For those who don't believe in vaccinations. How would you like to be this parent?

[shraby]

It happened all the time before vaccinations were discovered. I added the dates of death.

The oldest child of J.P. Nolan of Maple Grove died of diphtheria on Sunday last.
Others of his children are also sick with this disease.
November 21, 1889 P. 3
(Julia Ann died Nov 16 1889)
*********
James P. Nolan was unable to be present at the session of the county board this
week on account of the serious illness of his children. One died last week, and
two others are now in a precarious condition.
Manitowoc Pilot, November 28, 1889 P. 3
(Mary died Nov 27 1889)
*********
Three of J.P. Nolan's children died of diphtheria within the last few weeks, and
he is thus made childless. He has numerous friends who sympathize with him in his
affliction.
Manitowoc Pilot, December 12, 1889
(Agnes died Dec 02 1889)

[Archae]

1. I've seen anti-vaxxers write that things like this happened after...

Everyone gave up "natural food and drink."

[shraby]

2. I just can't imagine having 3 children around the dinner table

and then none. I don't know how they dealt with the loss, and it happened all the time.

[Archae]

3. My Mom still remembers the polio scares.

Closing down pools and beaches, and kids who didn't die of it spent years in those iron lungs.

[shraby]

5. We were sent to bed early so we got plenty of rest. Mom didn't want to take

any unnecessary chances. One of my schoolmates lost the use of her leg. She could get around on crutches and one of her friends would carry her one crutch up the stairs at school while she used the other one to help navigate the stairs.

[Hekate]

13. Every school I ever attended had its share of children in metal leg braces using crutches. ...

The ones in wheelchairs weren't in public school because there was no ADA, believe me.

When the Salk vaccine became available, my parents took the 4 of us to the evening clinic that had been set up at my elementary school. I will never forget that the line stretched from the classroom all across the playground and through to the sidewalk outside. My little sister threw a screaming tantrum because she was afraid of needles. Fck that noise. My mother held her tightly and gave the nurse a clear view of her little arm.

Worst thing I ever encountered though was a teenager who had survived mumps encephalitis -- a complication of a common childhood disease. She was blind, on crutches and leg braces. Years later when the MMR vaccine became available, I put it at the top of my To Do list for my future babies.

[flamin lib]

4. Tour any historic cemetary.

Family plots with 8-9 children ( and often more than one wife ) under the age of two.

What is it that they say about history?

Where have all the flowers gone . . .

[shraby]

6. Many times they didn't even name them right away until they were sure they would

survive.
Most families had a member with consumption who died early (tuberculosis)

[flamin lib]

9. Lots of Baby Does. The other interesting thing

about old regional cemeteries is the inscriptions on stones. In any given cemetery there will be at most a dozen phrases: gone but not forgotten, taken too soon etc. Thirty miles away there are a while different collection of phrases. I

Like a copyright for stone cutters . . .

[Sneederbunk]

7. If anti-vaxxers ignore facts they can ignore history.

[Hekate]

8. Thanks to Facebook echo chambers, my own daughter is convinced her baby died of vaccinations

My granddaughter died of SIDS. The anti-vaxxers -- well, you know the story. As a consequence, my daughter absolutely refuses to have her other children vaccinated. She believes all the lies the anti-vaxxers peddle.

I joined FB and ended up regretting it. For one thing, I got exposed to all he shit she reads. Being a DUer, I was accustomed to expressing myself pretty freely, researching the hell out of issues and posting the results-- and it was a very bad mistake in that setting. I learned how to cut off the flow of most of her "tribe." What with one thing and another, however, I ultimately got unfriended by my own daughter.

My granddaughter died of SIDS. Her mother is now a warrior in the battle against vaccinations. My feelings can scarcely be described.

[jberryhill]

10. That's awful

I can’t wrap my head around how frustrating that must be.

[shraby]

12. I'm sorry. Some people are destined to learn the hard way.

[pnwmom]

14. I wondered about that, Hekate.

My sister did die of the vaccine, but she had a classic reaction -- she didn't die months later.

Several hours after the shot, she developed a fever, and the next morning they diagnosed her with encephalitis -- a rare but known side effect.

One of my nieces had her pertussis shot stopped when her fever went over 105, and my son had seizures for a week, so they both had to switch to DT (instead of DPT), which they had with no problems.

Three different pediatricians in three states decided to stop giving our family members the old pertussis vaccine, after children's reactions. I never considered stopping all the vaccines though, even with our family history.

[Hekate]

16. It is absolutely beyond words to lose a child.

[3catwoman3]

32. How sad for all of you, Hekate.

In the pediatric practice I work, when have a fair few anti-vaxx parents. I know my chances of persuading them otherwise are pretty much nil. They definitely are afflicted with confirmation bias.

[pnwmom]

11. How would you like to be my mother in 1960, when her baby died the day after her DPT?

And yet I actually believe in vaccinations -- safe vaccinations, administered carefully.

After my sister received her 2nd DPT shot, she developed encephalitis, a known complication of the vaccine, and died in less than a day. It turned out that my mother had lost a cousin to a DPT vaccine, but the doctor then said it must have been a "bad batch."

So my kids had their vaccinations, but we proceeded cautiously. After they started having serious reactions to the DPT (high fevers in one, seizures in another), our doctor gave them the shot without the P (pertussis). Eventually, when a safer vaccine became available (I think it's called DTaP), they were able to get that without problems.

After my oldest had burning diarrhea with the live polio vaccine (the oral version that the pediatrician gave her), I brought her to the health department to get the shot instead (the killed vaccine). By the time my youngest was born, the FDA was recommending the killed vaccine for all children. I didn't have to make a special trip to the health department for the safer vaccine.

And I spread their shots out more than the usual schedule, so if there was a reaction we could know what they were reacting to.

So if you want to encourage vaccinations, which I do, I don't think the solution is to try to brow-beat nervous parents. It's to make sure the vaccinations are as safe as possible, just like any drug that gets approved.

[Hekate]

15. I think you are a very wise woman. nt

[pnwmom]

17. I'm so sorry about what's happened with your daughter, Hekate.

When I finally heard her story I thought it sounded like SIDS, too, but I realized pretty quickly that she was adamant.

[Hekate]

19. I think one of the lies that's been peddled is that there was no SIDS before vaccines...

My grandmother (my daughter's great grandmother) had two sisters. One of them had 6 children, like grandma -- the other had none. All of Great Aunt Tess's children died in infancy, except one, who lived to be 10 y.o. I got the impression that there were no particular epidemics at fault, no "summer complaint" -- they just died.

I wonder what the hell you call that, beyond hideous luck?

[pnwmom]

21. Well, we KNOW that wasn't true. And they markedly lowered the rate

by one very simple measure -- the "back to sleep" campaign.

The irony is that when my oldest was a baby, the recommendation was to put them to sleep on their stomachs -- which she hated. Every time I'd lay her down she'd start screaming. She only wanted to sleep on her stomach and I'd feel so guilty if I let her.

By the time my third came along, they were recommending putting them to sleep on their backs. He, of course, wanted to be on his stomach . . .

[shraby]

22. I put obituaries of babies on my site who died of what we now call SIDS.

The child didn't wake up from a nap, or was found dead in the cradle. It was "unknown cause".

[shraby]

18. I come from a period of time when the health department came into the schools and

lined each class up and mass vaccinated. I don't remember anyone getting ill from it. The girls were also exposed to the 3 day measles so when we became of child bearing age, We didn't have to worry about getting it and having problems that measles caused to those babies.

It sure beat getting the diseases the vaccinations prevented. Many more died from the disease than ever have from the vaccinations.
Many of the parents of the kids my age had lost at least one child.

I have a cousin who is profoundly deaf from measles. So yes I will continue to rag on people who don't vaccinate their children and put them at a risk far greater.

[pnwmom]

20. Me, too. And bad reactions don't usually happen instantly, so you wouldn't have known.

Also, they are rare, fortunately. But very serious reactions to the old "whole cell" DPT did happen, which is why they finally approved a much safer version.

I was lucky. They came to my kindergarten class and announced that everyone was going to line up and get a shot.

I said no. I insisted on ONLY having a shot by my own doctor, no one else.

One boy and I were holdouts, but he finally agreed to go if the teacher would carry him. Not me. I had to bring a letter home to my parents, telling them what had happened.

Which turned out to be a very good thing.

Because I had had such bad reactions in the past, and my sister had died, my doctor had switched to giving me only half doses of the vaccine. They still caused reactions (my arm would swell so much I couldn't put a coat on), and I'd have a fever for a couple days, but I got through it. My doctor said getting a full dose might have put me in the hospital. Luckily I didn't get one.

[smirkymonkey]

23. We have just had a measles alert here in eastern MA (Lexington)

and people are getting nervous. I remember having all my shots as a child, but there are a lot of young families who have not been vaccinated for one reason or another and the disease is highly contagious. Patient zero has been in the local pool, library, airport and local clinic.

This is very dangerous for young children and pregnant mothers. People really need to take this more seriously.

[jeffreyi]

24. I had measles, a severe case, in third grade.

Messed up my eyesight, but good. I wore coke bottle glasses until I had the Lasik procedure, which has its own issues. I wish the vaccine had been available when I was a kid.

[Hekate]

28. When you read historical novels, you always find the injunction to shut the curtains...

...and keep the kids with measles in the dark. It was well known that measles could harm eyesight, even to blindness.

[llmart]

29. I had both kinds of measles as a child.

When I had the German measles (the worst sort) my mother put me in the darkest room in the house and pulled the blinds. It was one of the only times I remember being taken to a doctor. I was given some cheapie sunglasses to wear home in the car and I thought I was hot stuff!

I have very bad eyesight - very nearsighted for most of my adult life and diagnosed with macular degeneration in my late 50's. I often wonder if that wasn't the reason why.

My niece is an anti-vaxxer and she thinks she knows everything.

[MicaelS]

25. Measles Confirmed in North Texas.

We have our own idiots in North Texas.

The Plano ISD says a student came down with the virus last week.

Health officials say anyone at the school between August 14 and August 16 may have been exposed.

Then there is this:

A seperate case of measles was also reported to the Dallas County Health Department on Thursday.

Health officials there say a person with a confirmed case of measles visited North Texas from August 14 and August 17.

Investigators say this person visited six different locations in Irving, the Courtyard by Marriott DFW North Airport, Mattito's, India 101, Jersey Mike's Subs, InFretta Pizza Wings Bar and Whiskey Cake Las Colinas.

[AlexSFCA]

26. vaccination is not a religion; it works regardless of your beliefs

[Hekate]

27. Anti-vaxxers behave exactly like they have found religion, otoh. nt

[healthnut7]

30. Sad!!

There's been vaccines found so that children will not have endure diseases that killed many children years ago. Yes there is a rare chance something could happen to your child from the vaccine but the odds are very slim. IMO parents are foolish to not go ahead and have them protected.

There is also a chance that your child could die crossing the street, playing ball, swinging on a swing but we still let them do these things. Sorry will never understand any reasons to not do this and watch them suffer from the disease or worse, die.

[Turbineguy]

31. Being a child or a woman

was an extremely dangerous occupation back then.