To Vaccinate Or Not To Vaccinate

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I'm interested in learning about other parents' experiences with vaccinating, or not vaccinating, their babies.

By now all parents are aware of the huge controversy over vaccinating their children. We are open-minded, understand both sides of the issue, and are researching each vaccination, educating ourselves, and trying to do the best thing for our son. We don't want to vaccinate if it's not necessary, yet we want to protect our child.

We already passed on the HepB vaccine that they wanted to give our son on the second day of life! We figured there was no urgency to protect him against an "adult" disease that is primarily transmitted through unsafe sex and needle sharing.

When our son was 3 months old we had to take him on a plane. Being that planes are petri dishes for germs, we decided to start the vaccination process for Pneumococcal, Rotovirus, Polio, DTaP, HIB. If we didn't have to get on a plane we would have at least delayed these vaccinations as we are raising our son ourselves, no daycare exposure, etc.

We know all about the possible connections between vaccinations and autism. This is our main concern. Does anyone have any insights to offer on this subject? Our son is now 6 months old.

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I don't have any kids but I know many parents who do not or have not given their children any vaccinations. You may find some interesting data at the site below regarding many toxins that make up some of the ingredients in a simple flu vacine.

http://www.mercola.com/2000/nov/26/flu_shots.htm

People will argue that you are crazy to vaccinate and crazy if you don't. It's gonna just come down to what you think is the best thing to do. There is tons of data that can be used to make a decision either way. I don't think you'll find a lot of people out there who didn't vaccinate who now regret the decison. I know you will find people who did vaccinate who wish that had educated themselves before they vacinated their children. None of the many people I know who choose not to give their kids vaccinations have had any issues with their children's health.   

The choice is a difficult one with an infant. To me it just doesn't make any sense to add poison into a healthy body as a means of developing immunity. Whatever your decision, your son is far better off than most because he has parents going the extra mile to ensure he gets the best.

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I don't have any kids either, but I am part of a large family and there are many children in my family. I am aware of the controversy over this issue. It seems that with today's zealousness over health and wellness people now question everything doctors tell them, and I could understand why, but it gets a little crazy at times I think.

Without actual evidence to prove that vaccinations cause autism or whatever, why go against what we know works? They took the mercury out of the vaccinations, which was the main concern.

All the kids in my family have been vaccinated with whatever vaccinations the doctors recommended and they are all fine.

If I had a child tomorrow I would vaccinate them according to the doctor's recommendations, but that's just me.

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Regarding your comment about the mercury being out of the vaccines, that's not entirely true. Once your kid hits 3 years old, some of the vaccinations for them once again contain thimerasol, the preservative that contains mercury. And who really knows what's being injected into your child anyway? You have to specifically ask for the vaccine that doesn't contain mercury, but you have to KNOW to ask for it. You have to KNOW that all of a sudden mercury is back in some of the vaccines. They make 2 versions. Why, I don't know; when given the choice, who the heck would CHOOSE to put mercury into their kid?!

You see, this is my point, the ludicrousness of today's medical profession. And doctors wonder why we educate ourselves and question their every comment? What the vaccines contain might not be the fault of the doctor, but it falls on them to question their profession in general, doesn't it?

You said if you had a child tomorrow you'd vaccinate according to the recommendation of your doctor, but many times your doctor doesn't even know what's in the vaccine that his ASSISTANT is injecting into your baby. The doctor himself doesn't even administer the vaccinations.

I agree that it can get crazy with how we question doctors today, but that is the fault of the doctors themselves, don't you think? They don't spend any time getting to know their patients these days, they mis-diagnose, they mis-prescribe, they ignore signs and symptoms of their patients and they take no responsibility for their actions. They treat symptoms, not their patients, and they rush you out of their office. You being "old-school" could understand why I, a 42-year old, really old-school guy, would be upset by this. The gool ol' days are gone.

That said, vaccinations have their place in society, it's just a matter of "what is their place, which ones, how often, when, etc?" That's my dilemma anyway.

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I've been reading stories of places like Manchester England, where lots of parents aren't vaccinating, and they're seeing large resurgences of diseases that were nearly wiped out. Yes, some people have allergic reactions to vaccines and bad stuff happens, but that's far preferable then allowing the diseases they protect against run rampant again, and possibly mutate to become vaccine resistant. We don't need vaccine resistant polio or small pox. Those things were nasty!   

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"Much of the suffering in the world comes from the delusion that we are all separate from one another." - Gautama Buddha

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"We know all about the possible connections between vaccinations and autism."

I think that these "connections" have all be disproved. Vaccinate your children. It is safe and sensible. If your child caught a disease, you would never forgive yourself.

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Motley Health - Women's Fitness

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Hard to argue with that kind of straight shooting.   

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"Much of the suffering in the world comes from the delusion that we are all separate from one another." - Gautama Buddha

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My children are in their 30's and were born when it was the 'norm' to vaccinate, beginning at 6 weeks (I recall). All we had back then was the mmp, measles, mumps and whooping cough, all in one and then polio vaccine a bit later and TB after they started school.

I was a bit on the 'natural' fringe, so with the help of an MD, Dr. Henry Bieler, who wrote the book,"Food is Your Best Medicine" I opted to not begin vaccinations until the boys were over 3 years old. I started the vaccinations then, so they could go to pre-school. His theory, which I adopted, was that babies little bodies are getting used to the normal onslaught of potential opportunistic infections that are just part of daily life. Adding vaccines too early creates too much stress on the baby's immune system, and they can better handle it when they're older. He never suggested not vaccinating at all.

As a parent, it's your decision. It's a tough one, but I still feel the same way about this subject as I did then.

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I am a 30 year old who was never vaccinated as a child.

My parents were more concerned about the dangers of the additives in the vaccines than the dangers of the diseases themselves. There were 4 kids in total in the family, not a one vaccinated and not a one ever caught the diseases we were supposed to get vaccinated against.

And yes, we did go to school. Don't let the fact that you "have to get vaccinations" to get into school be the deciding factor for getting your child vaccinated. With the wealth of information over the internet, it is much easier to read up on these topics and make an informed decision.

I recently went to a general practitioner to get some vaccinations because I knew I would be traveling to Asia in the near future. I read up on the vaccinations I would need to get and how to prevent against disease. The truth is, not all vaccines are even 100% effective. So the recommendation to avoid drinking the water and eating raw foods is still the best prevention against Typhoid, for instance.

I guess the moral of the story is...we as humans have survived a LONG time without vaccinations with our own natural immune system. I'm alive. :)

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I've found some good information on
vaccine911.com

It's a tough choice as a parent.
I think the main thing, is that parents need to be informed on both sides, b/c you are taking a risk either way.