Please Weigh In: Pros and Cons of Vaccinating Your Child

I think all kids should be vacinated. Some of those diseases are VERY deadly to children! What I don't get is why people think that not vacinating their children is not anyone elses buisness. My child has been vacinated, but if another child who hasn't been gets...lets say the measles, the virus can mutate and my child can get sick as well!

Well, we have a serious whooping cough (pertussis) epidemic here in Washington State this year. We also have a lower-than-national-average vaccination rate. You do the math.

Here is a thoughtful essay by two mothers of infants who caught pertussis.

http://www.parentmap.com/article/two-local-mothers-whose-...

Granted, with pertussis, the issue is often (though not always) that adults have not gotten the Tdap booster and unknowingly/unwittingly spread pertussis. But, other younger kiddos can also easily spread the disease. This one hits infants the hardest. Witnessing a young one with pertussis would break my heart.

Here is another, even better, thoughtful series on the vaccination question. It is from the pro-vaccination viewpoint and is a compilation of posts/responses by doctors, mostly pediatricians and immunologists. If you want to save time, look for the posts by doctors who are old enough to have seen many cases of the diseases that we can now vaccinate against.

http://seattlemamadoc.seattlechildrens.org/tag/vaccine-he...

Looking at the effect vaccinations have on public health, it really is the only way to go. The benefits are many! I do not believe that vaccines cause any kind of autism (there was a big article to debunk that myth within the last year or so anyway) and they protect my children from serious and deadly diseases. Whooping cough is making a comeback and even those who have been vaccinated are getting it b/c there are so many more people moving away from vaccines therefore causing mutations.

I am helping my brother raise his two daughters because his wife died from cancer several years ago. All three of us firmly believe in vaccinating children, let me tell you why.

I have an autoimmune disease, and while I am fully vaccinated, vaccines offer little protection for me because of my disease. Because of that, I rely on others to be fully vaccinated in order to be protected. Lots of parents say that not vaccinating their child only affects their child but that is simply not true. I cannot live in a bubble. I must go to the grocery store to eat, I have to go the doctor's office when sick, I go out in public to live my life. If an unvaccinated child in exposed to a vaccine preventable disease and comes into contact with me, then my life is at risk. I've had whooping cough twice now, and I caught it both times during known outbreaks in my community. I'm sorry if I offend anyone, but nobody has the right to put my life at risk. And it's not just me who is at risk...its the elderly, infants and others who are immunosuppressed (like those who have cancer).

Several years ago, I was working in the preschool Sunday School class at my church. A little boy came in with a high fever, and was obviously not feeling well. We had to get his parents out of the service so he could go home. We found out later that he had a severe caseof the measles. He wound up giving them to his baby sister, who died from it. He is now profoundly deaf. Guess what? The family had chosen not to vaccinate their son. They now have to live with the consequnces for the rest of their lives. This was totally preventable, and in my opinion should never of happened. Diseases like this are making a comeback because parents are refusing to vaccinate their children.

I think part of the problem is that people are forgetting how horrible it was to have these diseases around. Talk to anyone in my parents generation or older, they can tell you the horrors of measles, mumps or diptheria. It's not nice, but we are forgetting that.

I'd rather see my neices vaccinated than dead.

I believe in vaccines. The more we comply as a whole, the fewer breakouts of these diseases will happen. My mom has told me about the terrible suffering people went through when she was a child. Oh my goodness, the polio - dear God. People forget what this really means. How German measles cause birth defects in unborn babies exposed to someone the mother just happens to encounter with it. Whooping cough that my mom described. It's not like someone just coughing their head off. It's serious stuff. Red measles that can cause permanent damage.

When there is no more chickenpox, older people won't be getting shingles. Shingles is dangerous for older folks.

I'm grateful to those who vaccinate. You can always do a modified schedule if you don't want to do them all at once. But you should do them.

Dawn

Because the benefits outweigh the risks.

I don't understand the people who say the risks are greater than contracting the disease. Sure until no one is then what? There is a reason these diseases are nearly gone and a reason they are starting to come back.

I wish I still had the link to the article from my hometown, that completely cemented my opinion of vaccinating.

A 3 week old baby died in my hometown last month, from Whooping Cough. Something that is usually vaccinated for. It's so sad, because she died even after getting immediate medical treatment. Babies are so defenseless against things like that.

What is even more sad, to me, is that she didn't HAVE to die. Many parents decide not to vaccinate their children, thinking that 'herd immunity' (enough kids are vaccinated that there is no one to carry the disease, so their kid won't catch it...) will keep them safe... but what happens when too many parents decide to follow herd immunity? THE DISEASE MAKES A COMEBACK! That's what happened to this baby. Pertussis was practically eradicated in our country, until people got so against vaccinations. Now look at the comeback it has made, and the ones who are dying are the ones who are too young to have been vaccinated yet. How very sad is that?

My own pediatrician has young children as does the other pediatrician in her practice. That other pediatrician has lost a child to SIDS so I am always reminded that the family part of their practice is something near and dear to them. Not just doctors, they are parents. Because of that, whenever I seek any treatment, vaccination or evaluation for my child, I ask them outright what they would do for theirs. As a result, my son is up to date on all of his vaccinations. I don't regret or question that move at all.

A friend of mine, Anne, - a well-respected pediatrician in Kansas, whose practice is alas, 45 minutes away - posted this [below] as her facebook status update last week. It stuck with me and touched something in me.

"I'm so thankful to live in the post-vaccine invention era. Though I'm concerned my 19 month old has a 104.3 fever, I'm confident she'll wake up in the morning because she's fully immunized. I know HiB or pneumococcus or any of the 10 other vaccine preventable illnesses she's protected from won't take her from me tonight. Millions of parents from our recent past would have given anything for that, to keep these monstrous illnesses from stealing their babies at night."

As an example:
In my State, a 6 month old baby died due to Pertussis. The baby was not vaccinated. The parents didn't believe in it.
The baby, contracted the illness from an adult relative, who thought she just had a regular cold. So then they thought their baby just had a regular cold.
The parents, are now advocates for the vaccine.
They no longer have their baby.

The Pertussis vaccine, DTaP, is given in stages, at 2, 4, 6, months of age. Then boosters.
http://www.cdc.gov/Features/Pertussis/

Booster shots for Pertussis, is also highly recommended for the Elderly or adults/teens or those with compromised lung issues.

I truly believe that the benefits outweight the risks, specially in the last few decades with so much traveling and people of different nationalities coming into contact with each other. You really can't isolate your child from the world and other sick kids and even if you were able to shield childhood, the kid will eventually grow up and be on his own.
Good luck with your decision!

Benefits far outweigh risks IMO. I know someone whose child got polio because they chose not to vaccinate. There is a lot of fear out there about vaccines and autism but what I recommend is you ask your doctor about each specific vaccine and its benefits and risks. If you are worried about mercury preservative many states don't allow it any more. Ask all the questions until you are comfortable but in general, the less people vaccinate the more opportunity these diseases have to come back into a population. You put babies and the elderly at risk especially when you don't vaccinate. There is a reason the child mortality rate is not nearly what it used to be. Hear is an interesting article from last year discussing this very topic. It is quite thorough:
Vaccines and infant mortality rates: A false relationship promoted by the anti-vaccine movement
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/vaccine-sch...

We vaccinate our kids. I believe the benefits outweigh the risks.

Benefits definitely outweigh the risks hands down.

I believe in the benefits of vaccines. Both my children are on time with theirs and will continue to be. My Husband and son both got boosters before my daughter was born. Yes there are some side affects and reactions to vaccines, but they are rare. with diseases like pertusis on the rise, its more important to me then ever to keep my kids vaccinated.

I'm vaccinated and so are my kids.I read a lot on the subject. I understand herd immunity. I saw the pros and cons and decided that for my family, the benefits greatly outweigh the risks.

I immunise on time always. We have lost the social memory of the devastating diseases we are vaccinating against. This leads people to become complacent. Only when little babies die from whooping cough do we have a tiny window into what it would be like to return to the good old days of no vaccinations.

We believe in vaccinating (100%)...why take the risk? Do I worry about side effects? No. Do I think about them? Yes. But what's worse...? Side effects or the alternative? This is a touchy subject that I really don't like to discuss; probably because I just DON'T understand why anyone would put their child in such risk.

Pros: they don't catch serious illnesses that they can easily avoid

Cons: none, unless they have a predisposition for something to go wrong. Vaccines do not cause autism.

I don't have much time but I would direct you to numerous posts in the archives.

My quick points:

1) I love Stephanie Cave, MD's book (it's older and there *are* newer books out there on the topic);

2) If I had it to do over again with my children I would do it all MUCH differently;

3) Vaccines on the recommended pediatric schedule are generally immune from liability, both from the manufacturer as well as the ped/doc who administers it. It is the only widely used consumer product, that I can think of, that enjoys that protection. Product liability laws in the US have produced some of the safest products in the world. What happens when those principles are not germane to the product? Along those lines I would read Justice Sotomayor's dissent in the Bruesewitz case. Here is the link: http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/10pdf/09-152.pdf.

4) If we do not have a right to say what is, or is not, injected into our bodies or our children's bodies we are rapidly headed to a country free of any 4th amendment protections. Herd immunity is one concept; abrogation of liberty concerning our person (the most sacred liberty of all imho) is another.

5) Other first world country vaccine schedules are much different from ours. What do they know (or accept) that we don't?

6) Contrary to popular notion vaccines are a growth sector for the pharma industry, particulary with the expiration of popular drug patents, and the tremendous costs of bringing new drugs to market. There are multiple mainstream news articles stating such (don't have time to find it for you).

7) None of these decisions are easy. I do my own reading, as well as consult with mainstream and alternative health care practitioners.

Good luck and I wish you the best on this issue.

This is my opinion, and my opinion only. I am not a health care practitioner of any type.

If people thought there was actually a chance of their children getting one of these terrible diseases we wouldnt even be having this conversation. Think about people in other countries that dont have access to health care, Im sure most of those mothers would give anything to be able to have access to.the vaccinations we hem and haw and debate about. There is obviously a chance of side effects, it says so right on the information they give you at the doctor. What makes me angry is because the percent of vaccinated kids is so high, there is little chance of the unvaccinated kids catching something. Basically, they are getting the protection and our kids are taking all the risks. I think its selfish and indulgent. Millions of lives have been saved by vaccines regardless of whatever stupid propaganda people are reading about them on the internet. If they can require people to.have their kids in carseats, I dont know why they cant require vaccination. At the very least, they should not be allowed in public school without them. That all being said, I dont know why kids have to have so many at once, I think they could spread them out a little, and we dont ever get the seasonal flu shot, Ive gotten sicker from that than from the flu. Also, I have personally.had a reaction to.the hepatitis vaccine but my kids still got that one.

Funny about the response of someone who said its not fair that those who vaccinate are taking all the risks and the unvaccinated reap the benefits...so you think its risky to vaccinate? Me too. That's why I selectively do it, and slow down the schedule.
There are things that are necessary to vaccinate for and things that were drummed up by big pharm that are just $$ generators. Hep B, Gardisil, and Vericella are the ones I believe are done for $. Check some stats on the vericella vax. Fifteen yrs ago, we were told one shot and you are good for life. Then suddenly, about 5 yrs ago, these kids who got it back then and were in college were coming down with Shingles. Oops. Guess we need a booster. In fact, the rate of Shingles after a single vericella vax is far greater than shingles after naturally acquiring chicken pox.
Hep B is a sexually transmitted disease (also bloodborne pathogen). This was and always has been a vax for healthcare workers to protect themselves. But suddenly our BABIES need it? No. But its a great way for big pharm to sell a product. Gardisil is the same way. Trying to prevent HPV, another STD. How about we teach abstinence, condoms, etc? It is a violation of my moral right as a parent to tell me I have to vax a child against an STD, rather than share my moral and religious belief with that child that sex with multiple partners is wrong. Its govt pushing an agenda, nothing more.
And if you think the national rate of vax in school is 95+%, you are wrong. Do you know how many people forge those documents from the pediatrician? Its done all the time. Schools don't have the time or the inclination to call the MD offices to verify the info, and HIPAA would prevent them from doing so anyway. Those forms don't come with a HIPAA Release of Info.
I'm glad we have vaccines for those that need them. There are vaccines that my children do get. The diseases are serious, and of course, those that don't vaccinate do not wish harm on their children, nor are they ignorant to the dangers of their choices. In fact, non-vax families are some of the most well-informed people I know. Ask them whats in the vaccine,and they can tell you. Ask someone who herds their children in blindly,and then blasts the rest of the parents for not vaccinating, and I'll bet you'd stop them in their tracks. Most of the time, they have NO idea what is in those vaccines. Those are the same people that believe antibiotics cure colds, and the same people that believe their doctor knows EVERYTHING. We must be advocates of our own health, and the health of our children.
ETA: The last known case of polio in the western hemisphere was in 1991, so unless THAT was the case that a previous poster was referring to, I think she is exaggerating :)
Also ETA: Food for thought: When listening to both sides, think for a minute about who has an agenda...Is there really a "money-maker" behind exposing the dangers of vaccination? Will anyone stand to profit financially by telling people not to vaccinate? Is having an informed opinion ever a bad thing? On the flip side, is it financially profitable for government and big pharm to push vaccination? Could there be an agenda behind pushing drugs into our and our children's bodies that are made by single manufacturers who are backed by the government? Maybe, maybe not. Just remember who might benefit from millions of people being "snowed" by fear mongering and brainwashing.....

Pro - my kids won't contract deadly diseases.

Con - can't think of one.

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I'm pro vaccinating.

The pros are not having to nurse your child through - "mumps, measles, rubella, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, and polio" - or worse. Any of these can be deadly.

I believe the toxins in vaccine ingredients are more harmful than good. The idea of vaccine produced immunity is great if it were perfect, but it's not. The risks to me are greater than the likelihood of contracting these diseases.

ETA: no disease is completely preventable. Even a medical doctor will tell you that no vaccine can guarantee 100% immunity. Most of the people here in Washington with pertussis were fully vaccinated against it. They say it's possible people have built an immunity to the vaccine or that it's creating a "super-pertussis" or pertussis type b, which makes sense. That's how mrsa came about, and why people still get the flu after the flu shot. What's irresponsible is blindly injecting toxins into your child's fragile immune system without researching both sides and all the diseases completely!

My favorite website is www.thedoctorwithin.com, his book is called "the sanctity of human blood".

I am not a doctor. Therefore, I don't know more than the medical community about vaccinations than they do. No amount of research that I do on the web or text books will fix that, unless of course, I choose to go to medical school for several years to become a pediatrician.
That said, we go with the recommended vaccinations and schedule.
My children have had no issues.

We are pro-immunization. We have yet to read, view or hear a convincing argument not to. Our children will be immunized against preventable diseases. There is not a con to that in our minds. I will say there are two factors people should understand and come to terms with – herd immunity and young doctors who have no firsthand, clinical experience with these diseases. What are the chances these doctors will quickly enough recognize a disease thought to be eradicated in this country? I do respect people’s right to choose to vaccinate, to not vaccinate or to go on an extended vaccination schedule. A blessing of being in a country such as this with protected freedoms and also the medical resources to support people’s varied decisions to a large extent. Not to plug for the red, white and blue but an aside worth mentioning I think. Good luck.

There is no way I would not vaccinate any children I have care of. They do not have to be at risk for the horrible diseases I saw as a child. There is no way i would want them to possibly get polio. It is nothing but sad to know a child who is the all star on the school yard then a year later they can't walk without the assistance of leg braces and crutches. They never walked upright again.

I had chicken pox as a child, so did my daughter, she still has scars around her eyes where it festered and blistered. She is scared from them. When the people came to america they passed on some of these illnesses to the native american's who lived here already. They almost all died from it. We have some immunity to it by having been around it all our lives but they did not.

I have a friend who got her kids their vaccines and her daughter was not the same afterwards. She would still vaccinate her children because the small side effects that they might have outweighs the risks of the actual disease.

I do not believe that vaccines are responsible for the things that have happened to some children. I do think that perhaps they would have had that happen to them at the same time even if they had not had shots. There is not one shred of evidence that shows these are normal or even possible side effects.

No way, no how. My grandkids got theirs and so did everyone else I know. I only know one autistic youth and his mom didn't do shots on him due to him not being in an area they offered them.

My oldest son has autism and was vaccinated on schedule. I am not saying that the vaccines caused his autism. But when we were able to help clear his system of the ingredients in his system from the vaccines, he recovered quite a bit.

Our second son was vaccinated on schedule until he was about 18 months old. He broke out in a few rashes, not at the injection sites, which was odd. I started doing research at that point.

My daughter is currently 20 months old and has not yet been vaccinated. I am not anti-vaccination by any means, but she has similar characteristics to my oldest son, who was affected by them. We will selectively vaccinate her when she gets older. (She will not get the flu, Hep B,HPV, or a few other shots because they either do not work with current strains, do not apply to her life situation, or are not tested enough to determine either their efficacy or side effects.)

I weighed this issue carefully when it came time to vax my child. We travel outside the country to 3rd world countries (from the time DS was 6 months). So for me I felt there was a higher than normal risk if we did not vax, though I have been cautious about not jumping in on newer vaccines if the areas we are visiting do not have a high rate of those diseases.

We have never had any bad vax reactions in our family, if we had any history there I would probably skip a lot more. I also believe the CDC has a huge credibility problem regarding side effects. I know people whose children had horrible reactions to vaccines and they were ignored when they asked to have it investigated as a vaccine reaction (the parents were even medical professionals).

I also think that there is a false sense in the media coverage that vaccines protect you forever and that they protect everyone who is vaccinated. I am living proof that is not true. I was vaccinated against measles but then I developed measles at age 16. There was actually quite a large outbreak that year among vaccinated kids. I was much sicker than I had ever been in my life. I had mumps, whooping cough, and chicken pox between the ages of 5 and 8 and I breezed right through them compared to getting measles as a teenager. Similar outbreaks in the vaccinated population have happened with other diseases including pertussis in CA very recently. And the outbreaks of shingles in kids who received the chicken pox vax.

So I think every parent has a duty to research carefully and make the decision that is right for their family. I respect the family that decides vaccines aren't right for them as much as I respect the family that does delayed and/or selective vaxing as much as I respect the family that decides to follow the recommended schedule.

Pro vaccination. I think it's irresponsible to not vaccinate your child.

I had a premie....and did space out a few of her shots because she was so tiny, but by age 1.5 or so she had them all caught up.

I actually worry about her and me (I am immune compromised because of medicines I take) because of all of the kids nowadays who's parents have not vaccinated them.

Please vaccinate. Read the packet your medicine comes in. Most medicines have RARE side effects. Do you not take medicine at all because of the RARE chance you will have a RARE side effect? No.

Please be a responsible parent and vaccinate.

We are practicing a delayed vaccination plan with our son. The way I see it, the benefits do outweigh the risks, which are sometimes blown out of proportion by the media. (The MMR link to autism, for example, was proven to be unfounded and the medical journal which published Dr. Wakefield's study redacted it, due to much concern that this was a report for lawyers and not actual peer-reviewed research.)

I also do not want to be the mother who doesn't vaccinate my kid (or myself) and exposes someone's tiny little one to some horrible disease. If that baby died, I would feel responsible and carry that with me for the rest of my life. I did a lot of reading on both sides of this issue and feel comfortable with our choices for our son.

I definitely favor vaccinations for children. I read recently that a Lancet article which described a link between vaccines and autism influenced many parents not to vaccinate their children. The findings of that article were later discredited, but many parents still believed in the autism-vaccine link.

Many childhood diseases that were once nearly eradicated, such as whooping cough, are on the rise now, with so many parents opting not to vaccinate their children. These diseases are far more dangerous, in my mind, than the problems of vaccinations.

I had the mumps as a child and my sister had the measles ... BOTH were horrible and not something I would wish on too many people, and especially not my children.

I had the mumps so bad you couldn't see my earlobes looking at my face straight on. and HURT ... man did it hurt.

We vaccinated, on schedule. But I agree with another poster ... do your research ... and when you research CHECK VERY CLOSELY the SOURCE of the research. Then make the decision you are most comfortable with :)

I believe it is up to each individual family to choose what is right for their child and family. My eldest who is 8 is vaccinated up until the age of 5 however my youngest was only vaccinated, selectively, until he was one year old. He is currently 5. In our situation there are many reasons why things are the way they are regarding vaccinations. I have no issue sending either of my children to school with vaccinated or non-vaccinated children. Whooping cough is currently an issue here however if the vaccinations do their job as they are reported to do then there should be no cause for concern on my behalf. I am pro choice on this matter. Do I believe that vaccinations benefits outweigh the risks? In most circumstances but not all. There are too many factors involved in the overall picture and grand scheme of things to be able to make a judgement or decision for others.

I am pro-vaccination and both my children are completely up to date. The most important task for you is to educate yourself about them. But while doing your research, please be sure to make a note of the source and education of any article or advice you take to heart. I personally prefer the advice of doctors and immunologists, as opposed to lawyers and homeopaths. Good luck with your research!

I did TONS and months of research on vaccines cause it is a BIG decision either way and honestly one of the biggest pieces of information that I used was the ingredient list on CDC's website. I am not cool with those type of ingredients being injected into my child..... period. Also, the government website for reporting vaccine injuries (http://vaers.hhs.gov/index, http://www.hrsa.gov/vaccinecompensation/index.html) was eye opening. The documentary The Greater Good was also a very good resource. I am in California and both my kids are not vaccinated. We have had no issues using the wavier and no issue with enrolling/attending school. In all honestly, there is a risk either way. You have to look at the pros and cons of each option and decided what you can feel comfortable with. Something we are doing is seriously messing with our children and while everyone tries to figure out what it is than I am going as natural, chemical free as I can. My kids are super healthy, no allergies, no asthma, we have never even had an ear infection. An interesting note- on the insert in the vaccine it will state that the vaccine is an immune suppressant. Well, if your immune system is suppressed than you are more susceptible to catching something or getting far sicker than if your immune system was not suppressed. The truth is there you just have to connect the dots.

I just wanted to mention that although some may think getting a vaccination for Hepatitis B is not important, it is. My mother was never hospitalized not once but when she had a baby, he was a premie and she had to receive blood. Back then, the screening was awful and later on in life she got Hepatitis. It was from that one transfer. Heaven forbid something happens to your child and then have to receive blood, yes the screenings are a lot better but you never know. Just a thought.

My daughter is 5, going on 6 and is about to start school. We've selectively vaccinated her. One I know for sure she's never has it the recommended flu shot, I'm mostly house bound and she didn't attend a pre-school. My husband who works got the flu shots. I know we keep up with her tetanus because she's a very active girl and she loves being outside. As for school "illnesses" I'm unsure if she's had all of those yet or not. If not we'll boost her up before school, also I'm due in October, so better safe then sorry since there'll be a new baby in the house and she'll be in school.

You've gotten a number of answers that I would have provided and there are so many I didn't read them all. So, what I will add is that we have vaccinated however on an alternative schedule - we spread them out and don't give more than one at a time with at least a few weeks in between each.

Vaccination was the biggest decision I researched, and still continue to research. I read everything I come across from both camps, and everyone in between. My experience with vaccines prior to having a kid was not good. I've dealt with many vaccine reactions in our own animals, and see many in my clients' animals. I had already just about stopped all vaccines in our pets, with wonderful changes in their overall health, not to mention not having to deal with reactions anymore. While researching childhood disease and vaccines, I found that most of the diseases fall into 2 main categories: 1. Generally mild and easily treatable in healthy people or 2. Very rare in our country. I also found out that diseases all declined in either fatality or rate of occurrence well BEFORE the vaccines were introduced. In fact, in many cases there has been a jump in occurrence since the vaccine was introduced. The more recent wave of Pertussis is occurring mostly in those fully vaccinated AND the vaccine does nothing to prevent the spread (says so on the insert, and the CDC admits it) AND there is a new strain that is a mutation from the vaccine. There hasn't been a case of wild polio in the US in several decades. Most polio that is occurring worldwide is caused by the oral form of the vaccine. I also found out that measles was as normal as chicken pox was back in our day - a mild illness almost everyone got, few kids had complications, and then the kid had true lifelong immunity. Measles complications are usually a result of low vitamin A in the diet. They're now finding the the measles virus can be beneficial - they're using it to fight cancer. Low and behold, the rates of cancer in those that had had measles is much lower than in those that never had the disease. These things are telling me that we're trying to mess with and control nature, and that never ends well for mankind. I'd rather work with a disease by understanding it and working to truly heal the body, than trying to artificially prevent disease with toxins.

I also found out that doctors (same goes for veterinarians) do not study vaccines in depth. The classes they do take are mostly to teach them how to scare patients into accepting the vaccines - just the fear-inducing info, not the whole gamet of facts. In fact, many of the classes they take in this area are taught and sponsored by the vaccine manufacturers. This isn't real science being done here...look into it deeper if you don't believe me. When a new vaccine is being tested, they do not use a real placebo. If there is a similar product on market already, that is their "placebo". If not, they use all the chemicals minus the disease (formaldehyde, aluminium, mercury, etc.). The side effects to vaccines are likely as much caused by the adjuvents and other additives as they are by the disease portion. This kind of "science" wouldn't pass a junior high science class!

In the end, our son has had no vaccines, and probably never will. I'm far more afraid of vaccines than I am of natural disease. I've studied the diseases, I know what to look for, how to treat most of them, where to go for help, etc. Our son is very, very healthy - only went to the doctor for a few well-baby visits in the beginning - no visits in 5 years. Whereas most of the other kids we know (vaccinated) have seemingly endless colds, ear infections, allergies, tubes put in, asthma, behavior problems, etc. Might just be luck of the draw. But there has never been a formal study done comparing vaccinated vs. unvaccinated kids. The people with the money for such a project are the ones with the most to lose if it doesn't turn out in their favor; and I highly doubt it would.

Also wanted to add that one of the most convincing resources of info for me has been the CDC. Just reading their surface stuff with a discerning eye will illuminate some things. They word things in such a way that they're not lying, but they're not stating everything either. Then if you dig real deep on their website, you'll find public information that shows rates of disease dropped well before the vaccines, and you'll find research that wasn't reported in the media that shows how dangerous (and often useless) vaccines really are. Even their own spokesperson has said that yes, you are far more likely to know vaccine-damaged individuals than you are to know anyone with a disease complication. She said this thinking it would show how important it is to keep vaccinating, but I fail to see how it can be taken that way. What are we doing to our kids??? When vaccine damage and death is considered perfectly acceptable collateral damage? No thanks!

The chances of dying or becoming critically ill FAR outweigh any (unproven, by the way) risk from being vaccinated. And kids that are unvaccinated pose a risk to the rest of us because vaccines work primarily when the majority of people are vaccinated. I think it is the height of irresponsibility not to vaccinate.

I chose to vaccinate my son, because I believed the benefits outweighed the the risks.With the influx of migrants from countries which don't have vaccinations, I believe it important to protect children and the human population from disease whatever the risk.

Updated

I chose to vaccinate my son, because I believed the benefits outweighed the the risks.With the influx of migrants from countries which don't have vaccinations, I believe it important to protect children and the human population from disease whatever the risk.

Bear in mind that I am not medical personnel, so here are my thoughts:

Pros - your child won't have to suffer anything from discomfort to death as a result of childhood disease, you are being socially responsible by protecting those who cannot be vaccinated due to severe allergy, your child won't miss weeks of school getting over the flu and chickenpox. (BTW, there was no vaccine against chickenpox when I was my daughter's age, and I came down with it at age 18. It was AWFUL. I don't know if that's what napalm is like but it sure felt close.)

You can always stagger the doses, if you decide to do the whole round of vaccines.

Cons - you run a very slight risk of your child having a negative reaction to the shot, your child might get like one part per million of monkey kidney injected into his/her circulatory system.

Good luck, whatever you decide.