School

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
Status
Not open for further replies.
I would think that rotations could be adjusted for anyone allergic or unable to get vaccinated. If you're not vaccinated for disease X, don't work around disease X. Simple.

That's not really the way it works. And this discussion isn't really about people who are unable to receive vaccines because they're allergic or otherwise contraindicated. This discussion is about someone who is absolutely indicated to get vaccinated -- a health care worker -- trying to dodge getting vaccinated. The two are not the same.

Here's what I don't understand, if the OP by some chance is an anti-vaxxer, thenwhy go to medical school in the first place? Why be part of the big conspiracy that tries to harm people? 😕

Seriously. If he matriculates, a year into school he'll come to sdn complaining that his professors are close-minded jerks who believe in the hoax that is "cell theory" or "germ theory of disease". Might as well just self-study at whale.to go become a naturopath.
 
They will be great because I will actually do my own research while thinking outside of the box to get the real picture. I won't say "I don't care what a disease does as long as someone else might be able to create something to fix it one day".

I'll teach them to protect themselves naturally and only use vaccines or other medications when they are absolutely necessary and the rewards outweigh the risks.

I knew this dude was a troll. I can't believe he got an actual response out of me earlier. I feel ashamed :sour:
 
Yah
Part of the scientific method is to question EVERYTHING. Despite what you all try to claim, there are very real and dangerous risks to vaccines. They mostly go unreported (by the CDCs admission) and are seldom linked to the problems they cause.

They have their place. There were/are instances where the rewards outweigh the risks, but that is not as true now as it was in the early 1900s or as it is in the third world. Most of these diseases are only deadly due to the severest complications. Complications that only occur when there is a lack of basic nutrition, hygiene, and health care. When these things are in place the dangers of most disease are kept to a bare minimum.

Measles for example has a 99.7 - 99.9 % survival rate in the United States. There's about a .15% chance of dying from it. There are significantly more adverse affects from large scale vaccinations than there are from a very mild illness.

I'm outta here. Stay close-minded, my friends.
yah people who get any of the MMRs should just wait it out and suffer and hope that they fall in the 99% survival rate instead of...you know...not getting M M or R.

I like how you said you wezre being scientific and then immediately said that most cases go unreported by the CDC (cuz you know, they dont care about your well being) and are seldom linked to vaccines. All you are doing is running from assumption to assumption on shady, ill-founded claims.


We love people here on SDN. That's why we do what we do. The fact that you think you know more than medical students on this matter is ridiculous.
 
As someone who couldn't get a lot of my vaccines until I was a teenager due to a compromised immune system: That's great for you if you have a "naturally strong" immune system. IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU. Many of your patients WON'T (especially those you see on inpatient rounds). You would be putting them in SEVERE danger. You get the flu, it's just like a head cold for you or you might not even have symptoms but are carrying the virus, but patients like that who are exposed to you are going to get pneumonia. They are going to be more likely to get measles encephalitis, and herpes zoster from chicken pox, etc. Even if immunocompromised follow strict personal hygiene procedures, that is also not perfect, and they are more susceptible to infection begin with so it's easier for them to catch something... they are in a lot of danger. If you knowingly contribute to that danger, you are violating medical ethics: first, do no harm.

Yeah, I am not one to say this type of thing normally, but if you cannot take BASIC precautions to keep your patients safe, you don't belong in healthcare.

And if the med schools consider a flu shot optional, chances are that's for the first two years, and the hospitals won't consider it optional.

I don't believe my medical school gives moral exemptions, only medical ones. Again, if you can't take basic precautions to keep your patients safe, this is not the job for you.
 
Yah

yah people who get any of the MMRs should just wait it out and suffer and hope that they fall in the 99% survival rate instead of...you know...not getting M M or R.

I like how you said you were being scientific and then immediately said that most cases go unreported by the CDC (cuz you know, they dont care about your well being) and are seldom linked to vaccines. All you are doing is running from assumption to assumption on shady, ill-founded claims.


We love people here on SDN. That's why we do what we do. The fact that you think you know more than medical students on this matter is ridiculous.

Was gonna post..but it would essentially be this. 'Nuff said.

The only thing I would add just got posted above me. Don't kill immunocompromised people. It's kinda selfish.
 
The flu shot does not prevent the flu. You keep forgetting that point. The flu shot is supposed to help boost your immune system so you don't get the "full blown" flu and it can be overcome more quickly. It is supposed to do the same thing as a naturally strong immune system does.

Whether you built immunity with a flu shot or naturally does not make a difference.

This is incorrect. A flu shot *will* shorten the contagious window. A naturally strong immune system will not. Not unless you've been previously exposed to the virus. Your body needs to activate B cells and develop them into memory cells, which takes time. The innate immune system alone doesn't eradicate viruses. It requires the adapt- alright nvm this has got to be a troll. Anyone who has taken any immunology knows this stuff.
 
Judging? No. Wanting to make the best possible choice for my health and personal liberties, yes.

I would say medicine is not the best possible choice for either of these considerations. The best choice for health and liberty would be to join an organic food coop in California and meditate for 3 hours daily.
 
The flu shot does not prevent the flu. You keep forgetting that point. The flu shot is supposed to help boost your immune system so you don't get the "full blown" flu and it can be overcome more quickly. It is supposed to do the same thing as a naturally strong immune system does.

Whether you built immunity with a flu shot or naturally does not make a difference.

It's going to prevent you from becoming symptomatic and from carrying around the virus for as long as it would take you to build up the defenses to fight it off the first time.

Your immunocompromised patients CANNOT AFFORD for you to take the time to build up a natural immunity.

ETA:
Natural immunity, first exposure: Flu hangs around for a little bit before you get symptoms. You are exposing patients. Then it takes about 3-5 days to build up a T-cell/B-cell response to the flu virus. Meanwhile you are symptomatic (symptoms are actually from your immune system fighting off the infection, so by the time you get them, you've already carried around the virus for awhile and it's too late to totally prevent its spread) and still exposing patients. Even if you had mild symptoms, you're still exposing patients while you take your sweet time building up natural immunity.
Natural immunity, second exposure: Memory T-cells/B-cells from the first exposure see the flu virus the instant it enters your body, you're not carrying it around while asymptomatic this time, and you're not exposing patients.
Vaccine: Acts as the "first exposure" so when your body does encounter flu, you skip straight to the "second exposure" scenario. You're not exposing patients. You never exposed patients. It makes a freaking difference.
 
Last edited:
Part of the scientific method is to question EVERYTHING. Despite what you all try to claim, there are very real and dangerous risks to vaccines. They mostly go unreported (by the CDCs admission) and are seldom linked to the problems they cause.

They have their place. There were/are instances where the rewards outweigh the risks, but that is not as true now as it was in the early 1900s or as it is in the third world. Most of these diseases are only deadly due to the severest complications. Complications that only occur when there is a lack of basic nutrition, hygiene, and health care. When these things are in place the dangers of most disease are kept to a bare minimum.

Measles for example has a 99.7 - 99.9 % survival rate in the United States. There's about a .15% chance of dying from it. There are significantly more adverse affects from large scale vaccinations than there are from a very mild illness.

I'm outta here. Stay close-minded, my friends.

First off, if you'll notice, everything in my posts that were directed to you (aside from the remark about whale.to) was about your misguided opinions about your own personal liberty. The hospital you'd be rotating at won't give a crap about your impassioned speech regarding the CDC censorship and how enlightened you are by questioning mainstream science. They'll tell you to not let the door hit you on the way out because their policy of everyone working with patients being vaccinated against the flu does not make exceptions for special snowflakes such as yourself who are big thinkers out to crush the dogma of 21st century medical science.

Secondly, you clearly have very little understanding of the history of infectious disease and why vaccination is the way it is. It is the single greatest thing that humans have invented that has prevented unnecessary death. I know you're some know-it-all 20-something kid who has lived in the bubble of the American upper-middle class, but you have absolutely NO idea what these diseases are actually like and why it's a freaking no-brainer to vaccinate against them.
 
I'd also point out that the vast majority of people who get measles in the United States don't suffer and hope to survive. They stay hydrated, rest, itch a little bit, and overcome the disease very quickly. This is not 1900 and we are not talking about the third world.

And the majority of that minority who do get life-threatening or life-altering complications are going to be the immunocompromised patients you will encounter in the hospital. Therefore it is VITAL for healthcare workers to get vaccinated, to protect their patients.
 
I'd also point out that the vast majority of people who get measles in the United States don't suffer and hope to survive. They stay hydrated, rest, itch a little bit, and overcome the disease very quickly. This is not 1900 and we are not talking about the third world.

We're talking about influenza right now, not measles. And you got the MMR, presumably, already. So why are you complaining about it now? Do you think people shouldn't get the MMR as kids anymore?

Sure, getting pneumonia or meningitis or SSPE are rare (but possible) complications if you get measles, but we're also talking about a disease that is extremely easy to prevent. The economic losses that come with being sick are also a consideration. You lose productivity in members of society if they're at home taking care of their kid with measles or if they have measles themselves, and you also end up spending more on health care when they need to come to ED or their pediatrician. It's a preventable disease! It's a great vaccine! It's a freaking no-brainer to use it! We've essentially eliminated measles as a public health issue and you want it to come back?

And let's not even start with the benefit of preventing rubella, a virus that can ravage a fetus in utero.
 
I've posted a response to this at least 4x now. Someone who already has a strong immune system has just as much capability of fighting (and preventing the spread of) the flu as someone who has had a flu shot. Studies are showing that they, in fact, have a stronger broader immunity, thereby providing even great protection for themselves and their patients.
And I already posted why this is bunk. While you take the time to build up natural immunity, you are passively spreading the virus and putting your patients at risk. You will have the virus before you know you have it (get symptoms), so it's not like there's a way for you to take some time off work to go build up that natural immunity and not expose patients while you do so. You won't know you're doing so until it's too late - you get symptoms, but you've already had the virus for days, spreading it around.
Natural immunity might be equal to or better than a vaccine, but it's the time that it takes to build up the natural immunity that is the issue.
 
I understand very well what happened historically. What you cannot understand is that we no longer live in the 1800s. We also don't live in Africa. The vast majority of deaths and complications due to these diseases, especially measles, was due to the fact that there was no access to running water, nutrition, warmth, and basic medication.

We have all of those things in the United States of America. Because of that most of these diseases are no longer killers. They are very mild inconveniences.

Vaccines had their time. They still have their time and place, but thanks to modern medicine we need to start rethinking our usage of them and improving our overall method of prevention and treatment.

So your foundational premise is that it's better to let people get sick with preventable diseases and then manage symptoms rather than prevent the disease in the first place. I don't think this an approach most of us would consider reasonable.
 
Absolutely! When the risk of the illness is smaller than the risk of the cure, this is the only reasonable thing to do.

No responsible physician should tell anyone that vaccine are completely safe and effective. They are not. There are a wide variety of risks, known and no yet known. On the contrary, we know the risks of these diseases and have the ability to mitigate them.

If we stopped vaccinating against measles tomorrow, the disease would come back. Kids would get it again like crazy. Measles is one of the most infectious viruses known to mankind and it would spread like wildfire if we freed up all these kids to be reservoirs for it again. So ignoring the fact that lots of those kids would actually develop complications and die or be disabled (and no, good "nutrition" or "hygiene" would not prevent measles pneumonia/meningitis), you'd have to factor in the economic cost of each of those kids being sick for a week and needing their parents to take care of them.

There are no specific treatments for measles. You have to ride it out.
 
I've posted a response to this at least 4x now. Someone who already has a strong immune system has just as much capability of fighting (and preventing the spread of) the flu as someone who has had a flu shot. Studies are showing that they, in fact, have a stronger broader immunity, thereby providing even great protection for themselves and their patients.

This is the most selfish thing I've ever read on SDN.
 
How'd you do on the verbal portion of the MCAT? You're reading comprehension is not very strong. The CDC has a system set up to report adverse effects from vaccines. Doctors voluntarily submit information to this system if/when it becomes available and IF they get around to it. The CDC admits that a very small percent 2-10% of adverse situations are actually reported to this system. I did not say the CDC withholds the information. Although I don't necessarily put all of my faith in them either.

I'd also point out that the vast majority of people who get measles in the United States don't suffer and hope to survive. They stay hydrated, rest, itch a little bit, and overcome the disease very quickly. This is not 1900 and we are not talking about the third world.

I haven't taken the MCAT but my verbal SAT was an 800 if you care to know.


And yet there are more studies showing vaccines are safe than unsafe in the literature and the ones that say they are unsafe are usually irreplicable, pulled from papers, and physicians have even lost their license for falsifying data in this regard.

How strong is your immunology comprehension?
 
Less than .1% of cases would lead to complications resulting in death.

http://www.cdc.gov/measles/about/complications.html

About 30% of measles cases develop one or more complications, including

  • Pneumonia, which is the complication that is most often the cause of death in young children.
  • Ear infections occur in about 1 in 10 measles cases and permanent loss of hearing can result.
  • Diarrhea is reported in about 8% of cases.
These complications are more common among children under 5 years of age and adults over 20 years old.

Even in previously healthy children, measles can be a serious illness requiring hospitalization. As many as 1 out of every 20 children with measles gets pneumonia, and about 1 child in every 1,000 who get measles will develop encephalitis. (This is an inflammation of the brain that can lead to convulsions, and can leave the child deaf or mentally ******ed.) For every 1,000 children who get measles, 1 or 2 will die from it. Measles also can make a pregnant woman have a miscarriage, give birth prematurely, or have a low-birth-weight baby.

You must only look these things up on ConfirmationBias.com.

Also, note your inability or refusal to respond to my multiple remarks about the economic costs of a disease like measles. I'll take that as a sign that you have nothing of value to offer and you'll just keep parroting the same ridiculously ill-informed opinions you have been spewing in this thread.


Our vaccine schedule is responsible for more harm than that as it stands. This study will show you that our vaccine schedule may be causing a higher infant mortality rate than other countries who vaccinate less.

http://www.nvic.org/PDFs/Infant-Mortality-study.aspx

This blog does a wonderful job deconstructing this crappy article.
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2011/05/16/vaccines-and-infant-mortality-rates/
 
Is the risk of unvaccinated child dying from measles greater than the risk of dying from measles vaccine?

It will be fun when you tell parents "oh just let them get natural immunity. There's only a 0.01% chance your child will die from something I could prevent!" You'll be a popular doctor.

Absolutely! When the risk of the illness is smaller than the risk of the cure, this is the only reasonable thing to do.

No responsible physician should tell anyone that vaccine are completely safe and effective. They are not. There are a wide variety of risks, known and no yet known. On the contrary, we know the risks of these diseases and have the ability to mitigate them.
the
 
The point of the study, which can be found via several sources, is that the immunity created by the vaccine is not the same as immunity that is created naturally. Furthermore, it can actually leave a person more susceptible to the flu than they would have been otherwise.

The study was an overview of data from Canada and Hong Kong, not Australia. If I remember correctly, there are several areas that the flu vaccine is formulated for and Canada falls into the same area is the USA.

What kind of magical, not-same immunity is created and by what mechanism?
 
Everyone who has taken immunology already knows this. It's still better to be immunized than contract the disease. Polio, measles, mumps, smallpox, hepatitis...you really want to "naturally" build up your immunity to those things? The same goes for the flu. The flu is deadly.



How so? I'd like to see actual data on this.

Seriously, dude/dudette. Spend a month in a busy ICU in the winter and be amazed when you see a healthy person in their 30s die from post-influenza pneumonia. And then repeat to yourself "there but for the Grace of God [or luck or whatever] and probably that flu shot the hospital FORCED ME AGAINST MY WILL TO GET go I."
 
I would think that rotations could be adjusted for anyone allergic or unable to get vaccinated. If you're not vaccinated for disease X, don't work around disease X. Simple.

Well, there goes most rotations. Also, anything where a pt may be immunocompromised. You know what that includes? Everything. Including derm and radiology.
 
I would think that rotations could be adjusted for anyone allergic or unable to get vaccinated. If you're not vaccinated for disease X, don't work around disease X. Simple.
If one has an impediment to safe performance of required duties, it is no longer a protected category. The institution has no duty to accommodate those who are a known danger to others.
 
If one has an impediment to safe performance of required duties, it is no longer a protected category. The institution has no duty to accommodate those who are a known danger to others.

I don't disagree with you at all, but couldn't the school make accommodations? For instance, what if the student wore a mask while around high risk populations (i.e. during pediatric/internal medicine rotations)? And to be clear, I am talking about someone who is unable to comply at all (not one that refuses).

(And I will definitely take your advice - I'll try to start MMR again this summer and hope for the best).
 
I don't disagree with you at all, but couldn't the school make accommodations? For instance, what if the student wore a mask while around high risk populations (i.e. during pediatric/internal medicine rotations)? And to be clear, I am talking about someone who is unable to comply at all (not one that refuses).

(And I will definitely take your advice - I'll try to start MMR again this summer and hope for the best).
It's a fact that physicians and physicians in training are held to higher/different standards than others. These discussions serve to make such distinctions clear before the uninformed commit time and resources to a futile endeavor. Even when one is willing, the inability to achieve technical standards can be an impediment in a professional setting.

Sadly, the mask, as commonly used, provides little protection for the public. It is a weak substitute for immunity from preventable conditions that are potentially fatal to the vulnerable.

Risk to the public will generally trump the rights of an individual if he/she is a licensed health professional.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Is anyone aware of what medical schools do not mandate vaccines or have exceptions for them? Every thread I have found has turned into a debate and was useless. If anyone has this info, but would rather stay off the forums please PM me.

I absolutely will not debate whether or not someone should get vaccinated or not. Please keep this civil and only respond if you have the answer I'm looking for.

Thanks

I dont know but... no hospital will hire you if you dont vaccinate. Flu shot is optional since its effect is not that great to begin with. but if you refuse to get Tdap, MMR... good luck
 
This is incorrect. A flu shot *will* shorten the contagious window. A naturally strong immune system will not. Not unless you've been previously exposed to the virus. Your body needs to activate B cells and develop them into memory cells, which takes time. The innate immune system alone doesn't eradicate viruses. It requires the adapt- alright nvm this has got to be a troll. Anyone who has taken any immunology knows this stuff.

Lol, he graduated with a business degree and was contemplating on taking all pre-req in ten months last August.
 
It's a fact that physicians and physicians in training are held to higher/different standards than others. These discussions serve to make such distinctions clear before the uninformed commit time and resources to a futile endeavor. Even when one is willing, the inability to achieve technical standards can be an impediment in a professional setting.

Sadly, the mask, as commonly used, provides little protection for the public. It is a weak substitute for immunity from preventable conditions that are potentially fatal to the vulnerable.

Risk to the public will generally trump the rights of an individual if he/she is a licensed health professional.

I have never heard of a hospital or med school denying a legitimate medical exemption, but I don't know (now I'm wondering if that would be covered under ADA?). They are within their rights to put limits on it, like protective equipment, or at my dad's hospital if you claim an allergy you need to have that verified by an allergist, not just your PCP.

There are people at my school who got the Hep B vaccine but couldn't raise high enough titers, which apparently is not unheard of. They just had to redo the vaccine and get titers again, and if they didn't have high enough titers that time, it's likely that a third attempt won't work so they're allowed to continue on with low titers.

To the person who had a reaction to MMR - I'm not sure what type of reaction you had but I might recommend getting evaluated by an allergist/immunologist if you haven't already. If they think it's safe they can allergy test for the vaccine and then give it to you in incremental doses to make sure you're not reacting.
 
I have never heard of a hospital or med school denying a legitimate medical exemption, but I don't know (now I'm wondering if that would be covered under ADA?). They are within their rights to put limits on it, like protective equipment, or at my dad's hospital if you claim an allergy you need to have that verified by an allergist, not just your PCP.

There are people at my school who got the Hep B vaccine but couldn't raise high enough titers, which apparently is not unheard of. They just had to redo the vaccine and get titers again, and if they didn't have high enough titers that time, it's likely that a third attempt won't work so they're allowed to continue on with low titers.

To the person who had a reaction to MMR - I'm not sure what type of reaction you had but I might recommend getting evaluated by an allergist/immunologist if you haven't already. If they think it's safe they can allergy test for the vaccine and then give it to you in incremental doses to make sure you're not reacting.

Hep B vac is to protect the healthcare worker. There is little concern for transmission to patients and there is post exposure prophylaxis even if you're unresponsive to the vaccine, making hep b immunity (or lack thereof) much less concerning to hospitals (or OSHA) than something as readily communicable as measles.
 
We're talking about influenza right now, not measles. And you got the MMR, presumably, already. So why are you complaining about it now? Do you think people shouldn't get the MMR as kids anymore?

Sure, getting pneumonia or meningitis or SSPE are rare (but possible) complications if you get measles, but we're also talking about a disease that is extremely easy to prevent. The economic losses that come with being sick are also a consideration. You lose productivity in members of society if they're at home taking care of their kid with measles or if they have measles themselves, and you also end up spending more on health care when they need to come to ED or their pediatrician. It's a preventable disease! It's a great vaccine! It's a freaking no-brainer to use it! We've essentially eliminated measles as a public health issue and you want it to come back?

And let's not even start with the benefit of preventing rubella, a virus that can ravage a fetus in utero.
He is clearly upset that the vaccines have led to a decline in his mental function, as demonstrated by the fact that he can't understand why a physician should have to make the sacrifice of getting themselves vaccinated to protect their patients from contracting life-threatening illnesses.
 
Thanks for the respectful response. I have all of my vaccinations from when I was younger so I'm not worried about those. I'm just interested in places where the flu shot is optional. I've found a few.
Yeah, but what will you do come residency time? The number of decent places to train that do not have mandatory vaccination in place is approaching zero fast, and you're five plus years out. Plus, while many of the schools do not require the flu vaccination, their teaching institutions do, something you will likely have little information on until your clinical years begin.

You should really rethink whether medicine is a good choice for you if you are all about "muh liberties an freedums" because medicine is an extremely regulation-heavy profession in which your freedom and liberty MUST take a back seat to the public interest. If you fear vaccines giving you super secret double autism or whatever over the lives of others, this is not the place for you.
 
OP will not be getting into any DO school either. My students are required to be up to date on ALL vaccinations or their grades are held, and they can't enter rotations. OP's ignorance of microbiology, immunology and how natural selection works is appalling. At this, kids, stop feeding the troll.

quote="touchpause13, post: 15016552, member: 478352"]Or osteopathic. We don't want him either[/quote]
 
Is anyone aware of what medical schools do not mandate vaccines or have exceptions for them? Every thread I have found has turned into a debate and was useless. If anyone has this info, but would rather stay off the forums please PM me.

I absolutely will not debate whether or not someone should get vaccinated or not. Please keep this civil and only respond if you have the answer I'm looking for.

Thanks

Yes, the new D.O. school that popped up, the Jenny McCarthy School of Medicine. They're having a little trouble with accreditation as they're trying to find where their students can do a Pediatric rotation without coming in contact with pediatricians that recommend vaccines.
 
Day 1 med school. The first words said to us during orientation by our dean: "Congratulations and welcome. It's not about you anymore."

Harsh words for any millennial, much less a millennial medical student, to hear.
 
They will be great because I will actually do my own research while thinking outside of the box to get the real picture. I won't say "I don't care what a disease does as long as someone else might be able to create something to fix it one day".

I'll teach them to protect themselves naturally and only use vaccines or other medications when they are absolutely necessary and the rewards outweigh the risks.

Do you plan on teaching them Karate or Tae Kwon Do? You should become a naturopath, as your thinking is perfectly in line with it. Or at least you can work at a Whole Foods Market.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the respectful response. I have all of my vaccinations from when I was younger so I'm not worried about those. I'm just interested in places where the flu shot is optional. I've found a few.

You do know hospitals, who call the shots on these matters, and thus adopted by medical schools, can change their policies at ANY TIME, right?
 
Yes, the new D.O. school that popped up, the Jenny McCarthy School of Medicine. They're having a little trouble with accreditation as they're trying to find where their students can do a Pediatric rotation without coming in contact with pediatricians that recommend vaccines.

Jenny McCarthy and Kristin Cavallari are now recommending against new brake pads! http://www.gomerblog.com/2014/01/vaccine/
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top