Tag: measles outbreaks

Are There 6 Reasons to Oppose SB276?

Not surprisingly, folks are pushing misinformation in trying to get support in their efforts to oppose SB276, the California bill that will help stop doctors from writing fraudulent medical exemptions.

Are There 6 Reasons to Oppose SB276?

It also shouldn’t be a surprise that none of their “reasons” hold water.

There are no good reasons to oppose SB276.
There are no good reasons to oppose SB276.

Are the guidelines for writing medical exemptions too limited under SB276?

If you consider that true medical exemptions to getting vaccinated are not common, then no, they are not.

Remember, medical exemptions for vaccines should be for kids who can’t be vaccinated, not just because you’re scared or don’t want your child to be vaccinated.

What about the high rates of vaccination and low rates of exemptions in California?

Uh, what about the schools in California where 30 to 50% of students have medical exemptions? These clusters of unvaccinated kids with medical exemptions are the concern, not the overall rates of vaccination and exemptions in the state.

And it is only the doctors writing excessive medical exemptions that will trigger an investigation.

What about the Medical Board of California?

While the system that they have in place has allowed them to investigate some doctors, it has mostly failed. While they do have the authority to investigate physicians, for some reason, they can’t get medical records unless a parent cooperates.

“Ms. Simoes provided background on Senate Bill (SB) 277, which passed in 2015, eliminating the personal belief exemption from the requirement that children receive specific vaccinations for certain infectious diseases prior to being admitted to any school or daycare center. She explained that after the passage of SB 277, the Board has had a difficult time investigating complaints related to medical exemptions since an authorization of medical records needs to be signed and many parents or guardians do not want to sign the authorization since it would identify the doctor that provided the medical exemption. She explained that this causes a barrier to investigation since most medical exemption cases cannot be subpoenaed and medical records are needed to conduct an investigation.”

Discussion and Possible Action on SB 276 (Pan) Immunizations: Medical Exemptions

And the Medical Board of California supports SB276.

Who else supports SB276?

In addition to the Governor of California, supporters include the AAP, California Medical Association, California State PTA, Children’s Defense Fund of California, County of Los Angeles, Infectious Disease Association of California, and the March of Dimes.

What to Know About Reasons to Oppose SB276

It should be clear that there is no reason to oppose SB276, unless you don’t want your kids immunized and you want to find a doctor to write them a fake medical exemption.

More on SB276

Vaccine Misinformation from Bob Sears is Not Harmless

The latest from Bob Sears helps illustrate exactly why his vaccine misinformation is far from harmless.

Misinformation about febrile seizures from Bob Sears.
Misinformation about febrile seizures from Bob Sears. He neglects to mention that if fewer kids are vaccinated, more will get vaccine-preventable diseases that actually cause febrile seizures!

What’s he talking about?

Vaccine Misinformation from Bob Sears is Not Harmless

He is talking about a study, Childhood seizures and risk of psychiatric disorders in adolescence and early adulthood: a Danish nationwide cohort study, which looked at “the relation between childhood seizures and the risk of psychiatric disorders in adolescence and early adulthood.”

Wait, so this isn’t a study about vaccines?

No, not directly.

“Children with epilepsy and febrile seizures—with and without concomitant epilepsy—are at increased risk of developing a broad range of psychiatric disorders in later life.”

Dreier et al on Childhood seizures and risk of psychiatric disorders in adolescence and early adulthood: a Danish nationwide cohort study

Vaccines come into the discussion because they are one of the causes of febrile seizures.

Kids are more likely to get a febrile seizure after a natural infection though, including many that are vaccine-preventable, such as the flu, measles, mumps, chicken pox, and pneumococcal disease, etc.

In fact, we have seen a protective effect against febrile seizures caused by rotavirus infections since the introduction of the rotavirus vaccine!

Bob Sears doesn’t mention any of that…

And whether or not febrile seizures can rarely be dangerous and cause long-term harm, we know that vaccine-preventable diseases are life-threatening and their complications can definitely cause long-term harm.

“In our study, we have shown that children with febrile seizures do seem to be at slightly higher risk of developing psychiatric disorders as teenagers and young adults, even in the absence of subsequent epilepsy… We noted that the association with mental illness was strongest in individuals with recurrent febrile seizures and with onset of febrile seizures after the age of 3 years.”

Dreier et al on Childhood seizures and risk of psychiatric disorders in adolescence and early adulthood: a Danish nationwide cohort study

Bob Sears also doesn’t mention that the small extra risk was mostly in kids with complex febrile seizures, which aren’t as common as the single, simple febrile seizures that most kids get.

Not surprisingly, Bob Sears also doesn’t mention that vaccines typically cause simple febrile seizures.

Misinformation is Not Harmless

The bottom line is that you should be more worried about anti-vaccine misinformation than febrile seizures…

Instead of being worried about your child getting a febrile seizure after the MMR vaccine, you should be even more concerned about febrile seizures, epilepsy, encephalitis, SSPE, and death after a natural measles infection.

Anti-vaccine misinformation is not harmless.

If you knew that skipping or delaying your child’s vaccines could put them at increased risk to get a vaccine-preventable disease and THAT would increase your child’s risk of febrile seizures and a host of lifelong mental health disorders, would you have wanted your doctor to warn you about that risk?

“This means for the average pediatrician, who may care for 1000 children younger than 5 including 3 to 500 between 6 and 24 months of age annually, one could expect to see at most 1 child who experiences a febrile seizure every 5 to 10 years due to administration of these vaccines together in the first 2 years of life. This would be in addition to the 30 to 75 patients in each birth year cohort in a practice that would experience a febrile seizure from other causes given the background rate of 2% to 5%.”

Sawyer et al on Vaccines and Febrile Seizures: Quantifying the Risk

Learn about the true risks of vaccines and vaccine-preventable diseases, the benefits of vaccines, and the risks of skipping or delaying any vaccines as you make a truly informed choice about vaccinating and protecting your kids.

More on Vaccine Misinformation from Bob Sears is Not Harmless

Vaccines and Homeschooling Myths

Do many parents homeschool their kids because they don’t want to get them vaccinated and comply with vaccination laws?

Vaccines and Homeschooling Myths

Opponents to a vaccine law in California that removed personal belief vaccine exemptions, SB277, claimed that it would lead all children currently receiving personal belief exemptions to leave those schools and become homeschoolers.

One problem with this idea is that even though 32 states don’t allow personal belief vaccine exemptions, avoiding vaccines laws is not a top reason for why most parents choose to homeschool their kids.

“Parents cite a number of different reasons for choosing to homeschool, including concerns about the school environment and desires to provide religious/moral instruction.15 In fact, a Department of Education study says that 38.4 percent of respondents claim they are homeschooling for religious reasons,16 while Christopher Klicka suggests in his book, The Right to Home School, that it is closer to 85 percent.”

Khalili et al on Off the grid: vaccinations among homeschooled children

Instead, most parents homeschool because of:

  • academic reasons – thinking they can provide a better education for their kids at home and dissatisfaction with public or private school
  • family reasons – such as a child with special needs, not being able to get into the right school, transportation issues, or simply wanting more family time
  • religious reasons – including providing religious instruction at home
  • social reasons – including negative social activity and exposures at public and private schools

The availability of virtual education, cyber schools, and charter homeschools has likely also been a factor in some parents choosing to homeschool their kids.

What about vaccines?

In one article, Homeschooling parents’ practices and beliefs about childhood immunizations, only five parents (4%) included a desire not to vaccinate children as a reason for homeschooling.

Also, homeschooling rates are about the same in every state, just over 3% of students. A few outliers include Delaware (2.1%), North Carolina (7.7%), Pennsylvania (1.1%), West Virginia (4.6%), and Wisconsin (1.6%).

Of these states, only West Virginia doesn’t allow non-medical exemptions. But neither does Mississippi, which has very average homeschooling rates (3%).

Are Anti-vaxxers Turning to Homeschooling?

If anti-vaxxers are truly turning to homeschooling to avoid getting their kids vaccinated, we might have expected to see it happen in 2015, when California passed SB 277. That law eliminated non-medical vaccine exemptions and has been in effect since the 2016-2017 school year.

Orange County was the site of several large measles outbreaks before SB 277 took effect.
Orange County was the site of several large measles outbreaks before SB 277 took effect.

Although California is dealing with fake medical exemptions, there has not been a lot of evidence that many folks are homeschooling, leaving schools, or leaving the state after SB277 because they now have had to vaccinate and protect their kids.

“The law, however, does not apply to children who are home-schooled, a loophole that parents seem to be increasingly exploiting. Over the past three years, the number of kindergartners who were home-schooled and did not have their shots quadrupled, according to a Times analysis of state data.”

Parents who won’t vaccinate their kids turning to home-schooling in California, data show

While there were more homeschoolers last year in California (3%), the rise in homeschooling in California is also being seen in many states without new vaccine laws.

“Home-schooling mothers were concerned about SB-277 but did not report that it was directly impacting their children, their vaccine decisions, or reason to home school.”

McDonald et al on Exploring California’s new law eliminating personal belief exemptions to childhood vaccines and vaccine decision-making among homeschooling mothers in California

And, according to the Los Angeles Times, only “1.2% of the state’s kindergartners were home-schooled and unvaccinated in the last school year.”

The Homeschool Vaccine Loophole

It is also important to note that many states already have laws requiring homeschooled students to be vaccinated!

So yes, it is correct to say that the parents who are switching to homeschooling to avoid vaccinating and protecting their kids are exploiting a loophole.

“Submit proof of vaccination and receipt of any health services or examinations as required by law.”

Home Schooling in Tennessee

Interestingly, North Carolina, with one of the highest rates of homeschoolers, requires that homeschooled children be vaccinated.

Is being able to homeschool without vaccines a loophole that will have to be closed?

“And though most of their schooling may take place at home, many are part of programs that meet several times a week with other students. If one contracted a disease such as measles, they could still spread it at the park, or the grocery store, or anywhere they come into contact with other people, said Dr. James Cherry, a UCLA expert on pediatric infectious diseases.”

Parents who won’t vaccinate their kids turning to home-schooling in California, data show

It will likely depend if we end up seeing outbreaks among clusters of unvaccinated homeschoolers…

“During the six weeks after the gathering, a total of 34 cases of measles were confirmed. Of the patients with confirmed measles, 94 percent were unvaccinated, 88 percent were less than 20 years of age, and 9 percent were hospitalized. Of the 28 patients who were 5 to 19 years of age, 71 percent were home-schooled. “

Parker et al on Implications of a 2005 measles outbreak in Indiana for sustained elimination of measles in the United States.

Few people will remember the 2005 measles outbreak in Indiana that occurred mostly among intentionally unvaccinated homeschoolers and cost over $167,000 to contain. At the time, it was “the largest documented outbreak of measles in the United States since 1996.”

And it is likely that few people know about the two unvaccinated homeschooled kids in Oklahoma who got tetanus in 2012, including an 8-year-old who was in the ICU for 18 days…

What to Know About Vaccines and Homeschooling

Parents who homeschool their kids should get their kids vaccinated and protected on time and on schedule and follow all of the other AAP recommendations for preventative health care.

More on Vaccines and Homeschooling Myths

It’s Just More Anti-Vaccine Misinformation

Vocal vaccine deniers don’t like to get called out for pushing anti-vaccine misinformation.

They like to think they are giving folks ‘more information.’

More anti-vaccine misinformation from the usual suspects.
Nope. It’s just more misinformation about vaccines to scare parents away from vaccinating and protecting their kids.

In reality, it’s just more misinformation about vaccines…

It’s Just More Anti-Vaccine Misinformation

It’s not even just Bob doing it anymore.

Larry Cook stuffed all of the basic components of anti-vaccine propaganda into one little comment.
Larry Cook stuffed all of the basic components of anti-vaccine propaganda into one little comment.

That’s a lot of misinformation stuffed into one comment…

Got something else?

Yup. Measles. A lot of measles.

A week-long rash that is accompanied by a high fever, cough, and irritability. A week-long rash that can sometimes lead to encephalitis and even death.

A week-long rash that is easily prevented with two doses of the MMR vaccine, which doesn’t shed, rarely causes vaccine-associated measles (38%???), and rarely causes serious side effects.

A life-threatening disease that your kids might unnecessarily be at risk to get because you are listening to these folks who don’t think that vaccines are ever necessary or ever work.

Larry Cook thinks that he knows the real truth about vaccines.

Is that what you believe?

Del Spreads Misinformation

And there are still others spreading misinformation.

“I know that a lot of people read, ‘Oh, Del spreads misinformation,’” he said. “That’s an opinion. I like to call it missed information. This is the information that the mainstream media establishment doesn’t want you to hear.”

I attended an Orthodox anti-vaccine rally. Here’s what I saw.

So what’s some of the “missed information” that Del Bigtree is spreading?

“Over the course of about 12 minutes, Bigtree linked vaccines to the Holocaust and then to child sacrifice. He compared them to Nazi experimentation on unwilling Jewish medical subjects, then to the intentional ritual murder of children, in an effort to debunk the scientific consensus that a critical mass of vaccinated people, or herd immunity, means that even those who cannot be vaccinated for genuine medical reasons will have some protection from getting sick.”

I attended an Orthodox anti-vaccine rally. Here’s what I saw.

While it isn’t surprising that someone like Del Bigtree would say these things, that he would do it at an anti-vaccine rally in the middle of the biggest measles outbreak in 27 years in New York is unbelievable.

More Misinformation from Bob Sears

Want to hear the latest misinformation from Bob Sears?

Where in the package insert does it say that there are very small pieces of fetal tissue in the hepatitis A or chickenpox vaccines???
Where in the package insert does it say that there are very small pieces of fetal tissue in the hepatitis A or chickenpox vaccines???

The guy who brought us his own made up vaccine schedule is claiming that there are “physical pieces of fetal tissue” in vaccines.

Bob Sears usually bans people who correct his misinformation. Let's see how long this comment lasts on his Facebook page...
Bob Sears usually bans people who correct his misinformation. Let’s see how long this comment lasts on his Facebook page…

There aren’t.

Yes, some vaccines are made with fetal embryo fibroblast cells from cell lines that were derived (they can replicate infinitely) from two electively terminated pregnancies in the 1960s.

That certainly does not mean that any vaccines contain aborted fetal tissue though.

The cells used today have been copied, over and over again. They are descendant cells, which is why a common way to explain all of this is to say that vaccines are said to have a “distant association with abortion.”

Missed Information About Vaccines

Not only do vaccines not contain aborted fetal tissue, the fetal embryo fibroblast cells that are used to grow the viruses in these vaccines are mostly removed from the final vaccine our kids get!

“Some vaccines may contain residual quantities of components used during the manufacturing process, including inactivating agents, antibiotics, and cellular residuals. These agents are removed at the end of the manufacturing process, but trace amounts may be present in some vaccines.”

NIH on Other Vaccine Ingredients

If any of the fetal embryo fibroblast cells are present, it is only in trace amounts and as cellular residuals, not even as complete cells.

When used, WI-38 and MRC-5 cells are not necessarily listed in the excipient summary if they are not contained in the final vaccine, but they are still listed in the vaccine's package insert.
When used, WI-38 and MRC-5 cells are not necessarily listed in the excipient summary if they are not contained in the final vaccine, but they are still listed in the vaccine’s package insert.

Anti-vaccine folks don’t usually tell you that…

What ever they now want to call the anti-vaccine misinformation they are pushing to folks, just understand that it is all the same propaganda that is designed to scare you away from vaccinating and protecting your kids.

More on Anti-Vaccine Misinformation