The background: I have been very pro-vaccinations. I like medicine, I like vaccines, and I had never found sound reasoning for Not giving them. I had looked into it and had honestly dismissed most of it as not scientifically valid, among other things Until this week.
My about-face started with a Holy Spirit prompting about Selah's upcoming six month shots. Then, I started hearing stories (lots of stories) from friends whose kiddos had reactions to vaccines. And so I started researching, this time with a Holy Spirit filter instead of just my own logic.
Some bullet points of concerning things
* the lack of good testing before the vaccines are released on the market. A lethal pig virus was found in the rotavirus vaccine in June. !! It appears that they get the vaccines to market as quickly as possible and use OUR BABIES as their test subjects.
* a law was passed recently exempting vaccine manufacturers from liability if kiddos were injured because of the vaccines
* a history of companies ignoring dangerous ingredients and side effects. An internal memo was passed around in Merck about potential dangers of mercury YEARS before they started removing mercury from the vaccines
* a study that shows measles found on the brains of little boys with autism. These boys never had measles..they just had the MMR shot.
* the high aluminum content of these vaccines. Babies aren't supposed to have more than 25 micrograms of aluminum exposure per day. In their shots, they can get over 1000mg in ONE ROUND!
* a seeming refusal for good studies on the effects of vaccines on kiddos. The only significant study on aluminum was a cursory one that concluded, "No more studies should be done." What?? Sounds like a cover-up to me...
*concern about all these vaccines overloading their immune systems. It doesn't make sense to me - we are so careful about germs, yet we inject all this powerful stuff into them and say "little body, fight it off!"
If you want to know more, I want to recommend The Vaccine Book by Dr. Sears. He is a mainstream doctor with a very balanced approach when it comes to vaccines. He goes through every vaccine, how it's made, the disease prevelance, and his opinion on its use. He's careful to not tell parents what to do, he tries to present it very unbiasedly. He offers an alternative vaccination schedule that spreads things out and prioritizes which ones they need to receive. I may buy it in bulk and start giving it at baby showers.
So I'm going to a new pediatrician in a couple of weeks for Selah's next checkup. One that can give me advice about delaying vaccinations until she's older. I'm really intrigued actually - the vision on her website sounds awesome. Healthy Kids Pediatrics There's a whole new world here for me to learn about now - including viable alternatives to antibiotics? Is there such a thing? I do believe that we're an over-medicated society... I'll let you know how it goes.
But I digress. My point: Don't just assume that your kids should be vaccinated according to the CDC schedule. No one is making you and you are NOT a bad parent if you don't. Do your research and hear God about what's best for your kiddos.
Just a couple of quick points, from an ER nurse's standpoint. :-) One of my first big cases after moving up here was a baby who came in with meningitis which could have been prevented with vaccines. He ended up intubated and in the hospital for a long time. He now has severe mental defects and daily seizures. There are a lot of things that can happen if you don't vaccinate. I can totally see the point of the spread out schedule, though.
ReplyDeleteMy other thought being that, you guys travel out of the country a lot. The reason it is "somewhat" safe to not vaccinate here is that a lot of these diseases have been mostly (if not completely) irradicated d/t vaccinations. When you go to other countries, you are exposing your children to these diseases. Not only that, but if they do come down with something, and you bring it back to this country, it can put a lot of people at risk. Including kids whose parents choose not to vaccinate.
My brother's wife made this decision for their family, and it's one of the few that I absolutely do not agree with them on. However, they live in a small town, don't travel much, and that probably won't change anytime soon.
Ok, I really think we're on the same wavelength or something. LittleBear was up to date on all of his shots until we hit the one year mark when the AAP said he was supposed to get MMR. I went to the pediatrician and explained that I did want him to get the vaccinations eventually, I just wanted to go with a delayed schedule and spread them out a bit more (according to The Vaccine Book). It didn't go over well. They said they would do whatever I wanted in the end but did not support my decision at all and went so far as to say he'll have to get the full MMR at some point because they aren't making the separate vaccines anymore. I've read some reports that they will start making the separate ones again, but for right now, we're holding off. I had the MMR after I gave birth to LittleBear and my arm was seriously sore and partially swollen for two weeks, as a 31 yr old adult!
ReplyDeleteThere are others though that I didn't/won't delay like polio. That's a really nasty disease and after reading the book decided that if I could prevent him from getting it, then I would.
On the other hand I agree with Dawn, if we were a family that travelled or LittleBear was in daycare or something where he was around a ton of people all the time, then I'd think a lot harder about him getting them sooner. As it is, he's in the church nursery once a week and with me the rest of the time, so we're taking it slow.
I never realized what a controversial topic this was until I became a mom! Let us know how the Dr. visit goes!
Hey Sarah! As a pediatrician who has seen the devastating effects of vaccine-preventable diseases, I'm very pro-vaccination. However, I think any good pediatrician (which I'd like to think I am!) will be more than willing to talk with families, educate, and listen to what you've found in your research, because I'll freely admit I don't know everything. I love that you're doing your own research-- I think every parent needs to advocate for their children and not just accept things for face value. I really would encourage you to get a couple of vaccines for Selah on time though-- I still frequently see pertussis and strep pneumo infections in unvaccinated children, and HIB had a huge resurgence when the manufacturers ran low a few years ago. Talk with your new pediatrician and let the Spirit guide you-- hopefully it'll be a better experience!
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