We are facing the potential of more and more measles, mumps and rubella outbreaks in the U.S. Measles was labeled eradicated in 2000, now cases are growing again. In California, cases are coming back at a clip of about 10 times from year to year. How does society make sense of that?
As summer rolls through, there are a number of smart, well intentioned parents still debating whether or not to have their kids given MMR shots. For some it is very tough, and understandably so, to know what is best. They have been scared to death by some TV talk show hosts. But they need to try and look at science.
Does it make sense this outdated urban myth stuff is crazy? The research on which it is based is admittedly faulty. Several of those hosts still tout the fact they won’t have their babies stuck with a needle and still spout the talk of autism and other side effects. The Centers for Disease Control still strongly recommend, even demand, the MMR vaccines, but more and more parents are refusing on religious, philosophical or personal beliefs.
Those beliefs, by the way, have led to a resurgence of the diseases in Europe. Great Britain is in the middle of another endemic. And doctors say the effects of the diseases can be much, much more than just a skin rash. They can lead to pneumonia and very severe illness, not to mention the skin pocking that follows some kids for the rest of their lives. Little pock marks on their adult faces. Not to mention the danger for pregnant women who contract rubella. Not to mention the fact that those who are not inoculated can act like typhoid Marys and spread the disease.
This “no shot” philosophy has even spread to polio vaccines. On that one, I stand screaming, and 100% hope that people get those inoculations. I can understand young parents not thinking it is a threat, but it is. It is out there and it could come back. And those parents don’t want it? My mom had polio when I was about five. I remember the darkness of those days. Doctors told my dad she wasn’t going to live. When she beat that, they told her that she would be in an Iron Lung and then paralyzed for the rest of her life. Fortunately none of that happened. She still suffers the side effects decades later and always will. Large numbers of people who shared those isolation wards never made it out. Nobody in our society should ever have to deal with polio. Nobody.
None of us is in love with some of the things our government does. We have every right to be suspicious of every government agency. They screw up, and in some cases are bought by money, but I can’t believe the CDC is giving these recommendations just to sell more doses of a serum.
Now I’m not a doctor and people like me have to make their own decisions. But I can read and research. Our kids should get the shots. Mine all did.
The most precious treasure we have as human beings is our children. When it comes down to something as important as their health, to whom are we going to listen, Jenny McCarthy (omg) or the Centers for Disease Control? Which makes sense?
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