Diphtheria, a once vanquished killer of children, is resurgent

Considering many (most?) countries such as the UK, Germany, Australia, Spain, etc. don’t vaccinate healthy children for COVID because there’s basically no reason to, which presumably the doctor knows, he probably wasn’t disappointed. Having a blanket policy of vaccinating healthy children against COVID, especially now, was a terrible ideologically-driven idea that almost certainly drove more people to be antivaxers.

Haha you guys are funny. We went along with every one that he recommended. Just a straightforward Yes To All. The COVID vaccine wasn't on the list. No manual opt-out. There's a manual opt-in but I'm fine with things as they stand.

I should have known better than to mention that. For obvious reasons this one virus is a bit of a politicized subject and activates the outrage machine.

I've got no problem with our paediatrician. Rather like him, if I'm being honest. Wouldn't be going back for every subsequent appointment if I did have a problem. The "long lecture" bit is more affectionate than complaining.

"I'm not like those vaccine hesitant people, I just hesitated about a vaccine!"

Everything you listed are tail risks of COVID, even in individuals with comorbidities, and are far more characteristic of the early strains than what’s circulating today. The only exception in your list of side effects is myocarditis, which is also a side effect of the COVID vaccine. Furthermore, the vaccine’s target population is individuals over 65 years old, immunocompromised individuals, obese individuals… not newborns or infants.

Alarmism, militant shaming, and omission of details like the ones I mentioned above are three strategies that steer vaccine hesitant people away from taking vaccine advocates seriously. Personally, I would raise concerns about anything but COVID and ease up on the Newspeak.

In healthy children the chances of any of that happening are effectively 0, and while vaccine injuries and significant side effects are rare in their case it might actually be more likely. That’s why very few countries other than the US ever vaccinated healthy children, especially post-pandemic.

Almost literally everyone has and will continue to get COVID at this point. Not vaccinating your child, or all of the children in the US, won’t prevent that. I don’t know a single person that hasn’t had it, vaccinated or not. So, your child gets the vaccine. They’re then, what, maybe 50% less likely to get COVID for 6 months? Not exactly moving the needle as far as community transmission goes. This isn’t 2021 anymore.

If we had a better, longer lasting vaccine you might have an argument. Very, very few parents are going to do the COVID vaccine for their child every year. At the very least you’re risking them picking up something more serious just by going to a clinic or pharmacy to get it.

Covid was literally 10x more dangerous than the vaccine for those without comorbidities, but it's played out now. The vaccine is about as effective as a flu jab.

You are incorrect and are harming public trust in vaccination with your comments.

COVID-19 vaccines are no longer indicated for most healthy children (or most healthy young adults) in most jurisdictions as the risk benefit analysis no longer supports it.

[dead]

Haha, I can simultaneously try to minimize neither kinds of food nor number of friends while minimizing number of medical interventions. I suppose to some people all three of these must either go down or all three must go up, but I think I can move the three for my child in different directions with different intensity.

Repeat after me: Any medical intervention has a cost/benefit analysis.

Pity you got whacked. I think people read the "you will survive even getting the disease" and assumed you were anti-vax when the reasoning is second order: if the First World won't use these drugs it signals danger to those who don't have the tools to independently verify.

An interesting angle, though I wouldn't say I agree. As one example, I believe all of us in India routinely receive the BCG vaccine against TB right after birth. It's not routinely done in the US (unless I'm wrong and don't remember it). The US choosing not to do it doesn't make Indian people want to not get it.

More likely, there's something else that's making people worried about the standard vaccines.

> From a scientific PoV, vaccine rejection in the West is pretty much unjustifiable according to mainstream medicine. But the not-worst-case, fairly bad outcome is kinda manageable. Your child gets measles, is probably OK, but if not, goes to an expensive hospital and will probably be fine. Even without vaccinations, it's probably not a life or death scenario. I'm not saying it's good, only that the price tag is likely low.

What an incredibly selfish point of view. Both for ignoring the risks of measles in your own child, and more importantly, for completely leaving out of the equation the likelihood that they will spread it to someone who for medical reasons cannot be vaccinated or for whom the virus is even more dangerous.