By The Tiggywinkle Chog Tart
Posted Wednesday, June 15th, 2016
Posted Wednesday, June 15th, 2016
I am pro-vaccine. I am almost rabidly, offensively pro-vaccine. If I find out your kid has not been vaccinated for any reason other than a genuine medical exemption I am out of there faster than you can bleat “I’ve done the research”. Not because I’m worried that my fully immunised kid will be in danger of catching stuff from your snowflake, but because you are clearly an inconsiderate dickhead and I worry I will not be able to restrain myself from shouting at and/or punching you.
MMR and HPV vaccines are the ones that get all the press. The first because it doesn’t cause autism and the second because it doesn’t turn tweens into SluttyMcSluttersons who are going to leave the nurses office and shag the first male they encounter in the hallway.
The immunisation I am concerned with is not one of these sexy, headline grabbing vaccines. My daughter was 1 day old when she got her first immunisation. Hep B. Most people don't even think about it and lots delay it until the first well visit or the first batch of immunisations. It's one of the ones Anti-Vaxxers use as an example of over-vaccination because why does a newborn need protection against an STD?
Here are some fun facts about Hepatitis B (all from the CDC or WHO):
Globally
• 350-400 million people worldwide have chronic Hep B infection (compare with 40 million living with HIV)
• Without appropriate treatment or monitoring, 1 in 4 people with chronic Hep B will die of liver cancer, cirrhosis or liver failure.
• Hepatitis B kills a million people a year globally.
• Hepatitis B is second only to tobacco in causing the most cancer deaths worldwide.
• 80% of primary liver cancer is caused by chronic Hepatitis B infection.
• Hepatitis B is preventable with a vaccine available for over 25 years.
In the US
• Hep B infection is the biggest health disparity between Asian American and White Americans.
• 10% of Asian Americans are chronically infected versus less than 0.3% of the general population.
• 1.4 million people are chronically infected in US and more than half are Asian.
• Individuals who are infected at birth can develop liver cancer at age 35 or earlier
• Liver cancer incidence is 6 - 13 times higher for Asians.
• Liver cancer mortality remains higher than other cancers despite advances in research and medical technology. The 5 year survival rate for Liver cancer is less than 10%
Asian and Pacific Islanders
• The Asian and Pacific Islander (API) population has increased 4x since 1980 (14.4 million in 2002)
• Foreign born API: 2.5 million in 1980 and 8.3 million in 2002 75% came from countries with chronic HBV rates of 8-15%
• APIs tend to live in large households; 20% live with 5 or more people
• Many API seek medical treatments from Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners; which means no routine blood tests and medical check-ups and under-reporting of both acute and chronic Hepatitis B infection.
• Federal guidelines recommending that universal infant vaccination against Hepatitis B at birth, regardless of the mother’s infection status were implemented in November 1991.
In China
• 1/3 of the world’s chronic Hepatitis B patients live in China.
• 130 million Chinese (1 in 10) have chronic Hepatitis B.
• Hepatitis kills 500,000 mainland Chinese each year (50% of global deaths).
So why am I writing about this? Well the Tiggywinkle Tartlet is bi-racial. She has a White British mum and a Chinese American Dad. She has 2 grandparents who were born in mainland China and a father and uncles and aunts who were born before universal infant vaccination. Most Asian Americans born in the US who contract Hep B get it through perinatal transmission, they were infected by their mothers. But for a blood borne pathogen the disease spreads fairly easily; transmission is common during early childhood through direct contact with blood of infected individuals, occurring from contact between open wounds, sharing contaminated toothbrushes or razors, or through contaminated medical/dental tools.
I might not be able to protect the Tiggywinkle Tartlet from the pain of losing relatives to liver cancer but a small jab on the first morning of her life (and an antibody test later to make sure the vaccine took) were definitely a smart move.
So don’t spread your anti-vaccine BS where I can hear. YOU ARE WRONG. Vaccines are protecting my little girl and it means she won’t have to hear in her thirties that she has a cancer that will almost certainly kill her.
About the Author:
I am a dual national (British and American) pro-vaxx, pro-choice, intactivist, cloth nappy using*, breast feeding*, LGBT ally, proud socialist, free range parenting, GIF collecting, stay at home mum to a biracial pre-schooler with moderate to severe depression and a chronic illness that is slowly taking my hearing.
*Or was when my kid was little.
