Mayim Bialik

[Beeelicious]

Somehow I missed the anti-vax, so I just added a side of side-eye and took a step back. Kinda like with Scientologists.

[Deleted]

Yeah, if you want to sleep on a mattress on the floor beside your kid's bed - cool. That's your thing. But the anti-vax stance has real consequences for everyone, not just her kids. Not cool.

She is my fave character on TBBT though and I love her to pieces with Sheldon.

[Ginger]

Mayim addressed the issue of not vaccinating her kids once. She was like, "My pediatrician said it was ok not to, so I didn't." She made it sound totally normal and not a big deal, and didn't mention that her pediatrician is Dr. Jay Gordon, the leader of the anti-vaccination movement. That was really, really shady.

[batmom]

A city in BC is dealing with a very real measles outbreak due to a large portion of anti-vaxxers in the region (the city has a larger than average proportion of conservative Christians and one of the pastors preaches that vaccination takes agency away from God or some such bullshit.)

[mementomori]

Mar 31, 2014 14:31:03 GMT -4 batmom said:

A city in BC is dealing with a very real measles outbreak due to a large portion of anti-vaxxers in the region (the city has a larger than average proportion of conservative Christians and one of the pastors preaches that vaccination takes agency away from God or some such bullshit.)

Wow, that is just... And when I think of all the children that would benefit the access to vaccines...It makes me really irate.

[Deleted]

Wow, that Dr. Jay guy is a total freak.

No vaccines needed, just quit eating cheese and ice cream.

Jesus, the stupid, it burns. (I always liked Clarissa better, anyways)

[darlingnikki]

Dammit. I rooted for her when I saw the backstage interviews at TBBT and thought what a shame it was that she needed to be "frumpy" for the show when she's really pretty.

Now, I'm all, whatevs.

[Auroranorth]

Being anti-vax ranks you with Scientology in the Levels of Stupid, in my book.

[koshergrit]

Apr 1, 2014 8:40:58 GMT -4 Auroranorth said:

Being anti-vax ranks you with Scientology in the Levels of Stupid, in my book.

What really upsets me about celebrities being so publically anti-vax is that the public believes them and adopts their mindset, without really thinking the implications of this through. I deal with this on a regular basis, when a patient or a parent takes the word of a celebrity over that of doctors and nurses and public health workers, who deal with the aftereffects of lack of immunization.

What they fail to understand is that the people that this anti-vax movement impacts include not only young children, but people who are immunocompromised (e.g. cancer patients, organ recipients, HIV/AIDS patients, etc.), who cannot receive vaccines. They depend on herd immunity (75-94% of the total population being vaccinated against specific diseases) for their protection, and when that herd immunity level drops, what happens is that you have measles and pertussis outbreaks that kills young children and hospitalizes many more. It is irresponsible and poses a huge health hazard.

Here is what would happen if vaccinations stopped.

[pathtaken]

I was vaccinated as a child in the 60s/70s against measles but caught it anyway when I was in my happy, healthy 20s. Kicked my ass for over a week. I can't imagine someone in poor health getting it, they'd be dead. I don't understand how she can be antivax as smart as she supposedly is.
I also give Mayim extra side eye for her OVERBOARD attachment parenting. A friend of mine has a five year old that has been brought up this way. He can barely leave his mother's side to attend kindergarten. She and her husband have no alone time, if they announced a divorce I would not be surprised.