I hate anti-vaxxers

[An89]

How can anyone in this day and age be an anti-vaxxer? London and West mids currently suffering from a meassls outbreak. DS is under 1 so cannot yet have vaccine, I know of someone whose 10momth old contracted measels as they were too young for vaccine.
Ridiculous that reckless and tardy parents are putting all our children at risk. Actually terrible.

So you contracted measles, rubella and chickenpox and recovered with no long-term effects, so you think that this is the same for everyone? What if a baby with an undeveloped immune system contracted measles, an illness that used to kill small children in the past?

What if you had contracted rubella when pregnant? There is a high likelihood that your baby would be affected and be born with severe disabilities.

High vaccine take up leads to herd immunity so that people who can't take the vaccine, including small babies, are protected.

The polio and small pox vaccines eradicated those diseases in this country. That was a huge achievement that is currently in jeopardy due to the anti-vax movement. What they are doing is much worse that someone referring to them as 'morons' online.

Maybe we need to refame how we talk to anti-vaxxers to make it seem less "cool". Anyone who is anti-vax is by definition pro-disease.

@INeedCoffee2021 fair enough as long as you prepared to homeschool your kids and keep them away from ours!

No we do not. I remember a child in my class at school who had her legs in calipers due to polio. Perhaps modern generations have forgotten these things, we need to keep reminding them.

Quite agree with you. If I was to say I feel off my bike as a child not wearing a cycling helmet and was completely fine, so I'm now on a lifelong mission to put people off wearing helmets because in my experience alone they had no benefit people would think I was mad.

Not this again. You do realise people cough for reasons other than Covid? I'm coughing pretty much continuously at the moment - it's hay fever. Am I meant to stay indoors until it goes? I remember being told on here in 2020 that I should stay at home in case I scared someone. I really thought we'd moved on from that.

Immigration doesn’t help but no your right a lot of unvaccinated children are British as you say. But it’s not white British who caused the outbreak in Birmingham and Coventry. This is now under control largely due to efforts of religious leaders and nhs pop up vaccine provision but is starting to spike in Leicester now.

It is partly an issue with pork gelatine and not knowing there’s alternatives available. Also an issue with access to services. I am not sure here whether this is lack of nhs provision in these poorer non white areas, language barriers or lack of engagement or something else. But it’s not the classic new age anti vaxxer people are talking about. It seems to be a more complex problem and until we properly figure out the barriers these people are encountering then it won’t be fixed.

We don't have polio etc in this country because enough people give the vaccinations to their children to result in herd immunity. Photos of children in iron lungs make us realise how important vaccinations are.
I'd love to have the Covid vaccination again, but the last 2 affected my heart so the dr agrees i shouldn't have it. Others who can have it - please do. There are probably a number of us who are unprotected, and herd immunity might keep us alive and well.

Different causes of low vaccine acceptance need managing in different ways.

In my area, there was success at Covid vaccine pop-up clinics at places of worship to directly work with communities with low vaccination rates. It made access easier (travel) and enabled people to discuss their concerns and be reassured especially if there were language or cultural concerns.

People who are actually "anti-vaxx" are difficult because it tends to be accompanied by mistrust of authority. I'm not convinced that denying access to childcare and state education is the solution because it then further isolates people from mainstream society and education with critical thinking. By secondary school, pupils are usually deemed to be Gillick Competent and have the choice to override their parents' choices. Long term, access to education is more likely to result in better engagement with the next generation rather than trapping them in echo chambers.

The Andrew Wakefield fans boggle my mind. He's doing what they accuse "big pharma" of doing.

I'm pre-MMR. I had mumps and rubella in childhood. Fotunately not seriously but it was a couple of weeks off school at a time. Fortunately I dodged measles prior to a vaccination in my teen years as an epidemic was expected locally. Rubella jabs were also given to teenage girls at the time.

The big problem is society forgetting how nasty these illnesses can be because vaccination was so effective at making them obscure.

They are because they affect other people.
Anti vaxxers like other conspiracy theory influencers are dangerous.

Except for vaccinations yes - however for vaccinations - its everyones concern.

Vaccinating protects your own child from the diseases, and it protects babies who are too young for vaccines and kids who are too sick to have them.

Newborns can and do die from whooping cough and people of any age can be killed or left disabled by measles. So getting your kids vaccinated is the logical thing for every parent to do, assuming you’re someone who would rather not accidentally kill a small baby.

This is a good explainer

And this is a good website for more info, it goes into a lot more detail than the NHS site. https://vaccineknowledge.ox.ac.uk

I remember having measles when I was little (I'm an oldster). I was so unwell - hallucinating at one point, my fever was so high. I was looked after at home. I cannot imagine the impact on the NHS should there be a measles outbreak or, heaven forbid, an epidemic. We aren't used to coping with these horrendous diseases with really major symptoms at home - our medical facilities would be overwhelmed.

Good luck to your kids with a parent like you guiding them through life

No we do judge those who dont want to take advantage of not going blind or deaf or infertile or losing limbs or dying for their children

I mean I totally do - anyone who doesnt have a valid reason (unable to for medical reasons, I have a friend who reacts to some of the carrier ingredients in vaccines so has to be careful, and have their jabs in hospitals in case of reaction) is basically stupid. So in that case, its a little natural selection - hopefully they wont take too many people with them.

RFK Jr praises anti-vaxxer hours after attending funeral of 8-year-old who died from measles
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/rfk-jr-anti-vax-measles-death-funeral-b2728812.html

Aiono Professor Alec Ekeroma, Samoa’s Director General of Health: “We cannot and should not stay silent. We know what this appointment means. It means more platforms for anti-vaxxers and less funding for vaccines and health programmes. It must be treated as a threat to our health security.” The Guardian, 11/25/24]
Hawaii Governor and ER Doctor Josh Green: “As both a physician and Governor, I’ve seen the devastating effects of misinformation about vaccines. During a measles outbreak in Samoa, RFK Jr.’s rhetoric led to widespread fear, causing many to avoid vaccinations. Tragically, 83 innocent children lost their lives.” X, 11/15/24]

https://www.protectourcare.org/experts-say-deadly-samoan-measles-outbreak-caused-by-rfk-jr-s-disaster-visit/

Before the measles vaccine was invented in 1963, millions of people died every year from this horrific illness. More than 500 children per year in the U.S. were its victims, and that doesn’t count the tens of thousands of hospitalizations with terrifying side effects, including life-threatening and life-altering welling of the brain. As Dr. Samuel Katz, a pioneer of the first measles vaccine, once said, “You don’t count your children until the measles as passed.” Do we really want to go back to waiting to tell people how many children we have until they’ve all survived the measles?

https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/5157915-anti-vaxxer-movement-health-risk/

I'm just going to post this again

RFK Jr praises anti-vaxxer hours after attending funeral of 8-year-old who died from measles

A child who died from a disease that they could have been vaccinated against

My kid got measles at about 10 months old. This was years ago.

Some idiot took a knowingly measles exposed but unvaccinated kid round his nursery including the baby room!

He was a friendly little chap so was the first to get it, GP insisted we go to A and E (wrong decision we waited outside!) very impressive public health response followed. As well as the largest measles outbreak for a few years I think!

I would support moving to forced vaccination in childhood

i think people who choose not to vaccinate (ie not those with medical issues preventing it) are idiots

i

I gave my dcs all the jabs going and paid for chicken pox and meningitis. I refused covid jabs for them though. Am I an anti vaxxer?

Yes measles is a really hideous disease and people have forgotten. The NHS will be absolutely fucked if there’s an outbreak.

To the posters saying their vaccination decisions are none of anyone else’s business - the decision not to vaccinate is the same as you saying out loud to every parent you meet, wherever you go, “I don’t give a fuck if your baby dies because of me”. It’s not about feels, it’s about causing harm to others through your choices.

yeah, im with you

if my granddaughter gets ill she has seizures, some last 45 minutes and can end up in picu, if the a&E staff can't stop the seizures as they have to put him in an induced coma. He is under 1 and this could easily kill her.

Small pox has been irradiated due to vaccinations - if the vaccination hadn't have been developed and issued then approximately two hundred million people would now be dead.

I do not think the unvaxxed make up 1 in 4. There honestly aren't that many idiots around.

I don't have anyone in my social circle that is anti vaxx. I only met ONE fool (at work) who was anti vaxx and he also believed in the 5G idiocy.

You want to opt out of society. Opt out.

this is so not true it's laughable - except its not actually funny to be putting vulnerable people at risk because you think your 'online research' is more reliable than decades of actual scientific research and data.

Agree OP.

I couldn’t live with myself if anything happened to my child because of complications of a disease or illness I might have prevented by ensuring they’re vaccinated. It’s a risk I am not willing to take.

I know an antivaxxer who isn’t obese, yet is on weight loss injections while breastfeeding to lose baby weight.

No, they're not.