We did not vaccinate our children. Whew. That’s hard to say.
We did not make the decision lightly. I did a lot of research. I’m not saying my interpretation is the only one, or that it’s correct, but we made our decision based on research that I did.
I was very uncomfortable with the number of immunizations given to infants. I was also uncomfortable with combining several vaccines in one shot.
I read about adjuvant’s like aluminum and mercury and their possible effects on young bodies. I read about the blood/brain barrier and how it is immature in infancy which may result in vaccines damaging the brain. I read about how incidences of, and morbidity and mortality from, childhood diseases were declining (due to improved hygiene and nutrition) when vaccines were introduced. I also read about how the efficacy of the vaccines has been greatly exaggerated.
I was afraid. It’s not an easy decision to make. On the one hand, mild to severe side affects are possible, on the other hand, there are the implications of getting the disease.
Then there is the guilt factor, negatively impacting your neighbour’s children, the herd immunity theory. I also read about how herd immunity is a fallacy.
So much information. It’s hard to interpret.
But, interpret it I did, and I did my own risk benefit analysis. I decided the risks of vaccinating out weighed the benefits at that time. I rethink this issue all the time.
Last year when we traveled to Cuba I worried but I did some research and decided we would be OK where we were going. In the future I’ve considered traveling around the world with my family or working overseas. If and when that happens, I will reconsider my decision.
I still worry sometimes, not often though. Mostly I worry about Tetanus, because it lives in dirt apparently, but I’ve read it’s very rare. Very rare, but very serious. I also worry about Diptheria and Polio. I also worry about Meningitis – that’s really scary. But I have a friend whose daughter got Meningitis and she was fully vaccinated. Meningitis is the scariest because I often hear of it around these parts.
The others diseases, I don’t worry about so much. In fact, I would consider going to a “Chicken Pox Party” so that my girls could build their own immunity to that common childhood disease. From what I can tell, immunity developed by the body is way more effective than vaccine immunity.
We took some flack from the doctors and the health unit. It was uncomfortable. There was some heavy duty pressure without any compassion or understanding for our perspective. It made me wonder why there is no discussion allowed around the decision. It was a lecture, we know what’s best so do it or else your children might die!
I thought as all new mothers thought that the doctors knew everything and had our backs . But it wasnt until my 4 month old baby girl had an almost deadly reaction to an immunization. We we very lucky to not have lost her since her heart stopped 5 times. And again at the age of 13 months i again thought we could try this immunization thing again.. and the last question out of my mouth was to my doctor .. would this shot affect her and if so when.. he replied i seriously doubt it would but if it would do anything… in 12 days. On the 11th day.. the same thing happened. She gave this lil odd cry.. and she dropped. Her heart did the same thing and again we rushed her to the ER via an ambulance. No one would listen to me. No one listened that this was a result of an immunization shot. Not even the ambulance crew that were riding in the back and as a result of that. I was written down in the file of my daughters as an irrate mother. Probably stil am. But i am so glad i put up a fuss. Threw out the one ped doctor and waited for another ped doc to come in and tell me i was irrational. The next one listened to me tho. Told me it was my choice to say no. And i have said no ever since.. and now i have a beautiful 15 year old daughter because of it. Just because the doctors say it is so.. doesnt mean it has to be so. You as a mother have the final say and you know your child. Not some doctor who only has 8 minutes a visit with them. Please remember that. Thank you.
Good points Margot. I don’t think that not doing research makes one a bad parent.
I am a researcher. I research everything so it helped me with my choices. I did read both sides of the issue though. Including an entire book that recommends all the vaccinations (that’s the Dr. Sears book).
I definitely think that with this issue, I need to defend myself by saying I did the research (although that’s not why I did it in the first place) because a lot of people will judge my decision (and many of them will have not done any research). I had a really, really nasty comment on this post that was removed.
I also researched attachment parenting, breastfeeding and plenty of other less contentious parenting choices because that’s how I am. Yes I did already have the idea that I wanted to attachment parent and breastfeed before I did the research. The research gives me value in terms of strategies for getting through the difficult early days of breastfeeding and way to attachment parent (types of carriers for baby wearing, etc.).
My own research is not a judgement of other people’s parenting at all.
Question. If you didn’t do a lot of research on immunization, what does that say about ones’ parenting? Does it make someone a bad parent? The reason I ask this is that a group of women & I had a discussion about another hot-button topic (circumcision) & several of them said they did a bunch of research on it. The impression I got was that if you did a bunch of research, no matter what decision you reached, it was much better than doing little to no research/listening to a doctor’s opinion. Maybe I’m being devil’s advocate here, I just wonder about why we feel the need to tell other people that we did a bunch of research on a topic? Especially when we know that there is research out there that can possibly justify any decision? I guess what I’m getting at is that most people go into any major decision with an idea (whether conscious or not) of what their choice would be, & then seek out info to justify it.
The information can be so overwhelming, I think all we can do is exactly what you did, Erin: Research and make the best decision we can with the information we have. My kids have all of their “standard” vaccinations – MMR, pertussis, etc. We have family living in parts of the world where those diseases are still prevalent. It was a practical decision for us. But no one in my house gets vaccinated for flu. I’ve heard the lectures, I’ve endured the judgement, I’ve nodded and smiled at those who respectfully disagree with that decision, and walked away from those who were insulting and demeaning.
It makes us sick, so we don’t do it. That’s all. Similar to your decision, if circumstances change such that the risk increases for us, we’ll reconsider it. Excellent post.
Thanks everyone for the respectful dialogue about this. I will read that link Jen. I think I’m distrustful of what the government and medical industry tells me because so much research is done by pharmaceutical companies and doctors get samples, etc. I also don’t think that many doctors investigate immunization beyond what they are taught in med school, in fact I have a friend MD who said she didn’t until she had kids herself. I did think that Dr. Sears books on vaccines was very good, and in the end he recommends them all, even with the US schedule which is even more overloaded than our Canadian schedule. As I said, I’m likely going to selectively vaccinate.
I changed the photo. I apologize for the fist one, I didn’t look closely at it and I originally felt it represented the vaccine overload.
As for Dr. Wakefield who published the studies about vax and autism, he’s releasing a book to tell his side of the story. I really don’t know about that link, it wasn’t something that really came into my decision.
I did a ton of research too as I was leaning toward not doing all of the vaccines. However, after a lot of time and various resources explored from traditional to natural medicine, we decided completely the opposite; we definitely needed to vaccinate. The truth is, if you want to you can find research and “experts” to support any argument on anything.
And I don’t believe that herd immunity is a fallacy. It is no accident that approximately 90% of vaccinated people do not contract the disease they are vaccinated for when an outbreak occurs but nearly 100% of non-vaccinated people do. There have been many, many instances of this in developing countries.
I know someone who works in infectious diseases and he said this is all you need to know:
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hl-vs/iyh-vsv/med/misconception-eng.php
Some comments were removed from this post as they were offensive in nature.
There is absolutely no link between autism and vax. Zero. The ‘researcher’ who made the clain fudged data to misrepresent his findings in order to churn a profit. Please google if you doubt. Its plastered all over the web.
Congrats Erin, on doing your own research, and coming to your own conclusions. In essence, acting like the adult parent rather than a lemming.
It is a very hard decision, and I always have a hard time every time I take my kids in for their shots. However, I have seen the effects of preventable diseases up close and personal. I have a sister who had polio as a child (I grew up in a polio zone), which paralyzed her leg and she now permanently wears a leg brace and walks with a limp. I respect everyone’s decision as each family knows what’s best for their kids, but in our case, we have opted to give the full gamut of vaccines and on time so far…I am considering adopting a more delayed vaccine schedule for my now 5-month old because she was just miserable after receiving 4 needles during her 4 month shots (we’re in Alberta).
That is an incredibly misleading and insulting photograph.
Oh, I didn’t actually notice that it says poison at the bottom! You’re right, harsh photo.
I never really even considered not having my kiddies vaccinated. My now 5 year old nearly died from a strain of bacteria that causes meningitis – his blood was infected and he was so sick – he was only 2 months old and had an app for his vax that prevents it that week he became ill. The Dr.’s administered the vax as soon as he was able to have it and I hate to think what could have happened had he not had it and not been up to date on his vax.
It is a very personal decision and not easy I suppose for some. Each family does what they feel is best for their children:)
I take my hat off to you though for all the reasearch you did – wow!
i didn’t either. i will when they get a little older as there are things i don’t want them to have when they hit puberty. i never was a believer that my kids might develop autism from a vax since no one in my family has ever reacted in any way to one. i just think it’s really weird that they don’t even start in england until they’re 1 year old! are their kids different somehow?
i just have trouble with that much crap floating thru a baby’s body. i mean, god forbid if you give a little extra tylenol to an infant, you could kill them! but a massive series of injections is okay. you can’t even give them peanut butter! well, i did, often, cuz it’s yummy and i’m convinced that’s why my girls are not allergic to peanuts. they’re feeding whole populations of infants plumpy nut in developing countries and no one is the worse for wear there!
hmmm…think the train of thought derailed a bit…sorry! 😉
It’s a tough one for sure. I think it’s every ones decision for their kids – although, I’ll be honest, I do get upset when parent’s reasoning is that vaccines cause autism..THAT I will debate. Ulimately – people should respect one another’s choices. But I don’t think comparing vaccines to poison like the photographer has done is fair.