Anthony has his four-month check-up on Tuesday. We have always chosen to vaccinate our children—have always taken our doctors at their word and recommendation.
Still, I always wince at the sight of all those shots.
I don’t mean for this to be a controversial post at all. I know that there are people with strong opinions on both sides of the vaccination issue. May I just ask you, though, my reader and my friend, what you choose to do with your children? Do you vaccinate or don’t you? Do you divide the shots or do them all at once?
Thank you for your input.
Margaret, I have 8 kids and we have always vaccinated. The only one I have refused so far is the one they are giving to teenage girls.(cant remember the name of it right now. The way I see it, most of them have been around a long time. They have proven their value and I dont want my adult child coming to me saying-"do you know what I have to go through now that I want to go out of the country and you didnt have me vaccinated???" This is just my personal opinion. Do what makes you feel at peace after consulting with your husband and God of course. I'll be praying for you! Trish
We do them, but I only give one shot per visit, which means we take longer to get it all done.
With my first two we started much later than most people do, because (I figured) with them being breastfed and not in day care, the need was not as urgent. With my third, though, I knew she would be exposed to more people because her older brothers got out and around so much, so the calculation was a little different, and we started earlier with her.
I still feel icky about fetal-cell line vaccines such as MMR. We put them off for a long time but finally relented. I am not at all sure it was the right thing to do.
This year is the first year we have done flu shots.
Thank you, Trish. Thank you, Erin.
The flu shots we have not done. Oh wait, we DID do them for the kids last year when they happened to all be in the doctor's office. I don't know if we'll do them this year.
Epidurals, circumcision, vaccinations…is there anything you won't post about? 🙂
We vaccinate. Not always on schedule but that's usually because I forget to make the appts. (And no, not Gardasil)
I was really struggling with the decision so I tried praying about it. I was praying and praying and praying as I drove to church one morning, thinking of our appt. the next day and on the radio there was a talk show on. The guest was a pediatrician who was talking about how a child died of chicken pox right in her office. I took that as my answer. Also, a friend of my daughter's got measles just this summer. The stuff is still out there.
That's not to say I'm pro vaccination exactly. I have a hard time with it especially with all the conflicting information out there. And I have no problem with people who don't chose to vaccinate. We normally don't bother with the flu vaccine ourselves.
OK, I'm rambling now. Yes, I worry. I do it anyway and so far, we've not had any adverse reactions.
Jenn is me, Margaret – Jennifer. I accidently commented under my Google acct.
NO Hep B! Hep B is only transmitted sexually or through needle use and it sends the immune system into a downward spiral. Obviously for my crazy allergic family, we don't do Hep B – until they are older (read LOTS OLDER).
I don't like using vaccines that have human cell line origins (read MMR and Varicella). I do them, though. I had mumps and chicken pox as the same time and was VERY sick. I don't with that kind of misery on anyone and if I can help it, I will prevent my kids from it. I didn't used to do them because of where they came from. You have to decide yourself.
Everyone but me gets flu shots. I take large amounts of Vitamin D (which is supposed to help) instead because of the Egg Allergy.
I have a brand new baby and I'm not sure what route to go either. I trust my doctor so I began the regular vaccination routine (starting at 4 months) for my now 9 month old. I think I might ask to spread out the shots, however – especially for the MMR.
As for the fetal-cell lines, there is a wonderful article by Fr. Tad Pacholczyk, who is one of the leading Catholic bioethicists. In the article he states that it is not morally wrong to use an abortion fetal-cell line vaccine when no other form of that vaccine exists (http://www.ncbcenter.org/FrTad_MSOOB_2.asp). He also says that we should be vigorously pressuring the pharmaceutical companies and doctors to provide vaccines from non-objectionable sources.
Finally, in general I am against flu shots for myself, but this year I decided to give one to the baby because we live on a college campus and sickness breeds so quickly there. I don't want to take the risk.
God bless your decisions!
I don't do the flu shots, but I've had all 5 vaccinated so far. I had my older ones get the shot for the chicken pox, my daughter had to get another chicken pox shot when she got older. I asked the doctor if she would have to continue to get the shots her whole life to prevent getting the chicken pox, and guess what? she said she didn't know. Shouldn't they know things like this??
Also, my son and my 2 year old both had lumps on their legs for years! My son would unconsciously itch his thighs during bath time, like I said, for YEARS!!
I'm so torn about this, I have a friend who does not vaccinate, my family thinks that she is very irresponsible, it is very counter cultural.
At the end of the day, I just pray, I bless the kids and I pray that they will experience no ill effects from these shots…
We vaccinate because our dd has a heart condition and we thought it was the best. I read all the literature extensively and decided at the time that the anti-vacc stuff was too emotive, thin on real facts. I'm changing my mind these days …
We vaccinate against the flu because our doctors tell us to, but I'm doubting we'll do this next year.
We definitely vaccinated against chicken pox, and got into a lot of trouble with my family for "being so silly." Later *I* got chicken pox and was very ill.
I would never ever ever give my dd the cervical cancer vaccine. Even the doctor who developed it says it is unsafe.
Good luck with whatever choices you make.
We do the ones that our great, Catholic, pro-life doctor recommends. Which means most of them, though definitely not Gardasil and I don't think we did Hep B either.
We often spread the shots out a little more than average, depending on what's going on and the sensitivity of the kids.
We do! We do! We do!
My sweet hubby began his career as a pediatrician and I as a peds ICU nurse. If you have ever spent a shift caring in the peds ICU as the result of chicken pox…you'd never again question the wisdom of vaccinations. If you had ever cared for a child permanently brain damaged as a result of a childhood illness you would not question the wisdom.
Our oldest daugher had chicken pox before the vaccine came out. They became infected with staph, and she spent six weeks very very ill.
We have and are giving our daughters the HPV vaccine. Yes, it is a vaccine against a sexually transmitted virus. While I trust my daughters to remain chaise….I have no way of knowing that they will not someday marry a widower…and I would have no way of knowing his history or his late wives…it is too big a risk to take with my daughters. I've read the medial literature…the reported reaction consist of mild fevers and itching. Both are minor compared with the alternative.
If you are concerned, then I'd check the CDC's site on specific vaccines.
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/default.htm
I vaccinated all my kids . . . they are doing great. NO on the Gardasil! No on the flu shots – the one time we did this, we all got sick. Um, if I were to have kids today I would definitely space the shots out . . . just 'cos there's news about safe levels of mercury in shots but once given several at once the mercury levels are too high.
I've gone the route of spacing out the vaccines, and starting them later. I've also selected to leave out a few altogether; and there are a couple which are contraindicated for my kids (due to other health issues).
My eldest is old enough that he was little during the years that the {old} pertussis vaccine was in use: that one had verifiable, terrible, side-effects. The newer one is better (read: safer). They all have verifiable, genuine side-effects, just like any other medication/drug. One has to research, and weigh the risks/benefits for each individual.
Two of my kids caught chicken pox the old-fashioned way, as toddlers, and had good cases: meaning, plenty of pox to offer life-time immunity, but not bad enough to be a dangerous case (which, by the way, is very rare, though does happen of course). My daughter, poor duck, is now ten and has not gotten chicken pox, despite repeated exposure. I'm going to have her tested (it's a blood test) to see if she's immune (a few people just are, naturally, oddly enough). If she's not, she'll have to get the shot, as the older you get, the higher the risk of having a dangerous case.
We don't ever do flu shots. Eh.
I've done lots of academic research on vaccines. It's a sticky wicket, for sure. There have been positive scientific advances … and then we have something like Gardasil, which is proving to be quite unsafe, and was pushed through to approval far too quickly, is effective in an extremely limited arena, for a limited time, doesn't target the carrier (males) and so on.
Modern medicine has brought us wonderful things. But it is an imperfect science. Questioning and researching for ourselves are good things to do, I think.
We do vaccinate, and we do it according to the schedule. With the exception of the flu shot the mercury has been removed from all vaccines. I have a lot of faith in our pediatrician. She is very well-read and up to date on the vaccination issue.
The one we will never do is the Gardasil (did you know they are talking of giving it to boys as well?).
As far as the flu shot goes, we were very good about getting it for the boys when they were younger as my Dad had cancer, and we did it to not get him any sicker than he already was. My dh has to have it every year because the one year he didn't, he ended up in the hospital with pneumonia after having the flu. In recent years, I haven't been as great about getting them the flu shot, but we are getting it this year because of the new baby. I was unable to breastfeed, and so we feel like we need to to help keep her from getting it.
WOW! Sorry for the novel! Great topic, though!
We do vaccinate – selectively, delayed and spaced out. keep in mind, this is also because we were exclusively breastfeeding.
I really felt like, after the reading and whatnot that I did (great book is Dr. Sear's THe Vaccine Book – very unbiased – he actually recommends most vaccines – but explains why people may not want to and offers alternate schedules), that it didn't make sense to give such tiny little immune systems SO MANY shots of such virulent illnesses in such a short time. Thus, I think that spacing out the shots – you can get them all separately, you just have to ask (which of course irritates offices who want things to be quick and easy for them, and it does mean more appointments for you) – just made sense to me as a mama.
Also, time between the shots made sense for the same reason.
Then, we delayed starting any until one year, pretty much because of the above. You have more kiddos and you have kiddos who go out and get lots of germys, so it might make more sense not to wait, or to only wait 6 mo., etc.
Then, we were selective because some vaccines seemed silly to us – HEP B ( i plan to monitor my son's needle drug use and unprotected sex in the foreseeable future! :-p), Chicken Pox (i'd rather him have the natural immunity since i have seen countless kids get the vaccine and either need it again or get it anywyays. the immunity from vaccines is a different kind because of the way the virus/bacteria enters the body, so it can wear off), etc.
That said, we are doing DTaP (diptheria i'm not too worried about, but tetanus, esp for a boy, and pertussis are both a doosy), just spaced out. I wanted to do just the R of MMR because of the fetal cell line issue (and Ruebella is super serious if he encounters pregnant women), but stupid Merck just stopped making the single doses. So, we haven't decided quite yet.
Then, if my husband is stationed abroad, he will also get Polio (IPV) – its been eradicated with VERY few exceptions in the US, but definitely still exists abroad, and he will get MMR then before we left.
The US gives more shots total and in a younger time period than any other first world country. European countries and Japan do most of our same shots, but later and on a different, less aggressive schedule.
Anyways. since you asked 🙂
Margaret…I only have 3 but I have always vaccinated them. There are so many things out there now that we CAN'T vaccinate for (that are quite deadly)…I just think we should protect them as much as possible and so many diseases have been eradicated because of the vaccines. As far as getting them all at once….I usually leave that up to my pediatrician. All I can say is that my kids have never had any trouble or reaction at all.
I know there are passionate arguments on both sides. Pray…and then do what brings you the most comfort and peace.
my answer is a lot like Trish (your first poster). I won't do the one for teenage girls…I can't think of the name of the top of my head, but I know what she's referring too.
Hi Margaret and Co.,
I'm not a mom, but I would ask that if you CAN get your kids the flu vaccine, to get it. My little sister can't get it because she's allergic to eggs, but everyone else in my family does. After my experiences with CF and now the lung transplant, I am so susceptible to germs, it drives me nuts when the other people I work with don't get a flu shot. If I get the flu, that equals hospital time and all sorts of other issues. Plus, if your kids are in public school, you never know if a classmate's family has someone at home with cancer, or a suppressed immune system. Since I don't live at home it's easier for me to avoid my family if they do get sick, but we still try to avoid getting sick by getting the shot.
I didn't get the chicken pox vaccine because it wasn't invented when I was a kid! So my brother and I just went through it. But all the rest of us got our vaccinations. I haven't gotten gadrasil and am not planning on it either!
Just wanted to throw out some reasons for the flu vaccine. 🙂
@Emily Thank-you, gadrasil is the name of the one I was think of. That's the one I will NOT do!
I, too, liked this topic. Because of the swine flu, this topic comes up frequently these days. My husband is an OB/GYN doctor and has patients asking these questions daily. I went to the website recommended by Ashleyrae and was pleased to see a total of 50 articles by Fr. Tad (we're big fans of his) on various bioethical questions. A feast for the Catholic mind! http://ncbcenter.org/makingsense.asp
God bless,
Susan P.
Hi Margaret,
I'm glad you asked about this– even though it's a big can of worms.
I read/researched/agonized over this for all of my children, so I know why you feel conflicted. I too, like Dr Sears' book about vaccinations—he is mellow, but has the medical background to be thorough.
I decided to spread out the shots, and I thought, "I could always go back to doing 3, 4 or 5 at each appointment if I want to when the baby is older."
We do vaccinate our 4 children for the older diseases/vaccines—read as: the ones we had as a child. We do only 1 or 2 at the well-baby visits, so I am behind for a while. But my kids are fine and healthy, so far.
Many of the new vaccines haven't been adequately tested and haven't been around long enough to check the long term effects. I just don't feel comfortable having the drug companies use my children as "guinea pigs" for their "latest and greatest".
Won't do Gardasil: only prevents 4 out of nearly a hundred types of cervical cancers—if my daughters decide to marry a widower, they can get the shot then—in twenty years from now.
Won't do chickenpox vaccine—too new to know the effects and from the research, could possibly lead to fertility problems later on in girls. Additionally, the body uses some of the latent antibodies from fighting off the chickenpox disease to ward off a couple of other yucky diseases which aren't present from just getting the shot. Besides, one would have to get the booster for the rest of their life to maintain immunity.
No to Hep B
I have been told by nurses that there is no mercury in the shots, but the ingredient list shows "thimerasol" as one of the items in the shot. (a.k.a. mercury) so I may just be a bit sensitive about it.
I am sorry that there are some people who cannot get the flu shots due to allergies, but I don't think it is fair for my four little ones to get the shot "just in case" we ever come into contact with someone who didn't.
Just my not-very-humble opinion.
God bless you in your endeavor to do the best for your family, just like we try to do.
Sincerely,
Donna
Many of them are made from cells of aborted fetuses, so I have a moral issue with it. It's possible with certain ones to get vaccines without this, but it can be difficult, esp if your pediatrician is not into that. Vaccines always weaken natural immunity, especially when they overload the body. They wear off eventually, sometimes in very short periods of time. And of course they are filled with mercury, formaldehyde, and a myriad of other poisonous substances. For these reasons, I do not vaccinate. And my daughter has rarely been ill. I used to get the flu shot, but I always got the flu. I don't get the shot anymore, and now I don't get the flu either. Hmmmm. The flu shot definitely contains mercury, and the Swine flu shot is far more dangerous and has not been sufficiently tested. Stay away from them for sure! (IMHO :))
Google "Vatican Statement on vaccines derived from aborted human fetuses". Relevant Radio did a piece on this about 3 years ago with the upshot being that according to this, you shouldn't vaccinate your children with vaccines derived from aborted babies unless there is an epidemic in the country and even then, only on a temporary basis. I have 5 children. I started vaccinating the first, then found out about the vaccines started from aborted babies. I then did some research, and decided not to vaccinate anymore. Many of my friends have never vaccinated. Some have. All are caring moms. My take is that EVERYONE should do the research, then decide. I know not all will agree with me, but except for the vaccines started from aborted babies, there is no right or wrong. May God bless you, your family and all those who read your blog.
Great topic. I always dread those appointments. I wish I was confident one way or the other. I'm just scared. So, we do most of them.
Gardisil: NO
Chicken Pox: NO
Hep B: Some kids yes, some no, but after reading someone's post about the immune system I'm in no hurry to catch up on that one.
Flu: Only got it for my oldest with asthma. But we might all get it for the first time this year and see if things are different (I'm guessing it won't be hard to imagine 2 parents, 6 kids, horribly sick, with only the vaccinated child able to help with the laundry and empty the buckets). Is that a good reason? I don't know, but we get something nasty every year and one of our kids will be undergoing some tests at U of M Fairview in the next 2-6 weeks, plus follow ups I presume, more chances of getting exposed to things.
H1N1: Nope. But my ped. did raise the concern about someone contracting both H1N1 and the regular flu and it overtaxing them/mutating. Still not enough for me to give them a new vaccine. But, it did give me more reason to get them the regular flu shot. At least that is my plan.
I am popping into the conversation to say thank you for sharing your thoughts and convictions, and thank you all for staying civil!
I pretty much knew you would. 🙂
Yes and no. We go an alternate route. With my son (3), he is fully vaccinated now, but it took awhile for him to get that way. We started with only Rotovirus and DTaP until he was around a year and then we added in a few others. I planned on waiting for MMR for him, but there was an outbreak of Measles in the county just south of us and so we decided to go for it.
My daughter (10 months) is also only a little vaccinated. She's had DTaP, Roto, and the Meningitis ones (can't remember the names, but I think there is two of them). We're taking it much slower with her now that I'm a little more educated in the subject. She's also unfortunatly had HepB, but because the nurse at an appointment gave her the wrong one. I was pretty upset, especially since I had to go out of my way to make sure they didn't stick her at birth. Sigh. I have a difficult time trusting doctors anyway, and this didn't help.
And we don't do flu shots, although I did consider them this year.
A great (but controversial) book is the Vaccine Book by Dr. Sears. He also has a blog.
I have only a couple of things to add. As a survivor of cervical cancer, the arguments given for not gettting the Gardasil vaccine fall flat with me. There are two things I ask that you remember.
1- If your daughter is diagnosed with one of the cervical cancers prevented by the vaccine, the rate is 100% not one in four for her.
2-We do not live in a perfect world. If we did and you knew for certain the only way your daughter would ever sleep with a man who has not had a prior sexual partner is if she married a widower. Then great don't vaccinate. But, that's a bit like believing her prince will arive on a white horse to sweep her off her feet.
3- There is only a very small window of opportunity for receiving the Gardasil vaccine. It isn't a let's wait and see who you choose opportunity.
4- Mother's need to move beyond seeing a vaccine given for a virus which is sexually transmitted as equating their young daughers with tramps. Until they do, they will be leaving their daughters vulnerable to a preventable disease.
Had I been able to have the vaccine as a teen, my cancer would have been preventable. Instead, I write as a thirty-two year old survivor. Who has had a total hysterectomy, chemo, and who as the mother of one child who will never have another. And for the record, I am not a tramp, nor my husband a tom cat.
Please, please! Arrange for your daughters to have the Gardasil vaccine!
Anonymous- If the Gardasil vaccine was TRULY JUST for Cervical Cancer then I would have no issue. They, in my opinion, are using cervical cancer as a smoke screen for the vaccine's true nature.
I'm sorry to hear about your struggles, I wish you all the best.
I will second (or third or fourth) the recommendation of Dr. Sears' book. His philosophy is educate yourself and then make the best choice for your family.
There is so much information out there that it is hard to distinguish what is truth and what is there just to scare us. I believe both sides of the vaccine issue use scare tactics to win us to their side.
Dr. Sears has done lots of research and presents all of the information in one spot.
I choose to do the DTaP and HiB for my infants. I feel that pertussis and meningitis are the greatest risks to my under 12 month babies especially the ones who will be less than 6 months old during the winter. I feel that these vaccines provide enough protection against diseases that have significant morbidity and sometimes mortality. We decline HepB, Prevnar, Rotovirus in toto. I allow the IPV in the second year. I consent to the MMR when they are 4 or 5. Varivax I decide on based on the child (for example I have a child with fragile skin who is prone to secondary skin infections-CP could be very troublesom for her as she is at a hhigh risk for a secondary infection-and secondary bacterial infections are almost always what cause severe complications in CP), age and whether they get CP or not.
I will third, or fourth…the idea that there is no one size fits all. It isn't either vaccinate on the CDC schedule or not at all. Even within oone family different children may have different needs. Try and do your research with the facts. I actually went to the Index Medicus and read the studies for myself, did the risk vs. benefit for MY family, what we could live with, what weaknesses each child has/doesn't, where they go, what they want to do…. There are risks either way-vaccinate or not-despite what zealots on either side of the aisle say. It all boils down to what you and dh feel are acceptable risks for your children. Reading other interpretations of the data, by people with an agenda (on both sides) often makes the process of decision worse, IMO.
We also vaccinate. I guess spreading them out wont hurt.
I thought for sure you would get way more comments about not then do. Very interesting.
We do vaccinate, because I weigh one anxiety against another and find the risk of the diseases is greater than the risks of the shot. I may be wrong, but in Canada now, we can get MMR that is not derived from fetal tissue, but there isn't one for Chicken Pox yet that isn't. We decided not to innoculate against CP (weighing again) and our children all got it this summer, but no worse than their friend who had the shot. I only do max 2 shots per visit to monitor for side effects and I will not immunize for Gardisal or Hep B. Human Life International is a great source for info on immunization development. I hate getting the shots done, I hate watching my babies' cry, but it's all in the weighing for us. God bless.
We vaccinate.
I try to get them done as quickly as possible rather than spread them out, even if it means multiple pokes per visit because I would just rather get them over with and it means fewer trips out to the Dr's office for baby.
We vaccinate. Like another poster, a big reason is that dh is a doctor. For him, it's clearcut — before vaccinations, loads of deaths, after vaccinations, big drop.
Yes, there are risks, but the risks of the disease are much higher than the risk of the vaccination.
For our littlest, we have spaced them out, though, because here in the UK they seem to have really combined loads of them, and at a very young age. I got a lot of hassle at the doctor's surgery about this…
Hi Margaret!
What a great topic.
Mom of nine, first four vaccinated like clock work. Child number five had a horrific experience, one that this family believes, altered the child permanently. Our fifth child went from happy, talkative, gregarious child; to shrieking, uncommunicative, distanced and emotionally stunted. He has come along dramatically, but we mark the change with the largest series of vaccinations he received…as an infant under 12 months of age.
Since then, we no longer vaccinate our children as infants. We absolutely believe in the efficacy of vaccines…we simply choose to wait until our children are age 5. We aren't in public school or daycare, we don't leave the country and have carefully weighed the potential for harm.
Now that doesn't mean that I wouldn't allow an injured child to receive a tetanus injection. Little Emily split her head on a public park swing, so you can bet I insisted on the tetanus injection!
I think it's important for parents to carefully consider everything that goes into the body of their child, particularly infants…weigh the risks vs. benefits, pray and trust God.
Amazingly enough, I'm 45 and never received Hib, rotavirus injections, flu shots, PCV, MMR, varicella and a host of others. And my OB-GYN, who will happily give pregnant women flu shots if they ask for them, will not take them himself. He simply doesn't believe that efficacy has been well-established since every injection is based on last year's virus.
Thanks for providing this forum…it's wonderful to see so many moms sharing their experiences and opinions in such a charitable way!
I commented above — I have several years before I have to be concerned about Gardasil, and hopefully there will be more information about potential side effects by then. But assuming that it appears reasonably safe after those years, and assuming that it does reduce the risk of sexually transmitted HPV infection, I probably will arrange for my daughter(s) to receive it at an appropriate age, and would even if I felt 100% sure said daughters would remain chaste till marriage. The possibility of sexual assault alone is enough for me to be concerned about it.
That's interesting that you should say this, Bearing. My husband and I were talking about Gardasil on the way home from Mass and he said that while you can raise your children to be chaste until marriage, you can't guarantee that they will marry a person who has been chaste. He speaks from experience, as we both had "a past life" prior to meeting one another.
SAHMinIL- What do you belive to be the Gardasil's true nature?
No, we don't vaccinate at all. I did one DTaP for my oldest when he was 2 months old and that was it for me. I decided that since I was a kid, so many vaccines have been added to the schedule and I'm not sure why. I'm also not sure why autism rates have risen so drastically either. Some say better diagnosis – ?? I guess I've just done too much reading. At the very least, spread them out if you are still going to do it. That is a lot of shots per visit at the "recommended" schedule. And, some of those vaccinations contain mercury yet (read: extremely high doses at one time of something you really don't want). Ask the doc to read the insert (it's got the ingredients).
I am so impressed that this has been a very civil converstaion. Usually this is such a hot button topic.
I vaccinate. On schedule, mostly. I also do the flu shot. The kids get flu mist, I get the shot. I didn't do the flu shot, because I too did not believe in it's effectiveness. Then we all got the flu two years ago. It was absolutely terrible. Worst illness I can remember having in my life! Honest. We were all totally wiped out with no energy whatsoever. My middle daughter was 5 at the time and she just layed listless on the couch. Couldn't move, very high fever. I was so sick myself that I was worried I couldn't get her to the hospital if I needed to. That "woke" me up. Why go through that again if we don't have to? And yes I do understand we can still get the flu after having the flu shot. I just hope it will never be that bad again. 36,000 people die from the flu every year in the US alone. Just a thought to remember.
If I hadn't been on state health insurance with my oldest, and military health care with my youngest, I would have spread the vaccines out a lot — one shot at a time at the most. (There was always the knowledge that you could have your kids taken from you for "neglect" especially since we were "young" parents.) I don't necessarily think vaccines cause autism or SPD, but I don't think attacking small immune systems with many different viruses at once (dead or alive) is wise… and both of my boys have very serious issues that will effect them the rest of their lives now. There's no proof that vaccines in any way caused this – the symptoms begin right around the time the vaccines are given -though it would be nice to have proof that a child became autistic/sensory processing disordered even though they were never vaccinated.
We don't do flu shots but I always have a lot of homeopathic flu medicine around so if we get sick we're only down a couple of days and it's never very bad. Of course, every family is different, and my boys have really strong immune systems despite all their issues – (probably from nursing for years when they were young). I am thankful that vaccines exist because for most people they are a wonderful way to stay healthy, it's just that every person is unique, and families with a history of responding strangely to medicines should have the right to choose what they think is best for their children. Just because something is okay for most of us, doesn't mean it's okay for all of us. I guess my biggest issue with vaccines is when they are "mandated" or "forced" in any way.
Just my opinion,
~Jenny
Wow! So many great comments. I think vaccinating is a little like homeschooling – you make the decision based on your family and maybe even each child.
I'm surprised there aren't as many "no's" commenting. We have 6 with one on the way. I quit vaccinating halfway through the first after I read Vaccines: Are they really safe and effective? And it's not even a decision I'm comfortable about. I always tell my doctor I don't feel good about doing it and I don't feel good about not doing it.
It just seems to me hard to tax my child's already weak immune system. If I were to do them, I think I would wait til my kids were older. I know of so many babies that are just found dead and diagnosed with SIDS. I always wonder, did they have their shots recently? And do I want to place my child in that lottery? I have no way of knowing which child (unless they are already sick, and then you DON'T want to vaccinate) will react strongly. It's enough for me to decide against. Our third was diagnosed with asthma as a two year old. I'm soooo glad we didn't vaccinate her. I don't think her system would have handled it at all well.
Just my .02! Praying for you!
God bless,
Angela
We do a delayed vax schedule — no more than two shots per visit. If one of the kids has a reaction, I want it to be easier to narrow down which vax is the culprit.
We also refuse any vaxes made from aborted fetal stem cell lines. If there is immediate danger — e.g. an epidemic — we could justify it, but we don't feel morally comfortable profiting from abortion in that way when there's no immediate danger. Plus, vax companies have no incentive to make ethical vaccines if everyone uses the unethical ones anyway.
We generally follow the schedule from Dr. Sears' vaccination book.
Regarding Gardasil – not yet. My daughter I only 4, so if in 8-10 I'm satisfied with the vaccine's safety, then she probably will get it. If my daughter is ever raped (God forbid) I doubt the rapist would care about protecting her from STDs. Plus there is cervical cancer on my mother's side of the family. But if it hasn't proven to be safe by then, no way.
We do not vaccinate. I am not against it for someday, just not when they are little. Why would an infant need Tetanus? I don't think they need those chemicals in their tiny bodies.
I actually, in real life, know more people that do not vaccinate than do vaccinate. I've heard many stories like Kimberly's (Catholic Family Vinettes)where a certain child is permanately changed after being vaccinated and my question would be would that child have the same reaction at age 5?
So, though, we are against vaccinating those tiny infants, when is it "safe" to start? We felt the side effects were far worse than any of the effects of the diseases that they might get, which are treatable.
Every one I know who gets that flu shot, still gets the flu…does it really work?
Margaret,
We vaccinate our kids, probably because I am a doctor and I've seen many of these diseases in a devastating way. Especially nowadays when there are so many people nonvaccinated and many travellers from other countries who may bring diseases with them. That said, I don't have a problem with people not wanting to vaccinate. I've always felt that was each family's decision, so I never pressured anyone when I was in practice.
I would caution anyone against Gardasil AT THIS POINT, as it has not been fully tested. I have also recently come across some data that one of the ingredients might possible be linked to infertility. So I would definitely give that one a few years. I would not be opposed to giving to an older girl (not 11!) if it were proven to be safe just because of the chance of sexual assualt (maybe before college would be a good time). And like you said, their future husband may not have been raised to cherish chastity or if he was, may not have practiced what he was taught.
Also a warning about the swine flu vaccine. I have been doing a lot of research on it and it is possible that if there were a national "emergency," some additional ingredients (called adjuvants, which stimulate the immune system) could be added to the vaccine so they could use a lesser amount of vaccine and thus make more shots. The problem is that some of these adjuvants have not been approved in the USA and one of them MAY be linked to the Gulf War Syndrome and another might POSSIBLY be linked to infertility. In an "emergency" they could bypass this approval and use them. IF it ends up having the exact same ingredients as the seasonal flu vaccine (watching out for mercury of course), I may get it as I am pregnant. So far they have found that pregnant women make up 6% of those who have died from H1N1, even though they only make up 1% of the population. As a side note, I wish they would quit all the hand shaking at Mass for this reason! If you get swine flu, you are contagious a day before you have any symptoms!
My 2 dollars worth!
Janet
NO!!! Don't get the vaccine! Are you kidding? Untested, legislation passed to protect the makers, waivers of liability for the government, etc.
Does this not just scream FOUL PLAY?!
This video should help.
As for keeping the flu (of any kind) at bay, just load up on Vit D. Get it from sardines (they are delicous, trust me, put it in a sandwich with cheese and spinach and have it with soup!)
Exercise regularly and eat right, and you should have ZERO flu problems EVER.
Someone mentioned that 36,000 people die each year in the US from the flu. This is a misleading and inaccurate number according to Dr. Sears. This number also includes yearly deaths from pneumonia as well.
He sites another source that tracks only flu related deaths and the number is more likely around 1500, with 90% of these occuring in the elderly.
I wish the media and drug companies would give us the truth so we can make decisions based on reality rather than on fear.
The 36,000 flu RELATED deaths is a number that come not from drug companies or the media. It comes from the Center for Disease Control. (CDC http://www.cdc.gov/flu/keyfacts.htm)
I have not read his book, so I don't know if Dr. Sears points out in the book, that pneumonia is a flu related complication. (FOr discussion purposes, I am going to assume he does not.)When reading his hairs-splitting death stats you need to remember. -While a large percentage of the 36,000 might be caused by pneumonia. The pneumonia was a direct complication of contacting the flu. If the individuals had not "caught" the flu, it would not have developed into pneumonia. Because, though ultimately the cause of death was pneumonia, it was brought on by the flu…the deaths are flu related. .
Think of it like this- I can claim stretch marks on my belly were not caused by pregnancy, but rather by the extreme stretching of my abdominal skin. It would be true. But, it would not change the fact that the stretch marks would not have occurred without the pregnancy, making them a pregnancy related complication. Most scientist would find separating the two as intentionally misleading.
There is an excellent set of links concerning Dr. Sears position, which are worth following in a quest to educate yourself on the issue.
The first is written by a surgeon who admits upfront to being a bit of a grump. But, his analysis of Dr. Sears arguments is well worth reading.
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2009/06/dr_sears_lets_his_flag_fly.php
The second is an article which quotes Dr. Sears as saying in light of the new evidence he needs to rethink the need for an alternative vaccine schedule.
http://autism.freedomblogging.com/2008/09/11/a-high-profile-switch-on-the-mmr/
And finally from Dr. Sears own blog comes a direct quote worth reading when considering the flu shot.
"BUT, the flu can and does kill people every year. I do believe the flu shot helps protect against the flu and lowers this risk. I go over many of the pros and cons in The Vaccine Book. Everyone has to make their own choice on this. I’m not going to make a suggestion one way or the other."