Why Asking About Hot Lots is Not the Right Question When a Baby Dies.
But you can be sure that will be the direction anti-vaccine influencers will be going.
Why are we still hearing about hot lots of vaccines, when this issue has been debunked so many times already?
Of course, it is because anti-vaccine influencers keep bringing it up!
Also note that when a child dies with measles, they argue that they must have had co-morbidities, etc. But when they want to blame vaccines, it is just the vaccines.
Why Asking About Hot Lots is Not the Right Question When a Baby Dies.
This time, you will see their ideas about hot lots being laundered across their social media accounts and websites after the local news in Phoenix announced the tragic story of three young children dying within hours of each other in the early morning hours on March 19.
The deaths of the “very young children” all happened between 5:30 and 6:30am.
The cause?
The children had stopped breathing, although, of course, we don’t know why they stopped breathing. At least not from the newspaper report…
And while they are pushing this as a new story, know that these tragic deaths occurred two years ago.
The story is from 2023.
A year when reports have shown that suffocation and unsafe sleeping environments were the main causes of sudden unexpected infant death (SUID).
What else could cause a cluster of infant deaths like this?
After four infants in a small town in Spain died within seven days of each other, researchers asked that question.
“The scan test of temporal clustering showed that the sudden infant deaths occurred closer to one another in time significantly more often than would be expected by chance. All four infants lived in a neighbourhood of the capital of Navarre, which accounts for approximately half the region's population. The clustered cases coincided with an outbreak of influenza type A detected by the epidemiological surveillance system and seen by the increase in 1990 over the same period in the previous year in the number of paediatric emergency-ward admissions during the 'epidemic' days. The results confirm the presence of a temporal-spatial cluster of SIDS and favour an environmental etiology where exposure to influenza A viruses is implicated.”
A temporal-spatial cluster of sudden infant death syndrome in Navarre, Spain
They concluded that a viral infection might be the cause, and yes, they looked at the vaccination status of the infants. Only one was fully vaccinated and one was unvaccinated.
Other reports about SIDS clusters have come to similar conclusions.
And let’s see what we found as we investigated the cluster of deaths in Arizona…
“This 2-month-10-day-old female infant was reportedly found unresponsive in her bassinet. Per available medical records, she was born at 40 weeks gestation without complications and had been meeting age-appropriate milestones. On February 14, 2023, she was diagnosed with a probable viral respiratory illness and bronchiolitis due to cough and congestion but had since improved. Per investigative reports, on the evening of March 18, 2023, she was placed on her back in her bassinet with a small blanket near her abdomen. The following morning at approximately 0530 hours, her mother found her unresponsive with the blanket covering her face. She was transported to the hospital, where death was pronounced shortly after arrival despite resuscitative efforts.”
MEDICAL EXAMINER REPORT CASE: 23-02944
One of the babies was found with a blanket covering her face, and although the cause of death was undetermined, the medical examiner stated that “accidental asphyxia resulting from a possibly dangerous sleep environment cannot be excluded.”
“According to the investigative information and available medical records, ****** ***** ****** was an 8 month 24 day old infant female who had recent cough, diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting; her twin had been showing similar symptoms. On the evening of 03/18/2023, she was fed, and shortly after was placed in a queen bed on her back with her twin and her parents; she was last seen alive at approximately 11:00 pm. At approximately 02:29 am, one parent woke up and found her laying on her back unresponsive and apneic.”
MEDICAL EXAMINER REPORT CASE: 23-02942
This other baby’s death was also listed as undetermined, but the medical examiner did say that her “unsafe sleep environment cannot be ruled out as a possible cause to death.”
“The decedent was a 2-month-old infant male with no known medical history who was found unresponsive in bed by his mother who was co-sleeping with him. Emergency medical services responded to the scene and transported him to a local emergency department with resuscitative efforts in progress. Death was pronounced shortly after arrival. There are no concerns for foul play or neglect. The mother reports feeding him and placing him to sleep on the bed before falling asleep herself shortly thereafter. When she awoke, she found him unresponsive in a prone position and cold to the touch.”
MEDICAL EXAMINER REPORT CASE: 23-02945
Another undetermined cause of death, but again, the medical examiner mentioned that “the other consideration is the sleep environment he was in. Both prone positioning and sharing a sleeping surface with an adult increase the risk of asphyxia through obstruction of the nose and mouth or overlay that restricts chest movement.”
In this case, the baby was found lying prone, or face down, in an adult bed.
Are you still thinking about vaccines and hot lots?
How about thinking of ways that you can educate parents on how to put their babies to sleep safely to help reduce the risk of these kinds of tragedies?
By continuing to blame vaccines for these tragedies, not only do parents get scared and leave their children at risk to get a vaccine-preventable disease, they might not think about safe sleep practices.
References
Arizona Child Fatality Team. 31st Annual Report. November 15, 2024. https://www.azdhs.gov/documents/prevention/womens-childrens-health/reports-fact-sheets/child-fatality-review-annual-reports/cfr-annual-report-2024.pdf
Moreno C, Ardanaz E, Olivera JE, Castilla J, de Pedro-Cuesta J. A temporal-spatial cluster of sudden infant death syndrome in Navarre, Spain. Eur J Epidemiol. 1994 Apr;10(2):129-34. doi: 10.1007/BF01730361. PMID: 7813689.