The handyman (who is more anti-vax than me since I am a science nerd) and I both read The Vaccine Book by Dr. Sears and decided to wait on the MMR vaccine due to the Bean at her one year check up (my ped was fine with this). We did most of the other vaccines but on a more ‘relaxed’ schedule than suggested by the AMA. And, I have been interested to see how some of the court cases that were recently allowed to go to trial would be decided about the link between autism & vaccines so was interested by this article in the Huffington Post. I know mercury (thimerosal) is supposedly no longer being used in children’s vacccines but I have also read that small traces are still in vaccines and the drug company only has to list it as an ingredient if over a certain amount. Just something to think about I suppose. We plan to wait until the Bean starts daycare or school to get the MMR (required by the state in TN).
February 26, 2008...7:44 pm
fun with vaccinations
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8 Comments
February 26, 2008 at 10:25 pm
Thanks for sharing this. The E got her MMR at 12 months… and promptly got a mild case of measles which broke my heart. She was totally fine, but it still freaked me out!
February 27, 2008 at 11:46 am
We’ve gotten more anti-vax with each child. A had all of hers and on time, Em got hers as a baby but not a toddler, El had her first round and then nothing, and with the new one we don’t plan to do any until she is older if at all. Luckily Michigan is a state that allows vax waivers on philosophical and religous grounds, so it is easy to put your children in school and daycare unvaxed if you choose to do so. I am less concerned about autism than other things like cancer. First, I have girls and boys are much more at risk for autism. Second, I think many many things contribute to autism that are environmental besides vaccinations. And I think it is often over or misdiagnosed, like many childhood “syndroms.” It annoys me that they only talk about the importance of vaccinating and never talk about the risks or the lack of evidence proving its safety. And I absolutely refuse to vax against normal childhood diseases like chicken pox and the flu. The risks of those vaccinations do not outweigh the small discomfort of getting sick once and a while!
February 27, 2008 at 1:20 pm
I agree that vaccines are just one of the toxins in our environment to think about. I mean what about mercury in foods? Some of the comments to the article I thought were super interesting (and address this as well). I worry about things like pesticides and hormones in food which I think are probably a lot more of an issue than one dose of vaccines. I also think sometimes people are looking for a definitive (my baby has autism; the vaccines caused it) when there is so freaking much grey area in the issue.
I also do not deny that there are major benefits to having a vaccinated population (especially apparent if you travel to developing countries). I don’t like how some of the anti-vax literature glosses over this as insignificant. The greening of vaccines argument to me is a great one. Who trusts the FDA these days tho?
February 27, 2008 at 2:34 pm
I’m probably in the same camp as you (and we’ve discussed ad nauseum). I was more anti vaccine with Ivy than with Tavi and Bea. Although Ivy had her first shots when I panicked in the middle of the night and realized I was taking my 10 month old baby to SE Asia where they still have things like POLIO.
I have chosen some vaccines and declined others. But none before six months (added benefit of breastfeeding). We are waiting on MMR until age 9-11 as per my ND’s recommendation. Plus Ivy is allergic to eggs and since the MMR is cultured in egg, it presents a whole host of other considerations.
That article ROCKED. (Now if I could just grapple with Tavi’s potential autism diagnosis. She’s being assessed next week.)
February 27, 2008 at 9:17 pm
No, you never do get a balanced picture either way. Everything is either 100% pro or 100% con. The anti-vax literature does not talk about the benefits and the pro-vax doesn’t acknowledge the risks. I will say that along with the vaccinations, we have to look at other quality of life factors in determining the decline of disease. Not having raw sewage flowing in the street, access to medicine, and the accessibility of nutritious foods (so long as you read labels of course!) all contribute to the decline in diseases. If vaccinations were less toxic and if the FDA and the medical field in general were more upfront and more honestly diligent about health and the risks to health, I would feel more inclined to trust them. But like you said…
February 28, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Ahhh, this discussion has rattled around in the UK as Dr Andrew Wakefield was British, and the sensationalist papers took up his case.
When Mouse was due his MMR I got my brother (med student) to research it, I got a friend (physics teacher and chemistry masters grad) to research it and a freind who’s a biochem researcher to research it. Nothing proved. And yet…
I have a client whose son developed autism after the MMR and has measles in his gut. Coincidence?
Herefordshire is full of hippies! I’m one myself in a limited fashion, but what it means is vaccination blackspots where children now get measles full-blown and pass it on from child to child, ditto mumps. Neither of which are good news. Mouse has been MMR’ed but at 16-17 months, not 12. And I refused to let them give him a pneumococcal meningitis vac in his other arm, which they were going to do. He was fine.
It’s a horrible choice to have to make.
March 5, 2008 at 8:41 pm
MMR isn’t required in TN to start school. They just make you think it is. You can sign a refusal based on religious beliefs at the health dept and you must keep that sheet to use instead of vax records. And instead of thimerosal they are using aluminum which has it’s own dangers. Even though they no longer make vaccines with mercury (except flu and one other) they didn’t do a recall so doctors might still carry the old stuff.
March 6, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Thanks for the info! I am sort of uncomfortable signing that I object to them because of ‘religious reasons’ but if we still have not completed the ones necessary by Kindergarten I may look into it…