Bill Gets His COVID Vaccination Shot

 

Bill gets his first COVID vaccination shot this morning

Bill got his first COVID vaccination shot this morning. 

I have both of my shots. I got them through the VA. I couldn't get Bill's vaccination shots through the VA because they said he wasn't eligible because he's on home hospice care. Does that make sense? Doesn't to me. But I can't complain too much about the VA because they are taking good care of Bill (covering all the costs) since his two strokes in January. I am SO THANKFUL for that. And they have been so cooperative when the occasional bill does find it was to Casa Tipton-Kelly. You know how it is once you have a medical event and trigger that avalanche of medical bills. 

Here in Delaware we now have a surplus of COVID vaccinations so I thought I would give it a try and see if I could arrange for Bill to get his vaccinations outside the VA system. A few weeks ago I went on the Walgreen's website and signed Bill up for an appointment. This morning at 10:45 AM was his first appointment for the Pfizer COVID vaccination. Wouldn't you know it I forgot to bring identification for Bill. I have his wallet and all ID's locked up in my safe, they're not safe with Bill. He already lost his wallet at Thomas Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia when he was airlifted there after his second stroke. He had no idea where his clothes were. Fortunately I was able to track them down (they were left in a bag in his ICU room) and my friend Don McK., who lives in Center City Philadelphia, went over and picked them up and mailed his clothes and wallet with all his identification to me. Thank you Don!  That was a near miss. Now I don't let Bill have his wallet or cards. He's already lost his hearing aid (still hasn't shown up). 

So there I am this morning at the Walgreen's Pharmacy window checking in Bill and the kind lady behind the plexiglass asks for Bill's identification. Of course Dumbo here FORGOT to bring it with me. No worries, the kind lady looked him up in their system (we got our flu shots a few years ago at that Walgreens when the VA sent us there because they ran out of flu serum or whatever you call the shot).

Bill was injected with the vaccination. We sat for about fifteen minutes just in case there was an adverse reaction (there wasn't) 

Bill's sitting on the back deck now, enjoying this breezy, warm late spring day. The booster vaccination is scheduled from three weeks from now. Hopefully, I'll remember to bring his identification THIS TIME. My brain, I think I'm losing it.

Have a great day everyone! 

Vaccinations and Autism

Chris Christy going for his presidential creeds at #10 Downing Street.  Didn't work, he stepped in dog poo instead when he opened his pie hole about vaccinations - welcome to Mitt Romney "sink your presidential ambitions in London by opening up your yap and showing the world what a dumb f_ck you really are.

Okay folks, I'm going to give my opinion on the vaccination controversy ignited by that Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade buffoon balloon New Jersey governor Chris Christy. 

Christy was asked (during his visit to London to beef up his presidential credentials, no pun intended . . . well maybe) if vaccinations.  Christy, who is desperate to pander to the Tea Party, wing nut base of this Republican party so he can get past the primaries for his presidential bid, gave a waffling answer.  He said:

“I also understand that parents need to have some measure of choice in things as well so that’s the balance that the government has to decide,” Christie said, adding that his own children have been vaccinated. But the line created a furor among Democrats and even some Republicans, who linked his remarks to the views of so-called “vaccine truthers” who believe, despite scientific consensus to the contrary, that vaccines are linked to autism.

Excuse me?  So Chris Christie is lining up with the likes of the toilet sitting actress (?) Jenny McCarthy who says:

Brendan Hoffman / Getty Images

1. “If you ask a parent of an autistic child if they want the measles or the autism, we will stand in line for the fucking measles.”

Via Time: April 1, 2009.

2. “The reason why [parents] are not vaccinating is because the vaccines are not safe. Make a better product and then parents will vaccinate.”

Via CNN: April 3, 2009

3. “I think I would have skipped the chicken pox [vaccine]. I had it when I was little. To me, I’m not too worried about Evan dying from chicken pox. There should be some vaccines that we can go, ‘Hmm, maybe not.’”

Via PBS Frontline: Jan. 8, 2010.

4. “I do believe sadly it’s going to take some diseases coming back to realize that we need to change and develop vaccines that are safe.”

Via Time: April 1, 2009.

Mark Mainz / Getty Images

5. “Time magazine’s article on the autism debate reports that the experts are certain ‘vaccines don’t cause autism; they don’t injure children; they are the pillar of modern public health.’ I say, ‘that’s a lie and we’re sick of it.’”

Via Huffington Post: March 9, 2010

6. “Yes, a wave of 12 children with measles in San Diego is a troubling thing. But, there are more than 20,000 children in San Diego with autism! 20,000 vs. 12?”

Via Huffington Post: April 28, 2010

7. “Us moms aren’t treating autism, we are treating a vaccine injury. And when you treat the vaccine injury, the autism goes away, minimizes or disappears.”

Via Fox News: 6/9/2008.

8. “Almost all kids get — injected toxins — very early in life, and our own government clearly acknowledges vaccines cause brain damage in certain vulnerable kids.”

Via Huffington Post: March 9, 2010

Frederick M. Brown / Getty Images

9. “What number does it have to be for everyone to start listening to what the mothers of children who have autism have been saying for years, which is … We vaccinated our baby and SOMETHING happened. SOMETHING happened. Why won’t anyone believe us?”

Via Excerpt from McCarthy’s “Mother Warriors” / Via Oprah.com

10. “If the vaccine companies are not listening to us, it’s their fucking fault that the diseases are coming back. They’re making a product that’s shit. If you give us a safe vaccine, we’ll use it. It shouldn’t be polio versus autism.”

Via Time: April 1, 2009.

11. “Moms and pregnant women are coming up to me on the street going, ‘I don’t know what to do’… And I don’t know what to tell them, because I am surely not going to tell anyone to vaccinate. But if I had another child, there’s no way in hell.”

Via CNN Larry King Live: September 26, 2007.

M

Ms. McCarthy has been making the rounds of the TV talk shows and other forums espousing her totally unproven claim that vaccinations caused the autism of her son Evan. While it is regrettable that her son has autism or any child has autism (for the record my grand-nephew Kyle P. is autistic), there is no scientific proof that vaccinations cause autism. It is an urban legend spread by the likes of the cigar smoking (gee, do you think her smoking might have contributed to the health of her son at birth? Just asking)

and Don Imus's wife Deirdre, and Robert Wright, the former president link autism to vaccinations: 

Don and Deirdre Imus deliver a hunk a hunk o’ burnin’ stupid about vaccines and autism (with apologies to Elvis) Posted by Orac on January 12, 2008 (25) Share on email More » Someone sent me a transcript of part of the appearance of Deirdre Imus on her husband’s radio show that’s been making the rounds in various discussion groups. I’m glad I don’t listen to the show, as this segment might have made me take a baseball bat to my radio, if I had enough neurological function to do so after being exposed to the toxic, intelligence-sucking effects of her black hole of ignorance. If you think her two Huffington Post articles that I deconstructed a while back were bad, just listen to her on Imus. Truly, it is hard to do so without losing some brain cells, but give it a try: 

 IMUS: Speaking of donating money for good causes…(asking)..Who will you give money to? You could give it to Autism Speaks so they could waste more money flying entertainers around on private jets, or not getting to the bottom of what the hell they’re supposed to be investigating in the first place. DIEDRE: No, you can’t give to that organization, because they are not addressing the real issues on autism. IMUS: Or overpaying a bunch of executives who do nothing. Anyway, speaking of that…I saw Katie Couric and the robot on NBC the other night, reporting on finding this chromosome….they’re claiming that Autism is genetic…what’s that all about? DIEDRE: There’s two things. There’s the California study that was released. We put out a statement in my environmental center today and I’m also writing a piece on it. It’s very flawed and it’s premature. The study they put out…and it’s intellectually dishonest….what they do is hypothesize that all the thimerosal has been taken out of the vaccines, supposedly,,,and they buy into that. They say “Well, see, if thimerosal’s been taken out, and we’re still having a steady increase in autism, how come we’re not seeing drops in autism?” What they fail to recognize, first of all, they don’t have access, they didn’t check to see and prove these children have not been exposed to thimerosal. In fact, we do know the children continue to be exposed to thimerosal, because even when the American Academy of Pediatricians recommended in 2001 to remove it, it stayed on the shelves. I personally know parents that went to their pediatrician and they got thimerosal as late as 2003 – 2004. Because it has a shelf life. Also, coincidentally, when they said they wanted to take thimerosal out, in 2002 they added it to the flu vaccine. They recommended it for all pregnant women and babies. So, all of a sudden, they got this heavy dose, 24 micrograms, or 12 micrograms of mercury again. And, even the vaccines they say they removed thimerosal from, have trace amounts. We found out the CDC and FDA can’t really verify what the trace amounts are. So, the trace amounts could mean anything. Bottom line, mercury is mercury, mercury is toxic, it’s a neuro-development toxicant and mutagen…and it’s going to cause harm. IMUS: I know you know a lot about medical stuff, what’s the quickest way to kill yourself? DIEDRE: Inject yourself with mercury. IMUS: To be serious, I have great admiration for you, but, I can’t listen to it. That’s the problem….people don’t want to hear about it. DIEDRE: Why wouldn’t you want to hear about that, when the main-stream media need groups like mine to give the other side of the story? Unfortunately, groups like Autism Speaks have scientists from the CDC and NIH that are covering this up. KARA: It’s like there is a medical mafia, controlling all the money, not letting the truth get out. IMUS: What’s this chromosome they found? DIEDRE: Well, that a separate study. Chromosome sixteen. Without getting into all that, they’re trying to claim autism is genetic. This is where they contradict themselves and their studies actually validate that it’s environmental. Yes, you can have a genetic pre-disposition, but, even this chromosome suffered mutagenic damage. Which means, some kind of insult happened to damage the chromosome. That’s what they never address. A big culprit, as we know from studies, are heavy metals. Of course this includes mercury….all sources of mercury. Oh, goody. Deirdre Imus is going to write an article about the California study that I discussed earlier this week. I can hardly wait. Surely it’ll be more of the arrogance of ignorance. I don’t know if I’ll bother with it or not, given that I already know what it will say, but we’ll see. If it’s spectacularly idiotic enough, it might be an entertaining exercise to take a look. As for the rest, it’s just more of the most idiotic conspiracy-mongering. Particularly ignorant is her last statement. First, the study that found a region of chromosome 16 linked to autism is but the most recent of a number of studies that strongly point to a genetic cause. Second, as the study itself states, this mutation is only associated with 1% of autism cases, and 90% of children carrying it inherit it from parents. Sorry, Deirdre, but that says nothing about an “environmental” factor. As for “prenatal” exposure to mercury, the amount of mercury in a single flu shot that pregnant women are encouraged to take, it would be hard to differentiate that from the exposure that most women get to mercury from the environment in the time before their pregnancy and before they know they’re pregnant, and you’d have to show that mercury in thimerosal at the doses given could cause this particular mutation. Deidre Imus just assumes that it must be the mercury. When it comes to the recent California study, not to mention the numerous other well-designed studies that failed to find a link between thimerosal-containing vaccines or vaccines in general and autism, Deirdre Imus and the antivaccinationists that she encourages reminds me of Penelope Budisch. The bottom line is that the California study was just the latest high profile study that failed to find a link between thimerosal and autism. The mercury militia know it’s a huge blow to them, and that’s why they’re pulling out all the stops to attack or downplay it. Expect more of the same over the coming week or so.


So here is my question folks: since when did media whores (yes, I said it) like Jenny McCarthy and Deirdre Imus qualify to set the new health standards for our country? 

When I was a child in the Forties and early Fifties, polio was the scourge of my youth. I remember seeing children and adults in iron lungs. I believe I had the standard childhood illness that there was from measles, chicken pox, and whopping cough.  I had vaccinations (and still have the scar on my upper left arm to prove it) to prevent me form having any more diseases.  

Vaccinations work! Regardless of what the Jenny McCarthy's, the Robert Wright's (whose grandson has a form of autism)

The Wright's with their grandson

and Deirdre Imus says.  These are all upper class white folks who just can't understand why their children (or grandchildren as the case may be) have autism.  Why it just couldn't be their genes could it?  Oh no, it MUST be some other reason.  

When I was out in California recently I considered the possibility of visiting Disneyland but we never got around to it.  Now I hear there was an outbreak of measles at Disneyland.  No wonder.  All those kids of upper class white folks like the aforementioned Ms. McCarthy and Deirdre Imus who are spreading the urban myth that vaccinations cause autism.

THERE IS NO SCIENTIFIC PROOF THAT VACCINATIONS CAUSE AUTISM. 

So here is my advice to Ms. McCarthy: go back to posing sitting on toilets to make all your big bucks and SHUT UP.

My advice to New Jersey Governor Chris Christy:  

SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP

My advice to Robert Wright and his wife, grandparents of an autistic grandchild:

Take that time you're going around to all the media outlets spreading your false belief that vaccinations cause autism and spend it with your grandchild.  Give him love and support as well as his parent and:

SHUT UP





Hey, you all know me. I'm not one for censorship but this false belief that some have that vaccinations cause autism I equate with the "free speech" of screaming "FIRE!" in a crowded movie theater. Stop it folks, just stop it and come to your senses. How many children have to die before you stop it with spreading your half baked theories about what causes autism?  And for the record, my grand nephew Kyle P. is autistic. He is the oldest of my niece Vicky's seven children.  He is loved and cherished and a sweet boy but he has never spoken a word in his life.  So I know the heartbreak of autism, even though I do not have to live with it everyday. I do not know what my niece thinks about this controversy and I will not ask her.  All I know is that her son is loved and he knows it. 

My grandnieces and grand nephews (Kyle is in the center) from my niece Vicky

There, I've had my monthly rant.  Back to the nice stuff tomorrow, the continuing coverage of my fantastic vacation in Los Angeles.