Tag: hpv myths

Did the BMJ Have a Debate About the Risk of Dying from the MMR Vaccine Vs Measles?

We know the risks of dying from the MMR vaccine (extremely rare) vs measles (low), so why would there be a debate about this in the BMJ?

Even Peter Gøtzsche calls out the arguments of the Physicians for Informed Consent for being spurious and absurd.
Even Peter Gøtzsche calls out the arguments of the Physicians for Informed Consent for being spurious and absurd.

Oh, there isn’t…

You might think that there is because the so-called Physicians for Informed Consent issued a press release touting an electronic comment (a rapid response) to the editor of the BMJ.

Rapid responses are basically electronic letters to the editor, but anti-vaccine folks treat them like they are peer-reviewed articles that have gotten published in a medical journal.
Rapid responses are basically electronic letters to the editor, but anti-vaccine folks treat them like they are peer-reviewed articles that have gotten published in a medical journal.

Are dueling letter’s to the editor considered a debate?

Interestingly, even Peter Gøtzsche, who has raised concerns about HPV vaccines and who has never gotten a flu shot, thinks that Shira Miller’s arguments against the measles vaccine are spurious and absurd.

Maybe that’s why she has to use fake press releases to try and persuade folks that her ideas aren’t ridiculous.

Of course, that just more obviously marks them as anti-vaccine propaganda.

More on the Risk of Dying from the MMR Vaccine Vs Measles

More Vaccinated vs Unvaccinated Studies

Anti-vaccine folks continue to call for vaccinated vs unvaccinated studies.

A vaccinated vs unvaccinated study that anti-vaccine folks don't talk about...
A vaccinated vs unvaccinated study that anti-vaccine folks don’t talk about…

Not surprisingly, they ignore all of the studies that have already been done.

More Vaccinated vs Unvaccinated Studies

Listening to these anti-vaccine folks, you would actually think that the only vaccinated vs unvaccinated “study” that has ever been done is the survey about homeschoolers that they always talk about…

That leaves out a lot of other vaccinated vs unvaccinated studies, including:

Do we need even more studies on vaccinated vs unvaccinated children?

We already know that unvaccinated kids get sick more and they have more severe disease. Who is going to approve of or want to do a study that only puts kids at risk to get a vaccine-preventable disease?

Vaccines are safe, with few risks, and they are obviously necessary.

More on Vaccinated vs Unvaccinated Studies

Why Is Lying About Vaccines Not Criminal?

We are in the middle of the largest measles outbreaks in over 25 years.

Measles cases and deaths are on the rise all over the world.

Much of that rise, especially in the developed world, is because parents believe the misinformation that the vocal anti-vax folks are pushing.

Why Is Lying About Vaccines Not Criminal?

Which has to make you wonder – why is lying about vaccines and scarring parents into skipping or delaying vaccines not criminal?

A sociopath wrote this... Is that the one true statement in Kennedy's rant?
A sociopath wrote this… Is that the one true statement in Kennedy’s rant?

For example, take the above Instagram post by Robert F Kennedy, Jr.

His claim that the “guidelines stipulate that a child would need to experience anaphylactic shock — a life threatening reaction — to EVERY vaccine-requiring eight near death experiences — to qualify for an exemption” simply isn’t true.

A severe allergic reaction is a contraindication to getting vaccinated.

If a child had a severe allergic reaction, anaphylaxis, to a previous dose of any vaccine or to a vaccine component, then they would get an medical exemption to that vaccine. They could also easily get a medical exemption to all other vaccines that used those same components, such as gelatin, eggs, or yeast, etc.

It is silly to think that you would have to have an anaphylactic reaction to each and every vaccine, as Kennedy claims, to get a medical exemption to getting vaccinated.

Did the CDC publish new guidelines in 2019 changing what is considered to be a contraindication, another Kennedy claim?

Mild to moderate local reactions and low-grade or moderate fever were removed as a condition commonly mispercieved as a contraindication or precaution, but that was done last January. There were no big changes recently!
Mild to moderate local reactions and low-grade or moderate fever were removed as a condition commonly mispercieved as a contraindication or precaution, but that was done last January. There were no big changes recently!

Nope.

And the thing is, these things are incorrectly perceived as contraindications or precautions to vaccination because they are not a problem with vaccination!

You would have to be a sociopath to put kids at risk for a vaccine-preventable disease for no good reason!

For example, why skip the HPV vaccine just because a child is already infection with HPV? Are they infected with all of the strains of HPV that the vaccine protects against? There is no extra risk of cervical cancer from the vaccine if you are already infected, just the fact that you might get cervical cancer because you were already infected before you got protected from the vaccine!

Why is it not homicide to scare someone away from getting vaccinated and protected with a vaccine that prevents cancer by spreading this type of misinformation?

Why is lying about vaccines not criminal?

More on Why Is Lying About Vaccines Not Criminal?

New Vaccine Bills and Laws in 2019

California passed a new vaccine law, SB 277, in 2015.

With the passage of SB 277, California joined Mississippi and West Virginia as the only states that do not allow either religious or personal belief vaccine exemptions.

A few other states passed new vaccine laws of their own in the following years.

Despite what anti-vaccine folks might think, not one of the new laws means that anyone is forcing kids to get vaccinated though.

New Vaccine Bills and Laws in 2019

The idea of vaccine mandates is a big issue as we continue to see outbreaks of measles around the world.

New vaccine laws being proposed across the United States include:

  • House Bill 2505 in Arizona will change their non-medical exemptions from personal to religious
  • Senate Bill 1201 in Arizona will require schools to post immunization rates on their websites
  • House Bill 7005 in Connecticut would permit ordained, commissioned and licensed members of the clergy to acknowledge parental statements concerning religious objections to vaccinations required for enrollment in public and nonpublic schools, instead of school nurses.
  • Senate Bill 354 in Florida updates their immunization registry
  • Senate Bill 1659 in Illinois adds the HPV vaccine to the list of childhood vaccines that kids receive before starting 6th grade
  • HF 206 in Iowa eliminates the religious vaccine exemption.
  • Senate Bill 133 in Kentucky adds vaccine requirements for college students
  • Legislative Document 798 has been sent to the Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs in Maine and would remove non-medical vaccine exemptions
  • SD 1520 in Massachusetts adds the HPV vaccine to the list of childhood vaccines that kids receive
  • Assembly Bill 3818 in New Jersey clarifies the religious exemption to vaccination, so that a general philosophical or moral objection to getting vaccinated will no longer count as a true religious exemption
  • Senate Bill 298 in New York adds the HPV vaccine to the list of childhood vaccines that kids receive
  • Senate Bill 925 in Oklahoma requires school districts to report exemption rates
  • House Bill 2783 in Oregon requires parents to submit a form signed by a health care practitioner if they are not going to vaccinate their kids and a signed certificate verifying that they completed a vaccine educational module
  • Senate Bill 329 in Texas simply requires schools to post how many kids are claiming vaccine exemptions
  • House Bill 238 in Vermont eliminates religious exemptions
  • House Bill 1638 has already passed a Health Care and Wellness Committee in Washington and will remove personal or philosophical exemptions for the MMR vaccine
  • Senate Bill 5841 in Washington will remove personal or philosophical exemptions for all vaccines

It’s easy to navigate the new laws.

Get educated and get your kids vaccinated. Vaccines are safe, with few risks, vaccines work, and vaccines are necessary.

Be a vaccine advocate and make sure your state legislators know that you support strong vaccine laws that will keep us all protected from vaccine-preventable diseases, as more and more folks try and abuse vaccine exemptions.

What To Know About Vaccine Mandate Laws

Vaccine mandate laws are expanding as we are seeing more outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases.

More Information on Vaccine Mandate Laws:

Save