Great, anti-vaccination hysteria has killed seven infants in California. Whooping cough, once thought to be virtually wiped-out in the developed world, is making a comeback thanks to illegal immigration and greedy anti-vaccination activists.
As I noted in my previous post on the subject, too many people make emotional decisions based on graphic images. They see pictures of kids with autism or whatever the anti-vaccination hysteria du jour is but they don’t see countervailing images of the diseases that vaccinations prevent.
Just to provide some real education, here is a video of a 12-week-old infant with whooping cough. You can hear the distinctive strangling intake of breath at the end of a coughing fit which gives the disease its name.
As you listen to this, recall that in the normal course of the disease, this horrific coughing last for a month with two more months of less-harsh coughing. The disease kills by sheer exhaustion.
There is an adult whooping cough booster available. If you have contact with infants and/or a large illegal population (legal immigrants have to get vaccinations), I strongly recommend you get the booster.
And, if you know some anti-vaccination idiot, strap them down and make them listen to the video in a loop.
