Parents see their unvaccinated child suffer the agonies of Tetanus — yet they're still anti-vaxxers

While playing, a six-year-old boy in Oregon cut his head on some farm machinery. His parents cleaned and stitched the wound. Six days later his back and neck arched and he jaw began clenching. He had to be medevaced to a pediatric hospital where he was diagnosed with a severe case of tetanus.

He rapidly declined. At first he was alert. Then he had to be sedated and intubated as spasms interfered with his breathing. He was given an anti-tetanus immunoglobulin for his wound, as well as the DTaP vaccine, which protects against diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis. He was kept in a dark room with earplugs to reduce the intensity of his spasms. His scalp wound was cleaned by people who were trained to clean wounds.

The arching of the boy’s neck and back worsened. His blood pressure shot up. He became feverish. Doctors inserted a tube in his windpipe so a ventilator could help with his breathing, and treated him with neuromuscular-blocking drugs to reduce his muscle spasms. He would remain in the ICU for 47 days.

He then spent 2½ weeks in rehab. And it took another month before he returned to normal activities.

The cost for his treatment — excluding the medevac and rehab — amounted to $811,929. It is not clear who footed the bill. If the parents had instead given their child the recommended five doses of the DTaP vaccination the cost would have been $125-150. And their child wouldn’t have had to go through the agony of the disease.

Unbelievably, with all they had seen their child suffer, his parents not only refused the doctor’s suggestion that he receive another DTaP vaccination they also declined all the other scheduled vaccinations the boy had missed.

It is hard to see how this isn’t child endangerment.

Fortunately for the rest of the community, tetanus is not a contagious disease. So, in this case, the stupidity of the parents only put their own child at risk. But so many anti-vaxxers add selfishness to their faults and put innocent children, who because of age or immune system deficiencies cannot be vaccinated, in danger.

There may be some readers of this diary who maintain that vaccinations are risky and they are justified in ‘not injecting poison into my kid’. Sorry, there is no science which supports that position. There is, however, overwhelming evidence of the benefits of vaccinations — just ask all the kids who don’t have polio, smallpox, diphtheria, meningitis, rubella, hepatitis A & B, et al.

People who live in a society have an obligation to that society. I am forbidden from driving drunk. If I were to argue that I have ‘science’ to show that drinking doesn’t impair my ability to drive; or that I needed to drink to survive; or my religion mandates that I drink and drive, people would think I was nuts. And at the very least would demand I stay off public roads.

So if you chose not to vaccinate your child, please have the decency to keep your children away from other parents’ kids.