CDC HAS LOST CONTROL: DAVID KIRBY
David Kirby's latest HuffPo piece on the CDC's "loss of control" over the vaccines debate is HERE.
...the CDC now issues a written statement meant to soothe jittery parents, by saying that "the recommended vaccine schedule is flexible." Such decisions, the friendly announcement said, "are best made in consultation with the child's doctor, and parents shouldn't be reluctant to have such discussions."
Of course parents shouldn't be reluctant to have this discussion, but they are. I get nasty emails from some pediatricians, and the number-one complaint I get from them is that, because of peole like me, they must now "waste" (their word, not mine) precious billing hours talking to layperson parents about vaccine science.
These doctors' hostility is palpable, (and they hopefully represent a minority of pediatricians). And while I cannot imagine ever consulting anyone of such temperment for medical care in the first place, many parents are simply cowed into silence. For them, the CDC suggestion to ask vaccine safety questions at a well-baby visit is laughable, if not risible.
If the vaccination schedule is "flexible", then I'd prefer my children to wait to get vaccinated until they're 120 years old.
Posted by: Linda Girard | April 13, 2008 at 11:40 AM
New warning disclaimer on every vaccine: Carcinogenesis, Mutagenesis, and Impairment of Fertility: No studies have been done
Posted by: Dawn | April 05, 2008 at 11:39 AM
Well, a huge part of the problem is that if you know enough to ask a ped. about vaccines, then you probably know more than they do anyway.
We don't do many typical dr. visits, but my never-vacc'd dd had a wheezy cough for over a month, so I finally just made an appt. with a ped. from our insurance list. I did not plan to mention her vaccine status at all, but the he inevitably asked. I said that because her older brother had a severe reaction to vaccines, we preferred to work on providing her with a strong immune system rather than vaccinating. That bozo said "The immune system doesn't have anything to do with infectious disease." Uh - really???? He then said he didn't feel comfortable treating a child who hadn't been vaccinated.
He ended up giving us a script for antiobiotics (what else do they do??), I never filled it, and she got over her cough shortly after anyway.
Why oh why would I want to ask *him* to educate *me* on vaccines???
Posted by: SAM | April 04, 2008 at 04:46 PM
Thank you, David, for giving us parents and conscientious journalists and pediatricians everywhere a one-stop shoppping experience on why the studies "they" keep citing are bullsh%#! As always, you take the cake...
Posted by: Theresa | April 04, 2008 at 04:39 PM
Given that the pediatricians aren't there to provide consent when it comes to vaccinations, just assure that they get done, why would they want to explain them? (Just a thought....)
Posted by: Sandy Gottstein | April 04, 2008 at 03:04 PM
I "discussed' vaccinations at my child's last visit. She got the product inserts to show me that there was no mercury. I deeply enjoyed the pause in her voice as she read aloud all the other toxic ingredients. My child didn't get the vaccines but the doctor's office charged my insurance $300 anyway. When I complained their response was, well you don't owe us anything!
Posted by: L Land | April 04, 2008 at 03:02 PM
It's not the parents who are reluctant to have the discussions. It's the pediatricians who are reluctant to have these discussions. Sorry if we're wasting your precious time doc. Would you consider it to be a waste of your time to explain to me a surgical procedure, the risks and benefits of such even though it has "proven" to be a safe and effective procedure? I think not. So why is it a waste of your time to explain vaccination to parents? Isn't it your job to provide informed consent?
Posted by: Angela Warner | April 04, 2008 at 02:32 PM