Anti-vaxxers in Spain
It's been a while. I'll admit that things around here haven't been too exciting and I took a break from blogging but as you can see I am back from my semi-retirement because I. just. can't. I. CAN'T.
Maybe you have heard (or maybe it's news to you) that we had our first case of diphtheria here in Spain since 1987 recently because a family decided not to vaccinate their child. Turns out a six year old contracted the disease and the Spanish government had to go to Russia to find a treatment since nowhere in Europe had it because it's a disease that has basically been eradicated. I thought that in this sense I was living somewhere more reasonable than the U.S. and that the anti-vaxxer movement nonsense hadn't really made it to this side of the pond. Apparently I was wrong. There are idiots here in Spain too.
From the very beginning of this tragedy the press and government have been portraying the parents as victims. Let's get something straight here, the ONLY victim in this situation is the child who just died from diphtheria this weekend. (I heard it this morning on the news and am incredibly saddened). The parents made a choice to not listen to the advice of the CREDIBLE medical community when it comes to vaccines. It makes me sick that I had to read another article this afternoon that made them out to be passive agents in this tragedy. These parents made a huge mistake and have lost their child in the process. But in the end, they contributed to their child's death by not listening to medical professionals, you know, people who study forever, who dedicate their lives to healing and saving others. Oh and did I mention that there is universal health care here in Spain, so the vaccine would have been free??
So honestly I can't understand why the press is taking this stance on this family: VICTIMS. Why are we not publically shaming them for their poor choice? Why are we not trying to scare other parents who don't vaccinate into going to their doctor tomorrow? It's not like the Spanish press doesn't have experience doing just this.
Remember this fall when there was a huge scare surrounding the ebola virus? Well, in case you didn't know, you couldn't turn on the news in the morning without being convinced that you were going to die of this terrible disease since there was a confirmed case here in Spain. A little background, a patient with a confirmed case of ebola was brought back to Spain for treatment. A nurse who was involved in this patient's care eventually also contracted the virus. In this case, the press went ballistic. They found the WORST picture of this poor woman (see below) and plastered it all over the place, portraying her as a hot mess whose neglect in her job was the obvious reason for her getting sick. She (unlike these diphtheria parents) was a victim, someone doing her job (without the proper training from what I understand) and who while helping another person ended up getting sick. This nurse survived the virus but will forever and always be branded and remembered as the woman who scratched her face (gasp) when she shouldn't have. I am betting she isn't able to find work in her field after the press had chewed her up and spit her out.
So, my question remains: if the Spanish press can lose their shit about the ebola virus and publically shame an actual victim, why the lack of reaction in this diphtheria case? I just don't get it. Ebola is terrifying but isolated. Personally I find it much more scary to think that more and more parents are making this terrible decision not to vaccinate their kids.
Maybe you have heard (or maybe it's news to you) that we had our first case of diphtheria here in Spain since 1987 recently because a family decided not to vaccinate their child. Turns out a six year old contracted the disease and the Spanish government had to go to Russia to find a treatment since nowhere in Europe had it because it's a disease that has basically been eradicated. I thought that in this sense I was living somewhere more reasonable than the U.S. and that the anti-vaxxer movement nonsense hadn't really made it to this side of the pond. Apparently I was wrong. There are idiots here in Spain too.
From the very beginning of this tragedy the press and government have been portraying the parents as victims. Let's get something straight here, the ONLY victim in this situation is the child who just died from diphtheria this weekend. (I heard it this morning on the news and am incredibly saddened). The parents made a choice to not listen to the advice of the CREDIBLE medical community when it comes to vaccines. It makes me sick that I had to read another article this afternoon that made them out to be passive agents in this tragedy. These parents made a huge mistake and have lost their child in the process. But in the end, they contributed to their child's death by not listening to medical professionals, you know, people who study forever, who dedicate their lives to healing and saving others. Oh and did I mention that there is universal health care here in Spain, so the vaccine would have been free??
So honestly I can't understand why the press is taking this stance on this family: VICTIMS. Why are we not publically shaming them for their poor choice? Why are we not trying to scare other parents who don't vaccinate into going to their doctor tomorrow? It's not like the Spanish press doesn't have experience doing just this.
Remember this fall when there was a huge scare surrounding the ebola virus? Well, in case you didn't know, you couldn't turn on the news in the morning without being convinced that you were going to die of this terrible disease since there was a confirmed case here in Spain. A little background, a patient with a confirmed case of ebola was brought back to Spain for treatment. A nurse who was involved in this patient's care eventually also contracted the virus. In this case, the press went ballistic. They found the WORST picture of this poor woman (see below) and plastered it all over the place, portraying her as a hot mess whose neglect in her job was the obvious reason for her getting sick. She (unlike these diphtheria parents) was a victim, someone doing her job (without the proper training from what I understand) and who while helping another person ended up getting sick. This nurse survived the virus but will forever and always be branded and remembered as the woman who scratched her face (gasp) when she shouldn't have. I am betting she isn't able to find work in her field after the press had chewed her up and spit her out.
So, my question remains: if the Spanish press can lose their shit about the ebola virus and publically shame an actual victim, why the lack of reaction in this diphtheria case? I just don't get it. Ebola is terrifying but isolated. Personally I find it much more scary to think that more and more parents are making this terrible decision not to vaccinate their kids.
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