To vaccinate or not to vaccinate - our kids
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.Originally Posted by LadyLane
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.
Quitters never win; Winners don't give in
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?
SorryI've gone on a rant. I'm not even sure if I'm annoyed about the MMR or the mandatory vaccination issue. Both, probably.
LOL, Ladylane!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
You know once I took one of my kids to Jeepers, and they have an area where the kids can play on slides, jump in this thing full of colorful balls... well, my child was going to run up on the slide and dive into the "ball tank" (well, for lack of a better name I'll call it that...) I looked up, and here's one child running around with NO SHOES ON throughout the whole place, with all kinds of bodily fluids running out of every area of the body!
That child jumped in there and I grabbed my kid!
I was said, "NO WAY!! Let go somewhere else."
But believe me, the drug companies are making all kinds of $$$ on these shots and meds. I read an article about how the drug companies "courts" doctors --- taking them out to "luncheons", paying for all kinds of "seminars" that promote their products; which will wind up in someone's medicine cabinet...
Oh, and that shot you were referring to that is being recommended for young ladies is for the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) shot. I'm not to thrilled about that, because there hasn't been enough research or information about side-effects and how this will effect the reproductive system in latter years.
What if it makes them sterile? Cause birth defects? Make them prone to ectopic pregnancies?
You just don't know... and neither do they.
Quitters never win; Winners don't give in
My gyno was encouraging me to get that HPV vaccine. An acquaintance got HPV from her mom and didn't know until last year ... the horrible thing is that she was sleeping with one of my best friends' exes on the sly while my friend was still sleeping with himThe guy refuses to acknowledge he might be infected and I don't know if my friend has been to the doctor yet to find out. Some people are so stubborn when it comes to STDs and other things with stigmas ...
I think that vaccine might help a lot of people.
But I also don't think it's for people like me. I don't want to think I'm immune to s tupid or misinformed decisions about sex, but I know I don't get drunk and f*** anybody.
So I'm not going to get it. Like you said, JubesInquest, you never know.
I agree with Jubes. The main function and purpose of forcing people to give these things to their children is to prevent wide spread epidemics. There are a lot of problems that could stem from something as simple as chicken pox. Even though it isn't much for concern these days (I had it myself and it was more of an annoyance then anything), the problem with viruses and bacteria is that they evolve and mutate into possibly something much worse and incurable. So let's say we have an epidemic of chicken pox. That epidemic significantly increases the chances of that illness mutating into something we can no longer control and possibly something deadly.
What would be even worse is if several generations go by without any infection, but none of them have had the vaccine. So several generations later, you have a world of elderly people, babies, and people of all ages that are not immune to the chicken pox. Next thing you know, half the world is infected with chicken pox and can't work because they feel terrible and can't go anywhere without infecting someone else. Then the chicken pox mutates into a new strain with much worse symptoms. That could effect our economy as well cause many deaths.
However, I too have heard about the increasing concern of vaccines causing autism. My mother works in the medical field and she told me I shouldn't give my child that vaccine for the same reason. I wouldn't even be suprised if the increase in cancer was in part due to all the drugs we ingest in our lives.
I am a firm believer that drugs are not as safe as everyone likes to believe. And also that society puts to much responsibillity and trust into the FDA, doctors, and drug companies. The FDA has limited funding and resources to do their job sufficiently, it can some times take years upon years to determine something is bad and it's then taken off the market, the drug companies are all about the money and repeatedly have drugs recalled, and the doctors only know what they are told by the FDA and the drug makers. It's a sess pool of lies, corruption, ignorance, and insufficient government support.
I took Depo Provera for FIVE years before the FDA forced them to put a warning on it saying it should not be taken for more then TWO years because it causes Osteoporosis. By the time they figured it out, my hair was falling out, I was sick, I suffered from debillitating migraine headaches and severe depression, and more. I had repeatedly asked my doctors if the drug could be making me sick prior to the warning. They insisted that there was no way that drug was causing those side effects (because that's what the drug makers told them). Let me tell you... my problems all went away once I stopped taking that garbage. But now I have bad knee and hip problems which is probably from the bone density issue with Depo Provera. What killed me, is that they still sell this stuff by saying "You can safely take it for up to 2 years." Translation - "You can take it up to 2 years just to the point that you could develop Osteoporosis, then you should stop. But we will keep giving it to you if you still want it after 2 years."
I was in the doctors office the other day and over heard a conversation between a patient and doctor. The patient was a young woman probably in her 20s. She was significantly over weight and complaining to the doctor that she was having problems with her knees, joints, and her weight. Depo Provera contributes to all three of those issues. So then she asks the doctor "Can I get my Depo shot early this month?" The doctor says "Yes, that should be ok." I was disgusted. That poor girl never should have been put on Depo. But the doctors just don't get it.
The horror stories of Depo Provera are all over the net. Now you can look at them and say "Yes, but there isn't sufficient evidence, so I will continue to take it." But this is exactly why we continue to hurt ourselves. People are not taking these claims seriously. I'm sorry, but I am never taking a chance like that again with any drugs. Especially not with the lives of my children.
I know that I have said both reasons why you should and reasons why you shouldn't vaccinate. So as you can see, I am torn about it as well. I do believe vaccinations are important and should be mandatory IF they are proven safe, but I also believe it is our responsibillity as parents to either confirm or deny with solid evidence whether or not something is safe for our children. We cannot accept the statement that "there is no solid evidence at this time." Think about all the drugs that have been recalled for death and destruction that were kept on the market for years and years prior because of insufficient testing, experimenting, and evaluations. If it's not certain, I say... don't trust someone's life with it.
Also, the government cannot force society as a whole to take vaccinations that are not proven safe. They are our government, they work for US, and as a whole... we have the final say. But that only happens if we stand together and make ourselves heard.
~Jessica
Posting Permissions
LinkBack URL
About LinkBacks
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks