Anti-vax nurses? Are you serious?

Nurses COVID

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We were discussing the Disneryland measles outbreak at work, and I was appalled to find some of my co-workers refuse to vaccinate their kids. They (grudgingly) receive the vaccines they need to remain employed, but doubt their safety/necessity for their kids.

I must say, I am absolutley stunned. How can one be a nurse and deny science?

As a nurse, you should darn well know what the scientific method entails and what phrases such as "evidence based" and "peer reviewed" mean.

I have to say, I have lost most of my respect for the nurses and mistrust their judgement; after all, if they deny science, on what premise are they basing their practices?

Specializes in critical care.
MOST of the immune system is in the gut. Disease begins in the gut. If it is not functioning properly, it's only a matter of time before disease sets in.

Oh, dear god, I give up. I stand by my assertion pages back that I doubt you are a nurse and make no apologies for it. I could possibly believe it if you lost your way in some weird effort to reject scientific advances because nature does it all so much better, but to not actually know basic anatomy, physiology, microbiology and pathophysiology - to not know the most basic principals that keep all of us nurses in a job - absolutely proves to me without a doubt that you are either not a nurse, or you are a relentless troll who is succeeding at your efforts quite well. So I give up.

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Specializes in critical care.
I think I'll stop taking my lithium and geodon to try an elimination diet; what could possibly go wrong?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]17450[/ATTACH]

See!!!!! THIS person TOTALLY understands my sarcasm and crassness!!!!

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Have any of you read what the Cardiologist in Arizona had to say about his kids and the measles vaccine? He is not the only medical professional out there that feels that way.

Ah . . .but he's been discredited.

The resurgence of a seemingly eliminated illness prompted both proponents and detractors of vaccines to voice their viewpoints about the outbreak. One doctor from the latter camp, an Arizona cardiologist named Dr. Jack Wolfson (who bills himself online as "The Paleo Cardiologist" and "The Natural Cardiologist"), appeared on a local Phoenix news segment about the topic which was aired by an NBC affiliate on 22 January 2015.

Dr. Wolfson puzzled many viewers with his opinions that parents should avoid vaccinating their children, common childhood illnesses (such as measles) could be avoided by boosting the immune system in other ways, and children had a "right" to contract such illnesses:

Dr. Wolfson: "We should be getting measles, mumps, rubella, chicken pox, these are the rights of our children to get it," said Dr. Jack Wolfson of Wolfson Integrative Cardiology in Paradise Valley.
:banghead:

Wolfson's comments were puzzling in large part because they're contrary to the advice offered by the overwhelming majority of medical doctors:

Whose facts is he talking about? Every respectable expert totally disagrees with him and his anti-vaccine movement and, along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, urges parents to get their kids vaccinated. And Wolfson himself, who has quickly become something of a spokesman for the anti-vaxxers, is in no way an expert on vaccines or infectious diseases. He's cardiologist who now does holistic medicine.

What the experts say: "The measles vaccine is one of the most highly effective vaccines that we have against any virus or any microbe, and it is safe, number one," Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said. "Number two, measles is one of the top two most contagious infectious viruses that we know of ... So you have a highly infectious virus and you have an extraordinarily effective vaccine."

Then there are the critics. Of which there are many. "I'll be sending a copy of your highly irresponsible and reckless comments to the Arizona Medical Board for review," one said. "As a pediatrician who has seen unvaccinated children die from vaccine preventable diseases and also seen whooping cough go through my practice area in 2013 thanks to declining vaccination rates, you do not deserve to hold a license to practice medicine in AZ."

The above from snopes.com but there are many other sources.

snopes.com: Arizona Cardiologist Responds to Critics Regarding Measles and Vaccines

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Specializes in Anesthesia.

The simple answer is if you don't believe in vaccines and western/allopathic medicine then you have no reason to be a nurse.

Do the rest of us nurses a favor and go do something else and stop making the rest of nurses look bad.

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To me, as a person who had measles and felt like death, I feel that the antivaccine movement is like having an anti-car seat movement. There is much evidence to show the benefits of vaccines as there is for child car seats. Avoiding vaccines because of the very rare, but realistic complications (Gulliane-Barre or anaphylaxis) is analogous to not using a car seat because your kid may not get out in time if the vehicle burns. The evidence says the benefits far outweigh the risks. As far as autism, there just isn't any evidence of a link, only emotion. I am not minimizing having an autistic child. It must be devastating. It would be terrible for other kids to suffer disability or even death due to a fear not supported by fact.

You can certainly choose not to vaccinate. However, you have no right to put others at risk. In PA, we have cyber school. If you do not want vaccines for your kids out of choice, there is your alternative. Personally, I will put my trust in someone like Dr. Paul Offut and leave Jennie McCarthy to posing naked and Dr. Wakefield to taking his place in history as a fraud. For those Catholics who link the rubella vaccine to aborted fetuses, you are correct. However, many prominent theologans, still support vaccination for the benefits it offers. http://www.immunize.org/concerns/furtonarticle.pdf

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Specializes in critical care.

Twice in my short little career, I've met people who have gotten GB. One was totally random, no vaccination in recent history. The other, I just met yesterday. Trach/vent dependent due to paralysis of her diaphragm. (She had GB years ago and was a rare anomaly to have this permanent complication.) She had had vaccination right beforehand.

I'm genuinely curious - is there actually science linking GB with vaccination? Because it seems a rather random conclusion to me. If people get it without exposure to vaccine ingredients, why would it happen because of them?

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Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.
She had GB years ago ...

What year was this?

[h=3]What happened in 1976 with GBS and the swine flu vaccine?[/h]In 1976 there was a small increased risk of GBS following vaccination with an influenza vaccine made to protect against a swine flu virus. The increased risk was approximately 1 additional case of GBS per 100,000 people who got the swine flu vaccine. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) conducted a thorough scientific review of this issue in 2003 and concluded that people who received the 1976 swine influenza vaccine had an increased risk for developing GBS. Scientists have multiple theories on why this increased risk may have occurred, but the exact reason for this association remains unknown.

It is important to keep in mind that severe illness and death are associated with influenza, and vaccination is the best way to prevent influenza infection and its complications.

Guillain-Barr

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Specializes in critical care.
What year was this?

Guillain-Barr

2009ish.

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

Watch how the measles outbreak spreads when kids get vaccinated – and when they don't | US news | The Guardian

This is a great graphic, If I can get it to come through....

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There are a handful of irresponsible medical doctors who peddle vaccine misinformation and whom the media keep throwing on the air or into print to give the "other side" of the vaccine issue. For example, there is the lunatic osteopath Jack Wolfson, who told The Arizona Republic that diseases like measles are nature's way of building up the immune system: "We should be getting measles, mumps, rubella, chickenpox; these are the rights of our children to get it."

OK, Jack, interesting point of view ya got there.

Normally we would quietly leave Jack in a corner to rant to himself, but he and an exceedingly tiny handful of his nutball doctor friends have been showing up in the media spewing nonsense at parents for many years

"Normally we would quietly leave Jack in a corner to rant to himself . . . . .":up:

Yeah, Jack has major credibility problems. :sarcastic:

There is no other side to the vaccine debate - Chicago Tribune

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Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.
"Normally we would quietly leave Jack in a corner to rant to himself . . . . .":up:

Yeah, Jack has major credibility problems. :sarcastic:

There is no other side to the vaccine debate - Chicago Tribune

It is so irresponsible when the media presents "both sides" in cases where there is no other side. When they do that the wackos get equal time and it send a message that there IS a debate when there isn't.

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