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Detroit Free Press (www.freep.com)
(05/21/02); Fitzgerald, Susan
The Advisory Committee on Immunization
Practices, which formulates immunization guidelines for the United States, is
recommending influenza vaccinations for all children between the ages of six
months and 23 months, whereas previously the committee only recommended the
influenza vaccine for children over the age of six months who are at greater
risk due to chronic illness. The committee revised its immunization guideline
after reviewing research showing young children are at high risk when it comes
to influenza and finding that the illness can lead to serious breathing problems
requiring hospitalization. Doctors are likely to ignore the recommendation
until the Centers for Disease Control, which takes advice from the committee,
updates its own immunization guidelines for small children.
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OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR
LEGAL ADVICE. THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND
COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH
YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.
"A foolish faith in authority is the worst enemy of truth."
-- Albert Einstein, letter to a friend, 1901
"I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves, and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education."
-- Thomas Jefferson, letter to William C. Jarvis, September 28, 1820
"What's the point of vaccination if it doesn't protect you from the unvaccinated?"
-- Sandy Gottstein
"Who gets to decide what the greater good is and how many will be sacrificed to it?"