Hi Mommies -

My sister's twin girls will be a year old next month. We have been having long discussions about whether or not she should give them the MMR shot. The nurse at her peds office said they didn't need it yet as long as they weren't in day care. They can actually wait until they begin kindergarten.

I waited until my daughter was almost three, because I had read extensively about autism and MMR - and my own conclusion was that there wasn't enough evidence to prove that the shot didn't cause autism at one year of age.

Now the schools are talking about making children with a chicken pox shot get an extra booster (because some kids are getting it anyway after having the first shot).

I'm not sure I'm happy about this "can't attend school unless you had blah blah blah shots" - shouldn't we be able to decide which vaccines our children can get and have them still be allowed in school? Assuming none of the illnesses are life-threatening, of course.

What do you all think about this?

The problem is that for many vaccinations your child doesn't need them if all the other children have had them. So - you can be selfish and protect your own child and let the others take whatever negative consequences (if any) of the vaccinations.

So - in order to be fair, the govt insists that all children be vacinated. Otherwise it wouldn't be fair to ask a parent to decide between exposing their own child to some risk (however small) or to expose other children.

If you ask me, it's a law because there are so many irresponsible parents out there who because of medical costs or just plain negligence wouldn't get their children vaccinated otherwise.
I had never heard about the link between the MMR shot and autism; that's really interesting!

I heard Holly Robinson-peete on a radio show last week talking about this. She has a son who has autism and she thinks it might have something to do with an MMR vaccine when he was 2 1/2. So I guess she's on a mission to spread the word.

I think the benefits far outweigh the risks and the schools are just trying to protect the kids (as well as themselves). But on the other hand, if there is so much controversy about MMR vaccine, why hasn't it been taken off the school immunization list? The FDA shoud be investigating this. Hopefully Holly and some other celebrities will get them to pay attention.

There have been a number of studies looking for a link between autism and vaccinations. So far they have not found a statistically significant link. Of course medical research is tricky, and often funded by the drug companies, so one should be a bit suspicious.

As you know, vaccinations are to prevent childhood communicable diseases.
It is hailed as prevention of epidemics and so forth...

Now as far as that chicken pox vaccination goes, I have one child that had to get the shot and also get the "booster"; the other child actually had the chicken pox (before the vaccination came out) and that child still had to get booster shots.

State law requires that all immunizations are up-to-date by the time a child starts school or is in daycare.

So, even if a child is NOT in school or at daycare, they can still become susceptible to these childhood diseases just by being exposed to the general public; could be a doctor's office, restaurant, shopping mall, grocery store/supermarket.... wherever! Oh, and don't forget those little play areas that places like McDonalds, Jeepers, Chuck E. Cheese and others have...

So it's a good idea just to keep your child protected as best you can. I've heard of parents actually altering their child's immunization record so that they can get them in school or daycare; then the school or daycare calls the state to verify all the shots on record. Once they find out they're missing immunizations, they kick the child right out of school until they're updated.

Jubes -

You made me laugh - Chuck E. Cheese is a germ farm! Blech, I can't stand that place, I literally rub her down with alcohol every few minutes when we're there!

Here's my point - like JubesInquest mentioned, one of her children got the chicken pox. And so what? I had them - my whole third grade class had them. That illness is really nothing but a nuisance, so who is the school board to tell me I HAVE to vaccinate my child against it? Whatever happened to letting our bodies do what they are supposed to do (in certain cases of illness, like I said before, not life threatening)?

I do a lot of reading and research into anything that is going into my child's body; that is why I waited on the MMR shot. I don't CARE what the government has NOT YET proven. About a year and a half ago, the statistic was that one in every 166 children was diagnosed with autism (and it is a very broad spectrum, covering Asperger's Syndrome and social delays as well as children who are non-verbal, etc.). This year, it is down to something ridiculous like one in 80. Okay, sure, our environment is not as pure as it once was, everything is in plastic, hormones are in our meats and milk, etc., so strange things are happening. But thousands upon thousands of parents insist that they had healthy, normally developing babies until they were given the MMR shot.

For example, I know pertussis could have killed my daughter if she got it when she was an infant, so of course I had her vaccinated, and would have gotten a booster myself (which they now recommend for adults) to protect her. But let's say all the life-threatening illnesses fall under Class A, and all non-threatening illnesses fall under Class B. Shouldn't it be up to me to decide what is best for my child, to be able to say, okay, get the Class A vaccines but then pick and choose from Class B?

Because now the government is thinking that they want to make it mandatory for girls to get that cervical cancer vaccine (the name is escaping me right now) when they're nine. I absolutely will not let her get that vaccine. It just came on the market!! Who knows what side effects could crop up down the road, after all these young, sexually inactive little girls have gotten it?

Sorry I've gone on a rant. I'm not even sure if I'm annoyed about the MMR or the mandatory vaccination issue. Both, probably.