Another interesting finding from this study was how many of the cases of whooping cough were contracted by fully vaccinated children. The non-or-delayed-vaxxing community has been receiving a great deal of negative press for being the reason for upswings in outbreaks, but the numbers from this study indicate that this might be an unfair accusation to make. The researcher himself was surprised by how the numbers played out amongst vaccinated and unvaccinated children:
"...Witt said that when he started the study he expected to see the illness concentrated in unvaccinated people. But more than 80 percent of the children who developed whooping cough in Witt’s study were fully vaccinated."
It was a small study (about 15,000 children) but the findings clearly were not what Witt or the medical community expected. Personally, I am not terribly surprised. We are giving the Striderling the DTaP series (although we started it late) because, in his early years, he is at extremely high risk for respiratory illnesses. Whooping cough with any baby is not pretty (did you know it's pretty common and not dangerous for older children and adults?) but his lung issues make him more vulnerable for a severe case. So, since we are giving him the shots, what I'm saying should not be taken as a statement saying Vaccines Are Evil. They're not. They're just also still more of an unknown than many medical professionals would like to admit. Even things they think they may know for sure aren't actually guarantees. It's happened before with mercury in vaccines, with whole pertussis cells in the vaccine (it's why we now have DTaP instead of DTP), it's happened with the changing formulation of the polio vaccine, and there are still many unknown variables about aluminum in vaccines. These things do not mean vaccines are anathema; they mean we should be willing to do research as parents, and that respect should be granted to parents who make choices for their children that are different from the recommended norm.
My vaccinated daughter got whooping cough when she was 2. My understanding is that the vaccine is for one strain, and she caught a different strain of the virus. She's a healthy kid, so she weathered the illness fine, but she was pretty sick for a long, long time. It's a nasty virus.
ReplyDeleteLaura, it is indeed a nasty virus. I don't know about your daughter's case, but it seems to me that if the reason the majority of the vaccinated population are actually not immune were simply a matter of a known issue- a different strain- then the medical community and the researcher would not have been so surprised by the results.
ReplyDeleteIt's really interesting to learn that the medical community has been making firm pronouncements about the vaccine and its effectiveness which turn out not to be accurate. They have been giving those who vaccinate a false sense of security on the one hand, and on the other, using a false premise to castigate those who don't.
I'd bet that the reason the vaccine doesn't last as long and that vaccinated children get the disease is because they're using acellular Pertussis to make the vaccine. Therefore, it's less effective than the (more dangerous) cellular Pertussis vaccine.
ReplyDeleteOf course, the most vulnerable age group for Pertussis infection is children under two (especially newborns), so a vaccine that lasts 3 years is going to protect that most vulnerable subset. However, a four-year-old sibling who has whooping cough is a danger to her unvaccinated month-old brother who hasn't had his DTaP vaccine yet.
Pearl had a bad reaction to her fist DTaP vaccine, and the pediatrician decided to just give her DT from now on instead of the full DTaP vaccine. She recommended that JunkMale and I get our TDaP boosters to help protect her, so we did.
Most of the research is on the side of the vaccines, though you would expect it to be that way since you can make data say anything you want it to say. However, after reviewing the literature I'm convinced enough that we vaccinate - slowly and thoughtfully.
Amen, sister! (to the original post, although all the replies are thoughtful, too.) We do vaccinate, so I'm not taking sides. I agree that everyone needs to do their own research and make their own decisions.
ReplyDeleteI agree with most of the post.. However, as to whether vaccines are or are not evil, I'm not fully convinced they're not. So many are cultured in aborted fetal tissue, and for me, that flirts with Evil pretty much. I've researched until my head exploded (and then a little more), and I am NOT comfortable with most of them, precisely as you mentioned here; what they say one day (with utmost certainty) is tomorrow's "oh we don't do that!" Tumors/cancer in which the same dna lives as was found in contaminated polio? Linking it to HIV/aids? yikes. But I digress... Even if they worked and were completely, utterly, guaranteed safe, I do not think gaining 'health' via the death of the unborn would be a blessing. :]
ReplyDeleteThanks for the moral clarity, EllaJac.
ReplyDeleteI'm an RN and before I had kids I was doing visiting nursing in an inner city among high risk mothers( just use your imagination and you're probably right) We had one of the changes in vaccination schedules that often happen and it was explained that high risk mothers will most likely bring babies in for regular check ups but much less toddlers and up so they were trying to get the full coverage in the first year. But the recommendation was for all babies. Knowing this I vaccinated my kids at older ages and slowly. ( did get some protest from some pediatricians but only those who didn't know I was a nurse. )
ReplyDeleteCindy from VA