Another Vaccine Story

southernbelle0915

http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/06/03/411244055/are-the-vaccine-courts-requirements-too-strict

Let me know what y'all think when you get to the part about Peter Meyers basically saying people who sue in vax court should get money even if they don't have the science to back up their case. (whaaaat?) It's worth listening to the actual interviews vs. just reading the article.

I was yelling at the radio when I heard that this morning. Why? Why should people who sue get compensated when they can't prove their case? What kind of a precedent does that set? And all it does is provide validation for the anti-vaxxers that they must have been right.....because they got money out of it. Ugh. 

ohmrs2014

I don't even want to read the article while I'm at work because I know it will get me so upset.  

labro

Ugh. This story just frustrated me and upset me. There's a reason they couldn't find a doctor even after 15 years who'd back them up because there's no evidence that the vaccine caused their son's disability. That and the lawyer's commentary that people should just get compensation even if they don't have proof. I'm pretty sure smoke started pouring out of my ears at that point.

flutteringinfl

I'm so frustrated by this anti-vax bs because it feels like there's no way to win. If the scientific community tells them it's not up for debate, it's science, people need to do it, then anti-vaxxers just whine louder about their rights, skepticism, etc, and it drives them further away from sanity. Nothing seems to convince them. It all seems to come down to this desire to mistrust and push against authority and the fact that most anti-vaxxers grew up in a world without these diseases, so they think, "Well, obviously they can't be bad, because no one around me is dying of it." 

I'm so done with it. I feel like, seriously, how many more kids have to die so you can feel good about sticking it to the man?

ohmrs2014

It has been proven over and over again that there is no link between vaccines and autism.  I don't understand.

labro

ohmrs2014 said:

It has been proven over and over again that there is no link between vaccines and autism.  I don't understand.

It wasn't about vaccines/autism. The mother in the story claimed that after receiving the MMR vaccine, her son experienced an extremely high fever and afterwards was never the same/developed a severe learning disability. Prior to the vaccine he had met all his check-points. So basically, they believe vaccine caused brain damage that gave him the disability.

ohmrs2014

labro said:

ohmrs2014 said:

It has been proven over and over again that there is no link between vaccines and autism.  I don't understand.

It wasn't about vaccines/autism. The mother in the story claimed that after receiving the MMR vaccine, her son experienced an extremely high fever and afterwards was never the same/developed a severe learning disability. Prior to the vaccine he had met all his check-points. So basically, they believe vaccine caused brain damage that gave him the disability.

This is what happens when I skim through LOL.

labro

@ohmrs2014 It's ok! No matter what, the story was still central around how people use vaccines/links to autism and other learning/developmental disabilities to try and convince people that vaccines are bad.

ohmrs2014

So I did finish reading the article and I agree with the professionals, there must have been some underlying issue there.  

Going back to autism, most children don't start showing signs until they are toddlers, same with this child and his severe development issues that arose at 1.  

There is a reason why after 15 years they couldn't find a doctor to back their claim.

southernbelle0915

labro said:

Ugh. This story just frustrated me and upset me. There's a reason they couldn't find a doctor even after 15 years who'd back them up because there's no evidence that the vaccine caused their son's disability. That and the lawyer's commentary that people should just get compensation even if they don't have proof. I'm pretty sure smoke started pouring out of my ears at that point.

This. I mean, after 15 years of trying to convince medical doctors, the only person they can find to support them is some lawyer who says "yea, I think the courts should award people money"..... wouldn't you start to think "hmmm, maybe we don't really understand this"?

I thought the analogy of "the rooster crows and the sun comes up, but the sun's not coming up because the rooster's crowing" was spot on.

Heffalump

The thing is (and I know I'm preaching to the choir), you never hear about the people who don't have side effects and don't develop learning disabilities, or the people who do have side effects and still don't develop learning disabilities.

Both of my kids develop mild fevers after every dose of MMR.  I know it's coming, I keep an eye on them and give them Tylenol, and in a day or two they're back to normal, end of story.  Do I love it?  No.  Does it make me a little anxious until the fever breaks?  Sure.  But holy hell, if you've ever read accounts of what measles, mumps, or rubella are like, a day or two of fever wins, hands down.

So for every kid who developed a high fever afterward and had subsequent problems (which have not been shown to have been caused by the MMR vaccine, they simply occurred afterward), how many are there who are fine, but you don't hear about them because it's not news?