- Jun 20, 2014
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I did not think about all the people flowing into the USA from the Third World
kind of makes worrying about a few hundred unvaccinated kids from the suburbs seem silly when millions of unvaccinated Illegal Immigrants have come over here
Unvaccinated Travelers Returning From Abroad Bring Home Measles, Says CDC
Actually, unvaccinated kids from the suburbs have caused more outbreaks of diseases vaccines provide protection for than illegal immigrants. One of the first resurgences of measles in the United States when widespread compliance with vaccination had virtually eradicated it from our shores was caused in the late 1990s by a deliberately unvaccinated 17-year-old who went to Europe and was unknowingly incubating the disease when she returned. Her unvaccinated siblings contracted it and then spread it throughout their community. Several other Americans have unwittingly brought back diseases as undesired souvenirs, and tourists legally visiting our country have also brought them in and sparked outbreaks. It's why I believe it's a fundamental responsibility to be properly vaccinated before traveling unless there is a valid medical reason precluding it.
Immigrants tend to be very willing and grateful to have their children vaccinated. Those who come to America through the legal immigration process have no choice about it since it's compulsory:
http://www.cdc.gov/immigrantrefugee...tion/revised-vaccination-immigration-faq.html
My stepmom is a pediatrician in Los Angeles who volunteers at a family clinic that provides free or reduced cost medical care, and has given many vaccinations to immigrants (both those who are here legally and illegally) and their children. They are more appreciative and compliant than many of the affluent parents of her patients at her Monday to Friday practice who have the luxury of spending copious amounts of time on the internet "researching" about vaccines. The majority of those parents do also consent to providing their children with immunization, but it sometimes requires more patience. I've accompanied her and other family members on medical missions abroad where parents have stood in stretched out lines that took hours to make it to the front of so their children could receive vaccines. My job was to play the ukulele and try to keep kids entertained while waiting for their turn. One of the primary reasons many parents in impoverished countries leap at the opportunity for their children to be vaccinated is because they've witnessed the devastation of the diseases these vaccines provide protection for, whereas the efficacy of those vaccinations in America has led to less first-hand experience in modern-day. It's why the vaccination rates in South Sudan are actually higher than in some American suburbs.
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