Guest guest Posted August 22, 1999 Report Share Posted August 22, 1999 HI Ken, Thanks for your info and recommendations re: to vaccinate or not and about the chicken pox vaccine. It seems our autism DR. feels differently than our pediatrician. I need to talk to her before my daughter's appt. Because if I do vaccinate her, shouldn't I do /Bart at the same time? Wish I remembered where you worked. I have been home alot this summer (South NJ) due to the cancer returning in my mother. Kathy ---------- > > To: KAFOLEY@... > Cc: Mitoonelist > Subject: vaccines > Date: Saturday, August 21, 1999 8:35 AM > > > > Hi Kathy, > > Wish there was an easy answer for you. Here are some explanations though. > > There was a measles epidemic back in 89-91 which is why everyone gets 2 > MMR's. Chickenpox (Varivax) and MMR are both " live " virus vaccines. there is > a 7% chance of getting chickenpox even with the vaccine, but you won't get > 800 lesions by the second day like my eldest did. The vaccine is NOT > NEW. We've been using it in this country for nearly 21 years. The history of > the vaccine is similar to Measles (had the outbreak 28 yrs after starting > immunization). Though we don't know how long the immunity will last for (I > think everyone will end up with a second dose, and between Japan and > ourselves - they started 25 yrs ago with the same strain - we should know > the answer within the next 2-5 yrs), there is one very good reason to get > the shot. Before I get to the reason, though, the people that we started > using the vaccine on were cancer kids. With them the disease may be fatal > and accounts for about 100 deaths a year. There are some " normal " people > that end up with debilitating permanent neurological complications too. But > the real reason to get the shot is that there are about 10,000 admissions to > the hospital each year with significant strep infections complicating the > disease - similar to the " flesh-eating " bacteria that people hear about > every once in a while. Consider that plus the fact that many bacteria are > getting to be resistant (drugs don't work anymore). Personally, I almost > insist that if a child hasn't had chickenpox by the age of 10, then they > should get the vaccine. However, I can't force anyone to get the vaccine. > Currently in the state of NJ, a parent must sign that getting a vaccine is > against one's religious belief or I must sign a statement stating that it > would be a significant detriment to a child's health. Given that I've always > immunized Rhys (anything he gets side-effect wise from any vaccine would > certainly be less serious than the complications of the disease itself), I > don't see how I could definitely say that a vaccine would cause serious > complications for my patient population. Some docs (I'm not one) will > absolutely refuse to care for a child anymore if the parents elect not to > vaccinate. > > This whole subject tends to be a very " heated " one, and personally, I think > that many of those people with serious side-effects are probably the > undiagnosed mito people and ANY insult can cause side-effects that may make > mito worse (just depends if temporary or permanent, and no one knows). > > I expect that this may spur some " interesting " discussions on the list, and > the topic for all the " newbies " , usually comes up once a year, and usually > in August, just before Kindergarten starts. So welcome to the 3rd annual > vaccine topic (hopefully no flames). > > Ken > > > --------------------------- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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