Comments on: Dana McCaffery

By: Ari B

Ari B — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 05:12:55 +0000

Just got a TDAP last week because of my two-week-old daughter at home. My wife’s getting her jab in a few weeks, before she goes back to work as a schoolteacher…

By: cuz chris

cuz chris — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 07:33:31 +0000

cuz it aint fair,
we lost twins to the 1919 pandemic and then family to other issues then dana to a disease that can be avoided

this sucks

cuzin chris

By: The Believer’s Brain – Vicki Green & Amy Allbright | Thinking Critically

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 12:55:02 +0000

[...] Amy, No I do not work for any pharmaceutical company nor do I own stock in any. And according to every single peer-reviewed, published study (except for the discredited Wakefield one) there is no link. You are correct that many people who do not get vaccinated will be fine and not get sick. To say that this somehow proves vaccinations does not work shows you don’t understand vaccinations. I’d suggest learning more about vaccinations and how they have eradicated diseases such as polio and smallpox. And you are also correct that some vaccines have side effects. And if you did the research you’d see that the small percentage of people who have these side effects is minimal when compared to the larger numbers saves from such diseases as pertussis. I’m curious how you’d explain to the parents of a child who died from such a disease in “the developed world” how vaccination for this disease is unnecessary. http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2010/02/04/dana-mccaffery/ [...]

By: Ryan Gerber

Ryan Gerber — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 01:30:21 +0000

I’m a paramedic in the West Kootenays, and I’m allergic to the pertussis vaccine, so I’m really not happy about this news. It wouldn’t kill me, but it wouldn’t be much fun.

By: Jeff Keogh

Jeff Keogh — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 20:40:28 +0000

Warning, Will Robinson, warning!

As was probably to be expected, the foul Dorey person has gone bleating to the buffoons at Age of Autism. See http://www.ageofautism.com/2010/02/australian-vaccination-network-asks-for-your-support.html

There it is requesting financial aid to prevent the AVN from folding. (My use of the third person impersonal pronoun is not an error). Does anyone know if AoA has enough of a following to be able to scrape together some funding for the AVN?

Cheers,
Jeff

PS. If there were are particularly bad flu season in Australia one year of a strain that had been included in that season’s flu shot, would it therefore be correct to refer to that flu as the ‘AVN flu’? (Baboom-tish)

By: PJE

PJE — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 06:28:40 +0000

That was one seriously adorable looking child and that picture is actually really, really nice. Just thought I’d share

Pete

By: Party Cactus

Party Cactus — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 05:48:48 +0000

And people wonder why there are those who go on and on and on against irrationality, denialism, magical thinking, ect. When you close your eyes to the real world, literally or metaphorically, whether you’re walking toward a cliff with your eyes closed or promoting preventable disease by replacing vaccines with woo, bad stuff happens, and not necessarily to you. Maybe, if people see this, and realize that anti-vaccine is pro-disease, and work to prevent this sort of thing from happening ever again, maybe we can make a needless and senseless death just a little less pointless.

By: David McCaffery

David McCaffery — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 04:23:10 +0000

Michel,

We believe in vaccination. My whole family are all vaccinated for pertussis, and everything else. And Dana would have been too, if she’d been given the opportunity. Did you read Phil’s comments (@ 1) at the top of this post?

Babies don’t receive their first dose of pertussis vaccination until 2 months of age. Dana was 2 weeks old when she contracted whooping cough. Too young to be vaccinated. She died 2 weeks later, terribly.

My wife & I went public to raise awareness of the deadly pertussis epidemic in our country, especially in our local area and the need for vaccination.

Read this @ http://www.danamccaffery.com/

Your lack of respect (or awareness) has really hurt my family, especially on the day that would have been Dana’s 1st birthday.

Phil???!!!

By: Julio Vannini

Julio Vannini — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 01:59:23 +0000

As a parent, I sympathize with David and Toni: your loss is tragic and sad, and as many people have said, it is very hard to lose a child and you are a example of strength, courage and love.

As someone that DOES believe in vaccination: Dana’s testimony is the clear example about why we should continue our fight! My children have been all vaccinated and will continue receiving their shots as time comes.

Dr. Plait: thanks for keeping us up to date with all of this. I’ve posted a reference to your article in my Blog.

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 21:40:02 +0000

dcsohl:

Michel, Dana was too young to be vaccinated. Her parents would’ve vaccinated her when she got to the appropriate age (six months, if I recall correctly).

The first DTaP is given at two months, and then there are few more to complete the series. The child is still vulnerable until they have completed the series, when they are just over a year old.

Unfortunately, the vaccine is not 100% effective. It is somewhere between 80% to 95% effective (depending on which population is part of the study, there are only a bit over 500 hits on PubMed). It also does not last forever, so boosters are required (those looking for the adult version, just call and ask where you can get a tetanus booster and then ask if it is the Tdap, or ask for the Tdap!).

Michel, look at the dates under Dana’s photo. She lived for a month and one day. What you have said is very cruel, and heartless. You could have saved yourself more grief if you had just looked at those dates.