Jackson Jambalaya

I'm happy and relieved to know that stupid bill died!

I read on the internet that the best way for your body to build up a tolerance for snake venom is to allow several to bite you.

And the same holds true for venereal disease. Having unprotected sex at an early age with those known to be infected will allow your body to experience the lesser strains of VD which will eventually build up an immunity and you'll be less likely to contract the more serious ones as you go through life.

They are still doing studies regarding concussions; but, the hope is that we will learn you can subject yourself to mild concussions in your early years, with each succeeding one being more severe and, eventually, you'll be able to bang your head against a cinderblock wall with no negative result.

If y'all will just pay attention and think outside the box, you'll learn something.

The postneonatal mortality rate (deaths of infants more than 4 weeks old) in Mississippi:

1930 33 deaths per 1000 live births
1960 16
1970 9
1980 6
1990 4.5
2000 4.1
2012 3.3

Public Health Immunization and Medicaid coverage saved thousands of lives.

It seems the writer was wrong about not getting brain damage.

What a stretch 10:02 AM. Association is not causation.

Perhaps you will offer an alternative explanation, 10:27. While you're stretching.

"The postneonatal mortality rate (deaths of infants more than 4 weeks old) in Mississippi:

1930 33 deaths per 1000 live births
1960 16
1970 9
1980 6
1990 4.5
2000 4.1
2012 3.3

Public Health Immunization and Medicaid coverage saved thousands of lives. "

Um, your data don't support your last sentence (which is undoubtedly true, although you can't prove it with the numbers you cite).

For instance, the single largest drop, both in percentage and in actual numbers of deaths prevented, was between 1930 and 1960, five years before Medicaid was started and also before most vaccines were available. The drops in percentage and raw numbers each subsequent decade, when Medicaid was available and many vaccines were available, are tiny in comparison to the 1930 - 1960 drop.

Please don't give the anti-vax nutjobs ammunition by making bad arguments.

Easy.
1930 to 1960 gains were most likely from improvements in medical care.
1960 to 2012 gains were most likely due to improvements in preventive care (public health generally, including immunization) and in access to medical care for poor pregnant women and infants (especially Medicaid).

The stats were to refute the idiotic statement at the end of the letter that Mississippi being first in immunization is somehow responsible for Mississippi having the worst infant mortality. The neonatal mortality rate in Mississippi is 1/10 what it was in 1930. Mississippi is still last because everyone else has improved also.

"Most likely" = correlation. Not proof. Don't bother responding as we already understand you don't know the difference.

What's really scary is that James Luby is a retired teacher.

Did not say it was absolute proof but it doesn't need to be to demonstrate that what we have been doing has worked.
Most likely is better than any explanation you have to offer.
We greatly improved and expanded access to preventive and medical care for pregnant women and infants and infant deaths dropped by thousands. Good enough for me.

There is a much stronger causal relationship than the anecdotal evidence that sometimes kids get autism shortly after vaccination.

I knew his parents. The family never had an indoor shitter and didn't trust automobiles as a means of transportation. What else do we need to know?

Let's see you prove that the reduction in the mortality rate was not caused by expanded access to preventive care, prenatal care, and medical coverage.
The trend line supports continuing the current policies. It does not support weakening them.

From CDC:
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00053845.htm

"Postneonatal mortality (PNM) declined dramatically during 1945-1950 and 1965-1970, and more slowly at other times. Medical advances in the treatment and prevention of infectious diseases after World War II and improvements in socioenvironmental conditions during the 1960s facilitated these periods of decline in PNM."

What a remarkable coincidence that Medicaid was created in 1965. If you look at the historic data nationally, the biggest percentage change is in the postneonatal deaths from infectious diseases. The Mississippi data also would show that postneonatal deaths from infectious diseases declined dramatically, except that the historic cause of death data in Mississippi is less precise because most coroners were not doctors and few autopsies were performed.

GREAT job cherrypicking! From your cut-and-paste job:

An association between poverty and infant mortality has also been described (18-22). However, to explore these factors in detail, a surveillance system that includes information on socioeconomic indicators and other potential risk factors is needed (1,6,15). The mortality data used in this report are limited by the absence of data on factors known to affect infant survival (e.g., socioeconomic status, maternal education, parity, and early use of prenatal care).
.....
In conclusion, PNM remains an important contributor to infant mortality, but nearly half of these deaths are caused by potentially preventable causes such as SIDS, infections, and injuries. In 1993, the year 2000 national health objective for PNM was achieved for white infants; however, these data suggest that the objective for black infants is unlikely to be met. Prevention strategies to further reduce PNM should include increasing access to comprehensive prenatal and pediatric care and scheduled immunizations; promoting smoke-free environments; promoting the supine sleeping position for infants; encouraging breast feeding; and advocating the use of recommended automobile passenger restraints and residential fire alarms. Further evaluation of the influence of socioeconomic status, environmental exposures, and health-care access and use are needed for planning effective prevention strategies.

Dude,

Your clip job supported my argument completely. You have no argument against the claim that the government policies to reduce infant mortality have worked better than practically anything else the government has ever done.

They say "increasing access to comprehensive prenatal and pediatric care and scheduled immunizations" are the best ways to reduce PNM.

I said Medicaid and public health and immunizations have reduced infant mortality. We are saying exactly the same thing.

"I said Medicaid and public health and immunizations have reduced infant mortality"

You're really embarrassing yourself by your lack of understanding of the terminology. (For the record - I TOTALLY support routine vaccinations against preventable diseases except in rare medical circumstances). In your quote you mention "reduced infant mortality" - "infant mortality" is defined as deaths before 28 days of age. None of the vaccines we are discussing prevent death from diseases that typically affect those under 28 days old. They show their effect later in life. Examples of "infant mortality" include SIDS, for which there is no vaccine.

As the t-shirt says "If things don't start improving I'm going to have to ask you to stop helping"