[jeffkrol]

AP Exclusive: Private school vaccine opt-outs rise - CBS News

The AP analyzed that data and found the percentage of children in private schools who forego some or all vaccinations is more than two times greater than in public schools.

More troubling to public health officials is that the number of children entering private schools without all of their shots jumped by 10 percent last year, while the opt-out rate held steady in public schools for the first time since 2004.

Public health officials believe that an immunization rate of at least 90 percent in all communities, including schools, is critical to minimizing the potential for a disease outbreak. About 15 percent of the 1,650 private schools surveyed by the state failed to reach that threshold, compared with 5 percent of public schools.

[Ash]

This has little to do with religious beliefs but is a phenomenon much more determined by wealth, high level education and alternate health care affiliation. With less trust in doctors and in the virtues of immunisation, possibly stemming from flawed case and cohort studies on the links between particular vaccinations and certain neurodevelopmental disorders, wealthier parents opt to seeking their healthcare from naturopaths, chiropractors and other allied health workers who take on a less supportive view on immunisations. Invariably I see cases of mistreated patients at the hands of these practitioners and wonder how such well educated people observe such bizarre practices (avoiding vaccinations being the least of them) under the instruction of these less evidence-based health practitioners. I guess that argument seems to apply to faith in a God as well... Such is life.

[grhazelton]

Ash, your observations are accurate, I think. I have otherwise well-educated colleagues who firmly believe that autism is directly linked to the use of thiomersal (I think that's the term for the mercury based preservative used in the past in some vaccines), no amount of statistical data will dissuade them. Some folk I know (who should know better), worry about electric blankets, although closely pairing the resistive wires cuts the field strength to virtually zero.

The most appalling story I know of personally was a couple who lived near to my parents' faculty housing - my father was professor of chemical engineering at West Virginia Institute of Technology. The husband taught an advanced math course, his wife was a registered nurse. She/they refused vaccinations for their three young children. When my parents heard of this they just metaphorically shook their heads, knowing, I think, that cool reason would make no difference. His contract wasn't renewed so I don't know the outcome.

I sometimes wonder if the current worry about any exposure to mercury has contributed to the autism scare. In this country a few years ago there was a scare about dental amalgams from what I gather from my dentist is inconclusive evidence. Perhaps modern analytic techinques, able to detect parts per billion in some cases, are contributing to the rising concerns over the levels of mercury and other admittedly dangerous elements/materials.

"Funny" story. Back in the late '50s some shoe stores briefly sported X-ray machines so that a shoe's fit could be checked. You put your feet into a slot at the base of this machine and there on the waist level screen was an image of your foot bones! Fun! My father noted it and said, "Okay, boys. Have one look and then don't do it again." I wonder how many gonads were irradiated....

[boriscleto]

"Funny" story. Back in the late '50s some shoe stores briefly sported X-ray machines so that a shoe's fit could be checked. You put your feet into a slot at the base of this machine and there on the waist level screen was an image of your foot bones! Fun! My father noted it and said, "Okay, boys. Have one look and then don't do it again." I wonder how many gonads were irradiated....

The danger wasn't to the customer, it was to the salesmen...

Playing in the High-Beam

Medicine has made some huge errors of judgment over the past several centuries, one of which involved a complete disregard for the power of the x-ray. The creation of the Shoe Fitting X-Ray Machine or Shoe Fitting Fluoroscope was one of the most laughable scientific blunders in history.

The shoe-fitting fluoroscope was the brainchild of Clarence Karrer of Milwaukee around 1924, who worked for his father, a dealer in x-ray equipment and surgical supplies.

This dangerous device was a common fixture in shoe stores during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. By the 1950s, about 10,000 units were operating in stores all over the U. S. A typical unit consisted of a vertical wooden cabinet with an opening near the bottom into which a person’s feet were placed.[ii]

When you looked through one of the three viewing ports on the top of the cabinet, you would see a fluorescent image of the bones of your feet inside the outline of your shoes. It was common for the child being fitted, the parent, and the shoe salesman to all be peering through the ports at once.

Most units had a push-button timer that could be set for the desired exposure time, from 5 to 45 seconds. The most common setting was 20 seconds.

Sounds like fun, doesn’t it?

It WAS fun, except for the folks who were exposed to and damaged by rather large doses of radiation—particularly the machine operators and shoe salesman, who were in and out of the machine all day, every day.

Measurements of the amounts of radiation given off by these machines ranged from 7-14 R for a 20 second exposure, to 16-75 R/minute. There were also significant exposures for those standing several feet away from the machine while it was running.

In 1960, these machines were finally banned in the US, largely due to increasing pressure from insurance companies. There is some evidence that these machines continued to be used in Canada and the UK until around 1970.

Not one of medicine’s brighter ideas, to say the least!

[jsherman999]

... The husband taught an advanced math course, his wife was a registered nurse. She/they refused vaccinations for their three young children. .

A surprising number of nurses opt out of voluntary flu immunizations for their families. I have yet to understand why fully, but there's something there - something in the way they see it's worth and effectiveness. I also suspect it's in response to an unspoken realization that the strains in the flu shot in particular are really mostly a guess, and that it's being given for the good of the 'herd' and will help the population as a whole, in a statistical sense, but carries low-level risks itself.


.

[jeffkrol]

Though I have my own issues w/ the medical profession it should be mentioned that
1)flu's are a major killer
2)people in the med. profession "see" more problems. They are funneled into their vision.

[boriscleto]

Silent Spring turns 50: Biographer William Souder clears up myths about Rachel Carson. - Slate Magazine

Rachel Carson Didn’t Kill Millions of Africans

How the 50-year-old campaign against Silent Spring still distorts environmental debates.

[magkelly]

Adults need to check their vaccine status too. A lot of so called childhood diseases like Whooping Cough, measles and the like are actually being spread just as much by adults as children. Just because you had vaccines as a kid doesn't mean you're in the clear. I had all my shots and boosters as a kid and I still got mumps and Whooping Cough 2X (Pertussis) as an adult. I also had chicken pox a second time despite having them as a child. (Yes, it's possible, though rare.)

I'm actually going to go get a Pertussis and MMR booster this Fall sometime. I haven't had German measles or regular measles and there is an outbreak situation going on around so I'm getting shots just in case. That being said I'm not touching the flu or pneumonia shots ever again. I've had both and they made me far sicker than it was worth. I am cautious when it comes to some vaccines but I'm not into being stupid about it.

I'm the same way with the animals too. I get them their rabies shots but I seldom do the rest because I have concerns about the other shots, particularly the ones for Feline Leukemia. I lost a cat to cancer because of the latter and I'm not going there again if I can help it. My pets are strictly indoors animals and we take precautions besides. I'm all for vaccination in general but I like to be very sure of what I'm getting too. Some shots, the risks are not inconsiderable.

[Ash]

Though I have my own issues w/ the medical profession it should be mentioned that
1)flu's are a major killer
2)people in the med. profession "see" more problems. They are funneled into their vision.

THere are also epidemiological studies that guide medical practice. It's not just that doctors see lots of sickness and therefore are more in favour of vaccination. Of course, with the significant morbidity (not just mortality) flu causes, there is a lot to gain to vaccinate against the flu yearly, and very little to lose (other than some minor flu-like symptoms which are hardly as bad as the real manflu).

[magkelly]

Of course, with the significant morbidity (not just mortality) flu causes, there is a lot to gain to vaccinate against the flu yearly, and very little to lose (other than some minor flu-like symptoms which are hardly as bad as the real manflu).

I've had both, full on flu and a very bad reaction to the flu shot. I got very sick from the shot, something that wasn't supposed to happen. There are a lot of shots I'd say sure go ahead, but that's not one of them. Flu shots can be iffy. My Dad and my BFF have also had bad ones so it's not just me. I think it's because they have to tweak them for different strains maybe, but while usually it's fine, sometimes it's not. You weigh your risk level and act accordingly. If I was a health care professional or I worked constantly I might but right now I'm not too keen on repeating that experience anytime soon.

[Rondec]

What does this have to do with religion? It is people who are "too educated" who refuse vaccinations. Fear of diseases is less than fear of the dangerous vaccines out there and there is plenty of fear-monggering on the part of the anti-vaccine crowd. In my experience, it is not religious people who refuse vaccines (except maybe Gardasil, but that's a a different story), it is highly educated, well connected people.

The problem is that vaccines have made diseases like diptheria and haemophilus b less common and so parents have no idea how devastating such diseases can be in an unimmunized child, while the media plays a huge amount of attention to people like Andrew Wakefield who viciously attack vaccines as being dangerous for our children. In such a situation, is it surprising that people feel like the true dangers of vaccines are being hidden from them, while they minimize the dangers of the diseases for which the children are being vaccinated?

[Ash]

I've had both, full on flu and a very bad reaction to the flu shot. I got very sick from the shot, something that wasn't supposed to happen. There are a lot of shots I'd say sure go ahead, but that's not one of them. Flu shots can be iffy. My Dad and my BFF have also had bad ones so it's not just me. I think it's because they have to tweak them for different strains maybe, but while usually it's fine, sometimes it's not. You weigh your risk level and act accordingly. If I was a health care professional or I worked constantly I might but right now I'm not too keen on repeating that experience anytime soon.

Work in the health sector, and see the effects of true influenza, and even those 'bad' reactions from the shot will pail in comparison.

[GeneV]

What does this have to do with religion? ....

I would have asked the same thing, until I read the actual article. The article is about the decreasing vaccination of children in private schools (more of which tend to be religious schools these days) and when it listed the reasons for not getting immunized, the first reason listed was religion. It is surprising that religion and vaccination has enough of a history to merit a wiki article of its own. Vaccination and religion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia or an entire article from a major paper. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/06/AR2008060603...T2008060900952

[Rondec]

I would have asked the same thing, until I read the actual article. The article is about the decreasing vaccination of children in private schools (more of which tend to be religious schools these days) and when it listed the reasons for not getting immunized, the first reason listed was religion. It is surprising that religion and vaccination has enough of a history to merit a wiki article of its own. Vaccination and religion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia or an entire article from a major paper. Faith Lets Some Kids Skip Shots

The people who go to private schools tend to be children of wealthier, better educated families. Some of them are religious, true, but I think you will find that the demographics support the idea that it is people who can afford to pay for private schooling that actually send their children to private schools.

[magkelly]

Work in the health sector, and see the effects of true influenza, and even those 'bad' reactions from the shot will pail in comparison.

I've been hospitalized from a flu shot. You're not going to convince me on that one, sorry. I do know how bad the flu can be but I don't think I want to go there again. I've run the gamut. Got the flu from the flu vaccine, had bronchitis and pneumonia after I got the pneumonia shot so I wouldn't get it again. It's absurd. I'm almost afraid to get the MMR and Pertussis shot because I am afraid I'll get them all, even the ones I've had previously. I've had Pertussis 2X actually and the chicken pox twice. It's weird....