Vaccinate Debate

[Frugal Nurse]

I am greatly concerned with the amount of vaccinations that are required for children.

46 doses of 14 differenct vaccines by the time the child is age 6.

This is concerning.
It's traumatic enough to get a shot- but 46! Come on!!!

Here's a list of my little peeves.
* A newborn gets a Vitamin K shot within minutes. PAIN. Poor little thing. Is it necessary? What did they do before medical intervention?
Maybe they ought to wait until symptoms occur, then give the Vit K.

*Hepatitis B: A newborn gets the Hepatits B vaccine within 24 hours. PAIN.
Is a newborn at risk of a blood borne, sexually transmitted disease?
This is repeated at 2 and 6 months. As an adult working in the medical field at risk of contracting the diseases- I have the right to refuse said vaccine. (did I mention themerisol?)
Why are parents being forced to give it to their tiny infant?

Did you know that the HepB vaccine wears out? It is no longer sufficient to show proof that the vaccine was administered, HC workers at risk must have a titre drawn to show immunity and be re-immunized if necessary. Doesn't that say something? It's only been 10 years and I've had to have the series again. That means that your 10 year old could possibly need another series. Well... are your 1-10 year olds REALLY at risk for an STD or IV drug use?

*Pertussis. Good ole whooping cough. Did you know that wears off by teens and that this is a major outbreak in the middle schools?
Causing a great deal of family stress- time out of school - time off from work. It also puts everyone at risk. Might as well just let people get the whooping cough and be naturally immunized. Although, I have seen some pretty sick babies who got pertussis.

* Varicella vaccine. What's the matter with letting children get natural immunity when they are suppose to? In their early years. Just because a few (not so bright) parents gave their child asprin that caused Reyes Syndrome is not reason enough to do this.
Did you know that the Varicella Vaccine wears off by the teen years and puts the teen/young adult at HIGH risk of getting chicken pox and when one gets Ch. pox at that age... you run the risk of becoming sterile.

*Rotovirus vaccine. I knew when they tried to stick it to my children NOT to do it. Good thing. It was causing intersusseption. When the bowel telescopes into itself. Potentially fatal if not caught. and well.... many were not. Sadly. Case in point - not all drugs on the market are safe. ;-). PS rotovirus is a common stomach bug treated with rehydration.

* polio. I am no longer immune to the polio virus. It wore off. I can not take the polio vaccine as an adult. Now I'm at risk. I do believe that this is a pretty important vaccine though, simply because I do believe the virus is still around.
Did you know that the polio vaccine has been linked to be contaminated with the simian virus related to the African green monkey?

*Mumps: "The only people who don't have to worry about the mumps in the Midwest outbreak, which is occurring primarily among college students who have two doses of MMR vaccine, are older Americans who recovered from mumps as children." Dr. Gerberding of the CDC 4/19/2006 Mumps isn't serious, and complications are so rare that giving the immunization may have more complications than not.

*Measles: this falls into the same non-serious childhood disease that is serious when in the teens and above. Which is when the immunity begins to wane.

* Rubella: mothers who are not immune risk birth defects if contract german measles in the first trimester. It seems that the MMR we received as a child did not carry through to the most important time of a woman's life... childbearing!!
Only moms who have natural immunity pass this onto the unborn child for the first year of life. Let nature do it's thing.

Not required- but they're pushing
*Gardisal. Is death as a side effect sufficient? Has anything been proven? really? It protects against 4 strains- but HPV consists of many strains. If if my memory serves me right... viruses tend to mutate. I'd have to do some serious research to be able to say anything on this.

*Influenza. Jeepers. I see the flu despite the vaccine given. I'm embarassed as a health care worker. It only protects against what they think is out there. what they think and what IS is not really what's going on.

There are some others... but.. this is really toooooo long already.
I apologize.

Oh... I don't think that autism and immunizations are linked. I do think that autism is most likely caused by the pesticide use in the commercial foods grown. That's another thread called Pesticide use and Autism connection.

Carry on

[SewCrafty]

Very interesting Frugal Nurse, I didn't know a lot of that info. But then again, I don't have kids. Thank you.

[McD]

We have decided to vaccinate Wesley and will continue to do so. However, not all the vaccinations you listed are required for him, at least not with our doctor. We could opt against the chicken pox vaccine, which we did.

We most certainly wanted the whooping cough vaccine. Wesley was born with a collapsed lung and as a result, any variety of coughs are really hard on his system and require that he get on a nebulizer or it turns really quick into bronchiolitis and requires a hospital stay. We aren't taking our chances with whooping cough.

We didn't get the rotovirus vaccine either. I don't even recall the doc. asking us if we wanted it.

And my opinions in gardasil are on the other thread.

[bumplett]

very very insightful post FN~ Thank you for sharing your opinions

((I learned a bit too) Love it when that happens.

[Palooka]

I am glad you posted this because I am very confused about it. With my other two we just did all the vax. Now it seems like there is a ton more and a lot of info coming out now.

I refused the flu shot because they wanted to give it to my son at six months! No way especially if you read the ingredients in some. Isn't mercury a big ingredient? Plus he wasn't in daycare and was home with me.

I can't grab his shot record now, but he is past due and I am wondering just how many is necessary for him. We are seriously dragging our feet on it and just what ones to give him.

It is still a big decision for me. But I can tell you this. After two visits to the doc for like 8 or 9 vaxs, after insurance payed, we still owed like 400 bucks.

Next trip is to the health department for free!

[Nishu]

I'm not sure how we're going to do this next round of shots.

I'm not going to let the baby get Hep B when when she's born... I just really don't see how a wee little baby is going to get that straight out of the hospital.

I'm sure we have more vaccines coming up before school starts again. I don't know how we're going to handle that... I'll probably have to call ahead and see what ones they need and just look into each one individually.

The mercury worries me. I really haven't looked into anything else too much. They won't be getting any that aren't required for school attendance.

[Palooka]

My son did have the hep b because at that time I had no clue and my kids are 10 years apart. lol Things change and I can't keep up.lol I just figured I trusted the docs. It wasn't until after I had my 3rd that I started hearing all this stuff. I remember watching Larry king live with Denise Richardson and the big divorce she had with Charlie Sheen. lol. They both disagreed with vax.

What ever happen to that, was it PKU, or something that they pricked their toes with? Does anyone remember or is just one of the same in a modern form?

Yeah, the whole school issue is what it is about, huh? I know there is like some kind of waiver or something you can sign.

Now what was that one shot..hmmm that leaves that big scare I think on your left shoulder? I had it done when I lived in Europe when my dad was in the Air Force. I don't even think they give that one now? Drawing a blank..

[Palooka]

Oh I remember my daughter got the Chicken pox bad when she was like 4 years old. Then when I had my 2nd child they came out with the chicken pox vax. I was leary about it(he is 10 now) and it seems to work and so far he hasn't gotten it?

So what about that one?

[MomToTwoBoys]

DS #1 was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, amongst other conditions, when he was just shy of three years old. Ever since then, I have been doing reading after reading after reading about any sort of connection between the vaccines and autism. There were so many conflicting stories, researches, etc about the connection that I actually waited to give DS #2 the MMR shot until last month (he'll be 5 in September). I wanted to see if he had developed any behavioral signs that DS #1 showed before I really thought he needed the shot. I figured with it being 3 months before his fifth birthday, any developmental delays would have emerged by now.

The health clinic here was really great with us about waiting on the MMR shots until now. They knew that with family history and concerns that this may appear in DS #2, they didn't want to pressure us into getting any shots. I believe that as a parent, it is your right to look at what your child is being given and ask for any sort of ingredients that go into the vaccine and what those ingredients do as far as bodily interaction. I was told that mercury preservative was removed from the vaccinations back in the 90s for the MMR shot, but there's even more cases of ASD being reported.

They're saying that it can be environmental, genetic and vaccine injuries that are causing developmental disabilities with children nowadays. Until there's any sort of definitive reason, I suggest that parents do as much research as they possibly can.

[Palooka]

http://www.tetrahedron.org/articles/...gredients.html
http://www.vaccination.inoz.com/ingredie.html

http://www.whale.to/vaccines/mmr.html

http://www.whale.to/vaccines/chatterjee.html

http://www.metrokc.gov/health/immuni...ngredients.htm


http://www.know-vaccines.org/faq.html
http://www.associatedcontent.com/art...know_what.html

[Jskell911]

As the mom to a child w/ Asperger's Syndrome, this is a tough call for me. My son received almost all of his vaccinations. Did they help to cause this disorder? Jury is still out on that one. I do believe there is a genetic link too. We believe I also have Asperger's, so did he get it straight from me or did his genetic makeup make him more succeptable to the connection with the vaccines as they proved with the little girl in MA, or maybe it was the difficulties with his birth? So confusing!

Well, he is 11 yrs old and he is what he is = a wonderful, bright, quirky kid! But, with conclusive info, I may have changed my mind about a few of those vaccines. Of course hindsight and all that!

[Frugal Nurse]

Oh I remember my daughter got the Chicken pox bad when she was like 4 years old. Then when I had my 2nd child they came out with the chicken pox vax. I was leary about it(he is 10 now) and it seems to work and so far he hasn't gotten it?

So what about that one?

Palooka... that is the varicella vaccine that wears off about the teen years. Problem is... if you get chicken pox in the teen eyar and above it's SERIOUS and WORSE (than a 4 year old gets) and potentially become sterile.

Cross your fingers. hope he doesn't get it during his child-bearing? do men have those years? what do they call it? Child-making years??

[Jeanna]

Both of my kids were vaccinated as children. Luckily they did not have adverse effects from them. They only got the required--no chicken pox or HPV vaccines. If I had to do it over again I don't know if I would get the shots or not. I think that I have so much more knowledge now then I did when I was young. I was raised that the dr's and the government was always right. Well I now know differently and am trying to teach my daughter. I am giving her the facts about breast feeding, vaccines, slings, herbs, natural ways, etc. She is almost 15 and hopefully it will be sometime before she needs most of the information I think it is still good to start now.

[Palooka]

Palooka... that is the varicella vaccine that wears off about the teen years. Problem is... if you get chicken pox in the teen eyar and above it's SERIOUS and WORSE (than a 4 year old gets) and potentially become sterile.

Well, great... I am not going to worry about it though.

[Dad_of_4]

The Chicken Pox Vaccination I feel is going to cause more problems in the long run. It is not a 100% vaccine and it wears off over time. For some reason children are able to deal with it much better than adults. The older you are the worse it is. It can even be deadly in adults. So what happens when kids that are getting the vaccine now turn 40 or 50 and the vaccine has worn off? I think it is best for kids to get Chicken Pox at a young age when it is easy to manage. I have even know people that have exposed their kids on purpose when the summer break starts. This way the kid does'nt miss any school. Now some kids with other health issues may be better off with the vaccine. Most don't need it.