Julia Ioffe is righteously pissed off:
At this writing, I have been coughing for 72 days. Not on and off coughing, but continuously, every day and every night, for two and a half months. And not just coughing, but whooping: doubled over, body clenched, sucking violently for air, my face reddening and my eyes watering. Sometimes, I cough so hard, I vomit. Other times, I pee myself. Both of these symptoms have become blessedly less frequent, and I have yet to break a rib coughing—also a common side effect. Nor do I still have the fatigue that felled me, often, at my desk and made me sleep for 16 hours a night on the weekends. Now I rarely choke on things like water, though it turns out laughing, which I do a lot of, is an easy trigger for a violent, paralyzing cough that doctors refer to not as a cough, but a paroxysm.
Somehow, I doubt that most of these people are Republicans.
anti-vaxxers come in all sizes.
Most are christian conservatives, but others are all sorts.
In my rather limited experience most anti-vaxxers are liberals. Of course, I’m in a deep blue area in a blue state and nearly everyone I know is liberal.
I asked for and got a pertussis revaccination a couple years back. My doctor has started recommending them.
The pertussis vaccine is fairly ineffective. According to the CDC it provides maximum protection for about 2 years and then starts decreasing. Additionally, the CDC currently estimates that it is only effective in 7 in 10 patients and they are currently studying it’s long term effectiveness. The science on vaccines is a lot less well understood than the industry claims and the side effects are very well underplayed. For example, the Vaccine Court, even under its very restrictive requirements, has ruled in 80 or so cases that autism was a side effect of vaccines.
“has ruled in 80 or so cases that autism was a side effect of vaccines.”
How many hundreds of millions of lives have been saved due to vaccines?
The structure of the legal regime vaccines exist in ensures that only a very small fraction of actual vaccine injuries are compensated or even reported. We really don’t have a good basis for comparison. Also, we really don’t know how many lives vaccines have saved. Vaccine development didn’t occur in a vacuum, a lot of other things have been going on in parallel, such as improved sanitation and changes in the use of toxic metals in things like insecticides. For example, gypsy moth infestations used to be combated with lead arsenate, which is a pretty powerful neurotoxin. We still don’t have a good idea about the synergies at work.
Ruling that autism is a side effect of vaccinations doesn’t boost its credibility in my eyes.
Since it’s main function is to immunize vaccine manufacturers from legal liability, I’m not sure why.
I had whooping cough at an age too young to remember. This article makes me think I should talk to the doctor about it as it may explain some problems I’ve had. Thanks for that.