Last night I went to a vaccine workshop to educate myself on both sides of the vaccine debate. I have always wondered since my first child was born almost 12 years ago if I was doing the right thing. Now with having a newborn and being pressured by the "No Shot No School" campaign to vaccinate my 7th grader I feel I need to really educate myself. I have gone to a couple different workshops now, one being very pro-vaccine and the other being very against them. This meeting was hearing both sides pro's and con's. I went with an open mind and ready to learn. I am on information overload (so please bare with me as I just type what I had jotted down last night) and after leaving I felt like I had even more questions than I had walking in. It was an open type meeting where parents would ask questions and the panel of doctors would answer them. A very well respected doctor from Loma Linda was one of the doctors answering a lot of the questions. There were holistic doctors who were strongly against vaccines but Dr. Katiraei from Loma Linda was giving his take on vaccinations. He believes that there is a no size fits all vaccination. Every child is different. Every family is different and the environment they live in is different. The same dosage is given to an 8lb baby that they give to a 50lb child. Most vaccinations are protocol but not necessarily needed. Like the Hep B within 12 hours of birth. Who's idea was it to vaccinate ALL newborn babies for a sexually transmitted disease? Another example for protocol I saw last week was when I went in for a prenatal check up. I'm Rh-neg and so is my husband so I don't need the Rhogam shot. I know who the babies daddy is and therefore I do not need the shot. They still fought to give it to me because it's protocol. I have never had it before. I know who my babies daddies are:) I understand it's their job but as the patient you should know your own body and your own child. A lot of the pressure is to protect the doctor, which I can understand. It is his job, but it is our job as parents to know our children and what is best for them or us. Vaccinating them on the state or government schedule might not be best for your child's health. He also feels vaccines are more convenient for parents than they are for your child's health. So kids don't get sick therefore parents won't need to take time off work. It's good for kids to get sick, it builds the immune system. There is a place for vaccinations but vaccinating for everything under the sun is not safe. He went over what is in the vaccines such as foreign tissue, aborted fetus, mercury, aluminum etc.... He talked about the MMR being very unnatural for the body. Parents need to look into the long term effects that can be caused by vaccines. Many children will get vaccines and will be perfectly fine but in others it can trigger such things as autism, asthma, allergies, eczema (just to name a few) etc... The doctor recommended that each parent look at your child's family history. Your genetic pool, do you have autism in your family line, then maybe a vaccine could trigger it in your child. Something I never thought about that he brought up was to get the name, date, and batch your child's vaccine is coming from. What does the vaccine your getting your child grow on? Does your child have a food allergy to something that the vaccine in grown on. Breastfeeding is huge! They stressed how important breastfeeding is for your child. If you are not going to breastfeed your baby and put them in daycare at 6weeks etc (I'm using this as an example) then maybe you should vaccinate your child. Their immune system is not as strong as if you were to breastfeed. If you do plan on breastfeeding and your child will not be around a lot of kids then you should be fine not vaccinating them. Your child's diet plays a big part in their heath as well. A great resource is Dr. Feder's website you may want to take a look around her site. I also found this article helpful. As far as school, you are the parent and the school can't make you vaccinate your child. It really is as simple as a waiver, ok and a lot of hassle from them:) But remember you are the parent! Here is a list to help you find a vaccine friendly doctor near you either to skip vaccines all together (and they will happily treat your child), or help you with a more personal vaccine schedule or delay schedule.
I know some friends that didn't vaccinate their children until they went on mission trips. Then they were vaccinated before leaving the country. Or before joining the service. Or even entering college. Some schools do require.
The doctor that does have children doesn't vaccinate. The one who doesn't said if he were to vaccinate his child or his best friends child it would be only the following....
The Hib vaccine( doctor said it's still out there.)
Prevnar
and maybe Pertussis.
the Verasela vaccine (chicken pox) he recommends delaying until teenage years.
I'm going to be ordering this book:
The Parents' Concise Guide to Childhood Vaccinations by Dr. Lauren Feder
It covers important issues such as:
• If you have chosen to vaccinate your children, she offers both practical
medical and natural remedies to avoid possible side effects.
• If you have chosen not to vaccinate your children, she offers natural medicines to strengthen your child’s immune system, along with tips on how to deal with legal exemptions, school requirements, and medical insurance.
• If you’re just not sure what to do, she offers a balanced and easy-to-understand discussion of the issues, explaining the truth about the effectiveness of vaccinations, side effects, and much more.
My 11 yr old son Austin joined me as he is interested in the medical field and I felt it would be a good learning experience for him. As we walked out the first thing he said was, "You are not injecting me with the Pertussis!" I think the meeting scared him a bit as he said, "nothings safe!" It really does come down to educating yourself and knowing your children and what is best for each individual child. They are all different!!!
Please feel free to share in the comment section.
Those of you that attended the meeting last night, I'm sure I left a lot of info out, please feel free to add your comments as well.
This is a hot topic that many of us are confused on. I think it's important to take the time to look into it though!
I think we can all learn for each other.
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Another great book is The Vaccine Book by Dr Robert Sears. I loved this book-it gave both sides, but most importantly (for me) it gave alternate vax schedules. We delay, skip some, and spread them out so my babies aren't given 2 or more shots per visit.
Awesome, thank you so much Bridget. I appreciate this. Although I'm for vaccines, I do understand that there needs to be discernment on which ones I should allow to be given to my children. You're right, we need to be smart and educated in this specific area. The books sounds good. I might have to look into buying. Thank you.
what an awesome resource, that meeting you attended, i would LOVE to go to something like that. I second the opinion on the vaccine book, very balanced and very informative. thanks so much for sharing all this. i hate it when people give us grief for our choice in not vaccinating our infant (ok, toddler now) son, when our girls are vaccinated. i wish i had read up on vaccines long ago. every parent just wants to do whats right for their child, there is no one-size-fits all. thanks for your openness!!
Another great book is "How to Raise a Healthy Child In Spite of Your Doctor", by Dr. Mendelsohn. Although the book was published in 1987, it's amazing to see how many of his predictions are our history.
Could you share with us which vaccines your children have had if any. We do give our children all of the vaccines due to my husband being on immune supprents. He had a kidney transplant and with little immune sytem, something like my children actually getting chicken pox would hospitalize him and possibly even kill him. What we diddo was spread the shots out. I do not agree with the schedual at all. No child should get up to 5 vaccines at a time.
I'm just curious about the argument FOR vaccines....
Please know that I do not post these type of post to put others down. I am very opened minded and am learning as I go. I hope by posting I can learn from others who are not afraid to speak out on such controversial topics. As far as the argument FOR vaccines I didn't really touch on and really most questions asked that night to the panel were not why we should. I felt that most people know why they vaccinate and feel strongly about it. It protects against dangerous disease. simple. Most doctors will tell you that you need to follow the CDC schedule for vaccines to be fully effective, however, the majority of the public has to get vaccinated. That is why they push it on everyone. In the case of highly contagious diseases, such as measles, if you choose not to vaccinate, they feel that you are not only putting your child and your family at risk, you’re endangering the entire community.I've heard that we don't see the dangerous diseases much so therefore we aren't worried. The older generation will tell you to get vaccinated because they have seen some of these diseases first hand back in their day. It's more of a just in case. Better to be safe than sorry.
As far as our family goes, to be honest I'm stuck in the middle. We don't get the flu vaccines or anything. I don't like what's in them and I thank God my kids are never sick. It's not an issue for "us" I think they got the flu one time. The kids I have now were all vaccinated on time. I would pride myself on all my yellow cards being up to date. I stopped vaccinating when Finely was a year. So my younger 3 are now a little behind. After educating myself and reading up on vaccinations I have become interested. I have come to find out there really is no right or wrong. It really is up to you and your child. I do have to say that with anything I think we need to be willing to learn all sides. Don't just do what everyone else is doing. Your doctors don't know everything and go with your heart. I have to throw this in there, totally off topic....I had a recent conversation with another Mom about how she would never homeschool. Great. That's fine, I agree it's not for everyone. She said a friend of hers has a friend (they always seem to know of someone, therefore they can relate) who's kids are way behind and just plain weird. I don't think it's a fair argument to just label homeschooling off of some of the weird ones. Yes there our those, but that is in everything. This friend has never looked at the other side. I think as parents we should be open minded look at both sides equally and at the end of the day decide what is best for our child and family. I am not a crazy homeschooling,all natural granola mama who thinks my ways are best. I really don't think I fit into any mold. I'm just me searching for what is best for my family. Learning and sharing as I go...
Great post, thank you Bridget.
Great information,thanks for sharing. And I will look into that book as well.
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