Ok I promise not to turn this blog SOLELY into a vaccination campaign...BUT...today the CBC reported a whooping cough outbreak in the west Kootenay region of BC, Canada. That area of BC's interior has the lowest vaccination rate by the way, not a coincidence.
I say it is timely as I just did a post a few days ago on Andrew Wakefield and his contribution to worldwide lows in immunization rates.
All 19 cases in BC were on un-immunized children.
I had an aunt that died at age 2 of whooping cough and a grandfather that was on the team of physicians who brought the first iron lung to Canada.
So I take vaccinations a little more personally that I ought to perhaps...
6 comments:
My great uncle died at age 4 of diptheria. The doctor was on the way to bring the anti-toxin, but his sleigh tipped over in the snow and he broke both his legs, and thus never made it.
I like telling this story because you don't normally get to use the word "sleigh" in everyday conversation.
Um not only do you get to use the word "sleigh" but you get to use it in a sentence with the words "diptheria" and "anti-toxin".
That is a really random and sad story, but further illustrates the point about childhood diseases that used to kill with monotonous regularity before the advent of vaccines.
It's true. I actually had to think a bit hard to come up with the word "anti-toxin."
It was 1904, but still. People today don't realize what it was like. How'd you like to lose your son because of a preventable disease?
I know! The thing that I find mind-boggling is when I am triaging a sick baby and I ask the parent about the child's immunization status and they say something like, "why would that make a difference?"
"Ummm...because if Junior's been vaccinated then I can cross a lot of things off the 'Possible Diseases Your Child Might have' list."
Am I becoming an immunization-zealot? Maybe I should do some posts about what I am wearing to Medball or something to crank back the intensity a bit. Ah well. Eff it. It's my blog. :)
Jenny McCarthy would probably cite their low rates of autism...;)
Grrrrrr....grinding molars into dust.
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