Something Big, Something Small

Something heavy first, and then a throwaway...

Here's an adaptation of a post I wrote elsewhere. I was reading yet another thread from a bunch of "concerned parents" who are all freaking out about vaccinations. I finally decided to interject a bit of perspective into the conversation, and it seems to have killed the thread, thank God:

We're all scared for our kids. We don't know 100% what is best. But there are certain things we do know. I have been trying to find the article that I read this weekend, but I can't locate it. It was a chart showing how many children died of various diseases in 1900 and how many died of those diseases last year. You had all kinds of diseases that killed hundreds of thousands of kids in 1900, and zero or one last year. The single cause of the reduced deaths was vaccination. However, vaccination does rely upon the herd effect -- if you vaccinate enough of the population, the disease is contained. Measles are on the rise because of the fear surrounding the MMR vaccine. I sit here terrified that my kid -- who has been and will continue to be vaccinated on schedule -- could get measles or some other disease that is creeping back into the population before he can get the immunity that vaccination gives.

Do I know for a fact that there is no chance of any ill effects from vaccines? Of course not. I also don't know whether my kid will get hit by a bus, drown in the bathtub, or jump out of his crib one morning and fall on his head. My son is in the demographic with a higher proportion of autism -- older parents including a father over 50, male, was given steroids in utero, etc. Yet it never occurred to me for one second to not get him vaccinated. We don't know what causes autism, so I put it in the category of 'shit happens', like being hit by a bus. I will be devastated if my kid develops autism, but I will accept it. However, if my kid dies or becomes seriously disabled by something that is proven to be preventable, like measles, I will be angry, and I will be one of those parents demanding that the public health authorities get greater authorities to enforce the vaccination laws. We can't prevent autism, but we can prevent some very, very nasty things. Those who have chosen not to vaccinate are still benefiting from the herd effect from those parents who have taken whatever risk there is in vaccination, but it's slipping. If enough parents don't vaccinate, all children go back to being at risk, and these things can sweep through the very young.

Vaccinate.

And on a lighter note -- Ted McGinley will be on Dancing with the Stars! Not that I ever watched it, but is it possible for that show to jump the shark even more? Maybe this will kill it.