Vaccination Debate

Last night I was reading the latest Wired Magazine which had an article that touted the benefits of vaccination and the reasons why some people don't get their kids vaccines.

One of the arguments was that the recommended schedule has too many vaccines at too early an age. Which leads me to ask...for those of you who don't vaccinate early, do you plan to do vaccinations when your kids are older?

If you never plan to get the vaccines, what do you do to keep your kids away from others when they are sick in case they do have something nasty that could infect an infant?

I personally have gotten my kids every vaccination, and we get flu shots every year. My mother-in-law had mumps when she was 12 and lost most of her hearing. I knew a family with a 1 month old who got whooping cough and died (the one month old was too young for the vaccine, but speculation from the health department it was caught from a child at church who had never been vaccinated.) We did probably have the swine flu the beginning of September - my 4 year old developed breathing issues in a short span of time and I had to take him to the ER. My son has no other health issues. I would have rather have had the shot than him to be so scared (all the other symptoms aside - it was no picnic.) I also have known kids whose vaccines did not take and ended up with measles anyhow.

So what do you do to keep your kids and the community healthy? And does the too early argument hold any water with you? Do you have plans to do it later, or known people who have?

No, I don't buy into the hype and I'm not terrified of self-limiting diseases. If my child was properly vaccinated and dosed with other constant pharmaceuticals every day (like allergy and ADHD drugs) then I would not consider my child healthy and then - I might worry.

But since most of these diseases are not found in the US, and since most of the vaccines are known not to work until say, FIVE boosters and others have been known to fail after ALL boosters - then I would say our chances of getting these diseases are fairly even - vaccinated or not!

The health of the child is what matters.

I typed out a big long response last night shortly after this was posted.  I erased it though.  Some people do not have an open mind, and I do not feel like going over this over and over again.  I am beginning to feel a bit burned out.  I think I will go back to posting articles again for a bit. Trying to get points across when people have a brick wall around their mind seems pointless.  

OP:  you need to take some time and read more on this board.  The things you have stated make little sense to me. WC was caused by one unvaccinated child when only 1-2% of the adult population is up to date on their vaccines and the pertussis vaccine wanes after 5 years? Really?  There are morons working at your health department is basically what I am saying. The article you sited was ridiculous.  I almost found it amusing the first time I read it, it was so full of bull. Almost. It was just a way for Paul Offit to pat himself on the back as a hero instead of the profiteering insert bad word here that he is. Here is an earlier post on this piece: http://messageboards.ivillage.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=iv-ppvaccinedb&msg=4773.1&ctx=8192 

Ok, I will agree that the health department probably did not have all the facts.

But what I want to know is are there people who say that the vaccination schedule is too much too early, and do they get the vaccinations later when their children are older? Or, does no one use this argument and the article was total bull?

I know families who do not vaccinate and have never heard this argument before. The families that I know do not do it because 1, they had a child who had a really bad reaction, or 2, they are totally against the vaccinations as a whole. I have never heard in personal conversation the "too much too early."

The article did make one good point - the fact that we get the vaccinations (and many others like us) is why the diseases are now not prevalent in this country. If none of us got the vaccinations the diseases would be here to the same extent as in other countries. The more people who get vaccinations the better it is for those who do not. I personally would like to see research on identifying people who may have potential issues with them so that they can be screened out. Probably a pipe dream...

What countries have a high prevalence of VPDs?  It does not necessarily have much to do with vaccination at all.  Something else that countries with a lower prevalence of deadly diseases (vaccine preventable or non) have in common is the fact that they are developed- as in access to clean water, medication, refrigeration, just good sanitation over all.  http://childhealthsafety.wordpress.com/graphs/  

I know people that say there are too many vaccines too soon, and they go on to vaccinate at a later date for certain diseases.  I may end up being one of those people (or maybe not, my mind is far from made up on this subject). OTOH I do not know anyone that claims age as a reason not to vaccinate and then continues to claim age when their children are adolescents. That is illogical and the fact that you think that means you have never met someone that chooses not to vaccinate.  Obviously they have researched and found other reasons to continue to decline vaccination. 

There are diseases that are routinely vaccinated for that I feel are completely ridiculous.  You would be better served to just hang around and read as opposed to making assumptions about people that question vaccination based off of that article. While I am not vaccinating I am not anti-vax. I am pro "people thinking and researching for themselves". I am anti "using fear to get vaxes OR not". We do not vaccinate, others who want to vaccinate are welcome to it. Their family, their choice, and I have no right to impose my beliefs on them regarding vaxes any more than they have the right to say I should be forced to follow theirs. I just think people ought to be informed before they give consent to jab their kids. Period.