I know some of you do not vaccinate. I know this is because of the risks involved. You do not want your child to have a bad reaction or develop autism.
But I want to know where you found your information. I want to know what studies and statistics you found that showed the risk of vaccinating is worse than the risk of not.
Benjamin was supposed to have his six month appointment on Monday at 2pm. I was completely unprepared and did not know what I would do if confronted with a needle of weakened diseases. I had not done the research; I had only skimmed the top of this boiling pot of controversy.
Luckily as I looked at the clock at 2:33 while pulling out of the Kroger’s parking lot, I realized I just may have bought myself more time. I called to reschedule and the soonest they can get us in is December 13. It seems like a long time, but I don’t want it to slip away from me.
What doctors can you refer me to that recommend non-vaccinating? What websites explain the benefits most clearly and authoritatively?
And those of you who, after sufficient research, decided vaccination was the best way to go, I want your input, too! My husband’s stance as of now is that of, “If we all stopped vaccinating, the plague would come back!”
My stance is more along the lines of Picking And Choosing. I understand the seriousness of some of these diseases and that vaccines can save my child’s life. But chicken pox? The flu shot? I think we might be getting a bit carried away.
I’d love your input and opinions, but realize that what is most worth my time right now is authoritative material that I can show to my rocket-scientist husband who lives for research and proof.
Thanks, all!
I got my flu shot today. Didn’t hurt at all (and I’m scared to death of shots and needles).
I also work with kids who have autism. I don’t know what causes autism, but more than likely, it probably isn’t vaccinations. I would be very weary of not vaccinating my kids at all. If you’re going to be researching you need some unbias criteria. Possibly look up some research studies on college based library searches. I wouln’t trust anyone who says they know what they’re talking about just because of “parental instinct” or because of what they read in some parenting magazine. That is a big time decision. Bigger than circumscision, bigger than cloth diapering, etc.
Nearly every major health agency (FDA, CDC, IOM, etc.) recommends vaccinations for infants, because of their proven effectiveness, seen easily with the single-generation eradication of many previously serious diseases. Nowadays, since infant vaccination is so common, the occasional parent can get away with not vaccinating their child, since in all liklihood every other child with whom that child would interact would be vaccinated. But this is something that can only happen rarely, otherwise situations like this arise. And of course, this makes the possibility of international travel much more dangerous for that child (many travel and mission groups simply will not allow people who are not vaccinated to travel internationally with their group).
Beyond that though, there are children who for medical reasons cannot receive certain vaccinations, and it seems to me incredibly selfish for parents of children not in that category to refuse vaccinations, putting both their own children and those who are unable to be vaccinated at risk.
The only real arguments against vaccination that I have ever heard focus either on the possibility of the vaccinated child growing ill (which happens very rarely) or the alleged connection between vaccinations and autism (which has been fairly widely discredited, see this report summary, among many others). Neither of those points is very convincing. I would encourage you to just go ahead and do it; the potential benefits greatly outweigh the potential risks.
This is a hot issue for me. I’m all for being informed and making educated choices and I commend you for that!
The CDC’s website includes many more links:
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/default.htm
http://www.cdc.gov/od/science/iso/mmr_autism.htm
I agree that chicken pox vaccine seems silly especially for those of us that had it…it will probably save 100-150 kids from death associated with chicken pox. Is the vaccine worth that? That is ultimately the decision we need to make with every vaccine….is saving x lives, x disabilities worth it?
This is a hot, HOT topic among parents. It can be one of the great divides.
Please let me preface my post by saying that I respect everyone’s choices. Every parent must read, learn, and make their own informed decision. No one is wrong in their decision.
I am a Registered Nurse. I know the AAP and CDC guidelines and recommendations for vaccinations.
I have chosen to stop vaccinating my children at this point in time.
My reason?
My 3 year old son was diagnosed with PDD-NOS, a mild form of autism.
I do not know the cause for his disorder.
At the advice of a very dear and trusted pediatrician, I read the book “Children with Starving Brains” by Jacqueline McCandless. It discusses the various causation models of autism – one of which is vaccines.
The book does discuss thimerosal and all the other things found in vaccines. But they do admit, that it may not necessarily be thimerosal. Afterall, that should be long gone from *most* vaccines.
However, the book does address the ever-growing number of vaccinations, the timing, and quantity in which they are given in a single period or relatively short time frame. (This is the part that concerns me)
They also discusses inactive vs live/weakened viral immunizations.
They go on to state that they believe that some children have a genetic predisposition and then when combined with some type of environmental or immune trigger the autistic symptoms emerge.
Several studies and related data are given to consider in each chapter.
The book recommends an alternative vaccination schedule: Proceed slowly and with caution.
In other words, one vaccination at a time and watch. If things go well, continue. Slowly. If you notice a change in development. Stop. Easy as that.
My trusted pediatrician, also a developmentalist and physiatrist, has recommended that we just put things on hold for now because of my son’s diagnosis.
Down the road, w e will probably continue ahead with vaccinations in a slow, cautious manner. But for now, we have chosen to hold off.
It is a highly sensative decision. One that you will make with only the best of intentions for your children. Don’t let anyone make you feel bad for your decision (health professionals included!) whether it be to vaccinate, not vaccinate, or follow an alternative schedule. Only you know what is right for your family.
If you want more info or to chat more about it, feel free to visit my blog where you can contact me by email.
Wishing you all the best!
Jenn
PS- thanks for teaching me CVS101 through your blog posts – my checkbook thanks you 😉
oh my – please excuse the typos and misspelling in my post. Have a bad case of Mommy-brain tonight.
Try mercola.com. He is against vacinations and if you enter ‘immunizations’ into the search engine you should find a lot of info.
Susan
Good comments today.
I myself was raised by hippie parents who chose not to vaccinate. Now, this was the 80’s and most people didn’t give vaccinations a thought one way or the other. When I was in the second grade a kid at my school contracted measles and everyone had to get a booster shot. Again, my parents decided against it, and my brother and I were not allowed at school for the next three weeks. I thought this great fun at the time, but if I had gotten measles, a disease with frequent complications, my parents would have felt horrible with the knowledge that they could have prevented it. That said, I never got a clear answer as to why they didn’t vaccinate us, it seems they were wary of vaccines without a clear reason and went with no action as the safer choice (instead of being proactive and researching and learning and making an informed choice).
I ended up getting the full run of vaccinations later, by my own choice. I wanted to travel and traveling abroad without basic vaccinations seems reckless. Here in the US we have herd immunity and vaccinated or not, you’ll probably be fine.
Now, for chicken pox, the situations a bit different. It’s not nearly as dangerous a disease, but chances of complications rise the older you are when you get it. And, if all the other kids are vaccinated, how will yours contract the disease when they’re young?
Whatever you decide to do, you’ll have the knowledge that you researched the issue and made an informed decision based on what you think is right for your children, and no one can really argue with that.
“If you’re going to be researching you need some unbias criteria” – there probably is no such thing!
I came to my decision after reading pro and anti vaccine books. One of the anti sources that made a lot of sense to me was How to Raise a Child In Spite of Your Doctor, by Robert Mendelsohn. You can get it for a penny at Amazon.
Here is a guy who was the head of a pediatrics department at the major learning hospital at the time in the nation, who not only decries the fear tactic that childhood diseases were ever “killers” (something that seeped into our collective consciousness but that isn’t exactly accurate), but also shows how vaccinating doesn’t really work the way it’s supposed to in the first place.
There are others, but that’s a good start. My 4 aren’t vaccinated and I grow more confident of that decision every year. I don’t mean to sound crass but my kids have no chronic illness, unlike all their friends who are asthmatic, allergic, etc. They’ve never had an ear infection either. I know personally four mothers (who don’t know each other) who are convinced that the 18 month MMR made their child autistic, and I’ve interviewed a couple more on my show.
Noone really knows how vaccines affect our health long term, that’s undeniable.
Thank you all for your input. My 15 month old has been vaccinated to this point. But I have been struggling with this decision since she was very little. How could putting all those diseases in my tiny five pound baby be a good thing?! If my tiny five pound baby’s immune system can chase away little doses of 4 diseases at a time, shouldn’t it be able to protect her from one disease when she’s bigger?
Yet I continued to get them since A) I hadn’t researched, and B) my husband thinks/thought they were a good idea.
We both agreed she wouldn’t get the chicken pox shot, or the flu shot those are just a little extreme. When I went in for her 12 month check up they told me she HAD to get the chicken pox shot. I tried to argue for awhile, but they wouldn’t hear it. So she got the chicken pox shot.
The closer we get to her 18mo check up the more I am thinking about how to tell the doctor that she’s not getting her shots. truth is there are a lot more children who have gotten the MMR shot and been fine then those that have gotten it and had problems.
I like Jenn’s answer about doing it slowly. That makes much more sense to me than injecting 20 different shots at once.
Thanks again for all your input!
Oh wow, you guys are incredible. Thanks for all your stories from your experience, your links, and your opinions. I read these all to my husband last night and there was just so much we hadn’t even though about – like going overseas, and the fact that everyone else getting the chicken pox vax will increase the risk of my child not getting chicken pox until they are old enough that it would be rather serious.
But about that – why can’t we give the chicken pox vax towards the end of their childhood? It’s not dangerous for a child to contract the disease, only an adult. So I think it makes a lot more sense to vaccinate a 10 year old rather than an 18 month old.
And thank you Jenn, for explaining that there are other schedules to vaccinate by. I will definitely be asking the doctor about this. It makes so much more sense! I have a friend whose premature baby didn’t get vaccines for the first year of her life – upon the recommendation of her pediatrician! Why can’t we wait? Do it more slowly?
And has anyone heard any research on breastfeeding babies and their need for vaccines being different from non-nursing babies? I thought I had heard once that while a baby is nursing, his need for the shots are not high enough to warrant giving them.
Again, thanks for your info – and keep it coming!
Someone’s post on mothering that is full of links:
http://www.mothering.com/discussions/showthread.php?p=7962558#post7962558
“and it seems to me incredibly selfish for parents of children not in that category to refuse vaccinations, putting both their own children and those who are unable to be vaccinated at risk.”
Apparently I fall into the selfish parent category. Go figure.
While I don’t have the information at my fingertips as I type (but I can obtain it if you so desire) I will tell you that childhood disease was on the decline when the CDC and physicians decided we needed more. This was all happening in the 1950’s. You can check the records. There are a ton of factors that go into this. Cleanliness was one of them. Availability of newer medicines was another.
I’m not going to argue the point here because I passionately believe it is every family’s individual choice. However, blanket statements, as the one above, I find very insulting. I have not gone blindly into choosing not vaccinate, or at the least, follow a delayed vaccination schedule. It is up to all of us, as parents, to do our own research (good job Beth) and not let fear mongering convince us to do otherwise.
We go to a doctor that isn’t keen on all vaccinations. A doctor with years of medical school who is still convinced it’s not the best route. And who, at the very least, agrees with delayed vaccination.
Beth, the Mendelsohn book is a great resource, I have that one. If you would like some other materials contact me and maybe I could throw some things in the mail.
You and your husband need to make this decision based on “YOUR” research. Horror stories for or against will not help your decision. Most importantly, trust God. He is the Author and Finisher of our faith and that my friend, can bring more comfort than any book or debate. 🙂
Hi,
Shannon Clifton referred me to your site. We don’t vaccinate. Not because of fears of autism but because of how the immune system works. Aritificial immunity takes up a lot more of one’s immune capactiy than natural immunity. That, and there is debate as to whether diseases started disappearing because of the improvement of sanitary conditions or the starting of vaccines…they coincided in development and it CAN:T BE PROVED whether or not vaccines is the cause or not. Anyhow, I recommend this book for a basic, simple explanation on how vaccines effect the immune system–
Immunization : History, Ethics, Law and Health by Catherine J. M. Diodati
It is also worth looking into the history of your family to see if there have been any vaccine reactions. You are not supposed to vaccinate if there have been any reactions in your family. My sister in law was knocked unconscious for several hours and turned blue when she got her DPT vaccine as a baby. Needless to say, we don’t vaccinate our 3 kids.
Look no further, I have your definitive, unbiased word on the matter right here:
http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Health_Concerns/Vaccines/vaccinations_can_kill.htm
The P part of the DPT shot (perctussis or whooping cough, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DPT_vaccine for more info) should not be given to a child who has seizures. It is possible to get just the DT shot, but not always easy, as I found out when Matt was little.
I had the chicken pox, measles, and mumps before I was in 2nd grade. Now I don’t have to worry about them. I have natural immunity. The only thing I was immunized against was small pox. And that immunization isn’t even available anymore!
My sister had whooping cough as a teen, and by that time (1970s) it was so rare that doctors couldn’t diagnose it. They didn’t recognize it! And so it is with immunization.
Go to http://autismvox.com/. The author is an autism expert and parent. Her site often leads to scientific research in the vaccine area. Research at this time eliminates vaccines as a cause for autism. The small amounts of thimerasol (mercury based preservative) are no longer used in vaccines.
And — I had whooping cough two summers ago. I was seriously ill for 8 weeks. for a baby? Probably would have been fatal.
Just a side note (all the links I was going to post are in the mothering link 🙂
With Chicken pox, you can attend “chicken pox parties” (how fun!) and get your child exposed.
I’ll see what I can dig up and be back later with links.
I actually wish that they would give the shots over a longer period of time and I support vaccinating!
Chicken pox parties will be very hard to find if everyone is getting the vax. I wasn’t going to bother with the chicken pox, but I don’t want a teenager/adult getting it and ending up in the hospital.
As far as the fear mongering the we pro-vax are accused of. You anti-vax people do the same thing by insisting that vax is more dangerous and could cause autism.
Good luck on your decision!
BTW, I vax all my kids and I hardly breastfed and they have never had any infections (besides little viral colds) that would require antibiotics. They also have no allergies.
The friends I have that have very sick kids with allergies are the ones who have followed a crunchy way of living and gone against convention. Just my observation.
I think this article, at parent website Babble, a case of strong reporting.
http://www.babble.com/content/articles/features/dispatches/featherstone/shotdown/index.aspx
(It’s called “shot down” and can be found at babble.com if the link I just typed in doesn’t work).
It is in favor of vaccinations, ultimately, but I think is written and researched fairly.
I think non-vaxing is a dangerous cult. But then, that’s just me.
One thing to understand: You don’t have to rush into a decision. You can wait and gather all the facts you feel you need. A child can always be vaccinated later.
We don’t vaccinate. We were in part influenced by the autism connection, but also just could not see injecting diseases into our children. I knew a boy growing up who got Polio from the vaccination. Mind you, they don’t use that type of vacination anymore, but it really made me think about what a vaccination is.
I have friends who simply waited until their kids started school to vaccinate, when they were more able to monitor reactions and changes which are so hard to observe in a tiny baby you’re still getting to know. We are homeschooling so there’s no cut-off date for us, but we do recognize and appreciate that we can go get the kids vaccinated anytime we want.
BTW our pediatrician told us that he is required to promote vaccinations but that from what he has observed in his practise he supports very much those who wait or who don’t vaccinate at all. He said that his patients that are not vaccinated are the ones that get sick much less often than those who are vacinated. My son is 4 and has been sick 3 times, nothing serious enough for a doctor visit, my daughter is 2 and has never been sick. Not even the sniffles.
Whatever you decide, good for you for giving the decision the weight it deserves and not simply following the crowd.
Read the book How to Raise a Healthy Child In Spite of Your Doctor buy Dr. ____Mendelsson. Can’t remember his first name and my book is loaned out so I can’t check on it. He is a real, board certified pediatrician with some impressive credentials and has a wonderful section on immunizations.
I have 4 children 2 fully immunized, 1 partally immunized, and 1 UNimmunized. I, too, have noticed a direct corellation between immunization and amount of illnesses suffered. My two immunized kids are young adults (19 and 22) and get pretty much whatever’s going around and always have. My last two get very light cases of whatever they do get, and also get much less than the other two ever had. They have only been to the dr. for stitches and a nasty splinter we couldn’t get out. I’m a believer from that angle alone!
Most of all, keep seeking. While we have made the decision and have stood firm, if we learned something tomorrow that indicated a need to reconsider, we would. We just haven’t seen anything as of yet…and we do pay attention. We have been entrusted with these precious souls and feel the weight for their well-being physically as well as spiritually.
My concern w/ the Chix Pox vax is that (in addition to it being so new, and not long-term tested) there is a question of how long the antibodies actually stay in your system.
That is, your child could be well-protected all through childhood (the “best” time to get it) an become vulnerable again when older (like with tetanus? Boosters are required every 1015 years, right?).
I like Beth’s idea about giving it at age 10.
My bad-mommy badge comes from never remembering to bring the vax card, so I have to trust the dr.’s records, and my memory doesn’t quite match…
*And* none of the peds or nurses I’ve talked to in our clinic will agree/affirm my suggestion that my (little) boy would benefit by having his vax’s a bit late.
It makes sense to me the greater mass (on his part) would mean less of a chemical slam on his system. Two nurses and the Dr. disagreed with me his last appointment (standing by the official charts) but I decided to delay anyway.
Our family has no history of reaction to vax, and my MIL had Polio as a child. So while I might agree with the pp that not all these illnesses had to be fatal, I’ll still resist pain and deformation while I can.
We do (have and will) vax, but I’m currently trying to get my negligence sorted out so we can schedule everything properly.
momentarily delurking to chime in.
when my husband was a young child, he had the worst case of – i cant remember if it was measles or mumps – that any of his doctors had ever seen. they didnt know what was wrong with him because it was so bad they didnt recognise it. so we vaccinated.
having though about it since, if i have more kids, i probably wont do chickenpox, unless they havent caught it by the time theyre older. i would rather let them catch it. but the ‘worse’ things, yes. particularly rubella.
relurking.
hey, i stumbled upon your blog from crystal’s blog. i am in a mom’s group in colorado with over 700 moms. this was a recent topic and i will share the summary. apologies in advance that it is so long. i am not of the delaying or not vaccination camp; i just want to share information. i hope you find it helpful.
maggie
Thank you all so much for your thoughtful and insightful input concerning a modified immunization schedule. Your information was very helpful. I took DD to her two month appt. today and the Dr. was very supportive of my choice to delay and skip some of the shots. There is a wealth of information here, so if you are in the same boat, here is the summary:
We waited until our daughter was 6 months old to begin
her shots. Then, we worked with our doctor to
customize a schedule according to the well-child
visits that were scheduled, plus a couple of extra
visits just for shots.
We did all of the immunizations except for the
Hepatitis that is only transmitted through blood and
semen (low risk for an infant) and chicken pox.
Hello, we did a modified schedule. I wanted to avoid
shots before the age of 6 months because I had read
that can help prevent allergic reactions to the extra
ingredients in the shots and allow the immune system
to develop further/stronger…
It worked out fine, but I did not have my son in a day
care setting then. He was around plenty of children
and adults though.
We go to Partners in Pediatrics and they were very
supportive of arranging things on a different
schedule.
It was not a big deal at all.
i am working with my pediatrician on this, . We are doing one at a time and only the necessary ones where the disease could impact the child before they could seak medical help. DD is 3 mos. now and we have only done the DTAP and the HiB . I also think it is important for your child’s immune system to be strong before they get shots and have been referred to a ped. Accupressurist. Let me know what others share with you!
I’ve done this with DS (1 year old) and it’s worked well – the only bad thing is that you have shots more often, and you have to be the one to remind the medical staff that you’re doing an alternate shot schedule. The plus side is that, by the time Harry realizes that shots are coming, they’re pretty much done with giving them to him. He still screams, and hoo boy, did he ever give the nurse who administered the shots a dirty look a few minutes later ;D but I’m still glad I chose this method.
I’m positive your medical staff will discuss this with you, but please make sure your baby gets the HIB shots on schedule – other things can be delayed, but the HIB shots shouldn’t be.
Hi Nicole,
I have done a ton of research on vaccinations, and there are a couple
of books that were very helpful that you can get from the library.
one is called “What your doctor may not tell you about children’s
vaccinations” by Stephanie Cave.
The other one is called “Vaccinations: A thoughtful parents guide” by
Aviva Jill Romm
Also, I learned a ton from the mom’s on
http://www.mothering.com/discussions/
those ladies have really done their research, if you look at the
sub-forum on vaccinations, there is a forum for delayed/select
vaccinations, and there is a lot of information.
It’s a lot to sort through, and a really tough decision, I know. But I
think it’s really great you are taking it seriously and giving it a
lot of thought.
Good luck!
I spread my girls’ shots out as well. I only had them get at most two shots at a time, although with the vaccinations being combined even more (more stuff in one shot) I might switch to getting only one at a time for my one year old (my other daughter is 3). My reasons were I didn’t want to overwhelm their little bodies with too much that stuff (chemicals, diseases, preservatives…). Give them a little time to process all that stuff out without overwhelming them. I think they had less reactions to the shots (fevers, sore legs, etc.) but there’s no way to know if that was because I spread them out or not.
I, too, didn’t feel comfortable with giving my son all the immunizations right away at his 2 month appointment, so I talked it over with my doctor and decided to wait to start immunizations until his 4 month appointment. She didn’t agree with my decision to wait, but she couldn’t give any reason to start at 2 months except that it’s “recommended”. I decided to anyway because he doesn’t start day care until he’s 1 year old, so his exposure to sicknesses will be limited until then.
My doctor did agree that not all of the immunizations they recommend are necessary–she said that Hepatitis B, the Polio, and the Rotavirus vaccination aren’t as necessary as the others, so I’m planning to cut out the Hepatitis B and the Rotavirus.
Also, they’ll encourage you to get the one mongo vaccine that combines them all at once, but they’ll also split it up if you want to pick and choose what immunizations your kid is receiving.
As far as public daycare or school goes, your kid doesn’t have to have the full vaccinations–you just have to sign a form that says you don’t agree with immunizations. If you’re talking private daycare or school, they can require whatever they want, so that’s something else you’ll want to consider, if you’re planning on starting daycare before you start some of the immunizations.
Anyway, I decided that it just comes down to what you’re comfortable with as a mom, and what you feel is best for your kid. It’s a hard decision, so good luck to you!
You go girl! I did the same thing with my second kiddo after reading a
lot of legitimate research linking mercury based vaccines to autism and
learning about the possible side effects of giving too many vaccines at
the same time. Mothering.com has lots of great archived articles if
you
need anymore info.
Find a doc who will respect you as an informed mom and THE decision
maker
when it comes to your little one. My first pediatrician was totally condenscending to me on this issue and
didn’t respect why I wanted to deviate from the prescribed schedule. I
fired him. My new pediatrician and I talk about each vaccine, what it
does, what age it is really needed. I was amazed to find out that
Rubella
in the measels, mumps rubella vacc isn’t something my girls need until
they’re sexually active! new doc said that for infants the most
important
vac to have were the respiratory condition ones. He agreed to space
them
out so we never gave more than a couple at a time. At my request he
was
also willing to double check and verify that his vaccines are
themerosol
free (the mercury based preservative contained in many vaccines but not
listed on lables because it is present in trace amounts). My new
pediatrician isn’t accepting anymore patients but I see Dr Berger at
{…} for my own healthcare and she strikes me as
someone who would be very respectful and helpful. She’s great about
taking her time and addressing all of the issues.
We went with a general philosophy of only 1 or 2 at at time (some are combined into one shot) and we postponed most of them at least a few months – some we even skipped. We sort of made up our own schedule and just talked to the doctor about what would be next at each appt. It meant a couple more trips to the doctor, but we felt better about not pumping all of that “stuff” into such a little baby at once
I’m also interested in hearing what people say about your modified
immunization schedule question. We got only 3 of the 5 recommended
immunizations at DD’s 4 month appt. The Physician’s Asst we had the
appt with really stressed getting the polio vaccine, as well as the
DTap and the Hib before winter. Since DD is breastfed and not in day
care, she dind’t think the rotovirus was crucial and I cant remember
what the name of the other one was, but she said it was newer and not
as well researched (yikes!). At the 6 month, we’ll be putting off as
many as we can, too. I think the Hep B vaccine can be put off for
quite a while, too.
Hi-
Here are few websites and books and a few names to research to help you with your decision….. http://www.whale.to/vaccines.html, http://www.909shot.com, http://www.viaa.us/via/PROCHOICE/prochoic.htm, A few books Immunization: The Reality Behind the Myth, by Walene James, DPT: A shot in the Dark, by Harris Coulter, What about Immunizations?, by Cynthia Cournoyer and I also would do a google search on Dr. Andrew Wakefield he has done extensive studies on vaccines and also Dr. Sherry Tenpenny.
Good luck and let me know if you have any questions. I’ve done a lot of research on this issue. There is soooo much information out there you just need to sort through it and be sure to always see who funded the study b/c you never know what a companies agenda might be! All this information is on vaccines and the diseases themselves it isn’t necessarily a plan for how to go about spreading out the shots,but I thought it might help you to make those decisions.
I stumbled across your site by linking to a friend of a friend of a friend…. but this is an issue I’m currently muddling through. It would seem that in addition to the implications for ones own child, there may be an even louder moral argument against vaccines. (And I have two children, one of whom is currently “up to date” on all shots, so I say this with the knowledge that I may be implicating myself…) If human diploid cells are indeed an ingredient in commonly-given vaccines, then those who use those vaccines are responsible for consuming a product containing aborted fetal cells.
Additionally, I went to a pediatrician (http://www.searspediatrics.com/) who suggested that children who are breastfed and home with their mothers delay the suggested schedule until the age of 2… at least in my daughter’s case. I found her after encountering a woman who had been an expert witness to the CDC on vaccine side effects. When I went to get an immunization for my daughter, and I queried the immunologist (which was intimidating, frankly), she encouraged me and said I should never apologize for being picky about what anyone wants to put inside my child, that there were inherent risks with some ingredients, and then she proceeded to get out the ingredient lists and explain them to me one by one before asking if I was still interested. And she was the “vaccine doctor.”
I just recently blogged about this here:
http://lilirishlass.blogspot.com/2007/10/milk-vaccine-article-and-vacations.html
and here:
http://lilirishlass.blogspot.com/2007/10/vaccinations.html
I have some links and resources up. It is hard to find unbiased information about all this stuff, it’s not a decision to take lightly either. 🙂
I know it’s been a while since you posted the above comment, so i’m wondering if you still have the same view. My daughter just turned 2 months, and Internet provides so much information, I do not know where to start. Recommendations?