I would really love....

Gotta be careful, Farawyn- those snowflakes break real easy! (I just had my lunch and now I'm full of sarcasm and pep again)

GOOD!

I think THIS is the place to voice your frustration, if anywhere. And, quite simply, they are wrong.

Hahaha AGREED!!

Grossssss!

Yeah, it's gonna be interesting trying to keep myself together for those sessions. I'm kind of at the point where I just can't deal with it anymore- give me the official paperwork for my files, and if your kid winds up in the hospital, thoughts and prayers for the vaccine-preventable illness.

I got my head taken off after a woman commented on a fellow nurse's wall that she didn't care if she lived or died when she had the flu and was against flu shots. I said that it is not fair to judge her intellect by one comment and I really didn't know her at all, but her comment sounded like something a Darwin Award winner would say. I got blasted.

I got my head taken off after a woman commented on a fellow nurse's wall that she didn't care if she lived or died when she had the flu and was against flu shots. I said that it is not fair to judge her intellect by one comment and I really didn't know her at all, but her comment sounded like something a Darwin Award winner would say. I got blasted.

See. They're vicious! And there's no reasoning with them. If you don't agree with them, you clearly can't be civil!

Because I like my head where its at: on my shoulders! plus, bashing them would be like treading water...I can do it, but it would be a whole bunch of no fun and the water would still be there when I'm done. Plus, then I'd be exhausted. Ain't nobody got time for that!

That's the best explanation I've heard for why NOT to argue, and it can apply to almost any situation!

Debate is one thing, but when you know it will turn into an argument ... THIS!

I had a call last week where a parent wanted to tx his child into my school but only if I would accept his religious exemption that a neighboring school would not. Then went on to tell me that he got his middle school child 1 of the 2 mandatory vaccines and then started researching and then had some sort of religious epiphany (like realizing that he could claim religious exemption). He then tried to debate the usefulness of vaccines with me. The topper - and i mean i was lookin around the office for the hidden candid camera - was him asking if he could read me the letter. Uh no. You can come in and register your child. Prove residency and i'll review your records just like all the rest.

Just an FYI, I'm not bashing anti-vaxxers. I'm fully capable of accepting others with opposing views on vaccines. Just a little confused on the sudden change....just so ya know

Nothing wrong with bashing anti-vaxxers. They place our entire population at risk through their sheer stupidity. Bash away.

We had a nursing faculty member state last week that "there are many studies linking MMR and autism", also seemed to be completely unaware that Dr. Andrew Wakefield had been completely stripped of his medical license.

I just keep my head down and mouth shut. Debate from nursing students isnt well received.

Why are you NOT bashing anti vaxxers?

As with many factions in our country today, presentation of facts (seen by many snowflakes as "bashing") makes their resolve even stronger...

Aren't 7th graders aged out of the, "DTAP made my kid autistic" window?

Got a response to an email I sent to a parent with a hard deadline to present vaccination records: "Hi Ms. Keeper, we no longer believe in vaccinations...."

OK, if there can be an ellipses patrol, can I be the grammar police for a minute? I know what she meant was she doesn't believe her children should receive vaccinations, but you can't not believe in vaccinations. I mean, they are right there in the little bottles with the rubber stoppers and annoying foil caps. Stuck in people's arms. Irrefutable. It's not like not believing in Santa Claus.

Maybe write her back and offer hard evidence that vaccines do in fact exist?

Sorry. It's late.

Not a school nurse, I just lurk here because you guys are awesome. Here is my two cents, which is sort of long-winded.

I'm a CNM who works with a relatively "crunchy" patient population that includes a large number of anti-vaxxers (to be clear, CNMs as a whole support vaccines and don't always take care of anti-vaxxing hippies, I just happen to currently). I'm also a mom and belong to a large Facebook group for moms in my city. Based on my job and my observations from Facebook, I have a hypothesis: just like we can likely blame Facebook for creating a warped, misinformed, easy to deceive, and generally anti-truth society where a lunatic like Donald Trump could actually get elected president of the United States, I hold Facebook largely responsible for the giant uptick in anti-vaxxers in the last decade or so. Pictures of "vaccine injured" children or stories about autism or just straight up lies get posted as memes and go viral and PEOPLE BELIEVE THEM. Mob mentality ensues. Ridiculous debates get started and get more heated and ultimately go nowhere and accomplish nothing but making everyone more stubborn in their beliefs. Groups with people with separate but also crunchy interests (namely, the essential oil craze) become linked---nowadays, I swear every person I meet who is into/sells essential oils (which are also growing like crazy in my area) has become anti-vaccine. Many of these people have children they previously vaccinated, it's just like if you join their club, you have to drink their Kool-Aid and start shunning vaccines. It's almost "hip." There's a real persecution complex that goes along with it too---"Oh, everyone attacks us even though we're the ones who really see the light," and that bonds the group together. Also, the fact that some EO pyramid scheme people are actually making a lot of money makes their friends want to jump on the bandwagon for the money, and so they jump on the ideology bandwagon too.

I can't completely explain it, it still doesn't make sense, but it's my opinion based on personal anecdotes as someone who is around a lot of anti-vaxxers---namely, I blame Facebook and essential oil pyramid schemes for seriously contributing to the problem. As with Trump, I have no idea what the answer is or how to make people see reason. I'm at a loss with humanity lately. My hat is off to all of ya'll who take care of vulnerable kids with crappy parents day in and day out.