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Thousands In Calif. Started School Without Vaccines
What the mainstream media sees as a scary statistic, most of our readers will view as a significant victory! We posted this typical scare piece about the drop in child vaccinations to show that parents are waking up!
Thousands of parents in Sacramento, California did not let their children get vaccinations this school year. More than 11,000 declined vaccinations; the highest decline rate 1978 which is before MMRs became a requirement.
This news bears a striking resemblance to last week’s report of door-to-door vaccinations in the same area. The word on the dangers of vaccinations is spreading far and wide – brace yourselves because the force for mandatory vaccinations will become stronger as more use their right to opt out.
Stay strong!
~Health Freedoms
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Last year’s class of California kindergartners had a record high percentage of parents who used a personal belief exemption to avoid immunization requirements, a development that concerns state health officials.
More than 11,000 kindergartners missed at least one vaccine in 2010 because their parents decided to forgo inoculation. At nearly 2.5 percent of the state’s 470,000 kindergartners, that’s California’s highest rate of declined vaccines since at least 1978, the year before the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine was required.
The percentage is more than double that in certain parts of the state, particularly in more affluent coastal communities in Northern California.
The public debate over childhood vaccinations has been growing throughout California, where last year a deadly spike in whooping cough cases killed 10 babies and sickened more than 9,100 people. The outbreak prompted a state law that requires middle and high school students to get whooping cough booster shots before going back to school this year.
The percentage of parents who sign vaccine exemptions based on personal beliefs has been rising steadily since 2004. The increase coincides with rising use of the Internet for information, said John Talarico, chief of the immunization branch for the California Department of Public Health.
“We really think a lot of it is due to honest, valid concern that parents do the best thing for their child coupled with misinformation that gets out through various forms of communication,” he said.
He said state health officials want to study the personal-belief exemptions to better understand trends and behaviors. For now, he is hoping the trend will begin to slow, especially with media coverage of last year’s whooping cough deaths.
Just last week, state health officials said the number of reported measles cases in California had reached a 10-year high of 28. Of those, 22 people were either unvaccinated or their vaccination status was unknown.
“When people can see disease around them, it generally drives them to think about the benefit the vaccine can give their children versus whatever else they hear,” he said.
Vaccine statistics for this year’s kindergartners will not be available until 2012.
Parents can file two types of vaccine exemptions — a medical exemption or a personal belief exemption. The medical exemption is rarer and typically is reserved for children who cannot be vaccinated because of auto-immune disorders or allergies. It requires a doctor’s signature.
For a personal belief exemption, parents are not required to supply any information to explain their decision.
Doctors and medical experts say vaccines are a reliable means of preventing illness with little risk of injury, but some parents don’t buy into the safety of immunizations. They cite concerns about vaccines making their children susceptible to autism or diabetes.
In a comprehensive safety review of vaccines issued last month, the Institute of Medicinefound there is no link between vaccines and autism or diabetes. The institute, part of theNational Academy of Sciences, found that serious side effects of vaccines are rare and can include fever-caused seizures and occasional brain inflammation.
The increasing number of kindergartners entering school without immunizations poses a risk to others, especially children who have legitimate medical exemptions that prevent them from getting their shots, said Linda Davis-Alldritt, a school nurse consultant at theCalifornia Department of Education.
“Disease prevention is really a very important thing,” she said. “These are diseases that can be very serious, and it can cause death and it can cause long lasting illnesses.”
Parents receive information from schools and the Department of Education about the importance of inoculation and the dangers of unvaccinated children spreading infectious diseases to the rest of the community.
Overall immunity of a population to illness typically is achieved when 90 percent of the population is properly immunized. But Talarico, California’s top immunization officer, said that can be misleading because unvaccinated children tend to cluster in pockets where like-minded parents decide to forgo immunizations.
“When we see these clusters, that represents the possibility of transmission of disease more quickly and in a more sustained fashion,” he said.
A cluster of unimmunized children in San Diego led to an outbreak of measles in 2008 that infected 12 children. Nine of them had not been inoculated because of their parents’ objections, while three others were too young to be immunized.
In some schools, as many as 30 percent of kindergartners are vulnerable to at least one vaccine-preventable communicable disease, according to data from the state Department of Public Health. The majority of schools have 100 percent immunization rates.
Certain areas of California have higher exemption rates than others. In Marin, Sonoma and Santa Cruz counties, more than 6 percent of incoming kindergartners in 2010 had parents file a personal belief exemption. By comparison, Los Angeles, San Franciscoand Fresno counties had rates below 2 percent.
Barbara Lowe Fisher, co-founder and president of the National Vaccine Information Center in Vienna, Va., said parents sometimes decide to file the personal belief exemption form because they cannot find a doctor who will sign a medical exemption form.
“We’ve had families whose children have had reactions to vaccines, and some of them have become injured or even died. They want to make an independent, informed decision for their other children, and they can’t find doctors who will write medical exemptions,” she said.
She said the mission of her nonprofit is to prevent vaccine-related injuries or death through public education. It does not take a position on whether parents should have their children vaccinated, but it does defend a parent’s right to opt out of a vaccine.
Some parents base their decision on what they hear from others or see on the Internet, rather than in consultation with a medical expert, said Catherine Flores Martin, director at the California Immunization Coalition, a Sacramento nonprofit that receives some of its funding from vaccine manufacturers.
“Parents have access to so much information on the Internet and I think a parent, even when they’re really well educated, will have a hard time sifting through the credible resources versus the anecdotal stories,” she said. “You can find whatever you want on the Internet to support your belief.”
———
Tayefe Mohajer reported from Los Angeles.
Source:
http://yourlife.usatoday.com/health/healthcare/story/2011-09-26/Thousands-in-Calif-started-school-without-vaccines/50553202/1
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I lost trust in the medical society when I could not find a doctor to admit that my daughter suffered a severe allergic reaction to vaccines. The is nothing worse then watching your child go from extremely healthy every day of her life to suddenly lethargic, feverish, developing a stutter, headaches and night terrors over night after getting vaccinated. I asked the doctor to separate the shots. I explained the symptoms my daughter had in previous years after shots. I could not get this narrow minded person to understand any of my concerns. Instead, he insisted her symptoms were related to something else. All I got from several doctors was pressure and threats of her college education being in jeopardy. Guess what? Mom weakened and allowed the shots only to watch my daughter suffer for months all over again but worse. How in the world are we supposed to trust doctors when all we find are idiots like the ones I have encountered here in Las Vegas. After the fact, I took her to a Neurologist in desperation of trying to understand my daughters on and off fevers, night terrors and low immune system and the Bast..rd called me a liar.
I am very surprised. This article is by far the most PRO-vaccine article I have every read that you people have printed. Have you decided that you are no longer interested in promoting health in children and so are no longer as strongly anti-vaccine. I am sure that Drs. Tenpenny, O’Shea, Null,and Scheibner would be amazed at the pro-vaccine nature of this article. You are WAY to balanced here with inadequate anti-vaccine facts
We didn’t post this to be pro-vaccine!! 11,000 kids starting school without vaccinations is a significant victory!
I too was surprised and disappointed by this article. I agree with David, it sounds very pro-vaccine. In my opinion you didn’t do a very good job of emphasizing that you thought the 11,000 children starting school without vaccinations was “a significant victory.”
To those who got the measles without the vaccine, congratulations, you are now permanently immune to this non-fatal childhood illness. The real danger is the misdiagnosis of such a disease because the MDs don’t know what it really looks like anymore! As for the Whooping Cough, among other illnesses, who’s to say that vaccines can really prevent these or protect you?
Also, I don’t understand the logic in how a disease could spread quicker through a non vaccinated population. I mean, they’re not the ones who had the virus as well as other toxins injected directly into their bloodstream, bypassing every natural immune defense that the body has! If they’re at risk for catching the illness, I’ll bet it will be transmitted by a vaccinated child
@ Lara K – I too was very confused about how a non vaccinated population could have disease spread more quickly! What!? I had to read that a few times and still thought, “what!?” I have a sad feeling that one day we won’t seem so crazy for not wanting to inject our 6 day old babies w/ something that’s not proven.. and then just keep injecting w/ about 45 more things!
As a nurse I am very curious and look for information in any way I can gather it. After years of vaccinating my small children I began to see the limits of “traditional western medicine” and found we all were experiencing what I considered a high rate of illness. I’ve tried a variety of “alternative” preventative and healing tools and currently believe that vaccination is leading to many of the acute and chronic illnesses our society is experiencing. Finally after being “harrassed” by those in the hospital I worked with for my beliefs being made to feel as if I was neglecting myself and family by not vaccinating I called the CDC. I asked them if when breakouts or “epidemics” occur why the do not record if those effected were vaccinated or not. I said it’s very had to understand the benefits of vaccines not knowing if when those that become ill were vaccinated or not. The reply was because they do NOT record this information. They said a school or hospital would need to keep track of this themselves to get a “pulse” on the situation. That was enough for me to believe that the vaccine “benefit” statistics are Lacking at best. So how they say “herd” immunity is real….you decide.
BIG PHARMA PROPAGANDA!
I am always in confusion about the benefits or not of viral vaccinations. Is it possible that a minute dosage of only the pure virus can actually create more antibodies to actually immunize the body against such virus without causing the major side effects that are so often noted. Is it rather the mercury or other chemical type preservatives that is actually causing the adverse reactions that are continually being reported?. Does anyone have clear information on this?
Did the opposition take over this website??? Sure sounds like it…. Tracie, I couldn’t agree with you more. My son had severe seizures following a hep b vaccine. He too had night terrors, metabolic issues, motor tics that got increasingly worse, severe allergies and poor immune system. He blew up like a balloon at the age of 5-10. He ate very well, we eat all organic, no-one on either side is overweight or has any of these issues. In fact his father and I are extremely athletic. Well, after much research I discovered that many vaccinated children are experiencing the same issues. We stopped vaccinating (they wear off after time), started taking supplements to boost his immune system (we felt it was damaged by the toxins in the vaccines). We started long term chelation (naturally) and did several cleanses. Motor tics, night terrors gone. Metabolism corrected itself, he is now very lean. His allergies have gradually diminished to almost nothing. Sad to say that in the mean time he had to be prescribed eczema medication that had a side effect of weakening eye sight and so he now wears glasses. Working on that now (holistically) I don’t trust these western doctors and pharmaceutical companies as far as I can throw them. Try researching who owns the rights to Tamiflu, suddenly it will all make sense.
I am amazed that parents would risk the lives of their children & refuse vaccinations. If you won’t do the MMR vaccine they can be given separately. 11,000 unvaccinated little petrie dishes of disease going to school?! They should be sent home & kept there until the are vaccinated. I am 61 yrs old. I remember Polio. I grew up with kids who had Polio. I had Measles & it wasn’t fun. One of my aunts & a good friend had severe hearing loss due to Measles. I saw babies with Whooping Cough. Babies & children DIE from these illnesses. I pity the ones of you & your ilk who have to watch a child DIE from one of these very preventable illnesses.
So, you “Geniuses” are willing to risk the lives of your children. When one of them gets Whooping Cough & dies or gets Measles & goes deaf or gets Polio & is permanently crippled or when your teenaged son gets Mumps & becomes sterile, will you THEN be feeling so Victorious???!!!
No…it is nothing but child abuse. Each & every one of you are child abusers. And for the health professionals who buy this pseudo-science….you should loose your licenses because of medical malpractice & patient abandonment.
Most mainstream articles are not kind towards the causes of HFA and its readers. We can detect a lot from them though.
I have altered the summary even further to showcase the point of posting it. No, the opposition hasn’t taken over this website. I will have to clarify very specifically from now on it appears.
Please read the summaries.
I too have concerns about the possible side effects of vaccines. I also support Betty Bernell’s view after seeing people crippled from polio. Perhaps there is a happy medium and instead of vilifying all vaccines, we should vaccinate against the most devastating illness like polio, diptheria,and whooping cough.
For the obviously large number of folks who didn’t bother to read the introductory blurb that Health Freedoms posted before the article, I reprint it here:
“What the mainstream media sees as a scary statistic, most of our readers will view as a significant victory! We posted this typical scare piece about the drop in child vaccinations to show that parents are waking up!
Thousands of parents in Sacramento, California did not let their children get vaccinations this school year. More than 11,000 declined vaccinations; the highest decline rate 1978 which is before MMRs became a requirement.
This news bears a striking resemblance to last week’s report of door-to-door vaccinations in the same area. The word on the dangers of vaccinations is spreading far and wide – brace yourselves because the force for mandatory vaccinations will become stronger as more use their right to opt out.
Stay strong!
~Health Freedoms”
So, no, they are NOT supporting vaccines, the point was to highlight how many people didn’t get vaccines and to show that the establishment is obviously trying to strike back by only presenting biased articles. Please read the whole page before posting. Thanks!
Disgusting. People not vaccinating their kids, relying on OTHER kids being vaccinated to protect theirs. Nothing like parasites amongst us, keeping their children from being immunized, thus weakening the group immunity such that even kids who legitimately have a medical reason not to be vaccinated, can’t be protected.
Have you noticed that autism is not prevalent in developed countries in Asia, where vaccinations are mandatory for kids? Maybe it’s a genetic thing – studies show that if one sibling or twin has autism, the other twin is much more likely to have it.
Or an environmental thing – other than vaccines.
But these parasitic parents: Anything to blame vaccines and not the parents’ genes or the environment supplied by the parents.
People who are criticizing this site for publishing the article – please, stop being stupid and stop giving credence to the pro-vaxers who say all anti-vaxers are idiots. Can you not see why the site posted this article?? It is to SHOW that an increasing number of parents are starting to think for themselves and advocate for their children, and that’s a good thing. Are your beliefs so weak and fragile that you cannot even tolerate a “pro vax” article EVEN IF the reason for printing it is to show that many parents are not vaccinating mindlessly anymore? Do you not see that the REASON it was posted SUPPORTS YOUR VIEWS?
Geez! I’m honestly embarrassed to have you on my team.