Tag: anti-vaccine talking points

Fake News About Measles Outbreaks?

Many news organizations ran with a story about a multi-state measles outbreak recently.

The CDC tweeted a correction about the multi-state measles outbreak story.
The CDC tweeted a correction about the multi-state measles outbreak story.

They got something wrong though.

There is no ongoing, single, multi-state outbreak of measles this year.

Fake News About Measles Outbreaks?

Is it understandable that some media outlets would have been confused by recent CDC reports?

Not really.

The CDC Measles Cases and Outbreaks page hadn’t been updated since late-July and is still reporting case numbers that are “current as of July 14, 2018,” so there really was no recent CDC report to generate all of this extra attention.

“From January 1 to July 14, 2018, 107 people from 21 states (Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington) and the District of Colombia were reported to have measles.”

CDC on Measles Cases and Outbreaks

Although it has been changed to say “107 individual cases of measles have been confirmed in 21 states,” there was nothing to indicate it was a single outbreak that the CDC was monitoring as many sites reported:

Few sites were immune to using a click-bait title to scare folks about the "outbreak."
Few sites were immune to using a click-bait title to scare folks about the “outbreak.”

Unfortunately, many of these reports are still online.

How did it happen?

It’s likely because you have reports from organizations and websites that seem to want to push out content, but don’t have much of a budget to pay health or medical writers to make sure it is accurate.

2018 Measles Cases and Outbreaks

It’s also unfortunate that some of these sites, in trying to correct the idea of a single, nation-wide outbreak, are now trying to minimize this year’s measles outbreaks.

No, there isn’t one large outbreak that is spreading across the United States, but there are a lot of smaller outbreaks, some of which are still ongoing.

And these outbreaks are not something that should still be expected, as we have had a safe and effective measles vaccine for over 50 years and measles was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000!

There is also something very much different about 2018, that not surprisingly, no one is reporting about.

With over 107 cases, things seem very similar to last year right, when we had about 118 cases?

The thing is, in 2017, there was one large outbreak, in Minnesota, with 79 people.

In 2015, at least 139 of 189 cases were from just three large outbreaks, in California (Disneyland), Illinois, and South Dakota.

See what’s different?

This year seems to have more individual cases in more states, each with the potential to grow into one of those big outbreaks.

Why?

You can blame the rise in measles outbreaks in Europe and other parts of the world. And some folks not getting vaccinated and protected and exposing the rest of us when they get sick.

Putting us at risk even though measles is a life-threatening infection, a safe and effective vaccine has been available for 50 years, and every anti-vaccine myth that scares folks has been refuted a thousand times.

That’s the story.

Who’s telling it?

More on Reporting on Measles Outbreaks

Making the Right Choice About Vaccines

Most parents vaccinate their kids.

For them, it is an easy choice. They know that vaccines work, that vaccines are safe, and that vaccines are necessary.

Making the Right Choice About Vaccines

Some folks aren’t so sure though. They may either be against vaccines or might still be on the fence, not knowing for sure what to do.

“When my third child was born, I had more questions than answers and a huge reluctance to choose immunizations without certainty that the benefits outweigh the risks.”

Suzanne Walther on A Parent’s Decision on Immunization: Making the Right Choice

Mark Zuckerberg posted a photo when he took his daughter to their pediatrician for vaccines.
Mark Zuckerberg posted a photo when he took his daughter to their pediatrician for her vaccines.

Parents can be confident that all of the evidence points to the facts that:

  1. Vaccines are effective at preventing disease. Vaccines work.
  2. Our kids do not get too many vaccines and do not get them at too early an age. The current immunization schedule helps protect young children from life-threatening diseases. Vaccines are necessary.
  3. Vaccines are safe and are extensively tested before they are approved.
  4. After they are approved, there are ongoing clinical trials and safety systems in place to rule out the possibility that vaccines could cause diseases later in life.
  5. Claims of adverse reactions are well investigated and easily disproved. Vaccines are not associated with SIDS, ADHD, eczema, autism, peanut allergies, or any other so-called vaccine induced diseases.
  6. There are plenty of places to go to get truthful, clear answers to questions about vaccines.
  7. Everything you hear that scares you about vaccines is likely not true, especially things about toxins, shedding, herd immunity, and package inserts, etc.

With all of the anti-vaccine information that is regularly posted on Facebook and anti-vaccine books listed on Amazon, it is no surprise that some parents would be scared though.

“I have discovered along the way that it is easy for parents to be misinformed. It is a real challenge to be well informed.”

Suzanne Walther on A Parent’s Decision on Immunization: Making the Right Choice

Make the effort to be well informed about vaccines.

More on Making the Right Choice About Vaccines

Anti-Vaccine Points Refuted A Thousand Times

Every anti-vaccine argument is essentially a PRATT, a point refuted a thousand times.

“My statement I like to make on vaccines and autism, is that vaccines don’t cause autism, except when they do.”

Bob Sears

How many times has the idea that vaccines are associated with autism been refuted? More than a thousand times. We’ll still call it a PRATT though…

Want another example?

Johns Hopkins Medicine, which includes the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System went out of their way to correct this anti-vaccine misinformation.

Johns Hopkins Medicine, which includes the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System went out of their way to correct this anti-vaccine argument.

Correcting an anti-vaccine PRATT doesn't mean that they will stop using it.
Correcting an anti-vaccine PRATT doesn’t mean that they will stop using it.

Not surprisingly, anti-vax folks continued to bring it up.

Anti-Vaccine Points Refuted A Thousand Times

What are some other anti-vaccine points that have been refuted a thousand times?

There are probably a thousand of them, but I’ll just include some of the most common ones:

 

Anti-Vaccine Lies Vaccine Truths
Since your kids are vaccinated, it shouldn’t matter that I don’t vaccinate mine. One last time – some kids are at risk because they are too young to be vaccinated, have a true medical contraindication to getting vaccinated, or perhaps their vaccine didn’t work, and so your unvaccinated kid can put them at risk.
Herd immunity is a myth. Anti-vaccine folks simply do not understand herd immunity.
Doctors don’t learn anything about vaccines in medical school. Most doctors learn a lot about vaccines in school, but it is easy to see that some doctors don’t learn anything about vaccines in medical school – they are the ones who create their own immunization schedules and warn parents that vaccines are dangerous.
Vaccines didn’t save us – it was improved living conditions, better nutrition, indoor plumbing, and sanitation. If this were true, then how come these factors didn’t also stop RSV, norovirus, HIV, and other non-vaccine-preventable diseases?
Vaccine free kids are healthier than those who get vaccines. They aren’t. They just get more vaccine-preventable diseases. Did you know that there are unvaccinated kids with autism?
Vaccine ingredients are toxic. The ingredients in vaccines are not toxic. Remember, the wise words of Paracelsus, the father of toxicology, “Solely the dose determines that a thing is not a poison”
Vaccines aren’t tested. Vaccines are well tested before being approved and continue to be tested for safety and efficacy after we begin using them. They are even tested together.
Vaccine makers have immunity from any liability. If vaccine manufacturers are free of any liability, then why is there a vaccine lawsuit against Merck about the mumps vaccine? Vaccine manufacturers have liability for their vaccines and can still be sued by parents, although they do typically have to go through Vaccine Court first.
SIDS was made up to cover up for vaccine deaths. Except that infants died of SIDS before we had vaccines.
The anti-vaccine movement is based on science. The anti-vaccine movement is based on fear, conspiracy theories, and pseudoscience.
If a wound bleeds, you don’t need a tetanus shot. Whether or not a wound bleeds, you may need a tetanus shot and tetanus immune immunoglobulin if it has been more than five years since your last vaccine.
Shedding from vaccinated kids start most outbreaks. Few vaccines shed and even those that do are rarely the cause of outbreaks, which can typically be traced to an unvaccinated children or adult.
Kids get too many vaccines and it can overwhelm their immune system. Infants do have an immature immune system, which is one reason why they need protection from vaccines, but it is mature enough to respond to those vaccines as maternal protection quickly fades.
“DTP scream” is caused by encephalitis. Prolonged crying after getting a DTP or DTaP vaccine is a painful local reaction and is not caused by encephalitis.
Package inserts prove that vaccines cause SIDS, autism, and meningitis. Folks who use the package insert argument just don’t understand how package inserts are written.
Kids are still getting exposed to just as mercury in vaccines as ever. Since most flu vaccines are now thimerosal free, few if any kids are exposed to thimerosal in vaccines.
Aluminum in vaccines is toxic. Aluminum in vaccines is not toxic.
Vaccines contain aborted fetal tissue. Some vaccines are made with descendant cells from two electively terminated pregnancies (abortions) in the 1960s, so those vaccines have a distant association with abortion, but there is no fetal tissue or aborted baby parts in any vaccine.
No one believed Ignaz Semmelweis and he was later proven to be right. Yes, but just because we think you are wrong, that doesn’t make you Semmelweis. It is more likely that you are just wrong.
Andrew Wakefield is not a fraud. Uh, yeah he is.
Vaccines aren’t safe and cause cancer because the package insert says that they aren’t evaluated for mutagenicity, carcinogenicity and impairment of fertility. The section of the package insert that talks about mutagenicity, carcinogenicity and impairment of fertility is talking about long term studies. All vaccines have preclinical toxicology studies to see if those long term studies need to be done. Typically they are not, so aren’t evaluated because it isn’t necessary to do so, not because this testing was just skipped.
Higher infant mortality rates in the United States prove that vaccines aren’t safe. Infant mortality rates have nothing to do with vaccines and vaccine-preventable diseases. And they have been decreasing to ever lower levels.
Vaccine side effects are underreported to VAERS. While that is likely true, they aren’t underreported by as much as folks think, and serious side effects are likely reported much more commonly.
Pediatricians get vaccine bonuses. Pediatricians don’t routinely get vaccine bonuses. And they certainly don’t get millions of dollars in bonus money.
Infants get too high a dose of vaccines, because they get the same dose as adults. Vaccines are not typically calibrated by age or weight, because they work locally, stimulating an immune response where they are given, unlike antibiotics and other medicines that have travel throughout your whole body.
Kids are all different, so we shouldn’t use a one-size-fits-all immunization schedule. The immunization schedule has a lot of flexibility built into it, and with its list of precautions and contraindications, it it clearly not one-size-fits-all.
Andrew Wakefield was right. Andrew Wakefield has never been proven to be right. If anything, more and more studies show that he was wrong.
I have a religious exemption to getting my kids vaccinated. Which religion do you belong to? Most religions support getting kids vaccinated and protected. In fact, some consider it immoral to skip your child’s vaccines and leave them unprotected.
The Leicester Method proves that good sanitation and quarantines – not the smallpox vaccine – eradicated smallpox. While this is a nice theory, a booklet written by the medical officer from the time clearly shows that The Leicester Method included the use of the smallpox vaccine.
Vaccines aren’t safe because they are unavoidably unsafe. The term “unavoidably unsafe” relates to liability and doesn’t mean that vaccines are dangerous.
Polio was caused by DDT. There is no connection between DDT and polio.
Vaccine-preventable diseases are easily treated. They are easily treated in the sense that most don’t have any treatments, so there is not much to do, but not that you can provide treatment and make these folks better.
There are 300 new vaccines in the pipeline. Unfortunately, very few new vaccines are being developed for infectious diseases in children, at least not any vaccines that will be available any time soon.
Breastfeeding is better than vaccines at preventing infections. While breastfeeding has many benefits, it will not protect your kids from most vaccine-preventable diseases.
Ingredients in vaccines are toxic because they are injected directly into a child’s bloodstream and aren’t ingested and filtered by the body’s natural defenses. Vaccine ingredients are not toxic.
The media should give equal time to doctors and parents who are against vaccines. The media has gotten better at avoiding that type of false balance.
Vaccines don’t cover outbreak strains that cause measles and pertussis outbreaks. DTaP and measles vaccines cover all wild strains of pertussis and measles.
Kids get sick from vaccines in hot lots. Reports of hot lots come from misuse of VAERS reports. There are no true hot lots of vaccines.
People never regret not vaccinating their kids. Many parents do regret not vaccinating their kids when they get sick and catch a vaccine-preventable disease.
You have to quarantine your kids after they are vaccinated because of shedding. If you can get vaccines if you are a household contact of someone with compromised immunity, do you really need to worry about your neighbor vaccinating their kids during back-to-school “shedding season?”
Everything is a vaccine injury. While vaccines have some risks, most of what anti-vaccine folks thinks of as vaccine-induced diseases are not caused by vaccines.
The Brady Bunch measles episode proves that folks were never worried about measles. If Mr. and Mrs. Brady weren’t worried when all six Brady Bunch kids got measles at the same time, then why did they each call a pediatrician and have them come to the house to check all of the kids?
Polio disappeared because we changed the diagnostic criteria. Vaccines helped eliminate polio in the United States and is helping us get close to the final goal of eradication.
Vaccines cause Autoimmune/Inflammatory Syndrome Induced by Adjuvants. Most experts consider ASIA a made up syndrome.
Natural immunity is better than immunity from a vaccine. While natural immunity is great, it often comes at a price. You have to survive the disease and its complications. Most folks prefer a safer route – getting vaccinated.
Graphs prove that vaccines don’t work. Graphs are misused by folks as propaganda to make them think that vaccines don’t work. #VaccinesWork
Ex-vaxxers never change their mind. Reasonable people change their minds when presented with evidence. Many anti-vaccine parents change their minds and begin vaccinating their kids again.
Homeopathic vaccines are just as good as vaccines. Homeopathic vaccines, which are diluted to nothing, with just a memory of the original ingredient, don’t work.
Vaccines made in China are used in the United States. While vaccines are made in China, they are used in China and in some other countries – not in the United States.
Vaccine strain measles causes outbreaks. In every measles outbreak, there is always someone who asks – is it the vaccine strain? It never is…
Vaccine-preventable diseases are mild. Vaccine-preventable diseases often cause life-threatening infections with serious complications.
We are only afraid of diseases once they make a vaccine for it. If this were true, then why are parents so afraid of RSV? And why was there so much panic about Ebola? And why were folks put into Leper colonies?
Kids get 72 doses of vaccines. The idea of 72 doses is an inflated number that is meant to scare parents.
Vaccines aren’t necessary anymore. Know why you don’t hear about a lot of kids getting tetanus, rabies and other vaccine-preventable diseases anymore? Because most folks get vaccinated and protected. What happens when you don’t? Vaccines are necessary.
Vaccine deaths are common. Vaccine deaths are rare. They only seem common when folks misuse VAERS reports.
Folks who choose to skip or delay vaccines are smarter than everyone else. Parents who choose to skip or delay their child’s vaccines are not making smart decisions about vaccines.
Vaccines don’t prevent the spread of disease. Almost all vaccines do prevent the spread of disease.
Andrew Wakefield never said anything about autism. Except he did, at the press conference for his 1998 Lancet study, which was later retracted.
The US Government lost a landmark lawsuit that proves they haven’t done any safety studies on vaccines in over 30 years. While a settled lawsuit showed that they may have not filed the necessary reports, all safety studies and other things necessary to ensure that vaccines are safe have been done over the past 30 years.
Tetanus only lives in farm animal manure. Every anti-vaccine person thinks that they are an expert on tetanus. Are you going to bet your child’s life that they are right? Don’t. They are typically wrong… Tetanus spores can be found in dust, soil, feces, and in the mouths of some animals.
Hand,Foot and Mouth Disease is vaccine-induced and is caused by shedding from the polio vaccine. The study anti-vaccine folks used to come up with this theory actually said that the polio vaccine might be protective against hand, foot, and mouth disease.
You should detox after vaccines. You don’t need to detox after getting vaccines, but even if you did, the stuff folks tell you to do is a waste of time and money and is sometimes dangerous.
Alternative vaccine schedules are safe. Alternative vaccine schedules are made up and have no evidence that they are safe or effective? How could they be dangerous? Your child might get a vaccine-preventable disease on your delayed schedule…
You shouldn’t vaccinate your kids if they have signs of a MTHFR mutation. The so-called MTHFR signs you read about are made up and are certainly not a reason to skip or delay your child’s vaccines.
Vaccines contain heavy metals. Vaccines do not contain any heavy metals. The closest that you might find would be a flu vaccine with thimerosal, as mercury is indeed a heavy metal and thimerosal breaks down to ethylmercury. But then, the great majority of flu vaccines are now thimerosal-free.
Aluminum replaced thimerosal in vaccines. Aluminum is an adjuvant, while thimerosal was a preservative. Aluminum didn’t replace thimerosal in vaccines, although anti-vaccine folks did go out of their way to make aluminum the new thing for parents to worry about.
Amish people don’t get autism. There are autistic Amish, and no, it’s not because they vaccinate.
The CDC is hiding data on vaccines, mercury, and autism. This is just another conspiracy theory.
I’m not anti-vaccine, I’m pro-safe vaccine. You can call yourself pro-safe vaccine or whatever else you want, but if you push anti-vaccine myths and propaganda, then you are anti-vaccine.
We are more careful about introducing baby food to kids than giving them vaccines. Wait. This is really an argument now? Baby food?
Vaccine Court has compensated over 70 families for autism. They have not.
You can’t get rabies from dog or cat bites anymore. You are unlikely to get rabies from a dog or cat these days in the United States, but only because most folks vaccinate their pets and people get rabies treatments if they are possibly exposed to an animal with rabies.
Pediatricians are just vaccine pushers. Then why don’t pediatricians push all available vaccines to everyone, like the adenovirus vaccine, BCG vaccine, Pneumovax, typhoid vaccine, and yellow fever vaccine, etc., instead of only using them in high risk situations?
The CDC owns vaccine patents and sells billions of dollars in vaccines each year. While the CDC does own some vaccine patents, they don’t sell vaccines.
Sweden banned mandatory vaccination Sweden has never had mandatory vaccination, so there was nothing to ban.
Utah banned the HPV vaccine. One local health department in Utah has decided to not offer the HPV vaccine, but it isn’t banned. You just have to get it at private clinics.
It’s dangerous to give kids Tylenol after they have had a vaccine. While there is some concern that giving Tylenol before your child’s vaccines might decrease the immune response, it isn’t dangerous.
There are hidden ingredients in vaccines. There are no hidden ingredients in vaccines.
More people are dying of viral hepatitis since the hepatitis A and hepatitis B vaccines were introduced. Nope. More people are dying of hepatitis C, but that isn’t vaccine preventable yet.
Anti-vaccine experts know a lot about autism. Anti-vaccine folks don’t seem to know anything about autism, except how to hurt autistic families.
The latest autism prevalence reports prove that there is an autism epidemic and that it is caused by vaccines. The latest report on autism prevalence from the CDC shows a rate that has increased to 1 in 59 children. And as county level trends in vaccination coverage show no correlation to those autism prevalence rates, folks will hopefully stop trying to associate vaccines with autism.
Vaccine mandates take away a parents choice to vaccinate their kids. Vaccine mandates don’t force anyone to get vaccinated. Some parents just don’t like their vaccine choices though.
Everyone should have died at the 1980 vaccination rates. This is  a silly argument. Vaccine-preventable diseases don’t kill everyone who gets them. Many children did die of what are now vaccine-preventable diseases in the 1980s though.
Vaccines cause cancer. Not only do vaccines not cause cancer, several vaccines can prevent you from getting cancer.
The unvaccinated can’t spread diseases they don’t have. While that is true, if they are unvaccinated, they are at increased to get these diseases and they can then spread them.
Peanut oil adjuvants in vaccines have caused a peanut allergy epidemic. No vaccines contain peanut oil adjuvants.
If there is a RISK, there must be a CHOICE. Parents nearly always have a choice on whether or not to vaccinate their kids, even if they live in a state without non-medical exceptions. Folks who get exposed to unvaccinated kids who get a vaccinate preventable disease don’t have that same vaccine choice though.
No one has died of measles in the United States in 15 years. Except for the women who died in 2015. She was exposed to an outbreak in Clallam County, Washington, which included four unvaccinated children and adults.
Vaccine injury denialism is a big problem. Vaccine injury denialism isn’t the problem, it is that some folks think that everything is a vaccine injury, from eczema and peanut allergies to multiple sclerosis and every sudden unexplained death.
Shaken baby syndrome is a vaccine injury. Although the NVIC offers advice to parents who have been accused of shaken baby syndrome, it should be clear that vaccines do not cause shaken baby syndrome.
Most adults aren’t vaccinated, so there can’t be any herd immunity. If you understand herd immunity, then you understand why this anti-vaccine argument is so silly.
Doctors have been wrong before. But when they are, doctors kept working on these issues, came up with new ways to think about them, confirmed them using the scientific method, and put things right. This is unlike when anti-vax folks are wrong.
Vaccines are made with antifreeze. There is no antifreeze in any vaccine.
Measles and other diseases are spread by undocumented immigrants and refugees. Nope. It isn’t immigrants and refugees, but instead our own citizens who aren’t vaccinated and who travel out of the country, getting exposed, and bringing back vaccine-preventable diseases and sometimes starting big outbreaks.
We didn’t have any of these vaccines when we were kids and we ended up fine. This argument is called survivorship bias. Those who died of a vaccine-preventable disease aren’t around to post about vaccines on Facebook or Twitter.
The flu vaccine can give you the flu. The flu shot is inactivated, so can’t give you the flu. Even the live flu vaccine, FluMist, is attenuated and cold-adapted, so won’t give you the flu.
You can always vaccinate, but can never unvaccinate your kids. You can’t vaccinate your child if they have already gotten a vaccine preventable disease. It is sometimes too late.
Bill Gates wants to depopulate the world with vaccines. This is a silly conspiracy theory.
The vitamin K shot is dangerous. Vitamin K is not a vaccine, but it is only dangerous to skip it, as we have seen with the increase in brain bleeds in newborns and infants who’s parents listen to bad advice about vitamin K and vaccines.
Vaccines have never been studied on pregnant women. Except that the Vaccine Safety Datalink has published 14 studies “related to pregnancy and vaccination during pregnancy” and is “also able to use data to study the health of children born to women who were vaccinated during pregnancy.”
Encephalitis is autism. Crying after getting vaccines is not encephalitis and encephalitis is not autism, although some anti-vaccine folks try to make this jump in logic (?) to convince themselves that vaccines are associated with autism.
Vegans don’t vaccinate their kids. Many vegans vaccinate their kids.
If you drop a vaccine vial and it breaks, you have to call in a HAZMAT team to clean it up. This isn’t true.
Vaccines are not Halal or Kosher. As a general rule, neither Muslims nor Jews are against vaccines.
Vaccine Court has paid out almost $4 billion. Yes, almost $4 billion since 1988 (30 years), during which time over 286 million doses of vaccines were given each year.
Other countries don’t give as many vaccines as the US. Many countries have very similar immunization schedules as the United States. Some even give more dosages of vaccines at an earlier age than we do.
Parents can skip the hepatitis B shot because babies don’t use drugs or have sex. Since babies can get hepatitis B from their mothers, the most effective strategy to prevent these infections is to vaccinate all newborns. And keep in mind that some older children and adults have gotten infected without risk factors. Since the vaccine is safe and effective, there is no good reason to skip it.
Doctors don’t provide informed consent about vaccines. In addition to the fact that health care providers do indeed provide informed consent, anti-vaccine folks don’t, as they overstate the side effects and risks of vaccines, minimize the risks of vaccine-preventable diseases, and make you think that vaccines don’t work.
There are no such things as coincidences. There are. Correlation does not imply causation.
Glyphosate, including the glyphosate that they think is in vaccines, will make half of all children autistic by 2025. Only seven more years to go…
There are ZERO double blind vaccine studies based on an inert placebo. Except for the these..
Johnny Gruelle developed the Raggedy Ann doll after his daughter died of a smallpox vaccine injury. Johnny Gruelle’s daughter played with the Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy dolls he created. She tragically did die later of a probable reaction to a smallpox vaccine.
There are almost no studies that compare vaccinated versus unvaccinated kids. Except for the one that showed unvaccinated kids weren’t any healthier than vaccinated kids and that they just got more vaccine-preventable diseases.
In the time that the number of vaccines have grown from 2 to over 50 in the childhood schedule, that the rates of chronic illness has grown to over 50%. Kids today are actually a very healthy generation, being born with the lowest child and infant mortality rates ever, low rates of hospitalizations, and one of the highest life expectancies in history.
Anecdotes are evidence. While technically anecdotes are a type of evidence, they are among the weakest forms of evidence. That’s why most people don’t put a lot of faith in vaccine injury stories.
China is still having measles outbreaks, even though 99% of folks there are vaccinated. Nope. China is not having big measles outbreaks among highly vaccinated people.
Simpsonwood Simpsonwood? Really?

Have you seen any other anti-vaccine talking points that need refuting?

More on Anti-Vaccine Points Refuted A Thousand Times

How Anti-Vaccine Are You? Take Our Quiz.

It’s easy to be anti-vaccine when you are hiding in the herd. You don’t get vaccinated and you don’t vaccinate your kids, and instead, you simply rely on the fact that everyone else around you is vaccinated to protect you from vaccine-preventable diseases.

Would you vaccinate your high-risk child?
Would you vaccinate your high-risk child? Photo by Janko Ferlic.

Of course, this is a terrible strategy, as we are seeing with the increase in cases of measles and pertussis, etc. It is much better to learn about the importance and safety of vaccines, get fully vaccinated, and stop these outbreaks.

This hasn’t seemed to have deterred most anti-vaccine “experts” yet, as they continue to spout their anti-vaccine myths and misinformation and push their anti-vaccine talking points.

But as they continue to tell you that vaccines don’t work, how about asking what they would do in these ten high-risk situations?

Amazingly, some folks continue to try and justify skipping vaccines and accept the risk of disease, even when that risk is much higher than usual and they could be putting their child’s life in immediate danger!

How will you do with our quiz?

Would you choose to vaccinate in these situations?

1. Baby born to mother with hepatitis B.

You are pregnant and have chronic hepatitis B (positive for both HBsAg and HBeAg). Should your newborn baby get a hepatitis B shot and HBIG?

Background information:
Many anti-vaccine experts tell parents to skip their baby’s hepatitis B shot, saying it is dangerous, not necessary, or doesn’t work (typical anti-vax myths and misinformation).

However, it is well known that:

  • from 10 (HBeAg negative) to 90% (HBeAg positive) of infants who are born to a mother with chronic hepatitis B will become infected
  • 90% of infants who get hepatitis B from their mother at birth develop chronic infections
  • 25% of people with chronic hepatitis B infections die from liver failure and liver cancer
  • use of hepatitis B immune globulin (HBIG) and hepatitis B vaccine series greatly decreases a newborn’s risk of developing a hepatitis B infection (perinatal transmission of hepatitis B), especially if HBIG and the first hepatitis B shot is given within 12 hours of the baby being born

Would your newborn baby get a hepatitis B shot and HBIG?

2. Your child is bitten by a rabid dog.

Your toddler is bitten by a dog that is almost certainly rabid. Several wild animals in the area have been found to be rabid recently and the usual playful and well-mannered dog was acting strangely and died a few hours later. The dog was not vaccinated against rabies and unfortunately, the owners, fearing they would get in trouble, disappeared with the dead dog, so it can’t be quarantined. Should your child get a rabies shot?

Background information:
Although now uncommon in dogs, rabies still occurs in wild animals, including raccoons, skunks, bats, and foxes. These animals can then expose and infect unvaccinated dogs, cats, and ferrets, etc.

To help prevent rabies, which is not usually treatable, in addition to immediately cleaning the wound, people should get human rabies immune globulin (RIG) and rabies vaccine.

The rabies vaccine is given as a series of four doses on the day of exposure to the animal with suspected rabies and then again on days 3, 7, and 14.

Although rare in the United States, at least 1 to 3 people do still die of rabies each year. The rabies vaccine series and rabies immune globulin are preventative, however, without them, rabies is almost always fatal once you develop symptoms. A few people have survived with a new treatment, the Milwaukee protocol, without getting rabies shots, but many more have failed the treatment and have died.

Would your child get a rabies shot? What if he had picked up a rabid bat?

3. Traveling to Romania.

You are traveling to the Romania to see family with your 9-month-old baby. Neither of you have had the measles vaccine. Should you both get vaccinated before making the trip?

Background information:

Over the past few years, over 100 people have died in measles outbreaks across Europe, with many in Romania.

Although the first MMR vaccine is routinely given when children are 12 months old, it is now recommended that infants get vaccinated as early as age six months if they will be traveling out of the country.

Since the endemic spread of measles was stopped in 2000, almost all cases are now linked to unvaccinated travelers, some of whom start very large outbreaks that are hard to contain.

Would you both get vaccinated before making the trip?

4. Tetanus shot.

Your unvaccinated teen gets a very deep puncture wound while doing yard work. A few hours later, your neighbor comes by to give you an update on his wife who has been in the hospital all week. She has been diagnosed with tetanus. She had gotten sick after going yard work in the same area and has been moved to the ICU. Do you get him a tetanus shot?

Background information:
Most children get vaccinated against tetanus when they receive the 4 dose primary DTaP series, the DTaP booster at age 4-6 years, and the Tdap booster at age 11-12 years.

Unlike most other vaccine-preventable diseases, tetanus is not contagious. The spores of tetanus bacteria (Clostridium tetani) are instead found in the soil and in the intestines and feces of many animals, including dogs, cats, and horses, etc.

Although the tetanus spores are common in soil, they need low oxygen conditions to germinate. That’s why you aren’t at risk for tetanus every time your hands get dirty. A puncture wound creates the perfect conditions for tetanus though, especially a deep wound, as it will be hard to clean out the tiny tetanus spores, and there won’t be much oxygen at the inner parts of the wound.

These types of deep wounds that are associated with tetanus infections might including stepping on a nail, getting poked by a splinter or thorn, and animal bites, etc. Keep in mind that some of these things, like a cat bite, might put you at risk because you simply had dirt/tetanus spores on your skin, which get pushed deep into the wound when the cat bites you.

Symptoms of tetanus typically develop after about 8 days and might include classic lockjaw, neck stiffness, trouble swallowing, muscle spasms, and difficulty breathing. Even with treatment, tetanus is fatal in about 11% of people and recovery takes months.

Would you get your teen a tetanus shot?

5. Cocooning to protect baby from pertussis.

Both of your unvaccinated teens go to school with a personal belief vaccine exemption. You are due in a few months and are a little concerned about the new baby because there have been outbreaks of pertussis in the community, especially at their highschool. Should everyone in the family get a Tdap shot?

Background information:
Pertussis, or whooping cough, classically causes a cough that can last for weeks to months.

While often mild in teens and adults, pertussis can be life-threatening in newborns and infants. In fact, it is young children who often develop the classic high-pitched whooping sound as they try to breath after a long coughing fit.

In a recent outbreak of pertussis in California, 10 infants died. Almost all were less than 2 months old.

Since infants aren’t protected until they get at least three doses of a pertussis vaccine, usually at age 6 months, experts recommend a cocooning strategy to protect newborns and young infants from pertussis. With cocooning, all children, teens, and adults who will be around the baby are vaccinated against pertussis (and other vaccine-preventable diseases), so that they can’t catch pertussis and bring it home.

There is even evidence that a pregnancy dose of Tdap can help protect infants even more than waiting until after the baby is born to get a Tdap shot.

Would everyone in your family get a Tdap shot?

6. Nephew is getting chemotherapy.

Your nephew was just diagnosed with leukemia and is going to start chemotherapy. Your kids have never been vaccinated against chicken pox and haven’t had the disease either. Your brother asks that you get them vaccinated, since they are around their cousin very often and he doesn’t want to put him at risk.

Do you get your kids vaccinated with the chicken pox vaccine?

Background information:
Kids with cancer who are getting chemotherapy become very vulnerable to most vaccine-preventable diseases, whether it is measles, flu, or chicken pox.

According to the Immune Deficiency Foundation, “We want to create a ‘protective cocoon’ of immunized persons surrounding patients with primary immunodeficiency diseases so that they have less chance of being exposed to a potentially serious infection like influenza.”

Would your get your kids vaccinated with the chicken pox vaccine?

7. Outbreak of meningococcemia at your kid’s college.

Your child has just gone off to college. There is an outbreak of meningococcemia in her dorm (8 cases already). It is the strain that is included in the Menactra and Menveo vaccines, although she has not been vaccinated. Do you encourage her to get vaccinated?

Background information:
Neisseria meningitidis is a bacteria that can cause bacterial meningitis and sepsis (meningococcemia).

Depending on the type, it can occur either in teens and young adults (serogroups B, C, and Y) or infants (serogroup B).

Although not nearly as common as some other vaccine-preventable diseases, like measles or pertussis, it is one of the more deadly. Meningococcemia is fatal in up to 40% of cases and up to 20% of children and teens who survive a meningococcal infection might have hearing loss, loss of one or more limbs, or neurologic damage.

Meningococcal vaccines are available (Menactra and Menveo) and routinely given to older children and teens to help prevent meningococcal infections (serogroups A, C, Y and W-135). Other vaccines, Bexasero and Trumenba, protect against serogroup B and are recommended for high risk kids and anyone else who wants to decrease their risk of getting Men B disease.

Would you encourage her to get vaccinated against meningococcemia?

8. Cochlear implants.

Your preschooler has just received cochlear implants. Should he get the Prevnar and Pneumovax vaccines?

Background information:
Cochlear implants can put your child at increased risk for bacterial meningitis caused by the Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria (pneumococcus).

Would he get vaccinated with Prevnar and Pneumovax, as he is no at high risk for pneumococcal disease?

9. Splenectomy

Your child is going to have his spleen removed to prevent complications of hereditary spherocytosis. Should he get the meningococcal and pneumococcal vaccines first?

Background information:
Without a spleen, kids are at risk for many bacterial infections, including severe infections caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, and Neisseria meningitidis bacteria.

In addition to their routine vaccines, kids with asplenia might need Menveo or Menactra, Bexsero or Trumenba (Men B), and Pneumovax 23.

Would your child get these vaccines that are recommended for kids with asplenia?

10. Ebola

Ebola is returning, but this time an experimental vaccine is available.

Background information:
There were nearly 30,000 cases and just over 11,000 deaths during the 2014-16 Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

You are in an area that is seeing an increasing number of Ebola cases and there is still no treatment for this deadly disease. An experimental vaccine is being offered.

Do you get the vaccine?

How Anti-Vaccine Are You?

It’s easy to be anti-vaccine when you are hiding in the herd – seemingly protected by all of the vaccinated people around you.

Would you still delay or skip a vaccine in a high-risk situation?

More on The Anti-Vaccine Quiz

8 Myths About Pediatricians Who Fire Families Who Don’t Vaccinate Their Kids

What actually happens when a pediatrician has a vaccine policy that requires parents to vaccinate their kids or face dismissal from the practice?

Not surprisingly, there are a lot of myths about the controversial issue of pediatricians dismissing families who don’t vaccinate their kids.

1 ) It is a myth that the American Academy of Pediatrics has a policy encouraging pediatricians to dismiss families who don’t vaccinate their kids.

There is no such policy.

Instead, in 2016, about 400 leaders from AAP chapters, committees, councils, and sections voted on a resolution at the 2016 AAP Annual Leadership Forum (ALF) to support pediatricians who dismissed families who didn’t vaccinate their kids.

RESOLVED, that the Academy support, in their policy statements and clinical guidelines about immunizations, pediatricians who decide to discharge patients after a reasonable, finite amount of time working with parents who refuse to immunize their children according to the recommended schedule or who fail to abide by an agreed-upon, recommended catch-up schedule, and be it further RESOLVED, that the Academy continue to support pediatricians who continue to provide health care to children of parents who refuse to immunize their children.

Resolution #80.81SB Supporting Pediatricians Who Discharge Families Who Refuse to Immunize

The resolution also voiced support for pediatricians who didn’t dismiss these patients.

2)  It is a myth that pediatricians dismissing families who don’t vaccinate their kids is a new thing.

Although it is getting a lot more attention now, since that 2016 resolution and a report on Countering Vaccine Hesitancy that soon followed, dismissing or firing families who don’t vaccinate their kids is not new.

A 2005 AAP report, Responding to Parental Refusals of Immunization of Children, discusses the issue.

“In general, pediatricians should avoid discharging patients from their practices solely because a parent refuses to immunize his or her child. However, when a substantial level of distrust develops, significant differences in the philosophy of care emerge, or poor quality of communication persists, the pediatrician may encourage the family to find another physician or practice.”

Responding to Parental Refusals of Immunization of Children

And a study, Dismissing the Family Who Refuses Vaccines, also published in 2005, made it clear that many pediatricians “would discontinue care for families refusing some or all vaccines.”

3)  It is a myth that dismissing families who don’t vaccinate their kids is an evidence based policy.

There is nothing beyond anecdotal evidence that families, when faced with the decision of getting vaccinated or getting dismissed from an office, will choose to get vaccinated.

Again, the latest resolution supporting the idea of dismissing families came because it was voted on and became an official Annual Leadership Forum resolution. In general, only the top 10 ALF resolutions are acted upon urgently by the AAP.

At the time, many pediatricians felt constrained by the previous statements from the AAP that discouraged dismissing these families.

4)  It is a myth that pediatricians dismiss families who don’t vaccinate their kids because they don’t want to be bothered talking about vaccine safety.

Although few pediatricians would want to talk to a parent who is arguing that vaccines are poison, aren’t necessary, and never work, fortunately, most vaccine-hesitant parents don’t actually talk like that. They are usually on the fence or simply scared because of all of the anti-vaccine propaganda they are exposed to and need a little extra time to understand that vaccines are safe and necessary.

A typical vaccine policy gives a parent plenty of time to get their child caught up on vaccines before they might be dismissed from the office.
A typical vaccine policy gives a parent plenty of time to get their child caught up on vaccines before they might be dismissed from the office.

And most pediatricians give them that extra time and do talk to them about their concerns. Despite the perception from some of the headlines you might see, families typically don’t get fired after one visit because they refused one or more vaccines.

5) Pediatricians who don’t dismiss unvaccinated families are supporting the use of alternative vaccine schedules.

While this is certainly true for some providers who actually advertise that they are “vaccine-friendly” and encourage parents to follow a non-standard, parent-selected, delayed protection vaccine schedule, most others understand that there is no evidence to support these alternative schedules and they are simply tolerated until the child can get caught-up with all of his vaccines.

6) It is illegal to dismiss a family who doesn’t want to vaccinate their kids.

While some pediatricians think that it is a bit of an ethical dilemma, the legal issues are very clear.

Physicians can’t simply abandon a patient so that they go without care, but they are typically free to end the physician-patient relationship after giving them formal, written notification, and continuing to provide care (at least in emergency situations) for a reasonable amount of time, giving the family time to find a new physician.

Of course, state and federal civil rights laws protect families from being terminated because of sex, color, creed, race, religion, disability, ethnic origin, national origin, or sexual orientation.

7)  It is a myth that dismissing families who don’t vaccinate their kids will protect those families who do vaccinate and protect their kids.

This is often the main reason that pediatricians use to justify dismissing families who don’t vaccinate their kids. After all, it isn’t fair to the families who come to your office, those who do get vaccinated and protected, if someone who is intentionally not vaccinated gets measles and exposes them all, right?

There seem to be several problems with this idea though:

  • relatively few exposures during outbreaks actually occur in a pediatrician’s office. Looking at most recent measles outbreaks, for example, exposures were more likely to occur while traveling out of the country, in an urgent care center, emergency room, somewhere in the community, or in their own home.
  • infants who get pertussis are usually exposed by a family member
  • while measles is very contagious and the virus can linger in an exam room for hours, other vaccine-preventable diseases are far less contagious. Mumps, for example, typically requires prolonged, close contact, which is why you are unlikely to get mumps at your pediatrician’s office.
  • when dismissed by their pediatrician, there is a concern that families might cluster together in the offices of a vaccine-friendly doctor or holistic pediatrician, making it more likely for outbreaks to erupt in their community if any of them get sick

And that’s the key point. Just because families get dismissed from a pediatrician’s office, it doesn’t mean that they leave the community. Your patients might still see them at daycare, school, at the grocery store, or walking down their street.

Pediatricians who don’t dismiss families who don’t vaccinate their kids often feel that it is better to keep working to help them understand that vaccines are safe and necessary, so that they eventually do get vaccinated and protected.

What about the extra risk in their own offices?

With RSV, strep, cold viruses, and everything else that kids have in the average pediatrician’s office, it is best to take steps to reduce the chances that kids are exposed to all of them. How do you do that? Don’t have a waiting room full of kids that are exposing each other to germs!

8) Most families don’t vaccinate their kids because they don’t trust their pediatrician.

While this is likely true for some, those families who want to see a pediatrician and don’t refuse any other treatments, like their newborn’s vitamin K shot and eye ointment, likely do trust their pediatrician.

Then why don’t they vaccinate and protect their kids?

“In today’s world, smallpox has been eradicated due to a successful vaccination program and vaccines have effectively controlled many other significant causes of morbidity and mortality. Consequently, fear has shifted from many vaccine-preventable diseases to fear of the vaccines.”

Marian Siddiqui et al on the Epidemiology of vaccine hesitancy in the United States

They are likely afraid.

What are they afraid of?

More and more these day, if you ask them, they will likely tell you that they don’t know. It would be much easier if they were afraid of something specific, like the myth that a baby’s immune system is too immature to handle any vaccines, that there are hidden ingredients in vaccines, or that vaccines are somehow associated with autism.

You can answer specific questions about vaccines, but it is harder when they are afraid because they see anecdotal vaccine scare videos or because friends and family members are feeding them misinformation.

“With all the challenges acknowledged, the single most important factor in getting parents to accept vaccines remains the one-on-one contact with an informed, caring, and concerned pediatrician.”

“…nearly half of parents who were initially vaccine hesitant ultimately accepted vaccines after practitioners provided a rationale for vaccine administration.”

“Developing a trusting relationship with parents is key to influencing parental decision-making around vaccines.”

“Pediatricians should keep in mind that many, if not most, vaccine-hesitant parents are not opposed to vaccinating their children; rather, they are seeking guidance about the issues involved, beginning with the complexity of the schedule and the number of vaccines proposed.”

“Because most parents agree to vaccinate their children, this dialogue, which can be started as early as the prenatal interview visit if possible, should be an ongoing process.”

AAP on Countering Vaccine Hesitancy

Whatever their vaccine policy, pediatricians should all work to counter vaccine misinformation and propaganda, so that our families get vaccinated and protected and our communities are safe.

It is also clear that we need new ways to talk about vaccines.

And we definitely new more ways to help everyone learn to think critically, be more skeptical about the things they see and read, and overcome their biases.

What to Know About Pediatricians Who Discharge Families Who Refuse to Immunize Their Kids

Whether they have a vaccine policy that dismisses families who don’t vaccinate their kids or they continue seeing them, pediatricians want to do what is best for their kids.

More on Pediatricians Who Discharge Families Who Refuse to Immunize Their Kids

Would a Doctor Ever Say These Things About Vaccines?

More and more people are beginning to realize that it is getting harder and harder to easily identify satire, as folks say ever more outrageous things.

And it isn’t limited to politicians and celebrities.

#SaidNoDoctor

What unbelievable things have doctors said?

#SaidNoDoctor, except Dr. Jay Gordon, who made this statement about the HPV vaccine on the Ricki Lake Show.
#SaidNoDoctor, except Dr. Jay Gordon, who made this statement about the HPV vaccine on the Ricki Lake Show.

A pediatrician making a recommendation against a vaccine that can prevent cancer?!?

What about a pediatrician telling folks that measles isn’t deadly in the middle of a large measles outbreak? Yeah, that happened too…

Dr. Bob Sears actually reassured parents that measles wasn't deadly in developed countries, neglecting to mention the dozens of people who have died in outbreaks in Europe - another well-nourished population with lower vaccination rates than the U.S.
Bob Sears actually reassured parents that measles wasn’t deadly in developed countries, neglecting to mention the dozens of people who have died in outbreaks in Europe – another well-nourished population with lower vaccination rates than the U.S.

Not surprisingly, you can easily find “doctors” that hit on these and every other anti-vaccine talking point that put some parents on the fence about vaccines.

Kelly Brogan, a holistic psychiatrist, doesn't seem to think that vaccines fit into a paleo lifestyle...
Kelly Brogan, a holistic psychiatrist, doesn’t seem to think that vaccines fit into a paleo lifestyle…

Would you laugh at the notion of getting tetanus from a deep puncture wound?

Apparently some doctors would…

Dr. Blaylock misses that you aren't worried about tetanus organisms in the wound, but rather their spores, which you aren't going to easily clean out, not even if the wound bleeds a lot - common myths about tetanus.
Dr. Blaylock misses that you aren’t worried about tetanus bacteria in the wound, but rather their spores, which you aren’t going to easily kill or clean out, not even if the wound bleeds a lot – common myths about tetanus.

Do you know why most people don’t get tetanus or die of measles in the United States?

Because most people are vaccinated.

And they don’t listen to these kinds of doctors.

But wait, there’s more…

Dr. Jerry is a pediatrician who practices Translational Medicine and wrote the forward to Jenny McCarthy's autism book.
Dr. Jerry is a pediatrician who practices Translational Medicine and wrote the forward to Jenny McCarthy‘s autism book.

Of course, these aren’t the kinds of things that a doctor should say, at least not a doctor who understands vaccines, vaccine-preventable disease, and anything about science.

What to Know About Outrageous Vaccine Quotes from Doctors

Vaccines are safe and necessary and they work, but you wouldn’t know that after listening to what some of these doctors have to say.

More on Outrageous Vaccine Quotes from Doctors

The Plano Smallpox Outbreak of 1895

In May 1895, a smallpox outbreak hit west Plano.
1895 Fort Worth Gazette

North Texas is no stranger to outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases.

After all, this was the site of a large measles outbreak in 2013 at the Kenneth Copeland Ministries Eagle Mountain International Church.

And it has also been the site of chicken pox parties, mumps outbreaks, and a few clusters of unvaccinated kids.

Mostly though, parents in North Texas do a good job of getting their kids vaccinated and protected.

The Plano Smallpox Outbreak of 1895

Of course, that’s not what’s keeping smallpox away.

Routine smallpox vaccination, which was typically given when children were about 12 months old, ended in 1972 in the United States. And smallpox was declared eradicated in 1980.

“Today, Preston Lakes is a quiet, manicured neighborhood in an affluent area of Plano. Almost 120 years ago, it was the site of one of Plano’s darkest hours.”

Plano Smallpox Outbreak of 1895

Driving around Plano now, it is hard to imagine that this city once battled smallpox.

While that is probably true of any modern city, the curious thing is that the area in and around Plano wasn’t settled until the early 1840’s, at which time an effective smallpox vaccine had been available for over 40 years.

Remember, Edward Jenner developed his smallpox vaccine in 1796. And before that we had variolation.

“On May 6, 1895, Plano City Council called an emergency meeting, establishing a strict quarantine “to protect our citizens from this loathsome disease.” Anyone within the area between what is now Spring Creek Parkway, Park Boulevard, Coit and Preston Roads was forbidden to leave. An armed guard patrolled the border.”

Plano Smallpox Outbreak of 1895

Farwick Collinsworth, whose family owned large portions of what is now West Plano, lost his 11-year-old granddaughter in the smallpox outbreak.

Next, his wife and two sons died.

Then two more grandchildren and a nephew.

All together, at least 15 people died in the smallpox outbreak of 1895 in Plano, Texas.

“In 1806 the first smallpox inoculations were administered in San Antonio de Béxar. After initial resistance to the experiment, the townspeople came to accept the procedure, and the threat of smallpox was lessened for a time.”

Texas State Historical Association Public Health

While the Plano outbreak is certainly sad, it is truly tragic that smallpox was already a vaccine-preventable disease at this time.

History of Smallpox in Texas

Still, as late as 1900, 894 people died of smallpox in the United States. Globally, at least 300 million people died of smallpox during the 20th century.

So why weren’t folks vaccinated against smallpox in the late 19th century in North Texas?

In 1901, the editor of The Texas Medical Journal discusses the "prejudice against vaccination" in Texas at the time of a widespread smallpox epidemic.
In 1901, the editor of The Texas Medical Journal discusses the “prejudice against vaccination” in Texas, at the time of a widespread smallpox epidemic.

While some people talking about issues with vaccine availability, remember that this is just after almost 100,000 people participated in the Leicester Demonstration March of 1885 to protest the smallpox vaccine.

While Leicester is quite a ways from Plano, a little bit closer to home we had the Laredo Smallpox Riot.

“When he realized that Laredoans were not fully embracing the quarantine program, especially the mandatory inoculation, he asked the governor to send in Texas Rangers. A contingent of rangers under Captain J.H. Rogers arrived on March 19, 1899, and began enforcing the health official’s orders more vigorously than some of the city’s residents thought proper. Milling protestors pelted rangers and health workers with harsh words and harder rocks, leading to a couple of minor injuries.
The next day, when the rangers got word that someone had telephoned a local hardware store to order 2,000 rounds of buckshot, the officers began a house-to-house search of the part of town where the order had come from. The situation soon deteriorated into a riot, with the rangers killing two citizens and wounding 10 others. It took cavalry from nearby Fort McIntosh to restore order.
The inoculation and fumigation program continued, and by May 1, Dr. Blunt lifted the quarantine in the border city.”

Frontier Medicine: Texas Doctors Overcome Disease and Despair

And we had folks pushing homeopathic vaccines, anti-vaccine talking points about the “evil results from vaccination,” all contributing to a “prejudice against vaccination.”

The Texas Medical Journal, in 1902, describes how other areas have controlled or eliminated smallpox with vaccines - but not Texas.
The Texas Medical Journal, in 1902, describes how other areas had controlled or eliminated smallpox with the vaccine – but not Texas.

It maybe shouldn’t be surprising that the last smallpox outbreak in the United States was in Texas – in 1949. Eight people got sick, and one person, Lillian Barber, died.

But Texas wasn’t at the center of the anti-vaccine fight against protecting kids against smallpox. In Utah (the McMillan bill), Minnesota, and California, laws were passed banning mandatory vaccination for attending school. While the governors of Utah and California vetoed their bills, in Utah, legislators overcame the veto.

What came next?

Outbreaks of smallpox.

In 1906, AMA President William J. Mayo, a Minnesota physician, charged that his state’s “inability to enforce vaccination” had unleashed a smallpox epidemic, infecting 28,000 of the state’s citizens – “all due to a small but vociferous band of antivaccination agitators.”

Pox: An American History

That was over a hundred years ago.

What comes next?

Will we let today’s “vociferous band of antivaccination agitators” guide  vaccine policy and put our kids at risk for vaccine-preventable diseases, as they push the same old anti-vaccine propaganda and fight against vaccine mandates, which are only necessary because they scare parents away from vaccinating and protecting their kids?

Let’s hope not.

What to Know About the Plano Smallpox Outbreak of 1895

Fifteen people died in Plano, Texas in 1895, even though a smallpox vaccine was available at the time that could have prevented this and most other smallpox outbreaks and epidemics. Tragically, the fight against its use mirrors much of what we see in today’s anti-vaccine movement.

More on the Plano Smallpox Outbreak of 1895