This outbreak is demonstrating two things - disease outbreaks happen in "pockets" of unvaccinated children, and, those "pockets" are often found in Waldorf/Steiner oriented institutions (for a comprehensive critical introduction into Anthroposophy, read the three part series on DC's Improbable Science blog). Indeed, the last whooping cough outbreak I personally saw was in the Steiner Kindi in two streets down from where we lived in Germany. The daycare director interpreted the outbreak as "the children seeking disease, because they needed a break" and proposed to close the Kindi for three weeks (a plan curbed by the working moms whose children attending the facility had been vaccinated and were just fine). What a break that was, with several children needing a 3 week residential rehab to learn how to breathe normally again... I'd rather pay money for a break than health, but that may be just me.
Similarly, quite impressive measles outbreaks in (mostly German speaking) countries have started in Steiner schools and Kindergartens and were sometimes specifically centered around Anthroposophical doctors with an
The good news is that school and parents are complying with the suggested quarantine and/or treatment measures to limit transmission. Hopefully, some of them will research the "crunchy, holistic" philosophy behind their school and their vaccine refusal a bit more carefully, too.
How tragic. I hope none of the affected children had infant siblings, who are very much at risk of death from pertussis.
ReplyDeleteThis isn't tragic: it's entirely preventable. This is faith-based belief in action. And it is not benign. Respecting the rights of others to exercise their ignorance (I don't believe vaccinations are worth the risk to my child) by putting all of us at unnecessary greater risk can (and does) cause irreparable harm to the health and welfare of others for the luxury of some to exercise their own stupidity.
ReplyDeleteWhen Seth Mnookin linked to the Roanoke Times article, I read the whole thing expecting some reference to Blue Mountain as a Waldorf School. In fact, the word "Waldorf" is conspicuous by its absence in the newspaper article. A minute's Googling, however, turns up the connection -- points to you!
ReplyDeleteMore generally, isn't it revealing that nowadays when you read the words "pertussis" and "school" in close proximity, you can be reasonably sure that "Waldorf" is not far behind?
Please excuse my telegraphic style. I meant to ssy "Extra bonus points to Just the Vax for correctly calling out the Waldorf schools as vaccine-refusal enablers."
ReplyDeleteThe first time I heard of this problem, it was through Arthur Allen's excellent article on Boulder's Shining Mountain Waldorf School. I still don't know if the naming is a coincidence, or if "Mountain" names are a Waldorf theme. What I do know is that Boulder still has a high rate of pertussis, and that the Steiner organization refuses to accept any responsibility for its schools serving as foci of infection.
another reminder: 100 measles cases in Ghent, Belgium are mostly infants too young to be vaccinated and pupils of anthroposophical schools http://bit.ly/hUDjwU
ReplyDeleteproud to be crunchy
ReplyDeleteI am also crunchy, but I know and respect science. So my family is vaccinated.
ReplyDeleteAnon - crunchy is perfectly alright, but I prefer crunchy and healthy to crunchy and coughing your lungs out for 8 weeks (and yes, anthroposophically raised unvaccinated children *will* do that when they catch pertussis). Don't you like your kids healthy?
ReplyDeletePertussis is no joke. A lot of adults need to get boosters for it, especially now that too many are refusing to immunize their children.
ReplyDeleteWe had several adults fall ill with pertussis at our neighborhood dharma center. They didnt know they needed boosters. All of them were convalescent for at least 3 months, and said that the symptoms were similar to having a persistant cold.
By the time they each realized they had been ill for far too long, their lungs were trashed. So even after correct DX and antibiotic treatment, they were still dragging ass long after they'd cleared the germ from their systems.
And while infected, they could unknowingly have passed the bug on to anyone immune compromised--something none of them would have wanted to do.
Its a damn tragedy. The anti vaccine people have the luxury of indulging their whims because so few of us remember the horrors of the days when infectious diseases were not preventable.
Note: I didnt fall ill, only because I recently had had influenza and pneumonia. On my physicians advice, I re-upped all my boosters, including whooping cough. Without that, I could have been another of the adult cases.
BTW influenza nearly killed me. Am only too happy to get my yearly flu shot.
Keep blogging.
And that scientist was right--once you scare people with bad science, its nearly impossible to 'unscare' them.
PS If you have never had chickenpox in childhood, get a blood test to see if you are varicella antigen positive.
ReplyDeleteIf not, you need to get immunized against chickenpox. And you need to have the booster reupped after several years.