Tag: pre-vaccine era

Did Bobby Kennedy Admit That Chickenpox Kills People?

The usual talking point from folks who are anti-vax is that vaccine-preventable diseases are mild. Some even go so far to say that they are good for you! It isn’t too often that these folks admit that these diseases, from measles and polio to chickenpox, do indeed kill people.

Bobby Kennedy finally gets it right, admitting that chickenpox killed 100 people a year in the pre-vaccine era. — Having chickenpox doesn’t protect you from developing shingles – it’s why you develop shingles!

No, chickenpox doesn’t kill 1 in 100 people, but that doesn’t mean that people don’t die with chickenpox, especially if they are unvaccinated and unprotected.

Did Bobby Kennedy Admit That Chickenpox Kills People?

Do we want to go back to the days when more folks were dying with chickenpox?

“The total cost to theoretically save 50 children is approximately $900 million dollars or $17.5 million per life saved.”
Bobby Kennedy

What else does Bobby Kennedy say?

“Chickenpox can reactivate as shingles when an adult’s immunity wanes or is not boosted by periodic exposure to children with chickenpox. CDCs clinical studies predicted that widespread vaccination would double shingles rates among adults and children and precipitate a shingles epidemic. “
Bobby Kennedy

While it is true that chickenpox can reactivate as shingles, a bonus of getting vaccinated and protected with the chickenpox vaccine is that it actually decreases your risk of developing shingles later in life!

And those countries that didn’t vaccinate and protect their kids with the chickenpox vaccine, because they thought it might cause a later shingles epidemic if fewer kids were sick and boosting the immunity of adults who had already had chickenpox still saw a rise in shingles cases.

That’s probably why many of those countries are now considering adding the chickenpox vaccine to their schedule.

What else did Bobby Kennedy say?

“…chickenpox presents as a mild rash and slight fever and confers lifetime immunity to chickenpox and significant protection against shingles, heart disease, atopic diseases, and cancers including glioma, brain, and spinal tumors. “
Bobby Kennedy

The part about getting lifetime immunity to chickenpox is true.

Does chickenpox provide significant protection against heart disease, atopic disease, or cancer?

Nope.

And of course, if you have ever had chickenpox, you know that it is far more than “a mild rash and a slight fever.”

Unvaccinated kids with chickenpox typically have 250 to 500 blisters over their entire body. Photo courtesy CDC/ Dr. John Noble, Jr..

In a routine case of chickenpox, the fever typically rises to at least 102°F and lasts for at least 2 to 3 days, with the rash persisting for up to a week.

Unfortunately, not all chickenpox cases are routine.

In addition to the deaths, there are plenty of reports of kids having complications with chickenpox and developing skin superinfections, pneumonia, encephalitis, or having strokes.

What else does Bobby Kennedy say?

“Merck’s vaccine is only 60% effective after 5 years, leaving adults vulnerable to shingles.”
Bobby Kennedy

Actually, it has been found that one dose of the chickenpox vaccine is 100% effective at preventing severe disease!

So why do we get two doses?

“This study confirmed that varicella vaccine is effective at preventing chicken pox, with no waning noted over a 14-year period. One dose provided excellent protection against moderate to severe disease, and most cases occurred shortly after the cohort was vaccinated. The study data also suggest that varicella vaccination may reduce the risks of HZ in vaccinated children.”
Baxter et al on Long-term effectiveness of varicella vaccine: a 14-Year, prospective cohort study.

Two doses of the chickenpox vaccine are up to 94% effective at preventing any chickenpox disease, even breakthrough cases.

And again, several studies have confirmed that getting vaccinated and protected with the chickenpox vaccine decreases your risk of developing shingles!

Do you really want your kids to be at risk to get chickenpox and have a higher risk to get shingles later in life?

Of course not. That’s why you hopefully don’t listen to folks like Bobby Kennedy and you vaccinate and protect your kids.

What Happens if You Skip a Tetanus Shot?

Since tetanus spores are essentially everywhere, a tetanus shot is important if you have a wound and are not up to date on your vaccines.

Can you see any tetanus spores on the thorns of this rose bush? Photo by Cherrie Mio Rhodes. (CC BY 2.0)

Unbelievably, some parents still decide to skip this important shot for their kids though.

What Happens if You Skip a Tetanus Shot?

What could happen if your child doesn’t get a tetanus shot?

You only have to look at what has happened since the pre-vaccine era to know that skipping a tetanus shot is not a good idea.

“From 1995 through 1997, a total of 124 cases of tetanus were reported from 33 states and the District of Columbia, accounting for an average annual incidence of 0.15 cases per 1,000,000 population… Only 13% of patients reported having received a primary series of TT before disease onset. Previous vaccination status was directly related to severity of disease, with the case-fatality ratio ranging from 6% for patients who had received one to two doses to 15% for patients who were unvaccinated. No deaths occurred among the 16 patients who previously had received three or more doses. Tetanus occurred following an acute injury in 77% of patients, but only 41% sought medical care for their injury. “
Tetanus Surveillance — United States, 1995-1997

Tetanus is deadly.

This unvaccinated girl is lucky that she didn't develop tetanus. — This unvaccinated girl is lucky that she didn’t develop tetanus.

Sure, not every unvaccinated child who gets a wound develops tetanus.

And not every unvaccinated child who develops tetanus dies.

This unvaccinated child developed tetanus after a toe nail injury. Photo by Petrus Rudolf de Jong (CC BY 3.0)

But why take the chance that your child will develop tetanus when there is a safe and effective vaccine that will prevent it.

There have been several cases of tetanus among unvaccinated Amish kids. — Why aren’t there more cases? Most kids are vaccinated and protected!

These parents, very recently, took that chance and their kids suffered the consequences, weeks and months in a pediatric intensive care unit:

an unvaccinated boy in Oregon spent nearly two months in the ICU after cutting his forehead on his family farm (2019)
an unvaccinated 10 year old in Italy fell and skinned her knee and ended up in the ICU (2018)
an unvaccinated 10-year-old in Sardinia, Italy who cut his forehead after crashing his bike (2017)
an unvaccinated 7-year-old in Australia who cut her foot while playing in the garden (2017)
a 22-month-old in Australia (2017), their first case in a child since 2000.
an unvaccinated child in Slovenia, their first case in 20 years (2016)
an unvaccinated 6-year-old in Ontario who was in the ICU (2015)

Their parents were wrong that their kids didn’t need a tetanus shot.

Just like you are wrong if you think that the tetanus spores or bacteria will wash away if the wound bleeds enough, that it is too late to get a tetanus shot with TBIG when your child gets hurt, or that your child can’t die or get seriously ill because of tetanus.

And you are especially wrong if you think that the risks of the tetanus vaccine are greater than the risks of having tetanus.

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

About That 4 Billion Dollars Taxpayers Have Paid for Vaccine Injuries…

Why do some folks think that taxpayers have paid 4 billion dollars in vaccine injuries and deaths?

Anti-vax protestors at the Neptune statute in Virginia with misinformation on the 4 billion dollars for vaccine injuries.. — How many doses of vaccines have been given during the time that the $4 billion was paid out? How many lives were saved because they didn’t get polio, measles, and Hib, etc.?

Oh, these folks…

About That 4 Billion Dollars Taxpayers Have Paid for Vaccine Injuries…

So, is it true?

Have taxpayers paid 4 billion dollars for vaccine injuries and deaths, like their signs say?

Nope.

For one thing, these anti-vax protestors are mixing together a couple of separate anti-vaccine talking points that are used to scare parents away from vaccinating and protecting their kids.

While the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 did set up a $0.75 vaccine excise tax to fund the Vaccine Injury Compensation Trust Fund, it is the vaccine manufacturers who pay the tax.
And billions and billions of doses of vaccines (over 3.5 billion just since 2006) have been given since 1989, the time since the $4,060,857,713.42 has been paid by the Vaccine Court. The payment has been for 6,355 compensated claims over those thirty years, most of which are for vaccine injuries, not deaths. Fewer than 10% of Vaccine Court cases are for vaccine deaths.

Does that matter?

Now up to 4 billion dollars for vaccines injuries, the payout is after billions and billions of vaccines have been given. — That’s about 1 compensated claim, the majority of which are settled, in about 775 thousand doses. So not quite 1 in a million…

It does if you consider that many more kids would die if we didn’t routinely vaccinate and protect our kids!

“Analyses showed that routine childhood immunization among members of the 2009 US birth cohort will prevent ∼42 000 early deaths and 20 million cases of disease, with net savings of $13.5 billion in direct costs and $68.8 billion in total societal costs, respectively.”
Zhou et al on Economic Evaluation of the Routine Childhood Immunization Program in the United States, 2009

And it would be far more costly if we returned to an era when epidemics of vaccine preventable diseases became routine.

Too bad I can’t fit all of that on a sign…

The Myth That Measles Never Left

Measles cases are on the rise. Where? Pretty much everywhere. But some folks are still pushing the myth that measles never left.

The highest number of measles cases in over 25 years? Don't call it a comeback? — Don’t call it a comeback? Cases in the US average 283 cases per year over the past 12 years (if you don’t skip 2019…)

It is easy to see that measles myth, like most AV myths, isn’t true.

The Myth That Measles Never Left

In the pre-vaccine era, everyone would get measles.

That translates into about 500,000 reported cases each year. Technically, it was likely closer to about 4 million cases in the United States each year, but either way, we know that lots of people got measles.

Then we got a measles vaccine and not surprisingly, cases of measles dropped. Except for a small uptick from 1989 to 1991, we were on our way to eliminating measles.

And we did, in 2000, when the endemic spread of measles was eliminated in the United States. From then on, all measles cases were imported.

In 2004, we had an historic low of just 37 measles cases in the United States!

Will we ever have fewer than 37 cases in a year?

And from 2000 to 2012, we averaged just 87 measles cases each year, which is far below the US average of 283 cases we are now seeing.

No, measles never completely left. It was not eradicated.

But it is certainly making a comeback and soaring to levels that we haven’t seen since 1992!

Just think about it… We had 37 cases of measles in 2004 and this year, we often had 37 cases in a single week!

Get vaccinated and protected so that you don’t get caught up in the next outbreak.

VAXOPEDIA

Did Bobby Kennedy Admit That Chickenpox Kills People?

Did Bobby Kennedy Admit That Chickenpox Kills People?

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