“Unvaccinated children do not pose a threat to vaccinated children or their families�

[Guest guest]

 

Dr. Jay's response to L.A. Times Article, March 29, 2009

California schools' risks rise as vaccinations drop

 

http://www.drjaygordon.com/development/news/responsetotimesvaccines.asp

 

The article that appeared in the Los Angeles Times 3/29/09 has generated a lot

of discussion, and I was asked to respond.

Unvaccinated children do not pose a threat to vaccinated children or their

families.

We all have a responsibility to keep each other's children safe. Choosing to not

vaccinate or choosing an alternative vaccine schedule could be considered a rift

in that contract. Medically, scientifically and statistically speaking, it is

not. Honest people might disagree.

I have been a pediatrician for thirty years and have watched children receive

all scheduled vaccines, some of the vaccines or receive no vaccines at all. I

have seen every one of the illnesses against which we vaccinate. Since the early

1980s, I believe I've only seen once case of bacterial meningitis in a child and

one other case in a teenager. The rarity of this terrible disease means that it

makes the news whenever a case occurs but denying that childhood meningitis

still exists is dishonest. Equally dishonest is implying that it is a large

threat to any of our children. I see kids with pertussis every year. I see

children misdiagnosed with whooping cough far more often. Two years ago, the New

York Times took note of this phenomenon.

2009 marks the thirty year anniversary of the last case of " wild polio " in the

United States. Subsequent cases were caused by the oral polio vaccine which is

no longer used in this country.

http://www.polioeradication.org/casecount.asp (WHO/CDC supported site)

Rubella is no longer an " American " disease.

http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/pressrel/r050321.htm (CDC Press Conference)

I recently read an article, written in 2009 which chastised non-vaccinating

parents because there had been 131 cases of measles in the U.S. in the first

half of 2008 alone. And how many cases were there in the whole year? 134.. The

usual number? 62. Disingenuous reporting. An extra 72 cases of measles among

300,000,000 Americans made the papers every day or two for months and the LA

Times writers dredge up the child who caught measles on a Swiss vacation one

more time.

Yes, as mentioned, measles and other viruses can cause encephalitis. It's very,

very rare. Implying otherwise could scare parents.

And, no, the law does not allow us to know which children have not received

vaccines any more than it allows other invasions of privacy.

I have received hundreds of emails from people all over the country and the

world reaching out to me and asking me to listen to them about vaccine issues

and injuries because it seems that no one else will. I have permission from a

mother to forward email she sent to me-with a picture-of her four month old

daughter who received four vaccines and died shortly thereafter. I have dozens

and dozens of similar emails and dozens of face-to-face encounters in my office

with parents coming to me after what they considered to be vaccine damage to

their children. I will not forward that email. It creates a different kind of

fear that also doesn't serve the dialogue well.

I think that these possibly injured children and families represent one end of

the bell shaped curve and that scary stories about meningitis in Minnesota (the

first there in 18 years) represent the other end. (I do feel that the former end

of the curve is far fuller than the latter but no proof exists. None.)

The LA Times stories were " fear-based " just as my forwarding these emails would

have been.

The University of Michigan Law Review recently invited me to write a journal

article about vaccines and tort law.

I sum up my law review presentation to parents every winter by telling them that

the only way to avoid childhood illnesses is " reverse isolation " of your

illness-free child. If you go to a two-year-old's birthday party during the

winter months . . . You will probably get sick.

Peripherally, let's all remember that it took fifty years or more, thousands of

court cases and a lot of money to finally prove the connection between

cigarettes and cancer. The three court cases showing no connection between

vaccines and autism should make no headlines and should be an impetus to honest

investigative journalism.

We have increased the number of vaccines and the combinations of vaccines given

to babies and children. Adequate testing has not been done. I have seen a huge

rise in the number of children with autism. Neither I nor any other doctors are

hundreds of percent better at diagnosing this spectrum of developmental delay

than ten or twenty years ago. The dramatic rise in the number of cases of autism

spectrum disorders is attributable to something other than " reclassification " or

better diagnosis.

While waiting for scientific proof, we have to tolerate families' completely

legal and scientific desire to have or not have their children given vaccines

according to the current schedule.

JNG MD, FAAP

 

Love, Gabby. :0)

http://stemcellforautism.blogspot.com/

 

" I know of nobody who is purely Autistic or purely neurotypical. Even God had

some Autistic moments, which is why the planets all spin. " ~ Jerry Newport