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Anti-vaccination stronghold in N.C. hit with state’s worst chickenpox outbreak in 2 decades
WaPo ^ | 11-19-2018 | Isaac Stanley-Becker

Posted on 11/19/2018 12:36:26 PM PST by NRx

Chickenpox has taken hold of a school in North Carolina where many families claim religious exemption from vaccines.

Cases of chickenpox have been multiplying at the Asheville Waldorf School, which serves children from nursery school to sixth grade in Asheville, N.C. About a dozen infections grew to 28 at the beginning of the month. By Friday, there were 36, the Asheville Citizen-Times reported.

The outbreak ranks as the state’s worst since the chickenpox vaccine became available more than 20 years ago. Since then, the two-dose course has succeeded in limiting the highly contagious disease that once affected 90 percent of Americans — a public health breakthrough.

The school is a symbol of the small but strong movement against the most effective means of preventing the spread of infectious diseases. The percentage of children under 2 years old who haven’t received any vaccinations has quadrupled since 2001, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Like the Disneyland measles outbreak in 2015, the flare-up demonstrates the real-life consequences of a shadowy debate fueled by junk science and fomented by the same sort of Twitter bots and trolls that spread misinformation during the 2016 presidential election. And it shows how a seemingly fringe view can gain currency in a place like Asheville, a funky, year-round resort town nestled between the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains.

“The school follows immunization requirements put in place by the state board of education, but also recognizes that a parent’s decision to immunize their children happens before they enter school,” the school explained in a statement to Blue Ridge Public Radio.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; US: North Carolina
KEYWORDS: chickenpox; outbreak
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1 posted on 11/19/2018 12:36:26 PM PST by NRx
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To: All

So did the vaccinated kids or non-vaccinated kids come down with chickenpox?


2 posted on 11/19/2018 12:43:38 PM PST by JonPreston
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To: NRx

I got the vaccines and booster shots when i was a kid and still got chickenpocks. And all the other ones too!


3 posted on 11/19/2018 12:45:44 PM PST by rwoodward ("god, guns and more ammo")
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To: NRx

Stupid Parents=Sick Kids


4 posted on 11/19/2018 12:46:11 PM PST by Blue House Sue
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To: rwoodward

My kids got it twice!

Once when they were under a year old, not too serious a case.

Then again when they were about three. Apparently the immune system isn’t fully mature when they are babies.

One of my kids came up to me, point to his arm, and said, “I have a ‘chicken pock’.” It turned out he was correct!


5 posted on 11/19/2018 12:47:57 PM PST by Pearls Before Swine ("It's always a party when you're eating the seed corn.")
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To: NRx

I think that some vaccinations are a really good idea and others less so. It used to be that you had a few vaccinations as a kid. I understand it’s more like 70 today. How did us old people ever survive?


6 posted on 11/19/2018 12:52:03 PM PST by cuban leaf
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To: cuban leaf

I wouldn’t want to be the parent that was too cool for vaccines when the polio outbreak hits and the vaccine has a 6 month waiting list.


7 posted on 11/19/2018 12:58:52 PM PST by cnsmom
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To: NRx

So... is there any evidence whatsoever that there is a connection between vaccination refusal and this outbreak of chicken pox?

Or is the headline just another Fake News lie?


8 posted on 11/19/2018 1:01:12 PM PST by thoughtomator (Number of arrested coup conspirators to date: 2)
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To: cuban leaf

It is not uncommon in the midst of a chickenpox outbreak, for many anti-vaccine families to have their kids play with the infected kids to bring about chickenpox in their kids and “get it over with.” The theory is that it is healthier for their kids to have chickenpox “naturally” and be protected for life vs getting repetitive shots for life and risk getting it in adulthood where is can be more serious. Thus, this “outbreak” may be a managed “outbreak.”


9 posted on 11/19/2018 1:01:12 PM PST by DoodleBob
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To: cnsmom

I’d definitely get a polio vaccine. Thing is, some are a no brainer, while others could probably be avoided.

And home schooling doesn’t hurt either.


10 posted on 11/19/2018 1:01:23 PM PST by cuban leaf
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To: DoodleBob

That is what we did when I was a kid. The mantra was to get it early and get it over with.


11 posted on 11/19/2018 1:02:08 PM PST by cuban leaf
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To: cuban leaf

Hey, if a few were good a whole lot more has to be better.

Right?


12 posted on 11/19/2018 1:02:13 PM PST by Catmom (We're all gonna get the punishment only some of us deserve.r)
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To: cuban leaf
It used to be that you had a few vaccinations as a kid. I understand it’s more like 70 today.

The CDC schedule is app 23 vaccination from birth to 15 mos. Yeah, it's increased a few thousand % since when I was a kid.

13 posted on 11/19/2018 1:07:37 PM PST by JonPreston
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To: JonPreston

My vaccinated son got it too. It was a mild case.


14 posted on 11/19/2018 1:08:08 PM PST by luckystarmom
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To: DoodleBob
It is not uncommon in the midst of a chickenpox outbreak, for many anti-vaccine families to have their kids play with the infected kids...

South Park did an episode on it years ago. Kyle overheard his mom on the phone talking about it, so as revenge the kids arranged to have all their parents' toothbrushes used by a disease-ridden prostitute they found on skid row. Hillarity ensues.
15 posted on 11/19/2018 1:08:34 PM PST by SpaceBar
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To: DoodleBob

I got chicken pox not as a kid but when I was
34 from my 3 yo nephew when he came home
back from a trip to C. America.(mother was
naturalized US citizen visiting her family)
He had a virus and sore throat but I got the pocks.

Like a nastier, more scabrous poison ivy...
There’s a good chance I’ll have shingles in next 5 years , so
I’ll probsbly get the vaccination soon


16 posted on 11/19/2018 1:10:31 PM PST by Phil DiBasquette
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To: cuban leaf

I had my kids get it because one of my kids has terrible asthma and was routinely on steroids for it. Her susceptibility to a bad case of chicken pox was higher because of being on steroids.

None of my kids got it when they were very young, but my son got it when he was 8. His sister had outgrown having the steroids every day by then.


17 posted on 11/19/2018 1:12:22 PM PST by luckystarmom
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To: luckystarmom

I have never read an article like this that details which kids get sick. If every one of the 36 wasn’t vaccinated, the debate would be over. However, just like you experienced, a certain % surely were vaccinated. Competent reporting would give us the data, but this is the WoPo.


18 posted on 11/19/2018 1:12:51 PM PST by JonPreston
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To: Phil DiBasquette

I’m sorry to hear about that. Were you immunized against chickenpox as a child?


19 posted on 11/19/2018 1:13:19 PM PST by DoodleBob
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To: DoodleBob

Look up shingles.


20 posted on 11/19/2018 1:15:38 PM PST by TexasGator (Z1z)
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