccines!

McLean said that the vaccination coverage in the United states remains relatively high, about 90 percent. “However, measles is very contagious and can spread quickly in communities where people aren’t vaccinated,” she said.

“The vaccine is very safe and effective in preventing the disease,” McLean said. The MMR vaccine, which protects against measles, mumps and rubella (German measles), is designed to be given to infants 12 to 15 months old with a second shot given when the child is four to six, according to the CDC.

The Minnesota Department of Health released figures on a state outbreak, which started in March with an unvaccinated child, aged two and a half , who had traveled to Kenya. The child attended a drop-in Minnesota child care center. Overall, 21 people were infected and 14 hospitalized.

21 very sick people from one child.

“Health care providers together with public health and community leaders must address growing vaccine hesitancy to ensure high immunization rates in all communities,” Pam Gahr, a senior health department epidemiologist, said in an IDSA news release.

Not only is measles highly contagious, it’s also expensive to contain its spread, according a third meeting presentation.

Dr. Karyn Leniek, deputy state epidemiologist for the Utah Department of Health, said an outbreak occurred when one unvaccinated high school student, who had been to Europe, brought measles back with him.

Although only nine people became infected, the cost of containing the outbreak was about $300,000. Costs included infection control in two area hospitals and intervention by local and state health departments. Costs also included physician and staff time, vaccines, immunoglobulin and blood tests, according to the study.

Send the bill to Jenny McCarthy!

Recently a friend of mine said that they thought that there are problems with vaccines and did not know if they should get them all.  They want to wait.  I just found this fantastic story and thought I would share it with all of you.  If you know anyone that has problems with vaccines – please send them this story.

Story by Rachael Dunlop.

A recent survey found more than two thirds of us research our medications on-line and half of us turn to “Dr Google” for diagnosis. But how do you know the information you are getting online is accurate? Basically, you don’t. In fact studies show if you search Google for “vaccination”, 60% of the results will not only be misleading but downright scary. In a time when vaccine-preventable diseases such as whooping cough and measles are in the news again, it’s critically important to know the facts about vaccination so that you can protect your kids and yourself.

So, let’s take a look at some of the common myths about vaccination and why they’re wrong.

Myth 1: Vaccines cause autism.

No doubt you’ve heard this myth – it’s been around for some time now. In a nutshell, there is no solid scientific evidence for a link between vaccines and autism. And believe me, science has been looking for well over 14 years. The theory that vaccines cause autism was first suggested by Andrew Wakefield in 1998. Since then, Wakefield’s paper has been discredited and withdrawn from The Lancet and Wakefield has lost his medical licence for showing “callous disregard” for children’s welfare.

Since 1998 there have been countless large and comprehensive studies looking for a link between vaccines and autism, but the evidence keeps coming up negative. The largest study was done in Denmark and covered all children born from January 1991 through December 1998. A total of 537,303 children of which eighty-two percent were vaccinated for MMR were examined and there was no association between vaccination and the development of autistic disorder.

Further, in August 2011, an exhaustive review of the scientific literature by the Institute of Medicine in the US concluded that overall “few health problems are caused by or clearly associated with vaccines”. And when I say “exhaustive review”, I mean 12,000 peer-reviewed articles, covering eight different vaccines were pored over by a committee of 18 experts in the largest review of adverse events associated with vaccines since 1994. It was a thorough and herculean effort concluding that there is no causal relationship between vaccines and autism.

Myth 2: Vaccines contain mercury

Mercury was removed from all routine childhood vaccines in Australia in the year 2000 (with the exception of one type of HepB vaccine which contains trace amounts) and it was never in the MMR vaccine. Prior to 2000, thimerosal, an organomercury compound, was used in the manufacturing process of vaccines as a preservative. The process left only trace amounts in the finished product – you ingest more mercury when you eat a can of tuna than you would ever get from a vaccine. Also there are two types of mercury – methyl mercury is the scary environmental toxin that “bioaccumulates” in your body, and ethyl mercury the type found in thimerosal, which does not bioaccumulate.
If thimerosal was implicated in autism, you would expect a significant drop in cases after its removal. Instead the opposite is true – autism rates continue to rise.

Myth 3: Vaccines contain toxic ingredients

Look anywhere on the Internet and you’ll find long scary looking lists of chemicals that anti-vaccine advocates claim are present in vaccines. Things such as anti-freeze, formaldehyde, aluminium phosphate, human fetal tissue, monkey kidney and lung cells, and most famously mercury. They also claim vaccines cause diseases such as AIDS, asthma, autism, cancers, diabetes, leukemia, lupus, SIDS, the list goes on. Many of these claims are quite simply untrue. The rest, without exception, misrepresent the facts.

For example, some viruses are grown on cell lines in the laboratory that were obtained from aborted fetal tissue many years ago. When a virus is grown on cells like these, it is extensively purified and many steps later, prepared into a vaccine. To say there are aborted human fetus cells in the vaccine is a bit like saying there is dirt in apples since they were once grown on a tree that grew in dirt. It’s misleading, scaremongering and simply not true. As for formaldehyde, there are trace amounts of formaldehyde in vaccines but much less than what your body naturally produces everyday.

Some vaccines do contain tiny amounts of metals like aluminium which have been used for over 80 years to increase the effectiveness of the vaccine. These are known as “adjuvants” and work like a booster to kick start the immune system into making antibodies. But just as the “dose makes the poison”, the concentrations of these metals are so low as to not be harmful to the body. Similarly, small doses of paracetamol cure pain but large doses have been known to cause liver failure.

Myth 4: Vaccines have never been tested.

All vaccines currently available in Australia must pass stringent safety testing before being approved for use by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), which is our government body responsible for regulating pharmaceuticals. Multiple clinical trials for safety and effectiveness are also performed as part of the development process (which takes anywhere between 10 to 15 years, and many millions of dollars) and safety monitoring continues for as long as the vaccine is in use.

For example with the polio vaccine, two million kids were involved in the field trial which was conducted in the US in 1954. More recently, the safety of the new cervical cancer vaccines was studied in large-scale clinical trials involving more than 50,000 people before being licensed for use. Safety continues to be monitored after 35 million doses with the majority of side effects being fever, headache and other minor ailments.

Like any medical procedure there are risks associated with the use of vaccines. This was brought to light in 2010 when dozens of kids suffered high temperatures and convulsions following administration of the flu vaccine. The vaccine was immediately withdrawn from use and the government commenced an investigation.

When people claim that vaccines have “never been tested” they usually mean that they have not undergone randomized placebo controlled trials (RCTs). To do an RCT of a vaccine you would need to take two groups of kids, give one group the vaccine, and the other a placebo, then expose both groups to the disease to see which ones survive. Raise your hand if you can see the problem here…

Not only would such an experiment be unethical, it’s unnecessary. We have extensive evidence demonstrating the effectiveness of vaccines; the eradication of smallpox and the near-eradication of polio from the world are just two examples.

Myth 5: Vaccines don’t work because children who are vaccinated can still get the disease.

No vaccine is 100% effective, and since everybody’s physiology is different, not everyone will develop immunity to the same degree; a vaccine is not a force field. But while you can still breathe in a virus or pick up bacteria off a door handle, the seriousness of the disease will be significantly reduced if you have been vaccinated. In the case of pertussis or whooping cough, severe complications such as seizures and pneumonia occur almost exclusively in unvaccinated people and one in every 200 babies who contract the disease will die.

Also, vaccine-induced and naturally acquired immunity fades over time. Notably, immunity from the whooping cough is not lifelong and infected adults, including child care workers and early years professionals, may be passing the infection on to children. This is why it is so important to get boosters if you are around young kids – especially those who are too young to be vaccinated. If you’re a parent make sure you, the grandparents, and other relatives and friends have boosters before they get to meet baby. Talk to your GP for advice on pertussis boosters (which are free until June 2012 in Victoria).

Myth 6: Improved living standards, not vaccination have reduced disease.

The three most significant factors in the reduction of infectious disease have been clean water, sewerage systems, and vaccination. But even in isolation, vaccination has made a huge dent in reducing rates of disease. Following the introduction of the national meningococcal C immunisation program in January 2003, the number of cases decreased by 39% while numbers of people admitted to hospital with the disease was down by 47%. When the Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib) vaccination was introduced into Australia in 1992 there was a 94% reduction in cases in children under the age of five (the most frequent illnesses caused by Hib are meningitis, septicemia and pneumonia). Yet living conditions in Australia have changed only marginally since 1992 or 2003. Vaccines have also significantly reduced suffering from the complications of infectious disease. Whilst mortality from polio was less than twenty percent, complications such as paralysis, skeletal deformities, and prolonged immobility during confinement in an iron lung caused significant suffering, all of which were eliminated by widespread vaccination.

Myth 7: Infectious diseases are not serious; children are meant to get them.

Just because they’re called “childhood diseases” doesn’t mean it’s okay for kids to get them and neither are they necessarily benign. Let’s take a look at whooping cough as an example, since Australia has been the grips of an epidemic for several years now.

Whooping cough is much more than “just a bad cough”. Kids often turn blue from lack of oxygen during coughing fits, they may vomit after severe attacks, and even fracture ribs. There is no cure for whooping cough – antibiotics are given to help stop the transmission to others – you just have to hope your immune system can fight it. Severe complications such as pneumonia and brain damage occur almost exclusively in unvaccinated people and in babies under 6 months of age the symptoms can be severe or life threatening. Whooping cough is also known as the 100-day cough making it a chronic and potentially fatal disease.

If you still think infectious diseases are harmless, wander through your local cemetery one day and note how many children died from diseases that we no longer see in society today – stamped out largely due to mass vaccination. Some of us are old enough to remember the images of children in iron lungs and calipers during the scourge of polio, which was wiped out by vaccination.

Myth 8: Vaccines cause or spread the diseases they are supposed to prevent.

Experiencing a slight temperature and/or a sore arm after getting a vaccine is actually a good thing. While some people misinterpret this as “getting the flu after the flu vaccine” it simply indicates that your immune system is responding. Vaccines work by priming your immune system with a part of the disease, usually inactivated particles or a fraction of the organism, so that it can make antibodies. This means next time you come across the disease in the environment your body is ready with an arsenal of antibodies to attack it before it can make you really sick.

Vaccines are not 100% safe – no medical intervention is without risk – and mistakes do happen. In the 1950s in America there was a spate of cases of polio caused by the vaccine, but this was due to a mistake in the manufacturing process and was quickly corrected. Regulations, monitoring and quality control has greatly increased since that time, meaning incidents such as this are very unlikely to be repeated. The risks associated with the disease greatly outweigh the risk from a vaccine.

Myth 9: My child’s immune system will be overwhelmed.

Some parents worry that vaccines weaken or overwhelm the immune system, particularly when given to babies or when multiple vaccines are given at the same time. Children are exposed to many foreign particles on a daily basis through activities such as routine eating, drinking and playing and vaccines contain only a tiny number in comparison to what children encounter every day in their environment. The amount of immune challenges that children fight every day (2,000 — 6,000) is significantly greater than the number of antigens in any combination of vaccines (about 150 for the entire vaccination schedule).

More information: This is certainly not an exhaustive list of myths surrounding vaccination. If you’d like to know more, the following sources contain accurate and easy to read information for parents on vaccination including myths, misconceptions and information about the diseases.

Chain of Protection is an initiative of The National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance (NCIRS) which contains lots of vaccine information, videos and more.
The NCIRS also produce the MMR Decision Aid which is a step-by-step guide to the MMR.
A great general resource for parents wanting to know more about vaccination can be found in the Australian Government publication; Understanding Childhood Immunisation Booklet (highly recommended)
General questions about vaccination can be found on the Australian Governments website; Frequently asked Questions About Immunisation
For more detailed information about vaccines, with references to scientific studies, see the Australian Government’s Handbook; Immunisation Myths and Realities, Responding to Arguments about Immunisation
A complete schedule of the current vaccinations required under the National Immunisation Program can be found here.

Great show on vaccines.  The interesting part starts at 12:50.

This poor couple lost their 4 week old baby because so many people in their area have bought into the anti-vax lies.

Recently, someone got upset that I insinuated that Jenny McCarthy’s opinion was less valuable because of her looks.  They were right of course.  Her looks, good or bad, have nothing to do with the value of her opinions.  Her opinions are bad because they conflict with the facts.  It just happened that Sean Faircloth just wrote a post about it on the Richard Dawkins Foundation page.  I have placed it below.

On Facebook recently a man touting scientific reasoning called Jenny McCarthy a slut. A Washington Post column of October 18, 2011 compared Jenny McCarthy to Barbie. The Post column was written by a woman and primarily interviewed a woman public health advocate. I’ll deal with the Washington Post shortly — but first the word slut.

I know nothing of Jenny McCarthy’s sexual habits, and I don’t need to know in order to draw this conclusion: the Facebook-commenter’s language was mean-spirited and sexist. I’ll prove it. Take one George Clooney. I love the guy. (O Brother Where Art Thou – brilliant comic timing; Up In the Air – great comedy, revealing acting.) In real life, Clooney has stated that he has enjoyed the intimate company of a wide variety of women. Yet I hear almost exclusively positive things about Clooney from men and women. That’s a good thing. Clooney’s acting and humanitarian work are justly praised. No one calls Clooney a slut — despite evidence to support the term were it to be applied in a gender-neutral fashion (I have no corresponding evidence regarding Ms. McCarthy — and please don’t be a complete jerk and start posting gossip about Jenny McCarthy, crazy-posting-type people, you know who you are).

Sadly I saw an analogy between the way Ms. McCarthy was treated on Facebook and the way two women advocates of science in the Washington Post (of all places) seemed to treat McCarthy.

Let’s get one thing out of the way: Jenny McCarthy is very attractive, which is not a crime. Very attractive people have been found to exert greater influence on opinions, especially attractive celebrities(1). We are not, and probably cannot, change that reality any time soon. If someone like Jenny McCarthy shows up on my TV screen, I’m likely to pause before moving to the next channel. But, having acknowledged that, let’s face up to both biological truths (e.g. my male reaction to McCarthy visually) as well as intellectual truths without blinking –- which leads me to Ms. McCarthy’s absurd – and dangerous – condemnation of vaccination.

In both the Facebook instance and the Washington Post piece, my conclusions on the merits of vaccinations lie with the scientific minded — but the methods of discourse in both cases make me disappointed in my science-minded “team.” Crying “slut” is, I hope, an obviously sexist — if all too frequent — rhetorical move.

But the Washington Post column, though well-intended, slid around tough issues and focused on the visual appeal of Ms. McCarthy. The two women exchanging ideas in the story cry out for our own scientific “Barbie.” While acknowledging the entirely accurate value of attractive women to marketing, I’d suggest a different approach: a stronger and more pointed focus on the merits.

Here are the merits: Jenny McCarthy has endangered many children. I don’t care if she’s smart, dumb, pretty or homely. McCarthy is an outright danger to the children of the world with her groundless attacks on vaccination. Facts force this conclusion.

Oprah enabled McCarthy’s campaign. Oprah must answer for increases in whooping cough — more measles, more diphtheria, more polio.

Franklin Roosevelt, confined to a wheel chair, led the March of Dimes which helped end the horror of the very polio that struck this brave, kind, and wonderful man. Roosevelt strongly supported scientific innovation – and scientific reasoning. FDR knew lives were at stake. With Oprah’s help, Jenny McCarthy is responsible for the pain and sometimes death of our fellow human beings – often children. It’s a modern horror – growing by the day. Only older Americans remember how very dangerous our world was before modern vaccines – but we may find out again if current trends continue.

Here’s what’s even sadder: The Washington Post, and the guy who called Jenny McCarthy a slut, ignored the biggest factor, the most dangerous factor of all when it comes to the anti-vaccination movement. That danger is the excuse offered by God.

Don’t believe me? The facts say otherwise.

The Washington Post piece, all a-quiver about pro- or anti-science “Barbie”, only mentions in brief passing this reality: it is the religious exemption to vaccination that is more widespread and the use of the religious exemption is growing fast.

The “philosophical” exemptions to vaccination permitted in twenty states are wrong indeed — but that number is dwarfed by the number of states (approximately 48!) that allow for religious exemptions to vaccination. Since “religious” exemptions are as amorphous as “philosophical” exemptions, people, including many who don’t even attend any religious services, use the religious exemption and use it increasingly:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-10-17-19819928_x.htm

Yet, the religious exemption is far from the primary focus of the Washington Post article. And the religious exemption is more insidious for these reasons:

1. It is far more prevalent despite the disproportionate attention to Ms. McCarthy;

 

1. People, including the elected officials who pass laws and the media who cover laws, are timid to challenge any justification for any irrationality once the word “religion” is invoked;

 

1. The religious exemption by definition stands athwart reason: “we ignore vaccines because our interpretation of God allows us to endanger not just our own children – but your child too!” And if someone dares say otherwise, they are “against religious freedom.”

 

1. If one allows the religious exemption, as is so widely the case, it is damned hard to argue against “philosophical” exemptions that endanger our fellow citizens.

 

Give Jenny McCarthy some comparative (and minimal) credit. There was one study floating around in the mid part of the last decade that at least purported to associate autism and vaccination. You can understand how people (incorrectly) might be misled by this reasoning during the last decade. Now, even that one study has been overwhelmingly refuted. Foregoing vaccinations is endangering people, especially children. However, at least the McCarthy crowd did tip a hat toward evidence (however lacking in substance).

It is out of deference to religion that the far more widespread vaccination exemption exists. The Washington Post

piece

ends with this line: “Paging CDC Barbie”.

Cute indeed, as is Jenny McCarthy — but a much greater danger to our children is not strongly challenged. That danger is religious bias.

And one more thing: There is no religious freedom to endanger children. That’s nonsense. Indeed if there were, those opposing vaccinations for “religious” reasons could simply invoke the First Amendment Religious Freedom clause. Indeed the very reason forty-eight states have the religious exemption for vaccination is exactly because the religious anti-vaccination crowd needs a statute since no religious constitutional right to endanger children exists. It is up to all of us to point out the truth: as dangerous as Jenny McCarthy is, there is an even greater danger of remaining silent in the face of religion when children’s lives are stake.

The Richard Dawkins Foundation US will be speaking and organizing in every state of the union so that we (and that means you) are ready to speak out against this violation of the human rights of children and the many other religiously-based violations of human rights. I would hope that both religious and non-religious people would organize, work together, and speak out openly, regarding this rational and compassionate goal. Secular people will lead the way. We put people first.

via CBS News.

There could be more cases of measles this year in the United States than we’ve seen in more than a decade. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports it’s already seen 98 cases in 2011 — double the average number for an entire year.

What could cause such an increase?  Global Warming?  Aliens?  No!  The evil child killing Anti-vax numb nuts!

CBS News Medical Correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton said it’s often because people aren’t vaccinated.  She explained, “Before the measles vaccine, this was an infectious disease that was pretty significant in this country. Several million people got sick every year, (it) caused about 500 deaths in the U.S. per year. In 2000, the CDC reported we had really had a victory over measles because of the vaccine, and it was pretty much 99 percent eradicated. When we see cases today in this country, they are almost entirely brought in from other parts of the world, and the people who get sick here are those who are largely not vaccinated.”

There used to be 500 deaths a year – in the US alone and it went away.  The vaccines worked so well that some young moms now think they aren’t needed.  They are wrong and it can kill their child.

See the CBS video here.

via The Roanoke Times.

A small, private Floyd County school has closed for the week after more than half its students became ill with whooping cough.

At least 30 people associated with Blue Mountain School have been diagnosed with the highly contagious disease, also called pertussis, including 23 of its 45 students, said Shelly Emmett, the alternative school’s director.

How could such a thing happen in our modern world of vaccines?

While the majority of the cases involve children, a few adult cases have been identified, said Dr. Molly O’Dell, director of the New River Health District.

The outbreak was caused by not properly vaccinating people against the disease…. a subset of the population does not follow vaccination recommendations.

“For those of us who are advocates of vaccination, this reminds us to stay vigilant,” she said. “This is a good wake-up call to remind us why adults and children need to be vaccinated. This is why we advocate for immunization.”

There are several components to the anti-vaccine movement. Some people choose not to immunize their children out of concerns that the vaccines cause harm. Others disagree with the recommended timetable, and some cite religious reasons.

Children in Floyd who have the illness were not vaccinated, O’Dell said. With the adults, it could be that they were never revaccinated with a booster shot and their immunity to the disease has waned.

So… these people are anti-vax.  If only the state of Virginia had a law that required kids to get vaccines.

Under Virginia law, schools and day care centers must maintain documented proof that children have received age-appropriate immunizations as determined by the CDC, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Family Physicians. One of the required vaccines is a combination that protects against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis.

Emmett said several families at Blue Mountain have been granted religious exemptions to the immunization requirements.

Whoop…  Maybe we should give them a religious exemption to the medical treatment as well.  Like they say… in for a penny in for a pound.

From The Stranger.

The author of the story got this press release in her e-mail.

OUTRAGED AUTISM GROUPS AND LEADERS TO ANNOUNCE 50,000-PARENT PROTEST IN NYC AGAINST BILLIONAIRE AND MICROSOFT CHAIRMAN BILL GATES AFTER BEING CALLED “CHILD KILLERS”

I know that Bill Gates said that the Vaccine-Autism Link ‘An Absolute Lie’ in a recent interview.  

Except, in Gates’ defense, A) he didn’t call autism groups who advocate against childhood vaccines “child killers,” he said that they “kill children,” and B) autism groups who advocate against childhood vaccines are child killers.

Oh… I see.  He took the gentle road but they heard the truth.  Which is kinda odd for the anti-vax crowd.  These nuts are referring back to the video link I show above so, once again they overreact and see things that aren’t there.  Maybe they will see this… YOU ARE CHILD KILLERS.