Monday, August 13, 2012

Star Tribune: Vaccination Fears Are Only Upping Danger

This is a great article written by Annette Meeks who is the CEO of the Freedom Foundation of Minnesota.  It was published in the Minneapolis Star Tribune and surrounds the subject of how misinformation has resulted in increased risk of vaccination-preventable diseases.

Minnesota has experienced several outbreaks of vaccine preventable disease in the past few years.  As the article mentions, in 2011 Minnesota had the largest outbreak of measles in the entire nation which resulted in 14 children being hospitalized, but thankfully there were no deaths as a result.  Minnesota has also recently experienced a surge in the number of cases of Pertussis, due in no small part to the number of children who have not received their complete dosage of vaccinations.

The article is a good read, and it serves as a reminder how previously generations had to deal with diseases such as smallpox and polio and how vaccines were seen as life-saving miracles.  Although we are grateful that children today don't need to fear these diseases, many parents who grew up without the fear associated with a disease such as polio may not completely understand the many benefits of vaccines, and due to the ignorance surrounding vaccines, and the misinformation spread by anti-vaccinationists, Internet-educated "experts", and celebrities who have spent more time posing for topless photos than they have time in a laboratory or classroom, we are now seeing first hand some of the effects.

Full Article Here: Vaccination Fears Are Only Upping Danger

5 comments:

  1. Sorry Mr. Hubbs, you have shown you aren't mature enough to comment here, and posting under sockpuppet accounts laced with profanity isn't about to change that.

    When you can start acting like an adult and telling the truth then you can post again.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I can't tell you how many times I've seen ignorant anti-vaccine cranks claim that measles is 'a harmless disease'.

    Because that's why a quarter of all measles cases in France have been hospitalized. That's why a quarter of all measles cases in the outbreak in Australia have been hospitalized.

    That's why there's been what, a dozen deaths in France since the outbreak began?

    Because death is so harmless?

    Or does France suddenly not have good hygiene/sanitation? Or are they all malnourished or poverty stricken? Is that why measles is tearing through the unvaccinated (and undervaccinated) population like a brushfire?

    They make me want to vomit.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery Mr. Hubbs. I'm honored you would try.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Here's a little site I found for all the anti-vaccine sheeple:

    http://thevaccinesong.org/

    I also noticed that Lowell's website got pulled by Squarespace; not such a bad thing, though he probably thinks it's some kind of conspiracy against him.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Love the song... I might have to write a post about that. I also have no idea what is going on with Lowell's website or how long it has been offline. I don't ever go there, so it might have been down for a while, or this might be new.

    Maybe he just forgot to pay for the hosting fees - but at least this time it appears it is his hosting company to blame and not a government agency or a "black hat hacker".

    ReplyDelete

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