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Info on San Diego Measles outbreak

RedShirtRedShirt
edited April 2008 in Everything Else
Goes to show the downside of not vaccinating...

Measles outbreak

Comments

  • RymRym
    edited April 2008
    All cases were unvaccinated, including eight whose parents had claimed personal belief exemptions... 10% of the 350 children in the index child's school ... were unimmunized because of these sorts of such exemptions.
    The unvaccinated 7-year-old boy ... infected at least 11 additional children.
    This has to end.

    The fact that a parent can get out of vaccinating a child due to "personal belief" is ludicrous, and is endangering the public welfare. I see no reason why vaccination should not be forced by law under pain of state intervention.
    Post edited by Rym on
  • AprecheApreche
    I see no reason why vaccination should not be forced by law under pain of state intervention.
    MMR? Sure. Tetanus? Sure. Hepatitis? Sure. Anthrax vaccine? No. Rabies vaccine? Probably not unless it is necessary. Need to create a process for determining which vaccines are ok, and which are mandatory in which situations.
  • RymRym
    Need to create a process for determining which vaccines are ok, and which are mandatory in which situations.
    Well, we have that now. There is a list of required vaccines, and a list of optional/interventionary vaccines. The only problem is that some people can apparently get away with not getting the required ones.
  • RailithRailith
    People and pets need their shots.
  • TheWhaleSharkTheWhaleShark
    All cases were unvaccinated, including eight whose parents had claimed personal belief exemptions... 10% of the 350 children in the index child's school ... were unimmunized because of these sorts of such exemptions.
    The unvaccinated 7-year-old boy ... infected at least 11 additional children.
    This has to end.

    The fact that a parent can get out of vaccinating a child due to "personal belief" is ludicrous, and is endangering the public welfare. I see no reason why vaccination should not be forced by law under pain of state intervention.
    Agreed. Unless, as with the rabies vaccine, it carries significant health consequences, all vaccines should be mandatory. Period. No exceptions.

    Thanks for linking this; I had yet to be really angry today.
  • OmnutiaOmnutia
    Maybe a major outbreak is what all the vaccine haters need.
  • ......
    Fuck it, someone go blast the heads of the parents of those 35 unvaccinated kids open and put a brain in each.

    Are there any comments of the parents of now infected kids? Who here too thinks the opinions of those parents still haven't changed?
  • RedShirtRedShirt
    My take, all vaccines should NOT be mandatory. Not all vaccines are safe, it's a trade-off between safety and need. The mandatory ones would be for the items with the most harm/spreadability/likelihood to society. Examples: MMR, very contagious, required. Rabies, not so much. Tetanus, not so much (you want to get lockjaw and die, that's your call, but it's not like you can spread it).

    I would like to give the parents the option to make the call on vaccinating or not. With penalties for when their actions threaten society (lawsuits for the spread of the infection, removal of children, sterilization, etc.). However, I recognize that this will never happen, so mandatory vaccinations should be required.
  • lackofcheeselackofcheese
    edited April 2008
    you want to get lockjaw and die, that's your call, but it's not like you can spread it
    Yeah, but if the parents make that call for a child and the child dies?

    It's not just about the threat to the whole of society.
    Post edited by lackofcheese on
  • RedShirtRedShirt
    Mandatory sterilization and removal of any other children. Sucks for the kid that dies, but gives the parents a chance to screw up vs the govt nannying them...
  • TechparadoxTechparadox
    Mandatory sterilization and removal of any other children. Sucks for the kid that dies, but gives the parents a chance to screw up vs the govt nannying them...
    Hell, for that matter they ought to be required to take a test and get a license to actually have the damn kids in the first place. My girlfriend does social work and sees far too many cases of stupidity breeding further stupidity and cycles of abuse spawning further cycles of abuse. Make it mandatory that someone can prove their parenting skills before you let them spawn offspring. If they don't pass the test, make them take parenting and life skills classes until they get it drilled into their heads and can pass the test. (And as a sidebar note, I don't hate all kids or parents, just the shrieking heathens who don't know how to behave in public and the parents that let them become that way.)
  • AprecheApreche
    Ok, so we've got forced sterilization after children have unnecessarily died. Then we've got required licenses before people are allowed to have children.

    How about we, um, make vaccination mandatory? Sounds a bit more reasonable than the other two, don't you think?
  • lackofcheeselackofcheese
    I think that only medical professionals should be given the right to exempt people from vaccination.

    If someone has a good reason for themselves, or a child of theirs, to be exempt, they should get that point across to the professional, who would then weigh the issue seriously.
  • CremlianCremlian
    Tetanus, not so much (you want to get lockjaw and die, that's your call, but it's not like you can spread it).
    That reminds me that I haven't had a tetanus shot in a really long time.
  • RymRym
    That reminds me that I haven't had a tetanus shot in a really long time.
    I got one recently after having that exact same realization.

    Tetanus vaccines are perfectly safe and totally effective. Furthermore, while there are only a hundred or so cases in the US per year, a full 5% of them lead to death. Barring a known sensitivity, there is no reason on Earth for someone to go unvaccinated. The vaccine is one of the main reasons we see this terrible illness so rarely in the industrialized world.
  • YoshoKatanaYoshoKatana
    edited April 2008
    What'll the kids get next? Mumps and Rubella?

    In a perfect world, parental licenses would be nice, but we definitely need to do something about crazy people. There are far too many of them, and they're hurting others.

    EDIT: By crazy people, I of course mean people who don't vaccinate themselves and their children, irrationally.
    Post edited by YoshoKatana on
  • RedShirtRedShirt
    edited April 2008
    If the San Diego thing pissed you off, don't read the next link. This is the area where the kid got infected. Note, the title's wrong. It's Austria, not Australia... :)

    Austria Measles Outbreak
    Post edited by RedShirt on
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