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VaccinateGate

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Mr. Sunshine, Jan 29, 2015.

  1. Vombatus

    Vombatus Well-Known Member

    I know someone who was struck with polio in his youth, about six months before the polio vaccine became widely available. He's been wheelchair bound ever since, for sixty years.

    Folks need to remember how horrible these diseases are. There is no excuse for deliberately avoiding vaccines and subjecting your kids to pain, disease and worse. The vaccines were invented for a reason. Use them.
     
  2. Mr. Sunshine

    Mr. Sunshine Well-Known Member

    What is the demographic of the typical anti-vaxxer? What's the profile?
     
  3. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    The Christie/Paul appeal to this group is a little surprising, because I always associate it generally with hippie/granola types. Of course, MMR anti-vaxxers and HPV anti-vaxxers have different motivations.
     
  4. Big Circus

    Big Circus Well-Known Member

    It's just about privilege. These people's kids matter and nobody else does. That mentality generally doesn't develop without a history of not facing consequences.
     
  5. goalmouth

    goalmouth Well-Known Member

    Unfortunately, there's no vaccine for affluenza.
     
  6. doctorquant

    doctorquant Well-Known Member

    It's mostly a crock of shit pose for people who don't want to step up and do what you gotta do. I've known a few of 'em ... not complete anti-vaxxers, but "That's just too young, I'm going to wait until he's bigger" types. Bullshit. They just don't want to watch 'em stick those needles in those puny little legs. I don't blame 'em for not wanting to, because it sucks. But you do it because it needs to be done.
     
  7. old_tony

    old_tony Well-Known Member

    Do I gather this correctly? Did the anti-vaxx crowd develop in pods of parents of autistic children blaming vaccinations for their kids' autism?
     
  8. SnarkShark

    SnarkShark Well-Known Member

    Autism, from what I've read, is usually diagnosed around 4 years old. That age, from this handy chart (Infants, Children, & Teens (birth - age 18) | Vaccines.gov), is when kids get a pretty significant dose of vaccinations.

    Is it as simple and as stupid as these parents -- albeit painfully looking for answers -- just looking for some recent happening to blame for their kids being autistic?
     
  9. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    That's about it.

    There was a British doctor about 15 years ago who faked his research and "concluded" there was a link. People are still hanging on that even though he has been proven to be a fraud.
     
  10. MisterCreosote

    MisterCreosote Well-Known Member

    Make no mistake, Wakefield is still very much trusted by a large segment of the anti-vaxxer crowd, the part that believes he was punished for exposing the "truth" and the "corruption" behind the vaccine industry.

    He still speaks on vaccines and autism all the time, even though his license has been revoked and just aboout everything he did has been retracted and discredited.

    He has some chutzpah, too. One of his major studies didn't even use a control group. If it had, it would've shown the rates of autism are exactly the same in vaccinated vs. unvaccinated populations.
     
    Last edited: Feb 3, 2015
  11. Kato

    Kato Well-Known Member

    And, don't forget, that the autism-vaccination theory got major, national publicity from Jenny McCarthy going on Oprah, Larry King (with Jim Carey) and several other shows to talk about her autistic son and, quite vociferously, shine a light on the supposed link, and she reached a massive audience. She continued to push that theory even after the research was debunked and discredited. If you're an affluent, conservative stay-at-home mom, who are you going to believe? Science or the 1994 Playmate of the Year?
     
  12. MisterCreosote

    MisterCreosote Well-Known Member

    And when McCarthy was debunked as well, she switched her tune to the "we're giving them too many vaccines too soon" argument, which shows a startling lack of understanding about how the immune system actually works.
     
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