Originally Posted by Willow:
Not arguing, just clarifying. There were nearly 200 confirmed cases in the most recent outbreak, but that doesn't reveal how many were actually infected. The number was undoubtedly much larger, but because of vaccines, serious illness in larger populations was kept at bay.
And I'm wondering if your doctor is actually an immunologist or just an MD. Because an immunologist would completely disagree with the assertion that taking unvaccinated children to an area where an outbreak is actively occurring is any kind of safe. There is a reason why more and more states in the US are implementing policies that if an outbreak occurs, unvaccinated children are not allowed to attend public schools or licensed daycares.
Globally, measles remains a LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH amongst younger populations. The risk is real and hardly hype. It's not the media, those are the facts. I suggest you take another look at those "real numbers" you mention. 16 deaths an hour on average is nothing to brush off. Just because it's no longer considered endemic as it is in the rest of the world, doesn't mean we should become complacent.....unless we want to end up back in the same boat. in 2000 Measles was considered eradicated in the US. Look at all that have become infected since. It's only a matter of time before those numbers rise exponentially based on the currently plummeting vaccination rates.....
Just an fyi, allergy testing individual components of vaccines is next to impossible at this time. It was likely not that your doctors didn't want to help sort out the what, as much as there are no current standards established to determine actual threshold. You may not be allergic to cats, but offer a dander dose concentrated enough and you absolutely will react. Anyone will react to anything if the exposure is intense enough. There hasn't been enough research done to establish those limits for vaccine components yet. Take heart in knowing your kiddos doc wasn't necessarily complacent, there just isn't a way to accurately define levels yet.
I've already gotten the attitude from others as well (and my guy is just 9 months old!). It is frustrating to be lumped in under the assumption that I'm ignorant or just don't care about the rest of the general population 
Here's the thing though, globally people are dying from a lot of illnesses so to look at global numbers is not a fair comparison in my opinion. I was just talking about the USA and where I happened to be visiting. We went, we came back without getting sick so in the end it was safe. I don't think my kids would have gotten very sick anyway and the health care system in the USA is excellent so I weighed the risks and went. My sister had measles as a kid and she missed a couple of days of school and it was no big deal. I do understand it can cause major havoc for some people but so can any illness including the flu. I can only trust my DR so I assume he is educated and knows what he is taking about. I don't have access to immunologists only MD's so I either trust them or do my own research as best I can. It is definitely a frustrating situation to be in!! Thanks for the information though, I am learning as I go along mostly
