My daughter has her regular check up soon, and it is time again to consider whether I will allow her to get the recommended vaccinations. So far I have allowed her to receive all the ones recommended, just on an altered schedule. Now the tough decisions are going to be coming, like MMR, and the pressure from doctors to get the flu shot, which we have never favored.
There is suppose to be a ton of scientific evidence that vaccines work; however, there is also no determined cause for autism, and vaccinations have not been ruled out. There was recently a Japanese study that proved a link between the two. It can be anything from an ingredient in a vaccine, to a reactions between two or more of them, or even, a combination, faced with a specific genetic trait that could be causing an increase in occurrence. Hopefully one day we will have answers. Until then, must we conform and follow recommendations?
When I was young, we were required to receive 7 immunizations, my daughter today is required to get 14. Sometimes piggybacked to be the equivalent of 8 or 9 vaccines at once. Even if considered safe, that is an awful lot for such a little body to handle all at once. We have never been a family who relies on the drug store or pharmacist. We prefer not to allow these chemicals into our bodies, but are required to put ones worse into our daughter?
Did you know that people with Eczema should not get a vaccine for smallpox? How about if you have a egg allergy you could have a reaction to the flu shot, and what if it is given to a child to young to know of they have an egg allergy yet?? How about a connection between vaccines and diabetes? What about adult booster shots causing problems such as auto immune disorders? There is a ton of mixed information out there,with the government & pharmaceutical companies being, seemingly the only ones, saying they are safe.
I live in WV, which has one of the toughest laws for vaccinations exemptions. My daughter is required to be on schedule in order to attend public school. Some child care centers even require them to be current on their shot record. Religious beliefs and personal beliefs do not matter! Refusal to get immunizations basically requires you to home school your child. Which with all we are seeing today may not be a bad thing to consider.
For other parents I would love to hear from you on your feelings towards the requirements, or how you have managed to navigate through the dreaded immunization schedule to allow for something potentially less harmful for your children. Or do you simply follow recommendations and don't question the doctors? As parents isn't it our job to try and protect our children? With all the mixed information out there, I guess you can only make an informed decision, if you are well informed.
Did you know that people with Eczema should not get a vaccine for smallpox? How about if you have a egg allergy you could have a reaction to the flu shot, and what if it is given to a child to young to know of they have an egg allergy yet?? How about a connection between vaccines and diabetes? What about adult booster shots causing problems such as auto immune disorders? There is a ton of mixed information out there,with the government & pharmaceutical companies being, seemingly the only ones, saying they are safe.
I live in WV, which has one of the toughest laws for vaccinations exemptions. My daughter is required to be on schedule in order to attend public school. Some child care centers even require them to be current on their shot record. Religious beliefs and personal beliefs do not matter! Refusal to get immunizations basically requires you to home school your child. Which with all we are seeing today may not be a bad thing to consider.
For other parents I would love to hear from you on your feelings towards the requirements, or how you have managed to navigate through the dreaded immunization schedule to allow for something potentially less harmful for your children. Or do you simply follow recommendations and don't question the doctors? As parents isn't it our job to try and protect our children? With all the mixed information out there, I guess you can only make an informed decision, if you are well informed.
Both of my children have had all of their immunizations- I, too, questioned whether it was a good idea, but thankfully, we appear to have dodged the autism bullet. However, and this is a BIG however- we do not get influenza shots, because of something that happened a few years ago. I made friends with a gal who happens to be a scientist- she studies fungi genetics, for a large biotech company, and her husband also works as a researcher (different department) for this same firm. She also has a daughter who is the same age as my younger son, and we chatted a lot about what it was like to be working mothers, the challenges of raising little ones, etc. When the 'flu epidemic scares first started a few years ago (WE WILL ALL DIE OF BIRD FLU!!! was the hue and cry at the time), she wrote me a quick email saying, "Don't get the 'flu shots for the kids! The adjuvants in these new shots are really, really NOT a good idea, especially for small children!" So I started looking into it, and sure enough, the scientific reports on the adjuvants were not looking so good- people were developing autoimmune disease (bad enough), but there were all sorts of other adverse effects being reported, including BIG problems with the nervous system. An adjuvant is an ingredient that is added to an innoculation's mixture that basically freaks your immune system out, so that the manufacturer can use a smaller amount of the dead virus or bacterium- they trip the body's alarms with these substances. Well, some of the adjuvants used in those first "panic era" vaccines weren't even APPROVED by our regulators, and some were known to cause harm and serious side effects, but were put into action anyway because of the supposed deficit of vaccine available- they were permitted because it was thought that a lot more vaccine was needed in a big hurry, to prevent a pandemic. And it seems like ever since that time, 'flu season brings a whole new state of "emergency", every single year. The bottom line: every year, the 'flu shots are offered. And every year, we tough it out. Yes, we get sick. But so do all of my coworkers, the kids' classmates, and everybody else. Including those who've had the shot. And most of the time, I swear, they're the ones who get the worst symptoms. (I realize that that's anecdotal, but it seems to hold true, year after year.)
ReplyDeleteI don't blame you for being on the fence about any vaccines. There's so much profit in them, it's hard to even begin to believe that the manufacturers really have peoples' best interests at heart.