Ah.. let's see I believe in SOME as long as the parents are informed first. By informed, I don't mean some pretty piece of paper that lists benign side effects like 'might be cranky'- I mean how about "this vaccine contains mercury!"? Nope, not on the facts sheet. My children have all their vax except chicken pox. I felt that the illnesses were bad enough that it was worth the risk (but I did my homework first). The chicken pox vaccine is not only a waste, but I honestly feel like it is ultimately putting kids in danger by removing a fairly low-key childhood illness from the general population and leaving a setup for mutations to something much worse (not to mention the kids who still get chicken pox, and the people who might get shingles later). No way on the gardasil one. IMHO, just like the chix pox, the company used horrible scare tactics to market their product to the general population. It reminds me of the hep vax they gave my newborns that I wasn't aware of, 'just in case' I was in an at-risk population. IMHO, no vax should be given for that purpose EVER. I had this whole long discussion with a new doc fresh out of med school and he tried throwing "herd immunity" and "microscopic mutations" at me, apparently thinking I was an idiot. The entire discussion was stupid- my kids had the vax in question, but I was offended that he sounded like he was reading out of a pamphlet from MERCK on stupid non-vax'ing parents. I'm sure he was glad to see the last of me
You can do a search and find some interesting threads regarding this very issue. We had a member who posted some very interesting information. This isn't to say that your thread isn't welcome. I just figured you might be able to find extra info in the other threads as well. Some are very long but worth reading.
Chicken pox shots are the biggest waste of all!! All the children I know that had them got chicken pox 3 or more times!! My kids had the required vaccines at birth and when they enterd kindergaten (the ones that went) and thats it. Haven't had any vaccines of antibiotics since then. None of my kids have ever gotten tetanus(yet they've stepped on things, scraped knees, cut open there hands, etc,) or any other illness that wasn't treatable at home (we've even had strep throat and stomach flu in the house before trust me you DO NOT need antibiotics to treat it!) So I honestly think they are a waste
I get all vaccinations for the kids, however when I they pushed the gardisil on Sammie when she was about 9 years old, I hesitated, and I wished I hadn't done it, now they reccamend girls get it at age 12......... I really am not one to question what the doctor has to say but this one I wish I had more info on before hand!!....... I know so many moms are causous about getting vaccines, but I had kids with some health problems from being premies to leukimia..... I decided vaccines were best for us.
Guardasil is so dangerous it's banned in most other countries. Just an FYI. (COMMON side affects include infertility and death)
Typically I don't post a lot of information on vaccines online, but rather feel that it is best for people to research themselves and find the decision that works for their family. That said, I am opposed to most vaccines in most situations. I would love to see a LONG TERM study comparing completely un-vaccinated children to those vaccinated on schedule. They have had a long enough time to prove the safety of vaccines, but have failed to provide that valuable research.
I trust my pediatrician (she is by best friend's sister, so I have known her for years). She is also very honest with me. We do anything that she does with her own kids. We chose to have the guardasil shots done with sd when she was a teenager. Our dr. had done a bunch of research on it (there was work done on the drug in our area) and she said she would give it to her own daughter.
I resisted this one for YEARS after I was vax'd for it against my will at 14. I was HORRIFIED that my father allowed the doctor (and that the doctor as well) injected something in my body that I was vehementaly opposed to. Now- we all have the tet vax. There were horses here at one point, and there are nails and broken glass all over our property (I've been picking it up for the last 8 years and still it surfaces now and then). If I was someone who lived in the city, though, or didn't think we could easily puncture ourselves here on a daily basis while doing nothing, I'd skip it as well.
My kids are fully vaccinated, though we chose a delayed schedule. We also opted for Gardasil. I did a lot of research, and honestly the negative stuff wasn't convincing. The schools mass vaccinate school girls in our province, and I haven't seen a single negative reaction with my daughter or any of her classmates. I support vaccination programs as I've seen the results in places like Pakistan and Romania, where my mother lived and worked for many years. The vaccination rates in those countries are/have been exceedingly low, and when large populations of children go through these illnesses it actually has a measurable effect on their overall IQ scores, across the population. The working theory at the moment is that when a child has to devote large amounts of resources to surviving a preventable disease, it takes away from resources they'd otherwise devote to brain development. In other words, what doesn't kill you, won't make you stronger either. On the other hand, I do support a parent's right to opt out, for any reason. I may not agree, but I think everyone should have the choice. (And I admit I was secretly relieved that my kids caught chickenpox before the vaccine became available... although they both do have some permanent scarring from it.)
As a health care provider I encourage immunizations but I also know that people don't for varying reasons and it isn't my place to judge them should they choose not to vaccinate. I also believe that it is my responsibility as a health care provider to give you the best information I can give you about what you're receiving side effects and any other pertinent information that I may have. If you have questions, I believe that I need to answer them (within my scope of knowledge) and if I can't answer them to refer you to someone who can. I would never give a vaccine if you had questions about it that I can't answer.
Brenda- we need more health care providers like you! When I opted out of the chix pox for my ds (he was still little), the nurse tried to threaten me by telling me he couldn't get into ps if I didn't (but.. I had done my homework and knew better )
