Michele Bachman’s Candidacy is Now Over

Michele Bachman has decided to use the Gardasil issue to hammer Governor Perry on.  While I am in full agreement with the congresswoman on the fact he did this by executive order.  Bad governor, bad.  I am also in agreement to point out the fact that he received some financial benefit from Merck, the manufacturer of the vaccine, in the form of campaign contributions.  What I don’t agree with is her continued claims that the vaccine caused at least one case of mental retardation. 

In her latest statement during a presser today she says:

 “All I was doing is relaying what a woman had said, I relayed what she said. I wasn’t attesting to her accuracy. I wasn’t attesting to anything.”

This is disturbing on quite a few levels.  She is admitting that she didn’t bother to fact check this statement before she made it. 

I realize that there are many people in our country that have very strong feelings against vaccines.  I personally was talking to a woman last week who told me that flu shots are designed to kill you slowly, so she refuses to get one.  Jenny McCarthy has been very outspoken about her belief that her son’s autism was a result of his childhood vaccines.  But the fact remains that people who believe this are considered to  be on the “fringe”.  Most people in this country will need a great deal more proof before they jump on the no vaccine bandwagon.  I am making no judgement either way.  But, the no vaccine crowd is considered a fringe group. 

I live in a state where Gardasil is “mandatory”.  The reason that is made mandatory is so that it will be covered by most insurance policies.  There is an opt out for the parents.  The numbers in this state have shown that most parents are not getting the vaccine.  Less than 20% of parents in Virginia have decided to give the shot to their child.  I personally believe that an opt out is the way to go.  It gives parents the choice. 

Congresswoman Bachmann making the statement was bad enough, but she kept repeating it for days and refusing to back away from the comment gives me a great deal of pause about what type of leader she will be.  I like most of the Congresswoman’s message.  I have met her on a few occasions and she was very gracious.  But that isn’t enough.  We are at a crossroads in this country.  The next election quite literally will be deciding which way this country decides to go.  Are we going to become a nation where more and more people are dependent on the government, or are going to start the long road back to constitutional principles? 

This country is in desperate need of a strong leader with principles.  One that can admit when things are not working and change course.  Congresswoman Bachmann has shown she is not that leader.  It is time for her to wrap it up and get back to her job as congresswoman.

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Pertussis vaccine: It’s what you know that ain’t so

Writing for City Journal, Paul Howard and James R. Copland examine The Whooping Cough’s Unnecessary Return. This is interesting:

Parental concerns about vaccine safety are mostly wrongheaded. Plaintiffs’ lawyers, eager to translate junk science into jury awards, have long spread misinformation about the dangers of vaccination. They’ve been especially successful among the affluent and well-educated, presumably because those groups have greater access to vaccine pseudoscience. [emphasis added]

No surprise there. We all know pseudo-educated adults who pick up bits of information here and there, accept what fits with their prejudices, fears, and superstitions, and never, ever seem to question the source or examine the evidence. This is a failure (one among many) of our so-called educational system, as well as a tribute to the human propensity to believe what one wants to believe. Objectivity is something that doesn’t come naturally to most humans. It needs to be taught and practiced.

But ignorance can be deadly. The very young are more likely to die from pertussis and have done so in California and elsewhere. Even among the vaccinated, immunity (never 100%) wanes over time. A vaccine for kids 11 and older, and for adults, is available.

Related, also in City Journal: The Virus of Hysteria, a review of the book, Deadly Choices: How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All, by Paul A. Offit.

Also related, our own run-in with pertussis last spring.

Whooping it up, coast to coast

But not in a fun way. This is OT but might be news you can use.

Whooping cough, a.k.a. pertussis, may be on the rise. LA Times:

In California, there have been 584 cases of whooping cough, also known as pertussis, confirmed between Jan. 1 and May 31. That is three times as many cases as during the same time period last year, when 190 cases were confirmed, according to Ken August, a spokesman for the state’s Department of Public Health.

The illness can cause adults to experience severe spasms of coughing that, if left untreated, can last three or four months. Infants are most vulnerable, as infection can cause death.

And here on the opposite coast, my vaccinated children are taking turns whooping. I spent most of yesterday finagling antibiotics for everyone in the house. It was harder than it should have been, considering that my daughter’s test came back positive.

Antibiotics will kill the bacteria, keeping the disease from spreading, and may mitigate symptoms if caught early, but nothing has been found that will treat the full-blown cough, which may last for weeks or even months. In the paroxysmal phase, coughing often ends in breathlessness, choking, and vomiting. The pertussis vaccine is nowhere near 100% effective and the immunity it confers wanes over time. A booster is now available for older kids and adults.

More fun facts: One test for pertussis involves sticking a swab way, way up your nose. (My kids submitted like troopers. I couldn’t watch.) The culture can take up to 14 days to grow, which allows plenty of time for more people to get infected.

I suspect that part of the uptick in recorded cases in CA is due to increased awareness among doctors. I’ve talked to a few lately and only one was well-versed on the illness. In my experience, except in a publicized outbreak as in California, pertussis isn’t on the radar of most medical professionals. They’re looking for asthma, bronchitis, croup, hay fever, and pneumonia. But not pertussis. They may have never tested for it or treated it. Since people with pertussis appear well when they aren’t coughing, and in the early stages seem to have nothing more than a common cough or cold, they are unlikely to get tested. The magic words are “known exposure.” That gets the doctor’s attention.

Forewarned is forearmed.

Read all about pertussis here.