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A small but increasing number of children in the United States are not getting some or all of their recommended vaccinations. The percentage of children under 2 years old who haven't received any vaccinations has quadrupled in the last 17 years, according to federal health data released Thursday.
Overall, immunization rates remain high and haven't changed much at the national level. But a pair of reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about immunizations for preschoolers and kindergartners highlights a growing concern among health officials and clinicians about children who aren't getting the necessary protection against vaccine-preventable diseases, such as measles, whooping cough and other pediatric infectious diseases.
The vast majority of parents across the country vaccinate their children and follow recommended schedules for this basic preventive practice. But the recent upswing in vaccine skepticism and outright refusal to vaccinate has spawned communities of undervaccinated children who are more susceptible to disease and pose health risks to the broader public.
[...] The data underlying the latest reports do not explain the reason for the increase in unvaccinated children. In some cases, parents hesitate or refuse to immunize, officials and experts said. Insurance coverage and an urban-rural disparity are likely other reasons for the troubling rise.
Among children aged 19 months to 35 months in rural areas, about 2 percent received no vaccinations in 2017. That is double the number of unvaccinated children living in urban areas.
(Score: 0, Offtopic) by jasassin on Friday October 12 2018, @07:13AM (4 children)
I haven't had a flu vaccine in five years and haven't had the flu since stopping. Whereas, when I got it I'd get the flu every year.
jasassin@gmail.com GPG Key ID: 0xE6462C68A9A3DB5A
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by ledow on Friday October 12 2018, @09:00AM (1 child)
You know that the flu vaccine gives you flu, right? That's how it works. It's gives you a symptomatic flu at the time you have it, that's less symptomatic than the real flu.
Also, you know there are dozens, if not hundreds, of flu types and you were only ever vaccinated against 5 or so each time, and probably a different 5 each year, which is why you "get" one of them every time.
What you didn't get was a flu that laid you up for a week.
Flu vaccines are not designed to STOP you getting all possible flus. That's not how they work, or could ever work. They are designed to make your body ready for them by... giving them a mini-flu.
Do you think your years of non-flu might also be affected by the fact that you're immune to several strains of them now?
(P.S. I've never had a flu vaccine and am rarely ill in any capacity. My workplace keep telling me that I've not had a day off sick since I started here 5 years ago, my previous workplace was the same for 5 years before that. It doesn't *prove* anything. Just that you have a better immune system or didn't come into significant contact with a flu virus.)
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 12 2018, @12:14PM
The injected influenza vaccine uses inactivated virus and does not infect you with virus. There is only one influenza vaccine that contains an attenuated virus and it is the intranasal vaccine.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inactivated_vaccine [wikipedia.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attenuated_vaccine [wikipedia.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenza_vaccine#Injection_versus_nasal_spray [wikipedia.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_attenuated_influenza_vaccine [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 12 2018, @12:23PM (1 child)
Which diagnostic test did you use to confirm that it was influenza?
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Saturday October 13 2018, @03:30AM
There are a very few people who react to flu vaccine with symptoms like even-worse-flu.(A friend suffers from this.) I take this to mean they have hyperactive immune systems -- but might be at even worse risk if never vaccinated at all, thus:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cytokine_release_syndrome [wikipedia.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_flu [wikipedia.org]
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.