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Subscribe to RSSSACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Parents who send their children to private schools in California are much more likely to opt out of immunizations than their public school counterparts, an Associated Press analysis has found, and not even the recent re-emergence of whooping cough has halted the downward trajectory of vaccinations among these students.
The state surveys all schools with at least 10 kindergartners to determine how many have all the recommended immunizations. The AP analyzed that data and found the percentage of children in private schools who forego some or all vaccinations is more than two times greater than in public schools.
More troubling to public health officials is that the number of children entering private schools without all of their shots jumped by 10 percent last year, while the opt-out rate held steady in public schools for the first time since 2004.
Public health officials believe that an immunization rate of at least 90 percent in all communities, including schools, is critical to minimizing the potential for a disease outbreak. About 15 percent of the 1,650 private schools surveyed by the state failed to reach that threshold, compared with 5 percent of public schools.
There were 110 private schools statewide where more than half the kindergartners skipped some or all of their shots, according to AP's analysis, with Highland Hall Waldorf School in Northridge — where 84 percent opted out — topping the list.
Parents cite a variety of reasons for not immunizing their children, among them: religious values, concerns the shots themselves could cause illness and a belief that allowing children to get sick helps them to build a stronger immune system. Likewise, there's no single explanation that accounts for why so many more parents who send their children to private schools apparently share a suspicion of immunizations.
Saad Omer, a professor of global health at Emory University in Atlanta who has studied vaccine refusal in private schools, surmised more private school parents are wealthy and have the time to spread five shots over a series of years and stay home should their child get an illness like chickenpox. Neal Halsey, a professor of pediatric infectious diseases at the Johns Hopkins University, said parents who choose private schools are likely to be more skeptical of state requirements and recommendations.
Bibi Reber, whose children attend the Waldorf-inspired Greenwood School in Mill Valley, had her children vaccinated only for what she sees as the deadliest diseases. Greenwood has a 79 percent opt-out rate among its kindergartners.
"I don't think dirt or getting sick makes you a weak person; your immune system needs to work with things," said Reber, whose children attend the Greenwood School in the San Francisco Bay area town of Mill Valley. "We certainly don't want to go back to having polio, but on the other hand, I don't think we need to eradicate all the childhood diseases
Public health officials say that, regardless of why parents choose not to vaccinate their children, the result is the same: an increased risk of an outbreak of whooping cough or other communicable diseases.
"We're very concerned that those schools are places where disease can spread quite rapidly through the school and into the community, should it get introduced," said Dr. Robert Schechter, medical officer with the Immunization Branch of the California Department of Public Health.
That's what prompted the Legislature to approve a bill requiring parents to discuss vaccinations with a pediatricians or a school nurse before they can opt-out. Gov. Jerry Brown has until the end of September to sign or veto it.
State Assemblyman Richard Pan, a pediatrician, who sponsored the bill, said he believes private school parents are more apt to mistakenly believe that the vaccinations themselves could be more dangerous than the diseases.
"In private school, these are people who have money, who are upper middle-class, and they are going on the Internet and seeing information and misinformation," said Pan, D-Sacramento.
Increasing immunization rates for this population is critical to controlling the outbreak of diseases, he said. "Have you ever seen a child cough themselves to death? It's not pleasant," he said.
Those who choose not to vaccinate their children see the legislation as meddlesome and unnecessary.
"It's making an extra appointment and paying extra money to go in there and essentially get permission to do what I feel is right for my family," said Dawn Kelly, who sends her unvaccinated 5-year-old son and partially vaccinated 9-year-old son to Monarch Christian School in the Los Angeles area.
Like many parents who refuse some or all immunization shots, Kelly worries her children's immune system could be overwhelmed by getting too many vaccines at once.
Melani Gold Friedman, president of the parent association at Highland Hall Waldorf School, is concerned with what the legislation means for families who normally consult with acupuncturists, holistic healers or other alternative practitioners.
"The bill has an assumption that everyone's seeing one particular kind of doctor, but the people who are opting out, chances are they're not seeing that kind of doctor," she said.
Vaccination opt-out rates nationwide have been creeping up since the mid-2000s, spurred in part by the belief the battery of vaccinations routinely given to infants could lead to autism. Several major studies have discredited that idea.
Parents are allowed to forego vaccines for philosophical reasons in California and 19 other states. Of those, only Washington requires parents to consult with a physician. And, in California, there's no difference between private and public schools when it comes to what's required for parents to opt out — they simply sign a document. The state recommends that kindergarteners receive five vaccine progressions, including protections against Polio, Hepatitis B and Measles
Politicians and public health experts across the nation are focusing more attention on childhood immunizations, driven by a re-emergence of diseases like whooping cough. The U.S. is in the midst of what could be its worst year for that disease in more than five decades, with nearly 25,000 cases and 13 deaths.
After whooping cough reached epidemic levels in California in 2010, the state took action, embarking on a public information campaign and increasing the availability of vaccines. A law was passed requiring booster shots for older students.
Yet the opt-out rate continued climbing in private schools. It's more than doubled since 2004, to 2,228 kindergartners in last year's state survey. While the overall rate of full immunization among kindergarteners hovers around 91 percent, places where the opt-out rate is greater could pose a risk for outbreak.
In 2008, East Bay Waldorf School in El Sobrante closed temporarily after whooping cough sickened more than a dozen students, eight of them kindergartners. The San Francisco Bay Area school had a vaccination rate of less than 50 percent.
State health officials are tracking the divergence of opt-out rates in private and public schools, but are not planning any studies or outreach efforts targeting this pupil population. The state is conducting a general education campaign to boost vaccinate rates.
The AP analysis found 20 of the 25 California private schools with the highest opt-out rates are "Waldorf schools," a loose association of institutions founded on the teachings of 19th-century philosopher Rudolf Steiner. He favored a holistic approach to education and medicine and thought childhood illnesses could be beneficial.
Officials at these schools would not comment about Pan's bill but say they trust parents to make the best decisions for their children's health.
"Parents who are brave enough to say, 'No, that's not the right thing,' should be supported," said Patrice Maynard, spokeswoman for the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America.
Related stories:
- Whooping cough epidemic worst in 50 years, CDC says
- Big jump seen in Oregon parents delaying vaccines
- Bioethicist: US children suffer from vaccine exemptions
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I think that parents who opt out of vaccinations for their children should set up their own walled communities, with their own grocery stores, recreation parks and centers, gas stations, schools, etc.
I do not want your children or you coming into my office, grocery store, or any other public place that my family goes.
My father was a research scientist and a veterinarian. I recall being a youngster and getting to see bacteria, viruses, and fungi that live in all organisms.
I also recall being vaccinated for polio at my grade school in Illinois. My friend, Vicki, who lived down my street contracted polio at age 3. Her right leg atrophied, and she struggled with the growing up years. Many others ended up in iron lungs or died....
Are you people really that out to lunch? My neighbor came back from a trip to Indonesia and South Asia for a month, and contracted an illness that at first presented like Rheumatoid Arthritis. Once the doctors, identified the virus, she was put into isolation. She is just now able to hold a cup and is struggling to walk.
I remember my Dad saying that overpopulation will act as a neutralizer....at some point an illness, likely virus based, will come along and decrease the population.
People who refuse to vaccinate their children may be the first to let their children go, but for heaven's sake build youself an Ark or find an island to live on, so the rest of us can go on with our lives.
they can keep their preppy third world disease getting asses away from my children then.
Is there anyway to sue these organizations that promote a cult of non vaccination? It seems that if an available treatment is willfully withheld and it results in harm to someone else--then there would be a basis for a class action suit. Just like when someone fails to take a child to the doctor with an infection that is easily curable with an antibiotic, because they don't believe in it, and the child dies, that person is liable and also guilty of manslaughter. This is more difficult because it involves comparing groups. If there is an epidemic with a clear origin in an unvaccinated group, then it would be easy though, and the suit probably would be necessary but who wants to wait for that? Ideally the government should be protecting it's people from this but politicians are vulnerable and are reluctant to force parents to vaccinate their children, as they will be compared to China, and eventually Hitler undoubtedly. And then there is the fact that some few do have adverse reactions to vaccination or are non responders, and the press and internet would be full of these stories. People that don't get sick aren't news. A class action suit by parents though would not have any of these problems and would have an immediate benificial effect. The evidence is complex and when thrown around by the fearful distorts the real picture. Court cases have been effective before in sorting out belief vs science issues and could be in this issue also.
Opt-outs rise, deadly diseases make a comeback.
It´s a no-brainer.
I guess if your a child that happens to be lucky enough to come from Mexico yesterday by way of a coyote and your new home is well enough off you get to go to private school or your neighbor friend goes to private school there isn't much chance of spreading diseases to the rest of the community if you have any? Is not allowing illegal children into Private Schools considered discrimination? Where are the good old days when people coming into this country where looked at by doctors and quarantined if sick?
I don't care what this report says. It's been proven the illegal's that come to America looking for a better life are not the brightest people from their country. I have heard more people come here because they can't find well paying jobs in their own country for lack of a good education so it would seem that those that can't afford a good living might not get the immunization shots their kids need at the time they need them. If this is the case we shouldn't be lumping them in with the general population of their country but be more vigilant and expecting of them to get their kids checked by doctors and immunized if they can't produce the health history for the children before they enter school. With the rush to get your children into schools to keep from being deported it would seem the lack of immunization might be a problem! This report deals with children from Mexico (just an example) but doesn't deal with the poor or those less fortunate to find good work in Mexico.
http://www.emaxhealth.com/1275/why-has-whooping-cough-returned
We are not even positive that terrorist are not bring these diseases into the United States via our borders. I don't think our government would be too happy if that information was to get out. No, I don't have proof, I'm just saying it might be something that has or may happen in the future if we don't do something about protecting our selves.
It has not been proven that illegals that come to the United States are not the brightest people from their country. Not being able to afford a good education does not mean they lack intelligence. Many of us have ancestors who came to the United States because they could not get good jobs in the country they were born in. Does this mean we are a country of the less bright than those who stayed in Europe, etc.?
Confussed - did you read the article? There was no mention of illegals being the problem. In fact, they pointed the finger at wealthier parents who had more time on their hands, who mostly to get misinformed by BS on the internet.
People who don't get vaccinations for their children unless they have a documented reason not to like an allergy to a component of a vaccination like eggs are stupid, plain and simple. My doctor said that in all his years of practicing medicine he has never once seen a child have a serious reaction to a vaccine. I have never met anyone and don't know anyone who has had a child have a severe reaction more than a slight fever and maybe a little crankiness. How does the one woman in this story that said that kids' immune systems need to be exposed to pathogens think vaccines work??? Does she think it's just some magic potion? It works because it DOES expose the immune system to that pathogen in a way that does not cause the disease so that the body is taught to recognize and fight it in the future!! If people would use their heads for more than a hat rack, do some actual research using reputable sources and not fear mongering pseudo-science websites and sources, they may actually learn something and realize how ignorant they've been and how their decision can very well negatively affect others not just their own children. One problem is that people today are too far removed from the days when these diseases were an everyday fact of life and feared by parents. My grandmother lived in a time when most everyone knew someone or had a playmate die or be affected for life by one of these diseases. When her first children were born pre-vaccines it was a fear she said was in the back of her mind all the time. She said one of the greatest achievements in her lifetime was vaccinations and how she was so glad that all her grandchildren would not have to deal with or fear the diseases she did or lose friends to them. Walk through any older cemetery and look.....really look....at many of the stones and see how many were children. A good number of them died from the diseases we vaccinate against today and you see far far fewer headstones of children in cemeteries dating from the time of the advent of widespread vaccinations to today. I have three children, all fully vaccinated, and none of them ever had any issues even when given three or four at one visit. In fact, they'd usually cry for a second, then smile at the nurse as if it never even happened. My siblings and I had no problems, nor did any child in my extended family. Reactions do happen but they are very very rare and far rarer than it was for children to get these diseases in the time before vaccinations.
There are some vaccines I will always opt my kids out of just because they are unnecessary.
I agree that some vaccines are created as a means of bolstering a pharmaceutical companies profits and some of them I will agree are ok to give to my children.
If you trust scientists in everything they say there were some that wanted to ban the substance Dihydrogen Monoxide (DHMO). If you really think about it scientists that wanted to ban the substance really did not think about the substance they just signed a petition to support the ban on it.
You cannot trust any scientist that does this and many scientists or medical researchers are just rubber stamping the research that is being presented to them.
For those of you who want to ban the substance known as DiHydrogen Monoxide because any Monoxide is bad, just think about the composition of the chemicals Di= 2 Hydrogen Mono = 1 oxide = oxygen, so basically you have scientists wanting to ban H2O.
Which ones are "unnecessary?"
Vaccines are for diseases that have deadly outcomes or permanent defects. These are necessary.
This is a hoax that has managed to pull in a very few Doctors etc. Give me any evidence of scientists wanting to ban water.
Deadly? How deadly is chicken pox. On the order of lightening strikes. Even less so for healthy children. How deadly was measles before vaccines? 99.995 did not die from measles as is emotionalized. What about tetanus? HPV? What are the chances of a boy dying from cervical cancer? A girl?
Vaccines aren't always necessary. In fact they mostly aren't necessary. Most people will not be overwhelmed by infectious disease. This is just a fact no matter how much emotional fear and anger anyone wants to impart on the subject.
You are right that chicken pox is usually not fatal but there are cases. But not getting the vaccine and getting chicken pox can lead to such things as permanent scarring (I have a few myself) and also leave someone open to shingles in the future which is a very painful condition. If I HAD to choose a vaccine to not give to my kids it would probably be the chicken pox one, but if I can spare them from carrying ugly scars the rest of their life from it, the chance no matter how remote of them being one of the ones that do have complications and possibly die, and shingles later (my grandmother and a friend had it and it's NOT fun at all), I will do so. All three of my kids have had the vaccinations (and all the other ones) and no problems whatsoever. I find it funny you say that the seriousness of chicken pox is so low that there's no point in getting the vaccine but don't consider that the incidence of serious reactions to vaccines are so low that there's no point in not getting them.
Robert-
Chickenpox killed 100-200 people per year and hospitalized 10000 to 18000 people per year and infect 3.5 million per year prior to the advent of the vaccine. Chickenpox causes a variety of coinfections.
Measles kills anywhere from .1 to .2% of those infected. Complications of measles occur in 30% of infected and include pneumonia and encephalitis. Measles can cause miscarriages, low-birth weight in infants, and/or premature birth. In developing countries, measles kills 1 in 4 and causes 1 million deaths per year.
Tetanus, you ask? Tetanus causes death in 10-20% of cases. No more explanation needed there.
HPV causes 12000 cases of cervical cancer each year, with around 4000 deaths per year. HPV also causes around 6000 cases of various other cancers in women and 7000 cases of other cases in men.
So, these are no small deal. Unless you think that towards zero deaths from preventable diseases is a bad thing.
None of these comments are going to change a parent from NOT vaccinating their children. Just like the Not vaccinating group of people is not going to convince the Pro vaccinating group of people to Not vaccinate.
But a death of one of their own children from a preventable disease will change most them to vaccinate their other children.
It will be too late for at least one of their children though.
They will have to live the rest of their lives knowing that the DECISION that they made to Not Vaccinate, cost them the loss of one or more of their very close family members.
Death is not the only thing to consider but permanent physical damage that can occur from some of these diseases that their child may suffer from for the rest of their lives even if they don't die. Deafness, blindness, brain damage, sterility...the list goes on. Even if their own children don't get sick or die or have any lasting effects, they can pass it on to babies that may not even be related to them that are too young to be vaccinated yet and cost them their lives or permanent physical damage or to other children who can't be vaccinated due to an allergy or other reasonable reason for not having been vaccinated. It's not just about our own kids but others too, but in our society most people can't see past the end of their own noses or just don't give a crap about anyone else.
Vaccinations need to be researched by parents. I don't think it's fair that parents are forced to vaccinate their children. I also think that giving these vaccinations to 2 month old babies is way too early. Their immune systems have hardly had a chance to mature.
My 2 oldest daughters were born in the 80's. I did what I was told and had them get immunized according to what my pediatrician told me. My oldest had high fevers with her shots, and her little thigh swelled to twice it's size with every shot.
Along comes daughter #2. Our pediatrician suggested waiting to start her shots at 6 months because of the adverse affects on daughter #1. We did, and first immunization - same side affects. Shot #2 sent my daughter into muscle spasms and convulsions, and we had to take her to emergency. After testing was done on her, we were told that she had an adverse reaction to the pertussis (whooping cough) shot. The ER pediatrician told us to only give our daughters the DT shot and leave out pertussis because of their severe reactions. He also suggested that if we had any more kids, to NOT give them the pertussis vaccine.
We had another daughter and a son. Neither of them have had the pertussis vaccine. It was not worth it to us to find out if they had the same adverse reaction. I worked with a woman in the early 80's (before I had kids) who had a daughter that was in a care home because the pertussis vaccine sent her temperature up to 107 degrees and left her permanently brain damaged. I never forgot that, so when my girls started having reactions to their shots, that was the first thing I thought of and the first thing I mentioned to my pediatrician.
I may have saved my kids' lives by not giving them pertussis. Not everyone's kids have reactions like mine, but I did my homework BEFORE the internet and I'm so glad I did. And my grandchildren won't be getting pertussis vaccines either - it's not worth the risk because of what happened to my kids.
So because your children had an allergic reaction, you are advocating that no one get their kids vaccinated. So if my child is allergic to chocolate...I should advocate that no one else eat chocolate. No.
Have you ever witnessed a child or even an adult that has pertussis?? Not pleasant at all. I can understand not vaccinating your own children due to what seems to be a genetic inherited allergy to it, but to advocate no one else get vaccines because of that is short sighted. The pertussis vaccine and others have saved many many lives and prevented the suffering of going through that disease and others even if it would not have proven fatal.
Well we'll just have to see how society looks in the next 15-20 years or so. My feeling is that we are going to see a resurgence of once thought erradicated diseases returning. But for all the evolutionists out there, that's how survival of the fittest works, right? Nature will do as it is meant to do and the weakest will succomb. I personally think it's a very unwise thing to not vaccinate your children, but live and let live.
Unfortunately, babies will be among the weakest who don't survive.
The truth is, an alarm is being sounded here where there is no fire. Disease outbreaks in private schools simply are not occurring. It’s interesting that the author of this article had to go all the way back to 2008 to find an incidence of a disease outbreak in a private school. That particular outbreak was Whooping Cough. We have seen these outbreaks occur, nation wide, every few years and CDC has acknowledged that vaccine immunity provided by the vaccine is often short lived, even among those fully vaccinated and attributed this to the most likely cause of those outbreaks.
“Neal Halsey, a professor of pediatric infectious diseases at the Johns Hopkins University, said parents who choose private schools are likely to be more skeptical of state requirements and recommendations.” This is likely true and when that skepticism leads them to go out and do their own research on vaccine safety they find that there seems to be a huge disconnect between the well defined gaps in vaccine safety science and what they hear from CDC, AAP, pediatricians and journalists, in terms of vaccine safety and the real threat from many of our vaccine preventable diseases.
The Institute of Medicine issued an historic report last year that acknowledged there is not enough quality vaccine science in the medical literature to determine whether or not many of the vaccines routinely given to children and adults cause more than 100 different types of brain and immune system dysfunction. IOM found that, out of 158 serious brain and immune system disorders reportedly associated with eight different commonly used vaccines, there were either no studies or too few methodologically sound studies to make a causation determination either way for 135 (85%) of them. These are serious inflammatory brain and immune system disorders and range from heart and blood disorders to strokes, sudden infant death syndrome, asthma, multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, GBS, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, diabetes and encephalitis that can lead to seizures, learning disabilities and autism. For more information on the IOM Vaccine Safety Review and public comment made by Barbara Loe Fisher of the National Vaccine Information center please use the following link.
Vaccines, like any pharmaceutical product, most certainly involve risks both known and unknown. Informed consent to medical risk taking is a human right. You have the right to be fully informed about the benefits and risks of pharmaceutical products – like vaccines - and be allowed to make a voluntary choice about whether or not to take the risk without being punished for it.
National Vaccine Information Center - Your Health, Your Family, Your Choice. www.nvic.org
A study should be done to show how much sicker these kids are because they didn't get their vaccines. You won't see it because the results would not be favorable PR for the socialist pro vax brigade. They need emotion, hyperbolic rhetoric, and dishonesty, not facts and real science.
There are still a few people around who were alive before there were vaccines...why don't you go ask them what things were like and how many kids were sick and died with serious illnesses we vaccinate against now and rarely see today. I'm sure it would be an eye opener. You can also walk through an older cemetery and pay attention to how many children's graves there are compared with how many since vaccines and you can also do some historical research into disease and death rates in those times. I have. I would not give up vaccines or not get my kids vaccinated for anything knowing what I know from talking to people that lived in those times and my research.
My oldest had the smallpox vaccination. When the younger started school they said it was unnecessary.
I just have one question, how come in the early 80ties there were only 10 deadly diseases we were vaccinated against and Autism rate was 1 in 10000 and all of a sudden we have 36 to 55 diseases that we need to get our kids to be vaccinated with before they turn 6 years old? 36 vaccines by the time they are 18 month old???
Now Autism is 1 in 88!!!! Kids are sicker then ever before with diabetes, ADHD, auto-immune disorders and allergies, learning disabilities...
All you vaccine zealots are talking out of "fear" of infectious diseases and not realizing that "the business" side of the medical establishment and pharmaceutical companies has taken control over logic , reason and caution! Vaccine makers CANNOT be sued, they have no reason to do any safety studies! THERE ARE NO SAFETY STUDIES DONE ON GIVING MULTIPLE VACCINES IN ONE DAY! All babies are not created equal, some have the ability to handle 5 - 9 shots in one day, while one child might react to 2 shots severely! Just as some kids are allergic to peanuts! It has already been PROVEN that mitochondrial dysfunction can result into autism after vaccination, does the pediatrician ask you if your child had an underlying mitochondrial dysfunction, or a family history of auto-immune disease, or chronic inflammatory disease??? NO! Because it's been deemed as "rare" by Julie Goldberg who first worked for the CDC and now works for MERCK!!! Despite studies that have shown that most kids with autism show signs of weak mitochondria! THESE ARE ALL FACTS!!!!
Why don't you people wake up and start asking the hard questions instead of clinging to something that has been ingrained in your brains and uses FEAR to cloud your objectivity???
It's not like some people just got bored with their lives and started to attack vaccines...most had to learn the hard way and unfortunately the number of the people dealing with vaccine injury is on the rise. On top of it you cannot sue the vaccine makers, and doctors say: "really??? Prove it!" Because from the first day of medical school they are being indoctrinated about how vaccines saved so many lives!
Please watch this:
My middle child, who now has an autism diagnosis, was gived six different vaccinations within four hours of birth, and without my knowledge or consent!
Scientific research (as opposed to the non-scientific mania of the anti-vaccination b/c of autism movement) shows a stronger link between the age of father at conception and epigenetic gene factors and autism than vaccinations and autism.
If the father of Shawns child is <30years old then your opinion means nothing to him/her. There would be more of a correlation to the vaccine than the age in this person.
Btw I doubt you have comparative data to make that statment. As a matter of fact I KNOW you don't have that data.
Shawn, this number of vaccines that close to birth is not routine. There must be something else going on.
....these highly educated (but unintelligent) people are going to be the cause of a some plague that will surely be our downfall. And they are causing a complete ruination of scientific advancement in disease eradication. Thank you Dr. Jonas Salk, I never contracted Polio. I have had every vaccination since childbirth (1956), and plan on getting the Shingles vaccination (booster for Chicken Pox), to hopefully ward that off. I am completely dumbfounded. We are walking backwards towards the Middle Ages. And I can thank these totally uninformed people for that.
You, as a a self claimed intelligent person, have fallen for the slippery slope fallacy. You should think more critically about issues instead of blaming others for something which you don't know all of the facts about.
Will we go back to poor living conditions? Will we be malnourished? Will we not have public sewers? Will we be at war? More things have changed to increase our survival of infectious disease than the use of vaccines. Suggesting that civilization will fall because some question the necessity and safety of vaccination is not based on critical study of history and science.
Morality requires that we have the choice about what is done to our bodies. Each of us is responsible for making an informed decision, also,about what is done to our children's bodies. There are benefits and risks associated with every vaccination. These risks and benefits must be wieghed on a case-by-case basis for each person, and for each type of vaccination. The main point of the article is that RICH PEOPLE who send their children to private school are allowed to make those decisions for their children, thus opting ot of those vaccinations which pose greater risks than benefits. While poor people are not given the opportunity to opt out, thereby exposing underpriveledged children to a host of toxic adjutants with no real benefit. Just another example of hpow we, as a society, are murdering the children of the underclass.
I think you need to reread the article. Public school children can opt out of vaccines as well, but the rates of those who choose to do so are lower.
I'd like to see some QUALITY "Research" that investigates WHETHER or NOT vaccinations CONTRIBUTE to the likelihood of "Auto-Immune Diseases" in later Life.
would you be able to recognize quality research?
New England Journal of Medicine study found "strong evidence against the hypothesis that MMR vaccination causes autism" from a population-based study of vaccinated and unvaccinated children in Denmark. See:
http://www.14studies.org/
"I think that the government or certain public officials in the government have been too quick to dismiss the concerns of these families without studying the population that got sick. I think public health officials have been too quick to dismiss the hypothesis as irrational without sufficient studies of causation."
- Dr. Bernadine Healy, former Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), largest U.S. federal agency responsible for conducting and supporting medical research. Dr. Healy has no known conflicts of interest in the vaccine-autism debate.
What's going on? If you listen to well-paid spokespeople of the vaccine industry, you’ll hear that the case is closed on the link between vaccines and autism and that the scientific consensus supports no association. It’s eerily reminiscent of the days when tobacco companies produced a consensus of science showing no link between smoking and lung cancer.
But, calmer voices like Dr. Bernadine Healy, the former Director of the NIH, are rising up and challenging this rhetoric.
Where is the truth? Like everything else in life, the devil is in the details. The "fourteen studies' are being misrepresented by public health officials who are trying to save the current vaccine program, which has ballooned from 10 vaccines in the 1980s to 36 today, a 260% increase. During this same time, autism rates have gone from 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 110, a 9,000%, or 90-fold increase.
By reading and analyzing every published study used to "prove" vaccines do not cause autism, this website will show you that:
- No real world studies of the vaccine schedule have ever been done. Of the 11 separate vaccines given to American children (many given multiple times), only one vaccine -- the MMR -- has ever been studied for its relationship to autism. Yet, American children get 6 or 7 different vaccines simultaneously at 2, 4, 6, and 12 month doctor appointments.
- Not one study compares vaccinated children to unvaccinated children -- every study only looks at children who have received vaccines. This is like comparing smokers who smoke one pack a day to those who smoke two packs a day, seeing no difference in cancer rates, and saying cigarettes don’t cause cancer.
- The studies are rife with conflicts including authors who have been paid by vaccine companies and federal agencies and foreign governments charged with administering vaccines.
- Many of the studies reach false conclusions or conclusions that have nothing to do with the simple question: do vaccines cause autism? They are simply being misrepresented in the press by public health officials taking advantage of a docile media that is heavily dependent on advertising from pharma companies.
Her opininon is worthless against evidence. I don't care who she is.
the study cited is a real world study-- a retrospective look at all children in denmark
it compares children who recieved MMR to children who did not. Since MMR is the vaccine that has been implicated by most of the anti-vaccine crowd as causing autism, it makes sense that it is the one that should be studied. And no correlation with autism was found
Do you have any reason to suspect that the other vaccines would be different? If so, what is the scientific basis of this claim?
Everyone in life has a conflict. Don't tell me your hero healy hasn't published a book she wants people to read
But the data is clear...or are you claiming denmark lied about their population statistics?
This opinion is unsubstantiated, and in fact, runs contrary to the evidence
If autism is caused by vaccines, why has no correlation ever been found? Dont tell me because no one wants to do the study--that would be instant nobel prize material--any scientist would figuratively kill to get one.
She was director at the NIH. She was very well respected. With your unprofessional behavior on here I doubt even your subjects respect you very much.
Others are free to read the site and come to their own conclusions about the evidence that is, the lack of evidence, and the counter evidence.
She made statements and facts. "Opinions" against "evidence" and consensus are how scientific paradigms and knowledge shift.
Ignaz Semmelweis suggested that doctors were causing purpura fever and death in delivering mothers and that they should wash their hands before surgery and medical procedures.
He was driven mad and committed to an insane asylum where he died. He did not get medical acceptance until after his death.
Irrelevant and hypocritical. You have "characterized" me as callous, a liar, etc. Not professional robert.
So you are content to just copy and paste a website blindly and mindlessly despite the many flaws and outright mistruths I pointed out?
Shows a lack of integrity
The statement she made is an opinion. If you have a fact, by all means, post it.
If you have to go back 150 years to find an argument, chances are your argument is weak.
Also, this is the biggest strawman argument I have seen
Do you have any actual rebuttals to my points that do not involve the 19th century????
Are you really a doctor? Do you have a god complex or does god have an Eric complex?
"Not one study compares vaccinated children to unvaccinated children"
is a fact not an opinion! Saying Kim Kardashian is a beautiful is an opinion. Saying Dr. Eric is smart is an opinion.
If you feel that comparing the health of fully vaccinated vs. fully vaccinated minus MMR is a comparison of vaccinated vs. unvaccinated then I can't help your lack of comprehension.
Name one lie. Just one. I don't lie. If you can't handle facts that contradict or support your philosophical ideology then tuff! But it's not a lie.
yes and irrelevant
Unprofessional. Extremely unprofessional
Allow me to repeat myself:
it compares children who recieved MMR to children who did not. Since MMR is the vaccine that has been implicated by most of the anti-vaccine crowd as causing autism, it makes sense that it is the one that should be studied. And no correlation with autism was found
Do you have any reason to suspect that the other vaccines would be different? If so, what is the scientific basis of this claim?
Please address my statement above. I can't help if you don't understand it. Ill repeat it for a third time:
Do you have any reason to suspect that the other vaccines would be different? If so, what is the scientific basis of this claim?
I actually don't think you lie robert. Your problem is that you mindlessly copy and paste sources that are blatantly biased, and you do not bother to check where they get their information
Moreover, when pressed, you always claim 'strawman" or some other logical fallacy that does not apply
um...ok?
Here is your biggest logical fallacy...you want your argument proved not by facts supporting it, but rather by trying to show the opposite--that it has never been ruled out
Thats a problem. I tried to illustrate that with my moonbeam example but it didn't seem to resonate with you.
No one has ever proved a full moon doesn't cause autism, therefore it is viable as a possible causitive agent
Of course thats ridiculous. What Im trying to show you is that there is no difference between that ridiculuous claim and the claim that vaccines cause autism
There is not a shred of proof for either. But trying to go around and disprove every vaccine in a seperate prospective, randomized 20 year trial is absurd.
It is much simpler to show a link between vaccines and autism rather than go and disprove every possibility
And every attempt so far has failed to show any link
Wrong!
what a well supported articulate argument. Care to elaborate?
i just can't get over what a well thought out argument that was.
(slow clap in the background)
Vaccinations can cause autism. It's been proven.
I am one of the parents that do not believe that all of these immunizations shots that are given to our children are needed or safe, when the labels say on all of our medications that their is a risk of death or deformety which one would you choose, and the reason behind these parents concerns is the higher rate of autism I have a son who was born perfectly healthy, I never even took an aspirin through my pregnancy, I never smoked or drink, my family or my husbands family never had a history of anything related to this, but after my son started getting his immunizations he changed and became sick stomach problems he was talking normal for his age then and all of a sudden he started to lose his speach and he was not focusing as before, when he was given the MMR immunization shot which contains mercury thats when all this started they tell you at the doctors office that one of the side effects of these shots is that your child could die or get severly sick, I know that our government is well aware of the epedemic rise of autism and they know damn well the mercury in these shots is causing it, but every year they find something new to blame it on to take the focus off of them because if every parent woke up and realized that the government and the FHA and the pharmacuticle companies are doing everything they can to hide this because if the truth came out millions of parents would be suing. My son is suffering from this everyday I am suffering everyday as a widow watching my son suffering from seizures and his getting worse and our government is not even willing to cover medical expenses for these poor children they have damaged for life, they need life long care, medical care and someone constantly to take care of their children that means in a two parent home only one parent can work and for ome of us who are spouses have passed have to stay home and cannot work just to care for our children, I tried to refuse the shots after I saw what happened to my son when he went to school but they force you to do it or they wont allow them to go to school and if these children dont go to school even for a week the school will inform social services. If I had to do it over again I would go to jail before I would allow my child to get these dangerous shots why do we need mercury in our shots we give to babies everyone knows mercury can kill you or cause disabilities, there is even mercury in the flu shot and now I read an article about a man who went to the dentist and they put some fillings in his teeth the silve ones which contain mercury and he died from this.