Toronto Public Health vs Jenny McCarthy

[paganhomeschooler]

Hep A is not likely to be a concern unless they use IV drugs, travel to other countries, live in a nursing home or rehab or work in the health care or sewage industry. It's possible that it can be contracted in the food industry, but that's not common thankfully.

That's the way I was looking at it. It give them no benefit at the current point in their lives, so I'm okay with waiting to make sure nothing bad comes out about the vaccines before they get them. My oldest was not even offered those shots when she was a young child, and she's not yet 13. I'm definitely erring on the side of caution.

[Jinger Jar]

In the US, whooping cough has come back to such an extent because of this moron and her followers, (my area in particular is a pocketbof earthy crunchy non vax types) that my OB/Gyn told me the CDC now recommends women in their third trimester get a TDAP booster so that the new born has some possible immunity from the mother. There has been a spike in infant deaths in the past 10 years from whooping cough among those too young to vaccinate because people refuse to get TDAP for their older children and ruin the herd immunity.

I thought when my husband and I got the booster before before we conceived we did enough. Apparently not, I had to get it again so my impending kid can have a fighting chance against these idiots. :angry-banghead:

No, pertussis came back because of all the filthy illegals Obummer has allowed to come into the US to take our jobs and destroy our way of life. Pretty, affluent white Amercans do not spread disase. Just ask the Tea Party members; they'll tell you. :roll: :roll: :roll:

[paganhomeschooler]

Many US States also have requirements for those vaccines to be free or subsidized. I knew where to look, we did not qualify (while we have been chronically underinsured due to having to self-purchase insurance for the last 15 years, our income is pretty good, even though due to contracts and stuff it's delayed/irregular because of the industry my husband is in).

It's not just a matter of knowing where to go. A lot of people do not qualify, esp. with states eviscerating who they can serve. You can know where to go, and have it be more expensive in terms of transportation, ect. Many insurance companies do offer preventative care as part of the package for young children, so I believe most people *thankfully* have no clue how expensive those vaccines (and gazillions of well child visits) are. Comments like the above really kind of irritate me. It's just not that simple, for a lot of people. I'm not stupid, uneducated, or unaware. Free/low cost vaccines were not an option for our family, and it wasn't because of my ignorance. And it was easy (because we are not living at the povery level) to just incorporate an appropriate yet more sparse vax schedule into the office visits that we were already paying for out of pocket as a way of cost management while still protecting both community and child. A lot of people who are uninsured for preventative care do not have that luxury (with the schedule of office visits for infants, that is enormously expensive. But cost was a factor for us, even though we are not poor.

We are saving up for the HPV vax for all three kids. That is one fucking expensive series. Getting lectures and sighs from doctors when we delay as we're saving up because they're suspicious that we're some kind of conservative freaks is tiresome.

And yeah, getting the 3rd trimester booster sucks. Though DTaP isn't that horrible cost wise, even though it irks me that we just paid for me to have one like 3 months ago. Unfortunately I know people in my community who are on board with the anti-vax brigade, so it's a real danger; can't wait to have them freak out at me when I avoid them for awhile after the baby is born, too. Oh well, at least in January when prexisiting conditions are eliminated, the rest of my prenatal care will be covered from then on out, so paying for a vax will be offset like whoa for not paying out of pocket for every office visit and u/s. :P

Thank you for this. We have been turned down for subsidized health care so many times, it's not even funny. We've paid out of pocket for all of our medical care for years. We're hoping with the broadened coverage with Obamacare, we might finally be able to get something at least for the kids. We pay taxes, but we're not eligible to get the services we're paying into. :| I take my kids to the freaking health dept., which is the cheapest place around to do it, but they do ask you to pay. You don't have to, but if you don't, you get the "look", too. I don't call charging $100 for stabbing a needle into my kid free/affordable, if, in fact, vaccines are free under Obamacare now.

And don't get me started on medications. My daughter has an allergy to red dye. The only antibiotic she can take is Omnicef. On top of the almost $100 office visit, the medication is another $120. Healthcare in the US sucks.

[cindyluvs24]

My son is starting college in the Fall. Since he will be commuting, he is not required to get the meningitis vaccine. The State of NJ only required it or those entering 6th grade in 2008 or students residing on a college campus. Also, insurance would not cover it since it was not required. The doctor was all set to give it (without telling me that it cost 400.) and was very vague about whether or not it was required. I'm checking with the college to see if they will offer it for less.

[DifferentGurl]

My family tried to avoid the shots they give to kids that have to do with STDs...um, we aren't going to be having sex anytime soon, so why should we have it right now?

[dawbs]

My family tried to avoid the shots they give to kids that have to do with STDs...um, we aren't going to be having sex anytime soon, so why should we have it right now?

Because the vaccines work better if they're given before having sex; because parents can be grossly ill-informed about the age of sexual activity for kids; because they're spread in non-sex ways; because I would never forgive myself if I didn't vaccinate my child and she got a preventable disease as the result of sex or being the victim of rape or just plain bad luck.

[splork]

My family tried to avoid the shots they give to kids that have to do with STDs...um, we aren't going to be having sex anytime soon, so why should we have it right now?

Not everybody gets to choose when they start having sex. As for those teenagers who do get to choose, it's extremely unlikely that they're going to go to their parents and asked to get vaccinated before they start. I definitely had junior high classmates who were pregnant in six and seventh grade. I don't think vaccinating for HPV at 11 or 12 the way the routine schedule suggests is ridiculously early.

Hep B is primarily a sexually transmitted disease in the continental US, but it's important to remember that it's endemic to a lot of the world. A lot of children are infected with HBV by their close household contacts without ever having had sex.

[cjsmom]

Furthermore, after having a child with Autism....i'd still take that over polio. Just sayin'. Even if these anti-vaxxers had a point (which they don't) wouldn't you still rather have an Autistic child than a dead child from a disease we've largely eradicated? I mean shit.

I have a child with Autism too. I`m right there with you!

[FreeJosie]

Because the vaccines work better if they're given before having sex; because parents can be grossly ill-informed about the age of sexual activity for kids; because they're spread in non-sex ways; because I would never forgive myself if I didn't vaccinate my child and she got a preventable disease as the result of sex or being the victim of rape or just plain bad luck.

Yes to all of the above.

My son will be 12 in December and will be getting his first HPV shot then.

[keen23]

Because the vaccines work better if they're given before having sex; because parents can be grossly ill-informed about the age of sexual activity for kids; because they're spread in non-sex ways; because I would never forgive myself if I didn't vaccinate my child and she got a preventable disease as the result of sex or being the victim of rape or just plain bad luck.

Yup, my oldest will get her first HPV shot at her 11 year physical. If the HPV shot could help her not get cervical cancer, I'm all for it.

I've never been so happy to pay out the nose for a top of the line HMO plan. Yearly physicals are $0 out of pocket, and all vaccines at the yearly visit are $0. If I have to schedule an appointment just for flu shots, that's a $20 co-pay, $0 for the vaccine.

[OnceModestTwiceShy]

If you are against the HPV vaccine, I beg you to reconsider. HPV is RAMPANT now and you can get it from smthg as innocuous as kissing. I have comforted way too many friends through abnormal paps. It's no joke.

[outrunningzombies]

Because the vaccines work better if they're given before having sex; because parents can be grossly ill-informed about the age of sexual activity for kids; because they're spread in non-sex ways; because I would never forgive myself if I didn't vaccinate my child and she got a preventable disease as the result of sex or being the victim of rape or just plain bad luck.

Also, it takes 6 months to complete the entire series.

To the person up thread who said they delayed the second varicella shot: if you haven't already, please talk to your doctor about it. I was one of the first kids to get the vaccine so I only got one shot. My titers now persistently come back as equivocal (a maybe you are, maybe you aren't immunity level) despite two series several years apart, and there is increasing evidence that only one shot vs two gets people stuck in that fuzzy area.

My least favorite thing about my new job is parents who don't vaccinate. Funny how the poor immigrant parents were all over vaccinations (most common response to "Is your child up to date on their vaccines?" was "of course!") but rich folks are more likely to skip vaccines without even knowing the benefits. Hib tends to be a trendy one to skip in my area. I want to show all those parents a youtube video of epiglottitis.

[dairyfreelife]

I do think HPV has been around enough now to show that it's not that bad really, even if the newness of it made many uneasy before.

Personally, I had chicken pox about a month or so after I turned 6 and it was a very bad case. I still have a few scars from it and do have immunity to it now, but shingles will always be a high risk. There was no vaccine for it when I was a child and my brother was required to get it and the doctor had stopped giving shots. My mom was going to have him tested for immunity when he was barely 13 and if not, get him the shots since it's worse the older you are and just before he was to be tested, he caught it. Though it was not fatal or harmful to us beyond a few days of miserable itching and few scars to remember the occasion, if t can be prevented, especially since it can be fatal at times, why not prevent it?

I never got the hep A vaccine, but it was not widely done when I was younger. I got hep B in seventh grade and it was newly required then. School gave them for free, so I got my shots. However, hep A was not optional by my doctor when my sister and I thought about going to Haiti with our old church a few years ago. He said it was too dangerous to go unvaccinated due to the poor sewage treatment there. We did not go. Rotavirus isn't just picked up at nursery school and daycare. Any school can have it going around and rotavirus kills many children across the globe every year. It is usually just a bad stomach virus for most children, but it can be deadly for others thanks to severe diarrhea and vomiting leading to serious dehydration problems. Plus, in my book, if a stomach virus can be avoided, I say great. Rotavirus is almost entirely a child's virus. Adults are almost always unaffected by it. Norovirus is the adult stomach bug that's similar in misery. ;)

[bookgirl14]

Quick delurk.

I'm autistic and the fact that Jenny McCarthy would rather children die of polio than turn out like me makes me feel like a giant shit on a stick.

I feel the same way. I'm autistic too and people like Jenny McCarthy make it seem like autism is worse than getting sick with polio. Honestly I doubt that her son actually has autism since it takes more than changing diet to see improvements. Maybe if I follow her son's diet, I'll magically wake one morning without autism. Not!

[apple1]

If you are against the HPV vaccine, I beg you to reconsider. HPV is RAMPANT now and you can get it from smthg as innocuous as kissing. I have comforted way too many friends through abnormal paps. It's no joke.

HPV is also a cause of oral cancer.

[DifferentGurl]

If you are against the HPV vaccine, I beg you to reconsider. HPV is RAMPANT now and you can get it from smthg as innocuous as kissing. I have comforted way too many friends through abnormal paps. It's no joke.

I haven't gotten it so far because my parents are worried about the side effects of the vaccines. Now that I'm of the legal age and going to a new doctor, I'm going to ask how safe the vaccine is.

[2xx1xy1JD]

[stepping on a soapbox, yet again]

Read this:

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story. ... 749bb8cd11

My sister and BIL just attended Linda Lewis' funeral. She was only 52. Her kids are now motherless.

[Stephanie66]

My kids never got the Hepatitis vaccine as children. My oldest got it when she was around 17, my youngest hasn't yet. Our family practice doctor actually talked me out of the Gardisal for my son when he was younger. He highly advised using condoms and having only one sexual partner at a time, trying to keep that number low. If he isn't going to do that, then yes, get the shots. I did appreciate his candor. The son is still living at home, but if he transfers to Uni next spring, I may convince him to get all the shots. Because...ya know, he's a young male.

[Patsy]

My kids never got the Hepatitis vaccine as children. My oldest got it when she was around 17, my youngest hasn't yet. Our family practice doctor actually talked me out of the Gardisal for my son when he was younger. He highly advised using condoms and having only one sexual partner at a time, trying to keep that number low. If he isn't going to do that, then yes, get the shots. I did appreciate his candor. The son is still living at home, but if he transfers to Uni next spring, I may convince him to get all the shots. Because...ya know, he's a young male.

:? I don't understand what the risk is of getting the vaccine AND using condoms and having only one sexual partner at a time.

[rward]

I've been known to get pretty loud with people who won't do the varicella vaccine. I'm 37. I've had shingles 4 times. The pain is indescribable and because I got it on my face, I now have trigeminal neuralgia on the left side. Go ahead and look that one up. It involves a lot of screaming. You do not want your child to get shingles ever. My clarinet teacher in high school got shingles on her otic nerves and went deaf. She killed herself. Another woman I know is blind in one eye from shingles of the optic nerve.

Chicken pox is not harmless and it never, ever goes away.

[FakePigtails]

:? I don't understand what the risk is of getting the vaccine AND using condoms and having only one sexual partner at a time.

This. And one can be very careful about who they have sex with and still get the disease (that one person at a time can easily have it). I'm shocked at your doctor's advice, tbh.

[dawbs]

This. And one can be very careful about who they have sex with and still get the disease (that one person at a time can easily have it). I'm shocked at your doctor's advice, tbh.

Color me shocked to.

Mr. Dawbs is my only-ever sexual partner.

He followed your doctor's advice (one partner at a time, condoms, a 'low' number and-a step further- when old enough to be wise, health tests).

I have HPV. from him.

If his mom could have prevented this and didn't, I'd be peeved.

[dawbs]

I've been known to get pretty loud with people who won't do the varicella vaccine. I'm 37. I've had shingles 4 times. The pain is indescribable and because I got it on my face, I now have trigeminal neuralgia on the left side. Go ahead and look that one up. It involves a lot of screaming. You do not want your child to get shingles ever. My clarinet teacher in high school got shingles on her otic nerves and went deaf. She killed herself. Another woman I know is blind in one eye from shingles of the optic nerve.

Chicken pox is not harmless and it never, ever goes away.

This is basically the reason we went ahead w/ the vaccine.

I *had* done some reading (probably now outdated--I haven't had to research it again recently!) that showed that actually getting chicken pox gives a better/longer lasting immunity than the shot (which can put people at risk of catching it later in life--esp. if they assume they're immune).

That was my one hesitation (especially since I'm one of the lucky folks who got Chicken Pox TWICE--the second time was absolutely hellish and dangerous)--wanting my kid to have the 'better' immunity.

Of course, the problem with that is that the 'right' time to get chicken pox is, what, age 5-8? Somewhere in that age. The 'bad'/dangerous time to get chicken pox is before that or old/adult....unless I locked my kid in a bubble until age 5, then got a chicken pox lolly (don't ask) to give her at age 5, I would be knowingly risking her catching Chicken Pox as a very very vulnerable infant.

So she got the shot. And I'll plan on being religious about revaccinations. I may have something, 5 years out or so, on my Cozi family calendar app to remind me to check :embarrassed:

[2xx1xy1JD]

My kids never got the Hepatitis vaccine as children. My oldest got it when she was around 17, my youngest hasn't yet. Our family practice doctor actually talked me out of the Gardisal for my son when he was younger. He highly advised using condoms and having only one sexual partner at a time, trying to keep that number low. If he isn't going to do that, then yes, get the shots. I did appreciate his candor. The son is still living at home, but if he transfers to Uni next spring, I may convince him to get all the shots. Because...ya know, he's a young male.

There is no disadvantage to getting the shot BEFORE a child is sexually active. Actually, that's when it would be most effective.

It would be wonderful if all children always listen to their parents' advice and never, ever went against it or did anything stupid. but that's not reality. If it was, no sexually transmitted diseases would still exist, no kids would ever get drunk or do drugs, etc. Guardisal is not magic, but it can drastically reduce cervical cancer, and preventing cancer is a good thing which saves lives.

[ShesCrafty]

Color me shocked to.

Mr. Dawbs is my only-ever sexual partner.

He followed your doctor's advice (one partner at a time, condoms, a 'low' number and-a step further- when old enough to be wise, health tests).

I have HPV. from him.

If his mom could have prevented this and didn't, I'd be peeved.

Add me to the list of people shocked a doctor actually gave this advice. Getting the Gardisil shot and practicing safe sex are not mutually exclusive.