I mean, they give the hepatitis B vaccine at birth, because there’s a small risk the newborn was exposed during delivery, and this protects them. But there was still a lot of pushback to giving every baby a vaccine that prevents a disease that’s mostly already by sex and drugs.
I think the medical establishment plays up that it’s cheaper to vaccinate than to test the moms, to keep “your child might have sex!” out of the conversation. But it still gets brought up.
(That’s one of the vaccines that was never really recommended to my cohort that i sought out. I see that now “CDC recommends it for almost everyone”, but i asked for it when they were only recommending it for babies and people with known higher risk.)
The cervical cancer one did a good enough job for me that I never considered that the issue was actually contracting HPV. I similarly don’t think about it as a way to wind up with leukemia.
I just assumed the vaccine has secondary effects against other dangers.
My mom broke the land speed record getting us down to the polio vaccination sites. I had both Salk and Sabin. Polio was hugely feared back in pre-vaccination days. I just watched a movie (based on a memoir) about a woman whose four children all had polio. It was portrayed as something terrifying. And it was.
“Kennedy has publicly disputed the babies’ measles-linked deaths and got into a heated online exchange about them with Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. In that exchange, Kennedy spread misinformation about the measles vaccine and claimed Shapiro “fabricated” the deaths.”
Every time I think I can’t be shocked by the people in this administration, they surprise me with a new low. (In this case, using dead babies to further one’s own agenda.)
I’m pretty used to to the revolting justifications antivaxers use in handwaving away these deaths.
“Fake news!”
“It’s the doctors’ and hospital’s fault they died”
“They would’ve been fine if they had proper nutrition and lots of vitamin A”
“Measles is good for you, builds up your immune system”*
“What about the millions killed by vaccines?”
In vaguely related news: i had my annual physical today, and my doctor is testing his patients for immunity to measles, mumps, and rubella. I was tested for measles 10 years ago (i had antibodies then, almost certainly still do). I was tested for rubella when i was married, but that’s long enough ago that maybe it’s worth testing. I remember having mumps, but have never been tested for antibodies. It’s on the list of stuff they are supposed to test for with today’s blood draw. He’s presumably recommending that his patients get the MMR shot if they lack any of those immunities.
I also see that CVS is now recommending hep B vaccines to my cohort. (I got it several years ago.)
Ugh. That’s so sad. At 18, it wasn’t his decision to skip that vaccine, either. I mean, an 18 year old could rush out and get all the vaccines his parents denied him, but it takes time and effort and determination. And everyone has other priorities, as well. I feel like the 40 year old had time to do it if they wanted to. An 18 yo, not so much.
The department identified the deceased as a resident of Lancaster County, which is the epicenter of a raging outbreak that began in late April. The updated case count as of Wednesday is 943 across 39 counties, including 119 cases reported in just the last seven days. At least 176 people have been hospitalized.
Lancaster County has reported 381 cases and three of the five deaths in the outbreak. The previous two deaths were both in infants too young to be vaccinated. That includes a newborn boy and a 6-week-old baby girl. So far, no other information has been released about the county’s third death announced today.