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I'm a Republican and KY Gov Matt Bevin is an Idiot

Brainster

Penultimate Amazing
Brainster
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May 26, 2006
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21,937
This is a disturbing story about a sitting US governor:

In a move experts say is medically unsound — and can be dangerous — Gov. Matt Bevin said in a radio interview Tuesday that he deliberately exposed all nine of his children to chickenpox so they would catch the disease and become immune.

“Every single one of my kids had the chickenpox," Bevin said in an interview with WKCT, a Bowling Green talk radio station. "They got the chickenpox on purpose because we found a neighbor that had it and I went and made sure every one of my kids was exposed to it, and they got it. They had it as children. They were miserable for a few days, and they all turned out fine.”
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That is the kind of story that makes me despair. Bevin's kids may have survived the chicken pox but guess what? They are now prone to shingles later in life. I have a friend who has suffered from shingles for almost 2 years, and I can tell you I would not wish it on my worst enemy.

:mad:
 
Why is it significant that he's a Republican?

There are plenty of Libertarians and Democrats who suffer from the same delusions.
 
Foolmewunz said:
Why is it significant that he's a Republican?

There are plenty of Libertarians and Democrats who suffer from the same delusions.
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You did see that he's the Governor of Kentucky?

I'd argue that it is significant that I'm a Republican (with some modest cred around here for belonging to that tribe) calling out a Republican Gov. Red on red or blue on blue is more significant than red on blue or vice-versa.
 
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Brainster said:
You did see that he's the Governor of Kentucky?

I'd argue that it is significant that I'm a Republican (with some modest cred around here for belonging to that tribe) calling out a Republican Gov. Red on red or blue on blue is more significant than red on blue or vice-versa.
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Oh, I grant you your credentials. I just don't think that it's particularly noteworthy for a skeptic to stand up against anti-vaxxers or homeopaths or moon hoaxers. And it's not like it's a GOP position. The governor of KY is a loon. The fact that he's a Republican loon only has an effect if he's running for President or if he's fighting to have it included as a plank at the national convention or wants to promulgate an order for his state.

I don't see it as a political issue. But kudos, I guess. We've got blind Trump supporters who have changed their opinions 180o based on various Trumpouncements. Hopefully everything isn't still down to party politics.
 
Brainster,
Even us skeptical skeptics are prone to biases. Anyone who'd call out the idiocy of one of his 'tribe' is deserving of at least some praise. Even if the idiocy in question is so blatant as we see here, for we find in today's world rather too much blind adherence to one's 'side.'
 
Depends on the time. Before the vaccine was available in 1984, we used to get the playgroup of 2-3 year olds together whenever one of them got chickenpox so they would all get it together. They were going to get it eventually, so it was convenient to have them all out of circulation at the same time. Plus, that was the - according to our pediatricians - best age to get the virus. The older you got the chickenpox the worse it was. But after 1984, the next crop of kids got vaccinated. No more pox parties.
 
paiute said:
Depends on the time. Before the vaccine was available in 1984, we used to get the playgroup of 2-3 year olds together whenever one of them got chickenpox so they would all get it together. They were going to get it eventually, so it was convenient to have them all out of circulation at the same time. Plus, that was the - according to our pediatricians - best age to get the virus. The older you got the chickenpox the worse it was. But after 1984, the next crop of kids got vaccinated. No more pox parties.
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Bevin was born in 1967, married in 1996 according to Wikipedia.

So yeah, he's a moron with no excuses.
 
The doctors are a little wrong in assessing the danger.

From the CDC

In the early 1990s, an average of 4 million people got varicella, 10,500 to 13,000 were hospitalized (range, 8,000 to 18,000), and 100 to 150 died each year. In the 1990s, the highest rate of varicella was reported in preschool-aged children.
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And the complications risk goes up for older people. So the danger he is putting them in is probably far less than the danger to his kids in non contact sports.

Here is the real reason to do it...also from the CDC

Chickenpox vaccine became available in the United States in 1995. In 2014, 91% of children 19 to 35 months old in the United States had received one dose of varicella vaccine, varying from 83% to 95% by state. Among adolescents 13 to 17 years of age without a prior history of disease, 95% had received 1 dose of varicella vaccine, and 81% had received 2 doses of the vaccine. Eighty-five percent of adolescents had either a history of varicella disease or received 2 doses of varicella vaccine.

Each year, more than 3.5 million cases of varicella, 9,000 hospitalizations, and 100 deaths are prevented by varicella vaccination in the United States.
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There are so many thoughts on this part.

-people have to take care of kids for those 9 million sick days
-some portion of those 9,000 hospitalizations are on Medicaid.

As a republican, there are plenty of reasons to be pro vaccine.

Also, it might help to reduce the risk of shingles. Please ask a person with shingles what they would have paid to not have shingles.

And for all of you that fret about not getting a chickenpox vaccine, I know what percent of you forget to get your flu shot.
 
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BobTheCoward said:
So the danger he is putting them in is probably far less than the danger to his kids in non contact sports.
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The important distinction being that the only children at risk for sports-related injuries are those who are taking part in sports.
 
Brainster said:
You did see that he's the Governor of Kentucky?

I'd argue that it is significant that I'm a Republican (with some modest cred around here for belonging to that tribe) calling out a Republican Gov. Red on red or blue on blue is more significant than red on blue or vice-versa.
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You should have shortened the thread title to "KY Gov Matt Bevin is an Idiot". The whole GOP/Dem thing is irrelevant, really. Idiots be idiots everywhere.
 
BobTheCoward said:
The doctors are a little wrong in assessing the danger.

From the CDC



And the complications risk goes up for older people. So the danger he is putting them in is probably far less than the danger to his kids in non contact sports.

Here is the real reason to do it...also from the CDC



There are so many thoughts on this part.

-people have to take care of kids for those 9 million sick days
-some portion of those 9,000 hospitalizations are on Medicaid.

As a republican, there are plenty of reasons to be pro vaccine.

Also, it might help to reduce the risk of shingles. Please ask a person with shingles what they would have paid to not have shingles.

And for all of you that fret about not getting a chickenpox vaccine, I know what percent of you forget to get your flu shot.
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In the UK children are not vaccinated against chicken pox. You can probably go private, I've not checked.

I lived in Canada for a number of years where one of my children did receive the vaccine.

On returning to the UK I asked my doctor why UK doesn't vaccinate, the reason given was the opposite of what you say about shingles.

Apparently, having chicken pox constantly in the public domain helps to boost older peoples immunity - so older people very rarely get it.

https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/childrens-health/why-are-children-in-the-uk-not-vaccinated-against-chickenpox/
 
The major reason I had my daughter given the varicella vaccine was the fear of shingles. Having watched my mother and grandfather suffer horribly for months with shingles, there was no way I was going to subject her to that.

I also contracted chickenpox at one of those "pox parties" in the late 50's .

You'll get no argument from me that Bevins is an idiot.
 
Stacyhs said:
The major reason I had my daughter given the varicella vaccine was the fear of shingles. Having watched my mother and grandfather suffer horribly for months with shingles, there was no way I was going to subject her to that.

I also contracted chickenpox at one of those "pox parties" in the late 50's .

You'll get no argument from me that Bevins is an idiot.
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I think the thing is if you live in a country that provides a vaccine to their population then it would always be better to get your children the vaccine too in case they get a does when they get older (and contract shingles)

But if you live in a country where chicken pox is everywhere anyway, you end up with natural herd immunity and would be less likley to contract it ltr. That's the theory anyway.
 
BadBoy said:
In the UK children are not vaccinated against chicken pox. You can probably go private, I've not checked.

I lived in Canada for a number of years where one of my children did receive the vaccine.

On returning to the UK I asked my doctor why UK doesn't vaccinate, the reason given was the opposite of what you say about shingles.

Apparently, having chicken pox constantly in the public domain helps to boost older peoples immunity - so older people very rarely get it.

https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/childrens-health/why-are-children-in-the-uk-not-vaccinated-against-chickenpox/
Click to expand...

In the UK the chicken pox vaccine is used as a shingles vaccine given to people over 70 to prevent shingles (also targeted vaccination to relatives of immunocompromised people, non-immune health care staff, etc.).
 
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