CA Gov signs the vaccination bill in to law

[mefordis]

Do insurance companies charge higher premiums to cover someone who isn't vaccinated? I would think this would be an easy step for them to take since insurance companies price based on risk and those that dont vaccinate are at a greater risk for an expensive illness.

As for adult vaccines I remember as a child and teen the doctors office had a schedule of when I should get all my shots and would bring them up and let my parents know when it was time to get them. After I turned 18 besides the one HPV vaccine which I was told about at my OB/gyn none of my doctors ever brought up any vaccines. I haven't had anything in the last 10 years. Flu shot comes up from other choices but I haven't choosen to get that one (I'm young and healthy so the flu won't be too bad if I do get it, I haven't gotten it in years and I don't regularly come into contact with anyone that is high risk (babies, elderly, or immune compromised) if those items change I'll start getting it.

I believe Tetanus (Tdap) is recommended every 10 years. And you should get your flu shot every year to protect the young and elderly, according to the CDC. Here are the CDC recommendations:

http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/schedules/downloads/adult/adult-schedule.pdf

 

[mefordis]

FYI: There is currently a bill recently introduced that would make it a government mandate to have all publicly funded schools in the US to demonstrate full vaccination compliance or not receive funding from the US government.

 

[mefordis]

Do insurance companies charge higher premiums to cover someone who isn't vaccinated? I would think this would be an easy step for them to take since insurance companies price based on risk and those that dont vaccinate are at a greater risk for an expensive illness.

As for adult vaccines I remember as a child and teen the doctors office had a schedule of when I should get all my shots and would bring them up and let my parents know when it was time to get them. After I turned 18 besides the one HPV vaccine which I was told about at my OB/gyn none of my doctors ever brought up any vaccines. I haven't had anything in the last 10 years. Flu shot comes up from other choices but I haven't choosen to get that one (I'm young and healthy so the flu won't be too bad if I do get it, I haven't gotten it in years and I don't regularly come into contact with anyone that is high risk (babies, elderly, or immune compromised) if those items change I'll start getting it.

It doesn't matter how young and healthy you are. You can still spread the flu to the young, elderly and immunocompromised. You get the shot to protect others as well. More people die of the flu each year than any of the other diseases that are vaccinated against.

 

[kamik86]

It doesn't matter how young and healthy you are. You can still spread the flu to the young, elderly and immunocompromised. You get the shot to protect others as well. More people die of the flu each year than any of the other diseases that are vaccinated against.

Which is why I said if I was ever to be around people that were in these categories I would get the shot... still not for me but for them. However I have a job away from the general public. I don't go shopping or out to eat if I feel at all sick. So the chances of me spreading anything seems so slim that I have never seen the point in getting the shot. Plus as I said haven't had the flu in so long I can't even remember... the last time I had it... colds yes but not a flu.

 

[kamik86]

I believe Tetanus (Tdap) is recommended every 10 years. And you should get your flu shot every year to protect the young and elderly, according to the CDC. Here are the CDC recommendations:

http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/schedules/downloads/adult/adult-schedule.pdf

Is tentanus the one that you get in your lower arm and it makes a bubble?

By that schedule I'm actually not doing too bad. I would be about due for a tetanus now (if I"m right on the one that this is... last got that one just before I started college) I have had MMR as a child and it sounds like if I understand the chart right that I wouldn't need it again. so really only missing the varicella one.

Thanks for the list.

Does make me wonder why doctors stay on top of the list for kids so much and tell parents what to give them but don't for adults at all.

 

[mefordis]

Is tentanus the one that you get in your lower arm and it makes a bubble?

By that schedule I'm actually not doing too bad. I would be about due for a tetanus now (if I"m right on the one that this is... last got that one just before I started college) I have had MMR as a child and it sounds like if I understand the chart right that I wouldn't need it again. so really only missing the varicella one.

Thanks for the list.

Does make me wonder why doctors stay on top of the list for kids so much and tell parents what to give them but don't for adults at all.

I think we are going to see a lot more family practitioners on top of those recommendations as the healthy 2020 program is rolled out. We will begin seeing a lot more push for full compliance on adult vaccinations, not just for healthcare workers.

 

[Hrhpd]

I didn't. I didn't know anyone who ever got measles, or pertussis, or polio, or any of those diseases. I did know a bunch of kids who got chicken pox (oddly, I never did). No one got any of the diseases I listed because everyone was vaccinated (except against chicken pox, because that didn't exist yet). So, no one got the diseases they were vaccinated against, and a large percentage did get the one thing they couldn't be vaccinated against. That's my youthful experience. Get vaccine - be safe, don't get vaccine - suffer. Perhaps that explains the difference in our opinions.

You know who else I didn't know? Anyone who had ever been harmed by vaccines in any way. Odd, given that pretty much everyone I know was vaccinated. You'd think if they were at all dangerous something might have shown up. Oh, well.

You know who I did know? A little girl with leukemia. When the chicken pox was going through our town she couldn't see or play with anyone. It was too dangerous for her. So, I can't say back, "If people are okay with their kid being exposed to a potentially deadly disease because of some bad information some quack non-doctors on the internet talk about, fine with me." I can't say that, because it's not fine. Because I do care that their sickened spawn might come across someone like the little girl I knew growing up, and kill her with their ignorance (she died when I was 10, as it was ).

I am in my mid 50's and was vaccinated for measles, mumps, etc. I have also children who have graduated from college. In all those years I have never met anybody who had measles because like you, everybody was vaccinated. It is only in the past few years with the anti-vax movement happening that I have heard of people choosing and not for medical reasons to not vaccinate. Luckily for them the diseases are still under control due to the herd immunity. But once that starts diminishing, I hope they don't live to regret their decisions.

 

[Hrhpd]

FYI: There is currently a bill recently introduced that would make it a government mandate to have all publicly funded schools in the US to demonstrate full vaccination compliance or not receive funding from the US government.

Sounds like a great idea. Hope it passes.

 

[Gracie09]

Is tentanus the one that you get in your lower arm and it makes a bubble?

By that schedule I'm actually not doing too bad. I would be about due for a tetanus now (if I"m right on the one that this is... last got that one just before I started college) I have had MMR as a child and it sounds like if I understand the chart right that I wouldn't need it again. so really only missing the varicella one.

Thanks for the list.

Does make me wonder why doctors stay on top of the list for kids so much and tell parents what to give them but don't for adults at all.

that's a tb test. Tentanus is for "lock jaw". If you step on a nail or something. Its in your upper arm and can be painful the next day. It also made my arm feel heavy if that makes sense.

 

[Hrhpd]

Is tentanus the one that you get in your lower arm and it makes a bubble?

By that schedule I'm actually not doing too bad. I would be about due for a tetanus now (if I"m right on the one that this is... last got that one just before I started college) I have had MMR as a child and it sounds like if I understand the chart right that I wouldn't need it again. so really only missing the varicella one.

Thanks for the list.

Does make me wonder why doctors stay on top of the list for kids so much and tell parents what to give them but don't for adults at all.

No, the one that bubbles is tuberculosis. Tetanus is given in the arm and is recommended every 10 years. Tetanus is a bacterial infection with no cure (only manage symptoms and can be fatal) that you can get from dirty wounds. It sometimes is referred to as lockjaw. http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/tetanus/basics/definition/con-20021956

My PCP goes over my vaccine history during every appointment and reminds me when my tetanus is due.

My son is about to go off to college and his PCP just reminded him that he is due for a Meningitis booster before he goes. In fact, it and all vaccinations are a requirement of his campus. If we opt out, we have to sign a waiver that if there is any instance of any of the vaccinated diseases, whether he was exposed or not, he has to leave campus immediately and cannot return for 3 weeks or until the breakout has been over for 3 weeks. That would wreak havoc on his GPA if he could not attend classes for at least 3 weeks. And there is no refund.

 

[CPT Tripss]

TDAP is really more important for the "P," pertussis, than it is for the "T," tetanus . In part because of antivaxers, pertussis is making a comeback and it is hitting infants and toddlers too young to be vaccinated. Apparently, a person can transmit pertussis without actually being sick with it. DD's OB recommended that all adults that would have regular contact with her baby be vaccinated before she was born. Tetanus isn't contagious and the vaccine can be given shortly after an injury and still be effective.

That "bubble" shot on the lower arm is a diagnostic test, not a vaccination. It protects against nothing.

 

[bcla]

Perfectly true. But even if someone at DL does contract Measles, or another vaccine preventable disease, again the higher the percentage that is vaccinated in a population the harder it is for a case of a disease to jump from person to person. Just like forest fires, the best extinguishing tool there is to remove enough "fuel" to stop the spread.

Sure. That's the "epidemiology exercise I was talking about. I suppose the common term is "herd immunity". However, stopping there from even being a patient zero takes care of everything. It's all a probability exercise.

 

[mom2rtk]

It doesn't matter how young and healthy you are. You can still spread the flu to the young, elderly and immunocompromised. You get the shot to protect others as well. More people die of the flu each year than any of the other diseases that are vaccinated against.

Just curious. Do you get a flu shot every year?

 

[Hrhpd]

I believe Tetanus (Tdap) is recommended every 10 years. And you should get your flu shot every year to protect the young and elderly, according to the CDC. Here are the CDC recommendations:

http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/schedules/downloads/adult/adult-schedule.pdf

Tdap is a combination vaccine with the T being the Tetanus. It also has Pertussis and Diphtheria vaccines combined with it.

You can get a tetanus shot without the pertussis and diphtheria combined in it.

 

[Geoff_M]

TDAP is really more important for the "P," pertussis, than it is for the "T," tetanus . In part because of antivaxers, pertussis is making a comeback and it is hitting infants and toddlers too young to be vaccinated.

To be fair, the major factor of Pertussis outbreaks depends on where you are located. In recent outbreaks in California the issue is more of the effectiveness of the current vaccine due to antigenic "draft" is causing more and more cases among those that are up to date on their shots. The CDC recognizes that the current master seed for the vaccine needs to reworked. But the vaccine still offers protection, just not as well as it should. However, in other places like here in Michigan, outbreaks (There was a big one up in Traverse City last year) are still centered mostly on kids that have not been vaccinated.

 

[leebee]

I'm not sure if the flu vaccine will ever become required for the general public. Flu vaccine is really a roll of the dice, especially as scientists have to determine which strains might be prevalent more than a year in advance. There are many strains of flu, and the genome of most of these mutates constantly. Scientists first have to determine which strains might be active and then need to predict what the probable genome for the anticipated strains might be. They end up making a vaccine to the predicted genetic sequence of the strains they anticipate might be around. Granted, they are usually fairly successful in their predictions, but, for example, by the time the flu hit last winter (2014), "52% of the 85 influenza virus samples collected and analyzed from October 1 through November 22 were different than the virus strains included in this year's vaccine." (http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/04/health/flu-vaccine-mutated-virus/) In other words, this vaccine was useless against more than half of the viruses it was designed to fight. I think it'd be difficult to convince/require people to have a vaccination with an efficacy of only about 50%.

I applaud California. Nobody is REQUIRING your child to be vaccinated, but the child can't go to public school if you refuse to vaccinate. I am in that generation that had no vaccines (with the exception of polio, depending on age, and small pox, which was a requirement for attending public school), so everyone had german measles, measles, mumps, and chicken pox. At the very least, if you contract these diseases, you will be very sick and miserable for about a week. Usually people recover, but these microbes can leave their victims blind, deaf, and scarred, and can cause encephalitis, meningoencephalitis, orchitis, oophoritis, mastitis, spontaneous abortion, and, of course, death, depending on the infection. Several of our older friends either had, or had family members who'd had, polio. Donna spent her life in a wheelchair because polio left her paralyzed, Sally limped all her life, Gene still limps and is losing the use of his feet and legs as he ages. Faced with solid science, it astounds me that people will choose to take the risk of disease and its complications for themselves, their kids, and other people than to have a vaccination.