Lately I have been hearing a lot about the dangers of having your child vaccinated. I know several moms who are refusing vaccinations because of the mercury contained in them. Some say that this small amount of mercury, which apparently extends the shelf life of the medication, is known to have caused autism and mercury poisoning. I know three people that have had mercury poisoning - one from a cavity, and the other two believe it was from a vaccination. I also know a couple of kids with severe autism. Of course nobody can say for sure what caused the poisoning or the autism. The FDA claims that the vaccinations are completely safe, but several moms in my area are refusing to take the chance. I also have several friends/family members who are in the medical field. They believe parents are crazy for not getting their children vaccinated. The more popular it becomes to deny this treatment, the more likely that diseases from the past will come back. I suppose either way it is a risk. You deny the vaccination and your child becomes susceptible to measles, mumps, and many others. You give your child the vaccination and you take the chance that they might become autistic or suffer from mercury poisoning. What do you do? Those that have faced the rare but awful complications of vaccinations strongly oppose them and loudly preach against them. I have heard the testimonies of the people who have walked down that road and it sounds miserable! So do you have your child vaccinated and hope for the best? Or deny the vaccination and hope for the best?
Thursday, April 06, 2006
Katie, Alicia, Christina, Shyla, Heather, and all you other Moms
Posted by Kelly Glupker at 10:15 PM
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I have been doing a lot of reading about this very topic and there are several of us new mom's or mom's to be who have been talking a lot about this issue.
My mom vaccinated all of her 4 kids and we all ended up being fine. However, I don't know that back then it was such a concern for parents and also, they probably did it b/c they were told that "that's just what you do".
We have chosen to delay the immunization process as long as possible (2yrs. if we can get away with it). As soon as the baby is born they want to give a Hep B shot - well, I don't have any STD's and my kids won't be drinking unpotable water or shotting up with needles right out of the womb - so we are opting not to have this shot.
My biggest deal with vaccinations is the Pertussis component in the DPT vac. It is the one that causes the most harm to babies. My friend met A LOT of resistance last week when she brought her 3 week old in for a check up and asked about how the Dr. felt about delaying the shots. That's all we are talking about - delay, so that their little bodies aren't pumped full of such harmful substances at such a young age. He was very adament about the importance of vac's and borderline annoyed when she kept bringing up concerns that she had read.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/miller/miller15.html
This website contains a lot of useful information about this topic. Anyway...I have a lot that I could say about this, but I will end with our choice has been to delay the vac's and then get teh DPT split up into three different shots. They are willing to do a round of 8 vac's at once - and that just doesn't sound like the best option for my little baby.
So, in a big nutshell, that's how we feel.
Kelly,
I came across your site a little while ago. I'm not a mom, but I just saw something about this on the news. In some places, if you choose not to vac. your child, the doctor will not continue to be your doctor. He will choose to drop you out of the practice due to the high risk of your child as a patient (aka - fear of being sued in case the patient does get one of theses diseases because of lack of vac.) I was shocked to see it, but knowing what their malpractice insurance costs (worked in a drs. office a couple years), I can understand. Just something to consider.
i hadn't heard ANYTHING about mercury in vacs until about three weeks ago. the lady i babysit for said that she had a friend whose son just stopped talking after one of his shots and they attributed it to his vac.
well, i'm skeptical of a lot of things. and this is one of them. i was vac'ed and i'm fine. and i probably missed out on some very serious illnesses b/c of it.
the lady told me that she just requests mercury free shots. she calls ahead and checks with the doc. and it's probably $5-10 extra b/c it's packaged individually. (due to the shelf life deal). i actually thought about checking into that, and then i totally forgot when we went for connor's shots last month. space ball me!
connor has had all of his shots. he's fine. and i'm still going to get the rest of his shots. and i'll most likely do the same for any other kids.
but that's just me. i don't research and freak out over the latest everything. i'm sure that will bite me in the toosh someday.
but hey, i know a family in our church that does absolutely NO vacs. they don't believe in it or something. to each his own.
i mean, it's your kid. you are responsible for him. and it's your decision. yes, no, delay... whatever you choose.
i can see what pam is saying. some docs probably fear the fallout of a polio outbreak or something.
just think back 35-40 years. back then breastfeeding was discouraged. they told my gramma she should NEVER breastfeed her baby. she told them to take a flying leap, but that's another story.....things change so much. i just say go with the flow.
Pam,
I can certainly understand why a doctor would not want patients who denied the vaccinations. They face so many law suits they can't afford to take the risk.
Shyla,
I have heard many women say they are going to wait until the child is older to have vaccinations as well. Is that because their bodies will be strong enough to fight off autism? Mercury poisoning can happen at any age. It is so hard to know what to do in situations like this because so many good doctors have totally different perspectives. You can read all kinds of books and articles with totally different conclusions on the matter.
Christina,
I know what your saying about advice changing over the years! I don't know why anyone would ever think that breastfeeding was a bad thing, it is so natural! I am a pretty skeptical person myself and so I reject a lot of things I hear. For example, have you been exposed to the xango (sp?)craze - the super juice that apparently takes care of all of your problems? It's sound absurd to me, but a lot of people in Saginaw are drinking it daily. Whenever I hear about it and voice my skepticism I hear, "The FDA doesn't want you to get better. They want your money and they want you to be sick." Who do you believe?
Oh my, I feel pretty strongly about this issue so watch out. :)
I have never heard of this mercury thing, but after doing a bit of research online I've found that (as Christina mentioned) all vaccines are available without thimerosal. The flu vaccine (which is always optional) still contains thimerosal which has trace amounts of mercury. Check out the following links for more info:
http://www.nrdc.org/health/effects/mercury/everyday.asp
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/influenza/AN00680
http://www.cdc.gov/nip/vacsafe/concerns/thimerosal/faqs-thimerosal.htm
I agree that the FDA sometimes is a little wacky but the info I found is from very reliable sources. Many reforms have taken place to rid vaccines of thimerosal beginning in 1999. (Kelly: I'm assuming your friends had their children vaccinated before that time.)
The tiny tiny tiny possibility that your child might have a reaction to a vaccine does not justify (in my book) not having your baby vaccinated from the life-threatening diseases of polio, diphtheria, measles, or tetanus. Before vaccinations were introduced, these diseases killed and crippled MILLIONS of children. Because babies immune systems are so weak they are especially susceptible to these diseases. The risks and horrible effects of these diseases aren't moving to us because we haven't experienced them. But in fact, the CDC estimates that if we stopped giving children vaccines that 2.7 million deaths would occur annually in children. (http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/vaccines/CC00013;
http://www.cdc.gov/nip/publications/fs/gen/WhatIfStop.htm)
I know of moms who don't subject their children to vaccines because of the slim chance that their babies might react negatively. I even know a mom who refuses to use a car seat because her baby is uncomfortable in it and doesn't understand why she has to sit in it. !!!!!! I know that seems incredibly wrong but in effect that dangerous refusal of the car seat seems similar (in my mind) to the action of refusing to vaccinate. You are taking away protection from your child when you choose not to vaccinate.
The other disadvantage of not vaccinating is that you risk people other than your own child. A recent case in Minnesota, where a 7 mo. old amish baby contracted polio, shows that polio can still spread in our mostly vaccinated society. The baby's polio spread to 3 other children in her community.
Ultimately, you are responsible to the Lord for the decisions you make for your child. Please don't think I'm judging others who don't agree with my point of view. This issue, as all parenting issues, are between parents and God.
Sorry for making this so long! As you can see, I am opinionated. :)
I clicked on your blog page through a link from my sister-in-laws and noticed "Heather" in the title...not sure if this is meant for me or not....
Victoria and Logan are pretty much finished with there shots (and we are not planning on having any other children) and they are doing just fine. Both of them did receive the DPT in rounds of 3 shoots each.
I never did any research on vaccinations or asked if they could get them later down the road. There were a few reasons for this. One...I knew our pediatrician personally. I never thought that she would ever have me sign for vaccinations that would harm my newborn baby. I believed in her and what she was doing was for the best.
Two...I would have felt horrible if my child caused other children, lets say in the nursery or daycare, to become ill because of my decision not to immunize them. Personally, me being a mother, I would rather not take the chance of getting others around my child sick.
The diseases that the vaccinations are for are still out there and they are able to be spread. That is what the Immunization process is for!
Like Alicia said...we are responsible for our children and we have to answer to the Lord for them one day! It is a personal decision.
Alicia,
I like opinionated people, probably because I am one! Thanks for your comment, I strongly agree with what you had to say.
Heather,
Yes, you were the Heather I was referring to! I have been reading your blog for a while now, but apparently haven't told you that huh? Do you remember me? I suppose I shouldn't make any assumptions! :) I remember you from NBBC. I used to go on extension with your mother-in-law, she was a gem!
I knew the name, but couldn't put a face to it until you posted a picture of you and your husband.
You did awana's with Joanne? She was a special person wasn't she!!
Thanks for visiting my blog! You are more then welcome to leave a comment anytime.
Kelly,
I'm a little late in reading this post and comment due to the fact that I was vacation in balmy Detroit, MI. Since I'm so late, other people have commented my thoughts - mainly Christina & Alicia. I haven't really researched this myself a lot. I am not a super skeptical person. I'm thankful for the huge advances in medicine that have been made, and I, for the most part, trust the FDA and medical personnel who went to school for 12 years to tell me this stuff. I heard about the risk when Luke was really young, but I'm not one to get freaked out. I think there are a lot of alarmists out there who always find something to be scared of. I use artificial sweetners, drink diet pop and didn't throw away all of my baby Motrin because I heard they can cause allergic reactions.
Kelly, I too am late in posting on the subject, but I thought it was good you brought it up so I could benefit from everone's advice as Esther is scheduled for her 4-mo shots next wk. Stephen's family have done a lot of natural things and research in nutrition, etc. so that's where I first heard of the danger and then from Carrie Valentine and our chiropractor. I think it's a legitimate case, but we decided that it was better to vaccinate Esther with those risks than risk the disease as Alicia said. We have delayed her shots a couple weeks or so. I think another thing to consider is most schools require vaccinations for kids, unless you're only planning on homeschooling...which is a whole different post! :)
Shannon,
Thanks for your comment. After hearing that the mumps are going around, I think vaccinating Esther is a wise choice.
-Kelly
This is a late posting, and I don't have kids, but I have been involved in more than one discussion on it with co-workers, friends, and church members.
I would like to echo Shannon on the school thing. Your kids WON'T be able to go to a public school without being vaccinated. And, they may be restricted from other places as well. For example, our church, in compliance with state laws (I'm assuming), does not allow un-vaccinated children into the nursery. Which, as you may imagine, can be kind of annoying when those babies have to be in the auditorium. Just another log in the fire. . . kb
Hi Katie!
Thanks for visiting my blog. Even in Christian schools (at least the two I have taught at), children must be vaccinated to attend as well.
I keep hearing more about the mumps spreading. I have heard at leave five states have reported it now. Yikes.
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