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Pertussis Peril
Jun. 24th, 2010 11:33 amA few years ago, despite no science to back it, but lots of Hollywood B-list celebrities on the talk show circuit to tout this insanity, a vaccination denial movement caught on this country. Apparently, some doctor, Andrew Wakefield, who thankfully is no longer allowed to practice medicine, published an article in The Lancet that there might be a connection between infant vaccinations and autism. Wakefield didn't tell the journal that he'd been paid nearly a million dollars by some lawyers anxious to sue the pharmaceutical companies who manufacture the vaccines, but I guess Wakefield didn't think that was important, not after performing unethical invasive exams on poor autistic children, what's a little conflict of interest after bribing the guests at your son's birthday party with five pounds each to give a blood test? I guess he also didn't consider the health of all the infants whose idiotic parents would buy into this lunacy, or if he did consider it, he just didn't care. After all, he got a million dollars.
So, measles came back first. It had virtually been wiped out in this country. Kids died. Now pertussis, also known as whooping cough, is also back. Five babies have died in California--all unvaccinated against pertussis, of course--and the state has declared an epidemic in some parts.
I certainly hope that parents who think the likes of Jenny McCarthy ("Fuck science" is her mantra) and her ex-boyfriend, Jim Carrey, have anybody's best interest in their hearts except their own, are satisfied with their "well-informed" decision. As for McCarthy and Carrey and all those of the same group, I hope they look forward to their red-hot iron sarcophagi in the level of hell reserved for liars.
Yes, it's hard to watch your child get a shot. They cry. But five minutes later, they're asleep and the benefit from a moment's discomfort could save a baby's life. I just hope more children in California don't die, but I won't be surprised to see more fatalities.
As a final note, I wonder about the psychology of parents, laymen in medicine in science, who despite having no ability to understand science and medicine, instinctively react with their preconceived unfavorable attitude towards anyone they perceive as an authority. In my opinion, that's the real problem. How else could they so easily reject something proven and sound and tested--I mean, we haven't had massive outbreaks of so many diseases (polio, smallpox) due to these vaccines in decades--and adopt the "Fuck science" approach instead? I wish they'd find some other authority to go up against, one in which their children's lives aren't at stake.
So, measles came back first. It had virtually been wiped out in this country. Kids died. Now pertussis, also known as whooping cough, is also back. Five babies have died in California--all unvaccinated against pertussis, of course--and the state has declared an epidemic in some parts.
I certainly hope that parents who think the likes of Jenny McCarthy ("Fuck science" is her mantra) and her ex-boyfriend, Jim Carrey, have anybody's best interest in their hearts except their own, are satisfied with their "well-informed" decision. As for McCarthy and Carrey and all those of the same group, I hope they look forward to their red-hot iron sarcophagi in the level of hell reserved for liars.
Yes, it's hard to watch your child get a shot. They cry. But five minutes later, they're asleep and the benefit from a moment's discomfort could save a baby's life. I just hope more children in California don't die, but I won't be surprised to see more fatalities.
As a final note, I wonder about the psychology of parents, laymen in medicine in science, who despite having no ability to understand science and medicine, instinctively react with their preconceived unfavorable attitude towards anyone they perceive as an authority. In my opinion, that's the real problem. How else could they so easily reject something proven and sound and tested--I mean, we haven't had massive outbreaks of so many diseases (polio, smallpox) due to these vaccines in decades--and adopt the "Fuck science" approach instead? I wish they'd find some other authority to go up against, one in which their children's lives aren't at stake.
