Whackos

[mountain_hiker]

Some people come up with the nuttiest ideas. I would just get my damn kid vaccinated (if I was ever to have one).

Parents Skip Vaccine, Spread Disease Through Mail(CNN) -- Parents who don't want to give their children the chickenpox vaccine are choosing instead to buy mail-order lollipops already sucked on by sick kids

Comments

[mariechan]

Article says some parents are also trying to obtain measles, mumps, and rubella. Intentionally exposing children to viruses should just be considered straight out child abuse. It's one thing to not vaccinate your children, but it's another to intentionally expose your child to illnesses :/

[object_sleep]

Chicken pox parties have always been pretty common, actually. I'd be more concerned about the shipping diseases in the mail part.

But yeah. Before kids got innoculated for it, parents had chicken pox parties all the time. Otherwise, they'd be susceptible to shingles (which is both waay worse, and can be deadly) later on in life.

[misspaigeb]

Actually I think people are susceptible to shingles after having gotten the chicken pox virus, usually due to a weakened immune system. But getting chicken pox later in life as an adult can be really serious, so that's usually why parents want to expose kids early.

[stormrunner1981]

It can as you get older - particularly if you are in the hospital for long periods or you get an infection. My uncle got shingles recently - but he is fine. I never got inoculated for chicken pox but I was born in 81 and they didn't have it then least not in the states.

It is not deadly if you get it checked (shingles) but it is an irritant. The other viruses though have been out of circulation for ages - parents that don't get them immunized are asking for trouble.

Not to mention its been what 15 years since the chicken pox vaccine came out (after my sister already had them also) meaning its probably LOADS worse then it was...ugh..

[slinkslowdown]

So... what about the mail people handling these packages? Viruses don't just stay put all nice and neat when they're being jostled around and transported like that.

And it can't be legal to knowingly mail something that's infectious--bio-hazard.

ETA: Read the whole article at the link. Good to see that it is illegal to mail that shit. I hope those people get charged.

[everanddespair]

Viruses don't just stay put all nice and neat when they're being jostled around and transported like that.

This. Chickenpox is more dangerous (and possibly lethal) for adults than it is for children! If a Post Office or Fedex employee gets sick and dies from this, those parents should be charged with negligent homicide.

[remix22]

Not only that, but what ELSE are you exposing the child to. Not just the chicken pox (which is air born, not something you can just catch from a lollipop) - but what of hepatitis? Or other dangerous diseases.

[aacchh]

Yeah, this was my thought too. The ick factor is off the charts.

[drowsyfantasy]

So instead of a tiny one-time pinprick, they'd rather have their child DEFINITELY get sick, putting stress on the medical system and paying for it financially and emotionally later on when their children may have scars or permanent disfigurements from diseases we could prevent GENERATIONS ago.

[nikoel]

Exactly! I had chickenpox before there was a vax, but it just seems ludicrous and cruel to seek out a disease to expose your kid to when there is a readily available vaccine for it.

[drowsyfantasy]

It's just so much..."POLIO, HAVE YOU HEARD OF IT" kind of feeling.

Also, the possible side-effects of vaccines are much, much more rare than things like scarring from CP, which is VERY common, especially since young children will. not. stop. scratching! (I know this - I got CP before I could get a vaccine, and I have scars from it).

[nikoel]

I have scars as well as the memories of being in pain. Why subject your child to it if you don't have to?

[crossbow1]

I had a friend fro West Africa in college, and she said this is more or less how it was done there; if one kid got something that they knew you could only get once, everyone would send their kids over to contract it.

Of course, also in college, all foreign students ended up hospitalized when we had a chicken pox outbreak...

[metyldapryde]

Actually, you can get chicken pox more than once, if the first time you had it was a mild case. I gave it to my sister, who then spent several months swapping it back and forth with my brother. I was lucky to have a bad case of it (and several scars which I don't mind), but both siblings had it *several* times.

[hollyleaves]

Besides everybody knows this doesn't even work:

http://www.theonion.com/articles/chicken-pox-lollipops-ineffective,26588/

;-)

[falconwhitaker]

Aw come on! Not all the green ones taste bad! ;-)