"Kenya toddler is first polio infection in 20 years."

To which I say, Anti-vaccination people: SUCK A BIG HAIRY ONE.

Oh dog. I went to suzi's link. Ewwwww.

To which I say, Anti-vaccination people: SUCK A BIG HAIRY ONE.

You beat me.

To which I say, Anti-vaccination people: SUCK A BIG HAIRY ONE.

You beat me.

I think I'm more incoherent with rage about anti-vaccination whackjobs than I am about people who refuse to believe in evolution or people who refuse to believe in global warming. Because, on evolution, well, I have empirical evidence on my side, and I'll just avoid talking to them. On global warming, well, SIT BACK AND WATCH, BITCHES. I got nothing but time on my side for that one.

But anti-vaccination whackjobs are hurting children that they're supposed to protect, as well as FUCKING OVER the population in general, since they're contributing to the decline in herd immunity.

t edit There's a fantastic thread over at Making Light about the anti-vaccination whackjobs, and how, thanks to massive immunization (embrace the irony), nobody fucking remembers just how bad rubella, mumps, measles, polio, etc. really are. Like, wipe-out-all-the-children-under-10-in-one-village bad.

I'm angry at the falsified evidence, certainly, and angry at the situation, but I'm less angry at parents who are nervous about our current vaccination schedule (which is kind of insane compared to when I was a kidlet), because it's hard to remember the needs of the many when you're freaking out about the (now-discredited) risk to your one.

I guess I think of it this way (we vacc, to be clear): I do not trust the medical establishment's claims of safety for treatments they promote blindly, because we've seen too many cases over the last 50 years when they've been wrong. That I think vaccination is the safer, saner choice doesn't mean I don't have reservations about the current blanket approach.

American Experience had a really good and informative hour on the polio epidemic, and the search for the vaccine, a few weeks back--it might still be available on the PBS website for viewing.

Before seeing it, I didn't know that the suspected cause of the huge increase in cases in the 20th century was the vast improvement in hygiene. Kids weren't exposed to as much viruses/bacteria/etc. in their infancy, and so didn't develop antibodies to such things as polio.

Let the kids eat dirt and drink from the dog's bowl, their immune systems will thank you.

I remember the polio sugar cube booster dose, and the nurses who came around in the first grade to peer at your shoulder to see the progress of the TB shot you got a couple of weeks before you started school. I didn't realize it had stopped being so common when someone young looked at my arm and said, "Why do you have two round scars on your arm?" I was so used to everyone having those scars that I hadn't noticed an entire generation growing up without them.

Eh, I ain't hating on people who want to spread out the vaccinations so their kids don't get them all at once. Or who want to not get a few of them that they don't feel are uber important (Hep B, which you can totally get later in life, but people are promoting earlier because hey, that's when they've GOT the kids already in there, GETTING vaccines), or something like chicken pox, where the parent may decide "hey, I lived through it, and yes, it can be deadly but maybe I'd rather my kid not get six vaccines at once, they can do without this one". That's understanable.

But stuff like rubella? polio? C'mon, y'all....

I was so used to everyone having those scars that I hadn't noticed an entire generation growing up without them.

I just made it under (over?) the wire as a 1971 baby, because I don't have one.

Eh, I ain't hating on people who want to spread out the vaccinations so their kids don't get them all at once.

Oh, god no. The vaccination schedule being spread out is not a problem. I just stress out big time over declining herd immunity when it can so easily be prevented.

a 1971 baby

Anyone born in the 70s is far too young to be a grown up person, and there's nothing you can say to convince me. Don't even get me started on those people born in the 80s. They shouldn't be driving, they're too young.

The 90s kids need their diapers changed.