Contact with Anti-vaxxers

mlynn333 · June 2014

If people you know are anti vaccinations, how do you handle your kids being around them?

I'm assuming there's a happy medium between keeping 50 feet away at all times and saying "screw it, I don't care if my kid gets that totally preventable illness".

I just found out a mom at my church doesn't do vaccines, and her kids would be watching LO or playing with LO in the nursery. Am I crazy for being uncomfortable with that? It's OK to tell me if I am

RondackHiker · June 2014

I'd be uncomfortable with that, especially if you've had any outbreaks in your area.

Firefly9 · June 2014

I'd put their kid in a bubble and stay 50 feet away. If their kids are in the nursery or watching the nursery, my kid would NOT be.

RondackHiker · June 2014

Are you sure she's the only non-vaxxer? They tend to travel in herds.

And then shit like this happens.
https://www.npr.org/2013/09/01/217746942/texas-megachurch-at-center-of-measles-outbreak

KatM84 · June 2014

Yup, I'd be uncomfortable too. It's scary that 99% of the time we don't know which children are not vaccinated, but at least you know they are not and are able to make the decision to keep your child away.

mlynn333 · June 2014

It's all volunteers in the nursery. I haven't put her in yet because I'm paranoid about leaving her with other people.

We don't have any outbreaks in the area that I know of - the only reason I found out about her because a comment on someone else's lost in my news feed where they were organizing a chicken pox party and someone questioned why these other kids even had it. I have no idea if there are others... Is it something you just up and ask people?

KatM84 · June 2014

mlynn333 said:
It's all volunteers in the nursery. I haven't put her in yet because I'm paranoid about leaving her with other people.

We don't have any outbreaks in the area that I know of - the only reason I found out about her because a comment on someone else's lost in my news feed where they were organizing a chicken pox party and someone questioned why these other kids even had it. I have no idea if there are others... Is it something you just up and ask people?

Is there a pastor or church administer you could discuss this with? They might not be aware of this and would look for volunteers who are up to date on vaccines.

Unknown · June 2014

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mlynn333 · June 2014

It's a super small church... I might talk to the children's administrator. For now I'll keep her with me. What if I find out that there's a bunch of families? Yikes.

boogerbearoriginal · June 2014

@lala2332 Chicken pox parties are always dumb because chicken pox is not something you'd like to expose your kid to regardless of whether there is a vaccine.

Soap1 · June 2014

We have a known non-vaxxer at our church. Not sure if anyone remembers that I went on a playdate with her when LO was a few weeks old, and she dropped the bomb that they don't vaccinate and her daughter might have whooping cough. It was horrible. Thank goodness LO was fine.

Because our non vaxxer is in the preschool class, and my older kids are vaccinated, I try not to stress much. They aren't there often, and I like going to our church enough that I don't want to stay home or switch or something (there isn't another church of our religion in our city anyway).

But I did ask the nursery people to keep the baby away from that child!

Codypup · June 2014

You know who had an unintentional chicken pox party?

The Duggars. 12 infected at one time! Yowza!

This useless contribution to the thread is brought to you by the Duggar Obsessed Codypup

[Deleted User] · June 2014

The user and all related content has been deleted.

boogerbearoriginal · June 2014

car seat said:

I actually think chicken pox parties made sense before the vaccine. I had the chicken pox at 17. You know how much that fucking sucked? And it gets more and more dangerous as you get older. If there's no vaccine it makes more sense to get it as a kid and hopefully develop the immunity for it.

But there's a vaccine now. So vaccinate your kids, people. Don't make them sick if they don't have to be.

There are risks to chicken pox at any age and while being older puts you at higher risk you can have those complications as a child too. Also, contracting it at any age means you can develop shingles later in life, which is not exactly a fun time either.

Which is why I'm saying avoiding it altogether is the best option over purposefully trying to infect my child with a virus that potentially has life long complications. Because there's a good chance they could never get it and be fine.

But now of course vaccinate, because chicken pox isn't just an annoying rash.

versed · June 2014

car seat said:

Booger+Bear said:

car seat said:

I actually think chicken pox parties made sense before the vaccine. I had the chicken pox at 17. You know how much that fucking sucked? And it gets more and more dangerous as you get older. If there's no vaccine it makes more sense to get it as a kid and hopefully develop the immunity for it.

But there's a vaccine now. So vaccinate your kids, people. Don't make them sick if they don't have to be.

There are risks to chicken pox at any age and while being older puts you at higher risk you can have those complications as a child too. Also, contracting it at any age means you can develop shingles later in life, which is not exactly a fun time either.

Which is why I'm saying avoiding it altogether is the best option over purposefully trying to infect my child with a virus that potentially has life long complications. Because there's a good chance they could never get it and be fine.

But now of course vaccinate, because chicken pox isn't just an annoying rash.

Right, but in a world without a vaccine it was more likely that people would contract it, and then they'd still have the potential to develop shingles later. I mean, back then, you have kids, you're going to get exposed to chicken pox, really. It was just such a common thing to get, it was hard to avoid. So with that mindset, I understand people planning for their kids to get it out of the way to hopefully decrease their chances of having a far more serious case at a later age. Or, you know, during final exams in high school. Or when they're adults and need to be at work. I understand why people would want their kids to get it out of the way.

I also get why this was a thing in 1983 when our neighborhood had one. It made sense to get it out of the way. Much like in the early 1950s when they just took tonsils out when kids were young. Thankfully, neither of these are necessary today.

Meghan14 · June 2014

njb750 said:

golfergirl08 said:

Am I the only one who doesnt know what a chicken pox party is?

I think its when one kid gets the chicken pox and other moms bring their kids over to get it so that they can get it over with. At least that's my understanding.

Stuck in box: I remember people doing them when I was a kid, although we never participated. I think for kids who aren't at any extra risk it made sense. It makes NO sense now. A vaccine would do the same good as the party without having your kid miserably sick.

OP: There is no way I'd let LO near a kid/volunteer I knew wasn't vaccinated. You are not over-reacting at all. When he's older I'm not sure how I would handle it if I found out one of his friends wasn't vaccinated.
Can I hijack thread and ask the STM how they deal with this?

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