I know, I know. We have beat this topic to death. And I am also aware that this absolutely counts as preaching to the choir. All of this as a given:
The antivaccine forces are in full howl at this point in time as more folks are waking up to the fact that measles is roaring back at a rate not seen in our recent past.
We need to stay on our toes, folks.
And any Oregonians in the community, you are up!!
I live in washington, and it makes me embarrassed to be a Washingtonian to see that there’s still religious and philosophical exemptions here.
We have a terrible outbreak. It’s really intolerable to allow dumbasses to put the community and most vulnerable people in danger.
Why not hold an antivaxx rally in the epicenter of a measles outbreak? What could possibly go wrong?
They’re all going to be in one place, you say?
Sad to say that won’t happen this session. The Greedy Old Pedophiles walked out and wouldn’t come back unless the Democrats tabled the anti-vaccine and anti-Freedom-Penis bills
Anyone interested in more on measles?
It’s getting hard not to be interested in this growing outbreak of Moron Measles.
Feh!
Absolutely par for the course. Assholes all the way down.
Again, the GOP has become the antivaccine party. Any argument that these parties are indistinguishable fails on this factor alone. Yes, I confess to be rather invested in the vaccine wars and therefore not entirely objective, but this is my opinion. YMMV.
Also, fuck any attempt to make this an excuse for anti-Semitism. Not acceptable, not now and not ever.
Saw this article and thought of you, @anon29537550
I work near Seatac airport, and people regularly fly here to participate in meetings. I was vaccinated as a child, but that doesn’t mean my background level of existential dread hasn’t been even higher than usual the past weeks.
Psket said after doing research of her own, which she recommends for others, she doesn’t worry about diseases like measles on the rise.
And because she thinks the body is so perfectly designed, probably all diseases have always been impossible? I don’t understand the stupid.
You skipped the best bit: “she said. “I have an autoimmune disorder.”
I just don’t even how someone who explicitly states that they have an autoimmune disorder could also argue that the immune system is an instance of divine perfection.
Yeah, any effort to study antivaxxers as a monolithic group is doomed to fail. There are several groups, and the Venn diagram would look like a spirograph drawing. There are the special snowflake, “vaccinate your child so I don’t need to vaccinate mine,” the right wing “I own my child, you have no right to say what I should do,” the bipartisan “body purity” group, the mostly left wing “anything touched by pharma is evil,” and a multiplicity of conspiracy theorist groups that defy chatacterization. I have a pretty respectable track record of convincing the hesitant to get at least the most vital vaccinations, but the limiting factor generally is time. I need to be able to sit and talk with them, and it goes on for sometimes an hour or more. Needles to say, this is not great for my productivity. But it has to be done. Unfortunately, the antivaxxers spread virally on the interwebs, and bringing them down off the ledge is generally a one-on-one process. I suspect that unless kids die much more frequently (pertussis already takes some babies each year needlessly) there will just not be the groundswell we need. And I refuse to cheer for more dead babies.
Have you ever looked up video of a kid with whooping cough? It’s the most heartwrenching bullshit. And anyone who thinks that is preferable to maybe a day of your kid being a bit tired and irritable is not fit to be a parent.
I have taken care of a baby who died of pertussis. I have taken care of several who did not die, but came close enough. It is not something you will ever forget. Those experiences are part of how I get most to take the DTaP and Hib, even if I can’t get them to take anything else.
The article says that just going into the exam room with a declarative statement – “it’s time for Junior’s MMR at this visit” – rather than a more questioning stance makes most people go along with it.
That’s the part I found interesting, and wondered if you’d noticed the same effect.
Like most things, it is very patient specific (or parent specific in this case.) If they are on the fence and just looking for guidance, a very simple, declarative opening can get them in motion and get it done. Most in my practice come in with a very definite idea of what they want, and can be put on the defensive with that kind of approach. As soon as a parent is in a defensive crouch, you have lost. They will not hear you, they just feel attacked. I am in a small practice and have the advantage of a relationship with my patients, often years in the making, and have a nurse with a virtually eidetic memory who can put patients at ease with discussions of family and past visits off the top of her head that is truly a wonder to behold. I know not everyone has that, and big practices with high throughput cannot do what I do, but they have their own approaches. There is no magic bullet, I guess is my answer. I wish there was.
Sounds like you’re able to take more time with your patients and their families too, which makes a huge difference.
Maybe you could put together a simple fact sheet WITH PHOTOS to hand out to show what the diseases actually look like when the kid ends up the hospital? Something they can take with them, like the fact sheets for vaccines.
