Measles Outbreak - My Stance on Vaccinations

The other day, I had to send Kai's teacher an email letting her know that we have to pull her out of her homeschool co-op class. 

This may not seem like a huge deal but, those of you who know Kai personally, know she LOVES Earth School (as she calls it). Being pulled out of the class broke her heart.

Kai is an extremely vibrant and social child who, unfortunately, doesn't get a lot of social interaction with her peers.  We have no family that lives nearby and most of her friends go to public or private schools during the day, while she is homeschooled.

That's why putting her in a homeschool co-op seemed like a great idea. Kids her age, learning experiences, socialization. Easy, right? 

Here's the catch...

A lot of homeschoolers do not vaccinate. Some homeschool specifically so they don't have to vaccinate. Here is a great blog about this, complete with links to reputable sources: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/lovejoyfeminism/2012/03/homeschooling-vaccinations-and-a-giant-loophole.html

I don't know if you follow the news on communicable diseases, pathogens, epidemics and outbreaks in your neck of the woods but, as the mother of a immune-suppressed child, I do!

Recently, there have been a lot, and I mean a LOT, of measles outbreaks here in the U.S. of A. Measles was previously declared eliminated from the US in  2000 (source: http://www.cdc.gov/measles/outbreaks.html). That means that the incidence of this pathogen is very seldom and it no longer spreads in this country year-round. However, in 2013, we went from an average of 60 people in the US contracting measles to 189. 

The incidence of measles, which was declared eliminated 14 years ago, has TRIPLED in one year.

The cause? The CDC states the following:
"Anyone who is not protected against measles is at risk of getting infected when they travel internationally. They can bring measles to the United States and infect others. Unvaccinated people put themselves and others at risk for measles and its serious complications."

MOST cases of measles in the US right now are in unvaccinated individuals. Be they by choice, due to medical necessity or age. Go ahead, look it up. I'll wait.

Here is what happened: 
There are some legitimate reasons for some people in our society not to vaccinate. In the case of our family, Kai cannot receive live-virus vaccinations. That includes MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) and CMV (the parent virus of chicken pox - the same one that put Kai in the hospital 4 times between November 2011 and March 2012 and required low-grade chemotherapy treatments to fight, which caused her t-cells and white blood cell count to dip to a scary level, which caused... well, a domino effect that could have been catastrophic).

Some people have religious convictions that forbid vaccination. I'm not talking about using religion as a loophole, as this guy suggests. Unlike Dr. Mercola, there are actually people who would be excommunicated from their religious organization for vaccinating.

Dr. Mercola also claims that lobbyists for pharmaceuticle companies have infiltrated the FDA and that it's profitable for someone so, that is why our government requires it. Actually, Big Pharma doesn't make a lot of profit on vaccines (http://www.who.int/immunization/programmes_systems/procurement/en/), as some folks would have you believe. What Dr, Mercola fails to note is that the World Health Organization (WHO) - the same organization that promotes extended breastfeeding, cosleeping, and homebirth - also urges folks to vaccinate their kids (source: http://www.who.int/features/qa/84/en/). Are US lobbyists sticking their hands in someone's pockets, there, Dr. Mercola? Or does this just help drive the sales of your life-sustaining supplement line? Who is really making a profit, here?  

But, I digress.

Outside of opting out due to a medical condition or religious conviction, there are many folks out there choosing not to vaccinate because they believe it is dangerous. They believe vaccines are toxic and that some additives (specifically thimerosal - a mercury based compound) cause autism. Many believe in "natural immune development", in other words, exposing their children to viruses purposefully so they can build immunity that way. Unfortunately, some of THESE folks feel that everyone else should do this, too, so they bring their sick kids out in public... and then MY immune-suppressed kid, who CAN'T build up a natural defense to these pathogens, let alone fight them off, gets sick and ends up in the hospital for weeks or even months. 

Much of this fervor has no scientific foundation. The original study linking autism to vaccines was debunked. **Furthermore, the additive that was suspect has been removed from all but the flu vaccine** (source: http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/concerns/thimerosal/).  

Here's more on the myth about toxins in vaccines, complete with plenty of sources: http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/toxic-myths-about-vaccines/

The fact is, vaccination has far more benefits - both on an individual scale, as well as for a population - than it does risks. Have you ever met someone with polio? How about small pox? Did anyone you know die from diphtheria? No?

The more people develop an immunity to these diseases, the less people contract them. That means, the fewer people walking around with the measles, the fewer people catch it and spread it to other people. That makes sense, right? (Apparently not to this guy, who says this logical process was "plucked out of an old college text book". Hmmm... Where does the information in college text books come from?)

It's called herd immunity, and the folks who CANNOT vaccinate rely on it. So, when a movement against vaccination by CHOICE becomes widespread, herd immunity breaks down and those folks who don't have a choice, like Kai, are at risk.

This is what happens when herd immunity breaks down:
http://pediatrics.about.com/od/measles/a/measles-outbreaks.htm

Back to Kai and why she was pulled from her co-op class...

There are some unvaccinated kids in Kai's class. Those kids attend other co-ops with other unvaccinated kids. With a measles outbreak spreading across the US, (the nearest just north of us, in Pittsburgh) her doctors want her pulled out of the co-op. It's too big a risk. She can't be vaccinated against it and she can't fight it off like a "normal" child her age can. If she's even exposed to it, she'll need to undergo a treatment called Intravenous Immunoglobin (IVIG). Which will require a PICC line and intravenous infusions from blood-plasma donations for 2-3 months. 

This is OUR reality. When you CHOOSE not to vaccinate your child, you put MY child at risk. We have to isolate her from places and activities she loves. She has to undergo painful treatments and tests. It's an immediate, life-threatening situation. One that, like measles, is preventable.

Can you honestly say the same about a vaccine?


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