So I Had A Vaccine Reaction

When Lovebug was very small, Hot Guy had to bring him in for a vaccine while I was at work. When I got home, I was regaled with the story of how traumatic it had been for him, for Lovebug and for Ironflower. Apparently Ironflower was really mad at the doctor for hurting her brother. And Lovebug was mad. And there was much screaming. It's possible that toddler Ironflower hit the doctor.

And my first question was, "Did he get all the vaccines he needed, though?"

That's how pro-vaccine I am.

So when my GI doctor said he wanted to put me on Humira and that I would need to get a flu vaccine and Hepatitis A & B vaccines, I was all over it. I'd already had my flu shot for the year (I've gotten a flu shot every year since 1994, when a bunch of med students were giving them to seniors at the community center where I was teaching preschool and had leftovers for staff members. Those of us that got it avoided a horrible flu that went around the center.) but I figured I'd get the HepA&B vaccine the next time I was at the primary care office.

There are actually 3 shots until you are fully vaccinated against Hep A & B, fyi. The first 2 are a month apart, the next one is 5 months later.

I've recently learned that my insurance won't pay for Humira at this time (and, at $5000 a month, I kinda don't blame them for wanting me to try some other meds first), but since I had already started the Hep vaccines last month, I got my second dose Friday because otherwise I'd have to start all over again when I finally get the Humira.

And I realized that last month's reaction was real, because I had the exact same reaction this time - nauseous, dizzy, exhausted and just generally terrible. Last month I thought it might be stress or that I might be coming down with a virus, because I haven't ever had a vaccine reaction. But this time, at the suggestion of my wise husband, I took an hour long nap after I had the reaction.

And then I was fine.

I would like to say that after having this reaction, or that time Zoe almost fainted after her first HPV vaccination, made me more sympathetic to people who are against vaccines.

But it didn't.

Don't get me wrong, I get where they're coming from. Doctors can be assholes, the medical establishment can sometimes be wrong, it sucks to listen to your baby scream his head off because you're letting someone stick it with a needle full of chemicals you can't pronounce. 

But the science doesn't care how much it sucks to know your consent to a vaccine made your kid faint; the science wants to eliminate cervical cancer. 

I had an anti-vaxxer tell me that cervical cancer is easily curable. First of all, tell that to the 4000 women who died from it  in 2016. Second of all, I'd rather my kid faint than have to go through cancer treatment someday. Curing any kind of cancer is not fun like curing scurvy. 

People die from the flu. They die from measles. They die from cervical cancer. 

They don't die from vaccines. Really, they don't. No matter what you read on Facebook. No matter that you heard your neighbor's cousin's daughter died from the HPV vaccine.  No matter that there is a reporting system and a compensation system (which literally pays out 1 time per million doses of vaccine given. You can read all about how these safety guidelines are regularly exploited by anti-vax proponents here). And don't get me started on VAERS - the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System - which should be a good thing, but since anyone can report to it, also includes vaccine 'deaths' that are from car accidents within a month of a person getting the vaccine.

In summation, get vaccinated. Get your kids vaccinated. But maybe leave some time for a nap after.

Whoops, You Fell Down the Idiot Hole*

You may not remember, but a couple of years ago a mom made the news because all 7 of her kids got whooping cough. She, of course, was against vaccines. Her children infected her baby niece, who wasn't yet fully vaccinated. It was terrible for all of them, and now this mom is pro-vaccine.

I hate this whole story.

Really.

Even the part where she learns a valuable lesson and evolves on the issue.

I know I'm supposed to applaud her evolution, which she blogged about extensively.

But I'd rather use my hands to slap her.

Imagine, instead, if this woman refused to use car seats because she grew up just fine without them. And then, she got rear-ended in traffic and all of her children were injured because they weren't in car seats. And then she ran around promoting car seats. Still impressed?

How about if she let her kids smoke because she had a grandma who smoked like a chimney and lived to be 90?

How about if she claimed that racism didn't exist because no one in her (white) family had experienced it or perpetuated it?

Ok, I'm exaggerating. About this particular woman, anyway. Although I always wonder about the anti-vaccination parents who use car seats. Why do they believe the car seat studies and not the vaccination studies? Car seat companies operate for profit, just like pharmaceutical companies, after all. And I'm probably jinxing myself here, but we've gotten sick way more often than we've gotten in car accidents. And the fight to buckle Hugmonkey into his car seat back in the day was a daily thing, unlike getting vaccinations or even getting sick. How odd then that there's no anti-car seat movement. (At least, not one I can find with a quick Google search)

But this is not meant to be a post about vaccines**, exactly. It's meant to be about people who cannot properly evaluate information unless it happens to them. The whooping cough mom admits to dismissing peer reviewed scientific studies in favor of "natural" mom blogs to justify her anti-vax stance. But then those evil medical experts saved her children's lives so now she believes what they've been saying to her for years. Seriously?

That's like taking my advice on time management  over some expert's, then being saved from financial ruin by the expert hiring you. But you never would have teetered near financial ruin if you had just listened to the expert in the first place.

In other words, random people on the internet do not know more than the CDC, or the Mayo Clinic, or even public health reporters at the Boston Globe. Believing the people on your favorite forum over experts at the American Academy of Pediatrics puts you in the same idiot hole as people who believe The National Enquirer over the The Philadelphia Inquirer.

*Yes, this post could have been titled, "Fuck You, Whooping Cough Mom". I predict that most of my posts in the near(ish) future could be titled, "Fuck You, so and so" and be perfectly apt. But finding creative ways to say "fuck you" is going to become my new favorite hobby.

**If you want to argue with me about vaccines, read this first. And then just don't. I'm not going to change my mind.

Don't Take Medical Advice From Playboy Bunnies

Do you remember having chicken pox? I remember it well. I didn't get until 8th grade, so when I got it, it was horrible. Oh, the pain in my throat. The fever. The ITCHING. The marks all over my face. The ITCHING.

When I began reading about vaccinations while I was pregnant with Ironflower, I was thrilled to find out that they now have a vaccine for chicken pox. My babies would never have to suffer through the ITCHING. Also, they would not die (yes, chicken pox can kill too).

Today, the day after I returned home after speaking at a social media conference for health care non-profits sponsored by Immunize.org, I received a note from the kids' school. It seems another student has come down with chicken pox.

I recalled another speaker at the conference discussing why people can be against immunizing their children (I just spoke about using Facebook and Twitter and stuff like that, but it was fun to hear about the other stuff too, seeing as I have a personal interest in the health of children). She mentioned how these people do not trust experts like doctors and scientists, but instead the experiences of friends.

Apparently, some parent at my kids' school is friends with Jenny McCarthy.

Jenny McCarthy blames her son's autism on vaccines, in case you didn't know. And because of one flawed and later disproved study, thousands of parents are not vaccinating their kids. So the conference was about how organizations like health departments could use social media to get people to immunize their kids.

(Side note: Let's pretend Jenny's right, for a second. Maybe there is a vast conspiracy poisoning children with vaccines. I'd much rather have a child with autism than one killed by polio. Just sayin'. )

I love it when my universe comes together. The awesome social media ninjas (healthcare and social media experts) at the conference put together an entire social media campaign in 24 hours. If I find out who's got chicken pox I will be sending the links to them immediately. In the meantime, I suggest you check them out and follow Guysimmunize on Twitter. You can also hear about the conference at the Autism Science Foundation or like them on Facebook.

In addition to learning all sorts of neat stuff at the conference, I also discovered that people who work at health non-profits are a lot like teachers - predominantly female and liberal. But I think they might drink more. Did I mention what a great time I had?

But it's nice to be home, though Hot Guy and my parents held the fort down admirably. But somehow being here helps me believe that I can hold back any stray chicken pox germs that might get past their vaccinations, especially with ChunkyMonkey's being so new.

Not that I'd to worry about this at all if SOME people trusted scientists instead of former Playboy Bunnies.