Judah had his one year check-up a few weeks ago, of course vaccinations were included in this visit. He hasn't had any of the side effects that are mentioned in the pamphlet: high fever, seizures, and even death. I am now feeling quite a bit of apprehension about vaccinations for him in the future. I KNOW why we vaccinate and I know it is better to be safe than sorry. But do these diseases really happen? And are they so rare ONLY because we are vaccinated against them? Or does it have to do with our modern living conditions and sanitation? I am amazed at the side effects that are listed for vaccinations. Why would we willingly inject our children with foreign substances? At what point does the risk of the shot outweigh the risk of the disease?
I have been trying to do research on each vaccination and the individual diseases, but am having a hard time finding neutral information. Everything is either
1. By a doctor or medical site and they strongly support vaccinations and turn their heads at any side effects of the vaccines.
Or
2. Information written by people that have had horrible experiences with vaccines. And imply that you are a horrible parent if you choose to vaccinate.
But then I wonder what the point is. I don't feel that I have much choice in the matter , my kids have to have vaccinations to get into school. Granted, you can be exempt from them if you have a doctors note (i think that would be if your kids are allergic to the vaccination) or religious reasons. Our reasons aren't religious. It isn't "against our faith" to vaccinate our kids. I just am not sure it is what is best for my kids. And we would choose to do some of the vaccinations, but probably not all of them.
For now the only one Judah hasn't gotten is the chicken pox vaccine. Seems silly to me. I had the chicken pox, Justin had the chicken pox. We lived. Sure it was uncomfortable, but lots of things in life are uncomfortable. It is better to get the chicken pox because then you have a life-long immunity to it. They are unsure of how long the vaccination will last and if there will need to be a booster to it. In our ideal situation we would wait until Judah was 13-14, and if he hadn't gotten the chicken pox by then we would have him vaccinated. (it is worse to have it as an adult, and at that point can even be life-threatening) But they require him to have the vaccination to enter school. So we will probably hold off until he is ready to start school and then do it. Hopefully someone will get the chicken pox and we can force Judah to play with them. :) But...I don't know if the school would accept that he's already had them, or would they still require proof of the vaccination?
My other "riff" at this point with vaccinations is the MMR. (I have heard A LOT of negative things about this one. Among those things is the thought that it leads to autism. I am not sure I buy into that idea.) So Judah had this shot at his one year check-up, and he has to have a booster for it in the future. Now this is what gets me. We give all kids the booster, but really it is only necessary for 5% (or something like that) of the population because the first one doesn't provide enough immunity for that 5%. I don't understand why we don't have some kind of test that will provide us with the info to know if our kids are in that 5%. It would save the other 95% of the kids from people injected with something they don't need, and has some of the highest side effects.
I am really frustrated by all of this. I am not into the whole "conspiracy theory", but I really hate that I feel I don't have much of a choice as a parent in this circumstance. I know some will say "you always have a choice, you can always turn down a vaccination". And yes that is true, but what about getting my kids into school?
So...does anyone have any good resources for neutral info on these things? Or what are the choices you have made in this area?
9 comments:
my dad has a HUGE book on vaccines, you should borrow it! =)
all i have to say is that i remember getting my shots and i hated it. it would be awesome if my parents would have been able to choose a different approach.
also, jon and i had chicken pox at the same time...lame for my mom, but then we were both done, so maybe judah and cohen can get them at the same time! :)
I hated taking my kids in for vaccinations. I worried about it for days beforehand, as I do now with my grandkids, and covered them with prayer. I was not into or up to, homeschooling my kids, and basically had no choice in the matter, BUT, I do know at least one mom in our church who, I believe, doesn't have her children vaccinated. However, her kids don't go to the nursery until they are older so that they aren't exposed to childhood illnesses and as a result, a lot of times, I believe she and her husband have to attend church separately. They, of course, home school their kids. It's a tough dilemma. One thing I am really opposed to, also, is the number of vaccines that are given at one time. When Isabella went in for her last checkup she got five shots in her legs. It's just cruel to me why they can't at least spread them out.
Hey, from what I understand, you can still opt out of the vaccinations AND put Judah in school. I believe you just have to sign a form. It's really to protect the school and Judah, not the other kids...
Also, I'm not for the chicken pox vaccine. Of course, I don't know all those horrible statistics of why they created it in the first place. I'm sure they actually created it because all the REAL life threatening diseases were already taken care of. But anyway...honestly, I think this vaccine is stupid. I know if you get it when you are older it's tough...my cousins had it at 15 and 18, and one couldn't get off the couch to pee. But they do still live and breath a healthy life. BUT...
the nurse who vaccinates Maddie is real nice and full of good info. She doesn't seem to be particularly biased either, neither is our doctor. They are fine with us delaying some of her vaccines, and our doctor even told us he saw not point to give them to her at this point in her life. But the nurse did comment on the chicken pox. She sees no problem in waiting, but she did say that trying to "catch" the chicken pox is really really really hard to do.
Tell you what I'll let Judah play with Maddie if you'll let Maddie play with Judah if they get them.
And...my comment, though unfounded, on the MMR booster. I actually didn't know your 5% fact, but I would bet money that the reason they give it to everyone is because it's easier than testing everyone first. And cheaper. If you don't have insurance, often vaccinations can be covered by the government, and if you do have insurance, the company would prefer to just pay for a shot than a test first. Same principle as to why they give all babies eye salve upon birth, because even though there is only a percentage of mothers who have an infection that would be passed in the birth canal, instead of testing everyone, they decided to just treat all the babies the same. A lot of people don't understand their rights though, and I can refuse the eye salve for my child if I choose. I get tested, I sign a waiver, and everything is hunky dorey how I want it.
kristi, so i was thinking about your vaccination blog today, and here are some of my thoughts...
i (and hopefully my future husband agrees) will not vaccinate my child. i do however believe that every parent has a choice...even though medical doctors and the schools make you think different.
my sister caityln was vaccinated only until she was about 4 mo. or around that age. after she got one of her vaccines (MMR maybe) she got very sick. 104 temp ect. (not saying this to scare you) my parents decided from there on out neither one of us were going to be vaccinated. we both receive chiropractic care to boost our immune systems. my older sister didn't vaccinate my niece, she is a beautiful healthy girl.
when caitlyn was going into kindergarten, the school harassed my parents bc she wasn't vaccinated..when really all you have to do is sign some sort of waiver.
i (actually my dad) has don't lots of research on vaccines, and i still say you should talk to him, he would love just to give you the information he has found. and let you and justin make up your own mind about it. i believe the medical drs just give you one side. when really there is another side to take a look at.
plus i think you are breast feeding or were breast feeding Judah, which means he was born healthy by Gods grace, and he has all your healthy immunities to make his body strong....
that is my input, i don't have a degree, but this is something i am very passionate about.
i believe every parent has the right to research both sides feeling comfortable that what ever decision they made is the best for his/her child, vaccinated or not.
email me if you want to get in touch with me dad or talk more...i need to email you anyway... =)
mandyzx2@msn.com
SO, I got as far as your desire to hold off on the chicken pox vaccine and Want to say, I support your desire to wait. I waited with Robbie with the hope he'd get them and build a natural immunity. It isn't difficult to get into school without vaccinations. You can say personal reasons. You decide what is best for YOUR kids and stick to your guns.
I have felt the same way you do many times. Jeremy works with many international people so we have decided to vaccinate because we couldn't be sure that they wouldn't be exposed. I don't know that we did the chicken pox though.
you CAN get into school without vaccinations. you CAN also travel. don't let those be reasons to change your decision, or influence it.
i was going to recommend exactly what mandy did...talk to her dad. working with him and reading all the material that came through that office from amazing sources taught us a lot. we're going to meet with him when the time gets closer to gain even more information.
susie (or ang??) had some really bad reactions to some of her vaccinations.
reading the things that go into them make us VERY wary. and we know a lot of people who are not vaccinated and are fine. if we were to travel though, we may chose some that would safeguard our kid against the areas we would go into, but other than that--
we're not vaccinating our children. no siree!
shots are awful i would end up crying even before i got back to the room. Then usually i would chill out once i got in there. Nathan was incapable of having shots until a couple years ago. When he was little, he was stress out internally and tense up so they couldn't find the vein. and then he would scream.
I never thought about any of that.
I know that I was vaccinated for chicken pox when i was little but I got them anyway....
why are vaccines so bad in your eyes? I don't understand that part. Is it the money and the whole needle in your child thing or is there something else?
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