Why don't you vaccinate your kids? (Read 1573 times)

This statement implies that you feel other vaccines should not.  Can you expand on that?

The science is generally fairly clear that we give the vaccines according the the current recommended schedule.  However, as a healthcare provider, I have to choose my battles.  If somebody wants to postpone vaccines, I have a patient conversation with them, dispel any myths and answer any questions.  In the end, if they want to delay, these are the two I would advocate for the hardest to occur on time.  But that does not mean I believe the others should be delayed.  It just means that I feel more strongly about pertussis and HIB early and often.

There is also a difference between questioning convention per se, and putting children at risk by questioning good science for the sake of questioning convention.

I find it paradoxical that in the name of caring for one's children, one would do something that actually places the child in harm's way and also puts other children at risk.

This statement implies that you feel other vaccines should not.  Can you expand on that?

 

 

FWIW (and my memory here is rather dim), I think some folks express a concern because (list is not exhaustive):

1. they see what they feel is less than robust and comprehensive data regarding efficacy and impact on the health of the immunized infant (and "health" takes in much more than "causes autism");
2. they see these substances going into their newborn or very, very young infant (strong protection circuitry activated);
3. they read of obvious conflict-of-interest issues re: vaccine approvals (if I did something similar to what I've read, I'd be in severe professional hot water); and
4. they are rebuffed, dismissed, harangued or ridiculed when they voice concerns.

Yeah, some may swallow the "vaccines cause autism" crap.  But even without that, I think it's a good thing that parents take an interest and question the conventional.  Maybe it turns out that convention is good across the board; maybe convention should be altered slightly for that particular child; maybe it should be altered heavily.  Statistics are great, but parents are going to care a lot when n=1.  I suspect the majority of the anti-vax crowd think Big Pharma is evil, but I doubt they aren't vaccinating their kids primarily because of that belief.  I can't fault them for caring a lot about their children.

 

 

Oh, and here's a link to a decent, non-crazy-women vaccine article.

I love, love, love my pediatrician.  He still does hospital rounds himself rather than give over care to the hospital docs, he is cheerfully available on Sunday mornings when my baby has been throwing up for 39ish hours, and he lets parents decide if and when to vaccinate their children.  Period.  Whether I do or don't vaccinate my children for things other than chicken pox (sorry, I'm not budging on that one until they are 18) is irrelevant.  He is one of the very few doctors in my area that will allow parents not to vaccinate their children without making a huge fuss about it.  That is important to me, and that is why I travel over an hour for each of my seven goats children to see him.

 

 

Also, the original question was stated factually and "innocently" enough that it might suck in the wayward unknowing person to take a beating.

 

Search this board for "autism".  Find this.  Note the original poster of this thread's post on that page.

Thank you.  I wasn't taken in unknowingly, but this was eye-opening.  And I don't think (besides the chicken pox thing that was intended as a derail to what I thought to be a pointless discussion on a running forum) I've said anything inflammatory.  I don't think I've even given away my true position on this subject.  And I'm satisfied to see all the deletions of comments that were argumentative. And I'm done.  Outta here. 

inflammatory? well, there's a creme for that.

sadly, no. it's genetic.

I actually had to get shingles a few years ago. No pain at all.  Only lasted about 4 hours and the new ones look great.

Who knew there was a vaccine to prevent wind and hail from ripping off the old shingles. 

State-mandated chicken pox vaccination is relatively new, maybe only about 10 years old.