SICK,

It's time for another stupid parents story. This time it's parents hosting chicken pox parties so they can deliberately infect their children with chicken pox. The only problem is

some doctors and other health experts are warning that the practice is dangerous. They say that chickenpox is an unpredictable disease. A "wild" exposure may not necessarily make for a milder case, or, on the other hand, guarantee the child will catch the virus. They say complications from chickenpox can be life-threatening.
"Chickenpox is not necessarily a benign disease or a childhood rite of passage," said Curtis Allen, a spokesman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).snipAllen points out that before the vaccination was available, there were 11,000 hospitalizations and 100 deaths annually in the United States from chickenpox, also known as varicella. During 2003 and the first half of 2004, the CDC reported eight deaths from varicella, six of whom were children or adolescents.

O.K. so we have parents who deliberately infect their child with a disease that can kill, where is child protective services when you need them? Isn't there a word to describe this? Child abuse comes to mind.
So, why don't parents immunize their children against a disease that can kill them?

The chickenpox vaccine was the second most refused immunization, trailing only the shot that combines measles, mumps and rubella. snip Many parents who don't vaccinate their children or who use vaccines sparingly worry that ingredients in the shots could cause autism or other disorders, although no connection between vaccines and these disorders has been proven.

How can parents do this? The shot protects 70-90% of those who get it. Those who get it, "those who do contract the disease after vaccination usually get a milder case than what occurs naturally." So these parents would rather have their children be sick and miserable for 10 days, then give them a shot that is over in seconds. I guess one of the parents is a stay-at-home, because who has time to take 10 days off from work to take care of a sick child. I'm sorry but I'd rather take time off to care for my sick child for something that cannot be prevented, rather than something that can be.