::what kind of shit is this?

“Know your drugs, know your doses.”–jeffrey goines (brad pitt) 12 Monkeys

I realize that most of you non-parental types 1) won’t give a shit about child immunizations, and\or 2) don’t see what the big deal about immunizing your children is, but this completely blew me away when I read it last night.

Immunizing your child is required to one degree or another in all states. In some states, you can opt out of immunizations for your child if you don’t ever start them, but schools tend to purposely give out misinformation about how that works, and behave very judgmentally when it comes to not immunizing your child. And in California, if you start you child off with vaccinations, you can’t ever back out of doing them–state law requires you to keep your kids going with them. This forces many kids into a lifetime of risk from immunizations, as many brand new parents haven’t yet done the research by the time their pediatrician schedules their infants for their first round of shots. And if you ask a doctor about the arguments against immunization, you’ll learn about how these are the same people who see UFOs and believe the CIA hired Fidel Castro as the second gunman on the grassy knoll.

And if you have done your homework and decide not to immunize your child, then the medical community and school districts treat you as if you’re a neglectful parent or some kind of conspiracy theory hippie nutjob, or both. They assume you want your child to get sick.

Well, a school district in Maryland has gotten around this by getting a court order for all kids in the district to be immunized, or else. Or else what? 10 days in jail for the parents who would be so bad as to not vaccinate their child. The district sent out letters to several hundred parents whose kids didn’t have up to date immunization records stating that their kids would be expelled if they didn’t get their kids up to date or prove that they were up to date by yesterday. If expelled the kids would be subject to state truancy laws, which would make the parents subject to up to 10 days in jail.

Why am I chapped about this? There are a lot of vaccines that are ineffective in the long term, and tie your child down to getting periodic boosters throughout their life, even into adulthood. Chicken pox vaccinations are a good example. If the boosters aren’t updated as they should be, an adult male vaccinated against chicken pox as a child could get it as an adult. Chicken pox as an adult can be particularly dangerous, and in men can lead to sterility. Getting chicken pox as a kid, on the other hand, protects you from ever getting it again, and your body doesn’t need a booster 10 years later.

There’s also been a trend in recent years, largely for cost savings and convenience, to combine or bond multiple vaccines into one treatment. The most well known of these is the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, bonded into one series called MMR. There’s no conclusive proof, but a lot of good research, linking the uptick in autism in the general population to some of the bonding agents used in these bonded vaccines. And while it is entirely possible that there is no link between bonded vaccines and autism, why would you take the chance? This is an issue because, thanks to the bonded vaccines, non-bonded vaccines are getting harder to come by. When Christine told our doctor that she wanted to give Liam the separate measles, mumps, and rubella shots, she was strongly discouraged, told that their network didn’t have it available, and finally told she would have to locate it on her own and that it may not be covered by insurance. She jumped through all these hoops, but I don’t know how many parents would have the option of doing that.

This really isn’t just a parental issue. This is about forced mass medication, mandated without proper research and without consideration given to alternative treatments. How many times have medical treatments been handed out like candy, only to discover some detrimental consequence years or decades later?

I feel like I should mention again how I’m not some conspiracy theory hippie nutjob. But then, the chickens and our kids’ tie-die wardrobes are all strikes against that.

Anyway.

kisses,

jimbo.