You better believe I vaccinated my kid
I recently had a conversation about vaccines that left me frankly stunned. A friend I respect and an older Marin couple were matter-of-factly agreeing that the H1N1 vaccine was, if you’ll pardon my language, “bullshit.” Their conversation happened as the Marin couple was running down a checklist of items that make one an acceptable conversation partner in their book: are you for or against Obama’s health care plan (against, because it’s useless without a public option); do you agree that health care in this country is a disaster, mostly thanks to Bush (of course); and so on and so forth and then lastly, “what about vaccines?”
“What about vaccines” has, for a certain segment of the population, become part of the knee-jerk rhetoric that marks whether you are or are not part of the educated liberal elite that’s progressed so far and so high that they’re actually above the need for medical intervention. At least if that medical intervention comes in the form of a vaccine, any vaccine, and particularly the H1N1 vaccine, which is considered “bullshit” because it, apparently, hasn’t been sufficiently tested and is more dangerous than the virus itself, according to articles like this one that cheerfully take entire paragraphs out of context (while helpfully linking to the original article), uses pseudo-science to terrify readers, and plumps up relatively obvious statements by health officials (e.g., “you should test vaccines before you use them,”) to make it sound as though those officials were in fact targeting the H1N1 vaccine itself as the harbinger of widespread death. Oh, and then there are the outright lies.
Here’s the deal. More than 30 years ago, 25 people died from an extremely rare side effect of a swine flu vaccination. So far, more than 100 children have died of swine flu, and more than 1,000 overall, in the United States alone. To put it mildly, we’re already trending ahead of that bad batch of vaccine that happened 30 years ago when science probably wasn’t quite as far along as it is now. Countless experts now say the vaccine is safe, and produced in the same way as the standard flu vaccine, a product that’s pretty well vouched for at this point.
I took my 2 and a half year old son in for a swine flu vaccination today (and I’ll get it myself once they’ve gotten all the kids and pregnant women — the ones most at risk — safely out of the way). I asked the doctor if she’d vaccinated her own children, ages 6 and 4. She said she had. She also said my son’s pediatric practice had three child patients in the hospital right now with “complications” from swine flu. Meaning, she said, “chest tubes.” That’s just in my town. On the other hand, I can’t find, and neither can anyone else, any confirmed cases of death or serious illness linked to the H1N1 vaccine thus far, anywhere in America.
And I wish I could say that anti-vaccine insanity was limited to just swine flu. It’s not, obviously. It’s just that irrational fear of the swine flu vaccine, considered by many health officials to be one of the most important tools in fighting off an increasingly dangerous and growing global pandemic, is the unfortunate culmination of a totally insane public conversation that’s been happening for years. Pediatricians and scientists are under attack for insisting that vaccines save lives (they do). Children with compromised immune systems are at risk from their classmates who haven’t been vaccinated against what should be, at this point, completely neutered diseases like measles, meningitis, and pertussis. Yet un-vaccinated kids are contracting, spreading, and even dying from those diseases at an alarming rate.
I don’t know how much more clearly to put it: that’s utterly ridiculous. There is ample science to show that vaccines save lives. Hundreds of millions of lives, people. There is zero hard data to show that they cause rampant autism, kill or cripple people in alarming numbers, or any of the other fear-based claims that are keeping people out of the doctors’ office. And I don’t have to, in the touchy-feely way of 21st-century America, “respect your beliefs” when your beliefs are not only utterly scientifically unfounded but also lethally dangerous!
This refusal to acknowledge human progress and scientific fact is a uniquely and bizarrely first-world problem, too. Wired points out that, “counterintuitively, higher rates of non-vaccination often correspond with higher levels of education and wealth.” It’s as though the Marin dwellers (where, unbelievably, non-vaccination rates are nearly 6 percent) and those like them have gotten so comfortable, so complacent, so alienated from the actual impact of widespread disease, that they feel they can reject the need for vaccination because they’ve never seen the effect of the lack of it. They haven’t actually had to see children contract first a fever, then a runny nose, then a full-body rash, then develop complications like blindness, encephalitis, and weakened immune systems that lead to choking and fatal pneumonia. And that’s just measles! Just think if we got to watch polio re-emerge! I haven’t seen that first-hand either, but to take one look at my child and imagine it happening to him is simply unacceptable.
Just because we don’t see the effects of widespread disease doesn’t mean we can stop believing they exist. This is not a subject for public debate. This isn’t a subjective topic. There is hard science and decades of evidence to prove that vaccines save lives and that refusing to get vaccines kills people. Period. So, yeah, you’d better believe my kid got a swine flu vaccine. For his life and the life of the kid next to him. You’re welcome.
Great post. As my neighbor is one of the many tallented ph.d’s and MD’s who took the H1N1 through clinical trials into production it is as safe as any other flu vaccine. I didn’t know this but the vaccine producers get the H1N1 sample and cultures right from the CDC.
VR @trifster
Love hearing your rants and perspective. Well written!
Thank you Molly for saying this so passionately and eloquently! I struggle with similar people I know who otherwise appear to be perfectly rationale, intelligent folks that subscribe to the same paranoia around the H1N1 vaccine and others as well. I understand that part of their fear is about the unknown and that by their taking a specific action to get this vaccine into their child, that there is a fear that they may be worried that they personnally could cause their child harm in some way. But certainly, it seems that they should be more worried that their inaction could cause the KNOWN harm that H1N1 and other infectious diseases can cause vs. any unknown or so far unfounded fears about the vaccine itself designed to protect their children. I just met a woman 2 weeks ago whose daughter is now diagnosed with H1N1 and as she’s described it “it’s a nightmare”. Our 2-1/2 year old daughter is getting the vaccine next week, when the vaccine is available, and for the benefit of all of us, I hope others will read your comments and also make this logical choice.
Molly thank you for posting this and you did convince me to give the vaccine to my son of 2 years old. Thank You
My wife’s sister has a one-year old son who was recently infected with the H1N1 virus. It has been a week or so and he is doing fine. He had a fever and a really bad cough for a few days. None of the rest of their family was infected, but they have all now been vaccinated.
I am father to a 5-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter. My wife is a nurse at a local hospital, in fact she is working right now and probably caring for one or more patients officially diagnosed with H1N1.
Neither my wife or I, nor our children, have gotten a flu vaccine (the regular seasonal variety, or H1n1 vaccine), and most likely never will. We know too many friends that have gotten the flu vaccine and still gotten the flu.
At the moment we are taking a wait and see approach. First, we wanted to wait and make sure there were no obvious side effects from the vaccine. Second, we wanted to see if it truly worked as advertised.
I watched a very interesting video from MIT recently. http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/715 It is by John Barry, author of The Great Influenza, a study of the 1918 pandemic. He discusses the histories of Flu Pandemics, and reflects those against what we know of H1N1 to date. I really recommend watching the first twenty minutes of the video which is his speech segment (There are 40 minutes of Q&A after). VERY INTERESTING AND INFORMATIVE!
The truth is, we really don’t know enough about H1N1 yet. And we know even less about the effectiveness and problems associated with the Vaccine. IMHO.
I am not saying you should not have gotten your child vaccinated. We all have a decision to make and you made one, just like we have.
This reminds me of an episode I listened from This American Life awhile ago:
“Ruining It for the Rest of Us”:
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=370
Parents can be so selfish that failed to see refusing to vaccinate their kid can affect the rest of the community. Don’t people know how smallpox got eradicated/managed after all?
The benefit of vaccination certainly outweighted the shortcoming. If everyone refused to get vaccination, the swine flu could well be a pandemic and bites us back.
I agree, while there are questions worldwide regarding the H1N1 vaccination. Our children are too precious to risk . Good on you Molly.
This is for all the people who use anecdotal evidence as their reason for not getting vaccinated. I once new a guy who listened to anecdotal evidence, and HE DIED.
That’s very strange that sumyunguy’s wife was not vaccinated. I have family members and an ex-wife who are nurses and ALL medical personnel in clinics, nursing homes, and hospitals are required to have all vaccines up to date or else they are let go. That’s in multiple cities in multiple states, but maybe the state he lives in is vastly different than the 3 that I know of.
I respect your choice but as far as I’m concerned the whole H1N1 thing is a money making scam.
Some facts you left out of your article:
1. The media’s claim that the H1N1 vaccine is the same as the regular flu vaccine is not true. The H1N1 vaccine contains thermerosal (which contains small amounts of mercury) while regular flu shots don’t. It’s listed in the ingredients from the label inserts right off the FDA website.
Although, I think there are preservative free (thererosal free) ones being made but good luck finding one.
2. Also in the label inserts it mentions that the vaccine HAS NOT, I repeat HAS NOT yet been tested on children or pregnant women. The two groups who are lined up first for the shot.
3. This one isn’t really scientific but I find it funny that while the President can go up on TV and push the vaccine, so much as to call it a state of emergency, he refuses to get his own children vaccinated…hmm, but then again it’s really nothing new for him to say one thing and do the other.
Thats all, good luck to you.
As someone who HAS swine flu RIGHT NOW, I’m grateful you got your little kid vaccinated. It’s awful, it’s completely taken me down.
However, some people should be careful about getting vaccinated, especially if they have auto-immune diseases like MS. Vaccinations can trigger episodes.
Also, people who don’t get vaccinated shouldn’t subject other people to diseases by going out in public. You have the right to refuse vaccination, but companies and schools should have the right to refuse to allow you to come to work/school.
I knew someone with polio. I went to school with her in the 1970′s. Her parents didn’t believe in vaccinating and the disabilities she lived with daily – wandering eye with limited sight, severe limp on one side of her body – were an example to me of what NOT vaccinating could look like. When I was child, everyone lined up in the hallways at the elementary school and got vaccinated. THAT’S how important it was. Of course, we also got dental check-ups and vision tests (which have gone by the wayside – so sad) at school as well.
I’ve had the flu (2003), my daughter had the flu very severely (2006) and after that we’ve been vaccinated every year. I agree with you; I will trust in medical science rather than fear. Because I have seen what the flu can do and simply won’t risk my at-risk children.
I’d also like to add a point about the cost effectiveness of vaccines. In the health care reform debate, there is talk about how “preventive” medicine can reduce cost down the road. Vaccines are one of the most inexpensive ways to reduce health care cost now. In other words, the cost of the vaccine is far less than the cost of treatment in most cases.
Consider this:
In 2006 an estimated 9700 new cases of cervical cancer were diagnosed in the US. HPV is a vaccine preventable disease.
In 2008, 137 cases of measles were reported in the US to the CDC & prevention. Measles is a vaccine preventable disease.
Approximately 1500 cases of pneumococcal meningitis still occur each year in the US. Pneumococcal meningitis is a vaccine preventable disease.
For Polio, there is no cure. It can only be prevented. Polio vaccines, given multiple times, can protect a child for life.
Molly, I’m really glad you decided to vaccinate your child and I’m also happy because you blogged about it. Fact is vaccines that prevent infectious diseases are among medicine’s most significant advances.
@PediatricInc
What drives me crazy about all the non-vaccinating people is that they can afford not to vaccinate their kids because most of us rational people do vaccinate. Everyone knows that vaccines are only effective when a high percentage of the population takes them. I guess since around 95% of people do vaccinate, the other 5% can be lax and say “my kids are healthy without taking any vaccines”.
Leaches!
Molly – You are awesome. I am one of those ignorant slobs who has been spreading misinformation to my colleagues regarding specifically the H1N1 vaccine (I got a regular flu shot). After reading your article I will set them straight. Thanks to you for setting me straight.
I have to admit that after reading your article I am left with the impression you are in favor of a public option health care plan. But I have two fears based on my life experiences thus far:
1) I work in state government; it’s horrible. The politics, the bureaucracy, the inability to effectually implement innovation of any kind without hitting a brick wall or poorly written, outdated legislative regulation. For this reason a public option I think would be hampered and therefore destined for failure. Bloated on tax payers money and not fiscally viable. I think citizens would relate their DMV experiences to their public insurance experiences. SCARY!
2) I am a capitalist at heart. I think private businesses are the way to go (with a peppering of regulation of course to keep them from stifling innovation in order to protect their business models). I have heard the conservative/republican argument; which states that by allowing private insurance companies to compete across state borders we could reduce costs. Reducing the taxes overall on health insurance would also reduce the cost and make low cost insurance possible. Is there a reason why you think these ideas wouldn’t work. Not that nationwide companies are really that great many times they can be the “bloated beast” (attributing overuse of that idiom to you) as well.
Doubtful you will find time to respond, but seriously mucho respect! You are kinda my hero. Said the 20 something gay technology loving guy living in the south.
None of my kids have got the swine flu yet, I see it happening to children all around me, I am pretty sure the reason that we haven’t got it is because of the fantastic guidance I’ve received from this website: http://www.swineflukids.com
Swine Flu Kids They have some really great home remedies that are gentle for little ones. I downloaded their book and
was very satisfied with it. Good luck!
The Obama children did get the H1N1 vaccine. It happened the same day that GingerRoot made the comment saying their hadn’t it.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2009/10/27/vaccinations-first-family
They waited for it to be available for schoolchildren in the Washington area.
Molly:
you are so right! I am a mom, a grad student, and an aspiring researcher: all three ‘hat’ spell one warning: whether H1N1 is as big as an emergency, are we ready to bet our kids on it? I am not and my healthy 6 year old is vaccinated for H1N1, for all the reccomanded diseases, and then some.
I am home sick with bronchitis, an ear infection, laringitis, and it all started with what I thought was just a bad cold + sleep deprivation…Yesterday I went to my school’s Health Services: I couldnot take it anymore and I still had to study for one big final…I was given a breathing treatment on the spot, I was found dehydrated, and exausted…This can get out of hand easily and I am so glad I did vaccinate my munchkin.
I will say this-I am worried about personal succeptibility to the excipients so I do not let get a gazillion of vaccines at one time…We spread them out and hope we did right by him-His chances for a random ADR when he gets a vaccine are the same as for all of us adults, the only difference is that we no longer receive as many as kids do because we are all grown up! BOOSTERS BY THE WAY! REMEMBER TO KEEP YOUR VACCINATIONS CURRENT!
The reason why we hear more about ADR in kids who had been vaccinated recently is because we all have kids’s best interest at heart and toon in these conversations to try to
figure out what’s right: i.g. lots of chatter, not enough science.
Hi Molly,
Excellent blog piece on vaccination. I just stumbled across your blog about vaccines – via the tech pages, of course (I used to work at CNET out of the Australian offices a few years ago and we met briefly once) I wanted to share with you the tragic story of my partner’s family and the very real impact that non-vaccination is causing in seemingly developed nations:
Dana Elizabeth McCaffery died in March at 4 weeks of age from Whooping cough. Sadly, Dana is one of three babies that has died from this totally vaccine preventable disease in Australia this year.
Born perfectly healthy, baby Dana was too young to receive a vaccination and became the innocent victim of Whooping Cough due to dangerously low awareness and even lower vaccination rates.
The full story can be found at http://danamccaffery.com/
Unfortunately, it has taken this incident for health officials to react by giving out free vaccinations to parents and carers of newborn babies. While new measures and promises by government have been promised, real action and change has been slow.
It’s unfortunate to hear the poor arguments against vaccination – many of which are echoed from the USA to Australia – under the banner of ‘freedom’ and being pushed by non-scientific, and, quite frankly – scary people.
For the stand that my partner’s family took (they were very brave) they also put themselves in the line of some people who would go to lengths to try and prove Dana had not died from pertussis. They lied, they printed untruthful articles, and they repeated these false stories over and over again.
While I believe in the freedom of speech, it’s a worry that people without medical qualification are able to sell books, and make money from giving totally false medical advice against vaccination. Advice that people follow and put everyone at risk.
Bill Maher has an interesting take on the subject of vaccines in a recent post: Vaccination: A Conversation Worth Having
If you’re going to bring that Bill Maher post into it, better check these rebuttals:
Some Muddled Thinking from Bill Maher
Bill Maher flames out in a pyre of stupidity over vaccines–again
*Like*
Thought you might find this interesting.
http://www.northbynorthwestern.com/2010/02/66626/why-you-should-care-about-vaccines-and-autism/
Shows sadly how what was once thought to be eradicated in Europe is now on the rise.
Have Fun!
Bryan