MetaChat REGISTER   ||   LOGIN   ||   IMAGES ARE OFF   ||   RECENT COMMENTS




artphoto by splunge
artphoto by TheophileEscargot
artphoto by Kronos_to_Earth
artphoto by ethylene

Home

About

Search

Archives

Mecha Wiki

Metachat Eye

Emcee

IRC Channels

IRC FAQ


 RSS


Comment Feed:

RSS

15 October 2009

Kids might have swine flu. Upcoming wedding My brother just called. "Hey, are you guys doing ok? [two of our kids might have swine flue. Mild fevers, aches and pains] Good, because I didn't want to bring [his one-year-old] if you guys were going to be there, because of the H1N1 thing.[More:]

So I said, "Hey, I think there are H1N1 vaccinations in state now."

"Oh," he replies, "He's not around kids much so we're not going to vaccinate him."

So let me get this straight. You're not going to vaccinate your kid, so you called to make sure we were missing the wedding so you could bring your unvaccinated kid?

Lame.

Because you can be contagious for two days prior to symptoms showing, we weren't planning on going anyway, but this is still bothersome.

That is lame I'm afraid.
posted by gomichild 15 October | 19:00
HERD IMMUNITY IS ALL GOOD AS LONG AS I CAN RIDE ON THE BACKS OF THE HERD
posted by scody 15 October | 19:17
That's incredibly lame. And angry-making.
posted by gaspode 15 October | 20:19
Wtf.
posted by sperose 15 October | 21:01
Free-rider syndrome, much? OUCH.

I wish your kids the best, and hope they're up and causing kid-kinda trouble soon.
posted by Elsa 15 October | 21:42
The five-year-old's fever abated and returned, but the 12-year-old has had pretty mild symptoms so far.
posted by craniac 15 October | 22:02
Shortsighted and rude. What a pleasant combo.
posted by rmless2 15 October | 22:21
Get the kid vaccinated. I didn't have a voice and was coughing up green slime for six weeks.
posted by brujita 16 October | 00:37
brujita, unless I'm misunderstanding this quite terribly, it's craniac's sibling's kid who is unvaccinated, so craniac doesn't have any say over that.
posted by Elsa 16 October | 01:18
We vaccinated our two non-sick kids today, the day the vaccine arrived. My brother is the one with the unvaccinated one-year-old. Their only child, and he's adopted, and they are very, very protective.
posted by craniac 16 October | 01:30
Sorry, impress on BROTHER how important it is to get his kid vaccinated. I'm prone to sinus/bronchitis and this was much, much worse.
posted by brujita 16 October | 01:54
It's such a risk. It's really odd to me how people who are (generally) otherwise very skeptical, evidence-based, non-Noodly-Appendage-loving types are suddenly convinced that a century and more of hard medical evidence and statistical argument is meaningless when it comes to their little snowflake. It's a really clear situation: the flu makes people die. Vaccinating people makes less people die. How do you think your way around that obvious fact? Does 1918 really seem so preferable?
posted by Miko 16 October | 09:56
A lot of people don't seem to get that the flu makes people die. They think of it as a severe cold that you'll have for a few days. Or that H1N1 is perhaps more likely to make people die than the usual seasonal flu. So that's problem number one.
posted by grouse 16 October | 10:50
Yeah, I'm going back and forth with a friend of mine who is an OH SO CONCERNED parent (I shouldn't mock, it's good to be concerned) but she is just nutty about worrying about all vaccines, esp the flu shots. I'm trying to tone down my stridency about vaccinations, because noone likes getting told they are wrong (which she IS, GRAGH) but it's difficult.
posted by gaspode 16 October | 11:36
Let me preface this by saying I'm chomping at the bit to get my flu shots. After having had the flu the past couple of years and feeling like it was going to kill me, I'm not going to fool around with H1N1.

However, let me also say that I understand the reluctance about having foreign substances injected into the body, with that hint of "we know what's best for you". A leaflet we got from the state told us that some of the vaccines still contain thimerosal, which while it may not be associated with autism (I think I'm beyond the ago for that), I still may not care for the idea of a mercury compound being injected, and whatever marginal effects it may have. It may be harmless as they say, but remember too how medical opinions flip flop so often. Remember how the dental industry defended mercury amalgam to the hilt, until maybe a decade ago, when they stopped, and started suggesting removal of amalgam fillings? Grrrr. Batstards. And don't get me started on the topic of margerine (yes, I am that old).... So there is something of a lack of trust for the authorities telling us that this is unalloyed good.

However, if people start dropping dead in droves, I'd expect even the most hesitant to line up for their shots. But from what little I've heard about the southern hemisphere's experience with H1N1, somehow I'm not expecting that to happen.

Anyway, get yer shots. I am.

And please forgive me for being more verbose than usual. I just got a new keyboard and I'm trying it out...
posted by DarkForest 16 October | 12:56
My wife is one of THOSE people. . .Mothering Magazine anti-whitemansmedicine types.

I can't even talk immunizations to her anymore. Our kid skipped a few as a tot and then had to get them to get into college, much to her disgust (as in why the fuck was this not done when I was young?).

The argument that you are trading the infinitesimal (but real) risk of a serious reaction for a more protected population is hard to make with these people. What happens is that they are shifting this (infinitesimal) risk to others, and probably getting a free ride, if the majority of people around them are immunized.
posted by danf 16 October | 13:06
Guineas! OMGom-nom-nom-nom! || You cannot resist the dark puppetmaster's hypnotic army of laughing zombies!

HOME  ||   REGISTER  ||   LOGIN