Vaccination Debate

the main article which said there was a link between autism and the MMR va ccine in the lancet has been recinded by the author. this was the article which sparked off ALL the debates.

the doctor who wrote it basically said "well i thought at the time there was a link....but now i dont"

both my children are vaccinated and are fine

Well Adjusted Babies by Dr. Jennifer Barham-Floreani.
thinktwice.com is good only for the very brave... it'll scare ya out of having ANY vaccines EVER but the info is there if you can handle it.
I especially like http://www.cogforlife.org/ because they let you know what vaccines are formulated FROM ABORTED BABIES. Yep, I have had people say it isn't true until they read the CDC's very own words ... See Morewhich are on that website attesting to the formal line of vaccines taken from aborted babies. ( ruebella, chicken pox etc... all are) I have friends who have found ethical vaccines - they are scarce but if one really wants to vaccinate their child, they can research and find them.
Best wishes and I hope this is helpful,
K.
Mom of 4 teens, all well adjusted and healthy inspite of sketchy vaccinations

This story ran on my local news a few days ago:
http://www.kpax.com/news/another-study-refutes-vaccinatio...
hope it helps.

THIS IS IN RESPONSE THE POSTING BY JENNY J:
IT WAS NOT DR. SEARS WHO HAD THE FLAW STUDIES AND RECANTED HIS ARTICLE. HIS NAME WAS Andrew Wakefield - PLEASE DON'T PUT MIS-INFORMATION OUT THERE. DR.SEARS BOOK IS NOT A STUDY - IT JUST TELLS YOU WHAT IS IN VACCINES.

Read Dr. Sear's Vaccine book. It just give facts - it is not for or againist vaccines. It basically breaks down what is in each vaccine so you are making a informed decisions on what you are injecting your child with.

Also, do some research on the vaccine court here in the USA. Although parents are not winning when they claim the vaccince caused autism. They are winning when they say the child had a underlying condition and the vaccine then triggered that condition.

Yes this topic is usually gets people worked up. However, you are looking for opinions and this is what I think. I have been a nanny for 5 years while I put myself through college to be a nurse. I have seen kids change like night and day from vaccines. Doctors have said up and down that it is not caused by the shots, but I will NEVER believe that. I used to watch this one little girl from when she was 2 months old till she was 2 1/2 years old. And when she was 18 months she had her shots came home and had a 103 fever for 3 days. After she got over that she was diagnosed with Sensory Itegration. The doctors kept saying that she was not changing, she was just growing up. She stopped talking, eye contact was gone, and she began to hurt herself for no apparent reason. I saw her slowly slip away from being her happy, loving self. My son is a very happy baby and I wouldn't want to see him do the same thing.

I recently posted a question ask moms for good sites for info on vaccinations and got some god feedback. I have chosen to wait on his vaccines. I MIGHT get the ones that the schools require when that time comes, but until then my son will be vaccine free. Even when he starts school I might not do it. Depends if they take the harmful chemicals out or not. If they dont, I will not be giving my son any vaccines and I will just sign the papers saying I refuse to give him them.

In the end it has to be your choice, but I think you should really do some research before injecting your children with things that a lot of people know nothing about. So many parents just go with the majority and get things done because the doctor says to or everyone you know does it and their kids are fine. I think either way you are taking chances. You can get them done and chance bad side effects or even death, or you can not get them and chance your kids getting a disease. The way I look at it is this...if you inject your child with chemicals that are in the vaccine, they still could get the disease (which most of them are not even a problem in the US anyways) so why take the chance with the chemicals (antifreeze, mercury, lead,..etc.

I had a long talk with my sons doctor about vaccines. He said well almost all the shots are mercury free. Ok, thats great, BUT there is still antifreeze and lead among many other chemicals that are not natural to the human body. Also something to look at....if you take a dog to the doctors they take the weight of the dog to decide how much of a dose the dog needs for anything. You take a 2 month old to the doctors...they are going to inject them with the same dose that they would give a 5 year old!

There are many things to look at even beyond what doctors say or what the media says. Look at it in the way ot common sense. I used to work for a Pharmacutical Rep. She said Doctors and the people selling drugs (pills, vaccines, etc.) all get paid for each vaccines injected. For every prescription a doctor wrote, she got commission for sellin him that drug. The same goes for vaccines. There are a lot of people that will push vaccines on parents, but you need to look at WHY. The lady I worked for made a lot of money from vaccines, yet she NEVER got her daughter vaccinated. The doctor that delivered my son asked me if I was doing the Hep B vaccine and Vitamin K shot. I said vit K is ok , but no hep b and he said I dont blame you, I dont vaccinate my kids either. Here is the difference...He doesnt do vaccines except the one when they are born, so he doesnt count on that for his income. Pediatricians do however make a lot on them because they are the ones to do ALL vaccines besides the one at birth.

Obviously you got a lot of posts from different views. Just follow what is in your heart. No one knows what is best for your children besides you. My decision is based on what I have seen and what I know to be true. Vaccines do not prevent disease. If they could prove that they did 100% of the time. The government would probably make them manditory instead of reccommended. You need to do your own research and look at the pro's and con's because otherwise no matter what decision you make, you will second guess yourself. I know I did. Well good luck to you and I hope that you figure something out that works for both you and your children.

Devon

You asked for places to get info. So here are some sites:

www.909shot.com
www.thinktwice.com
www.nvic.org
www.vamn.com
www.cdc.gov
www.fda.gov
www.vaccinationnews.com
www.vaclib.org
www.vaccines.bizland.com

(I have not checked them all out.)

My husband and I researched for MONTHS and MONTHS before we finally came to a decision. We checked out every book FOR and AGAINST vaccines that the library carried. I read everything I could get my hands on. And I spoke with our doctor.

I need to say. Vaccinations do NOT equal immunization. People who refer to them as immunizations are incorect. You are never garunteed immunity.

Our kids are almost 5 and 2 1/2. We did decide to NOT vaccinate. Are we positive it is the right decision. No. Are we still glad we came to this conclusion. Yes. We are doing what is right for our family. Plenty of people disagree with us but a lot of the things we do are different than most of the people WE know. We take our kids with us everywhere. If they aren't invited, we pretty much won't go. We've taken them on every vacation with us. Cruises to Mexico, Bahamas, Disneyland, DisneyWorld, etc. We love to spend our time with the kids. They are well adjusted, talkative kids and people compliment us on them all the time!

Now, on the note of trusting our doctors. They ARE human. They change their minds. They give out prescriptions for drugs that are later recalled because they are killing people. We can NOT just take their word on something as important as our children. It is our job as parents to research and check out issues reguarding our children and injecting so many foreign ingredients into their bodies.

And on the post that said they don't like to let their kids play with unvaccinated children...... Well, many of us that DON"T vaccinate have the same concerns about letting our kids play with yours shortly after they've been injected with toxic chemicals and are floating around with a ton of diseases in their bodies....... (SORRY! I'm getting on a soap box.) But I do try to keep my kids away from children who have been vacinated within the past week.

Good luck on researching. It is a VERY TOUGH, PERSONAL decision. It gets very heated. Everyone is allowed their own opinoin. I don't even mind the people who vaccinate as long as they've done ALL the research and understand the risks. The way we look at it is: People have LIVED through these diseases in the past but if my child is the ONE in a million that would react to a vaccine and be forever changed or even die, I would not be able to live with myself.......

What I have heard suggested in the natural health community is the single vaccine plan. Much of the speculation and concerns with vaccines is the preservatives because of the combinations. For instance the MMR, have the measles vaccine, then the mumps vaccine, then the rubella vaccine separately. If you schedule vaccines and get them singly instead of batched, its my understanding that certain preservatives are no longer necessary for stability.

People say that choosing to vaccinate or not is a personal decision and one that doesn't have to be made until school time. I disagree. Vaccinating for things, other than the flu is a socail issue because your decision affects everyone around you - family, friends, the old guy at the grocery store...

I've had both my kids vaccinated, following the standard plans. I had concerns about autism in my daughter, because she was/is showing some key signs, but went ahead with the vaccinations. My ped. said that the main debate has not clear yes/no cause and effect. The time line for autism becoming apparent is the same time that certain shots are recommended. Which triggers the suggested link.

Both of my kids were vaccinated for chicken pox and both ended up getting them. During the same time, while we kept our kids home during their outbreaks, we would see kids out and about with OBVIOUS cases of pox - at the grocery store, DMV (that one was just gross!), the mall, etc. The parents just either did know, or didn't care.

I went ahead and got my daughter the MMR, and she had a bad reaction to it about 2 weeks later, and ended up with the measles. The ped. said that while she ended up getting the two outbreakes, if she hadn't had the vaccinations the outbreaks would have been worse, and she would've been more uncomfortable.

Another thing to keep in mind is that since so many people are delaying vaccinations, certain diseases that have been extint or under control in the US for decades making a resurgence.

My main suggestion if you are researching on the web is that when you read an article, then research the site itself and read who controls the site and their background. People so often read articles on the web and just take it for fact but don't consider who wrote it or who is promoting it. So many of them should not be taken seriously because the people doing it having personal biases - even organizations that appear lagit often have their own political reasons for taking a certain side. Some of them that state research studies are manipulating the results or even lying about what it said to support their opinion. I'm all for researching to make an informed decision, but don't just read an article and believe it. There are also so many that take advantage of the fears of parents. They harp on the horrible, scare-you-out-of-your-mind side effects, that when in reality you would be more likely to be struck by lightning 5 times in the same day then get that side effect. But because there is a chance - albeit .001% - they will use it to scare people.
I agree with what Megan C. said. The suggested link between autism and vaccines comes easily because the age at which autism is detectable happens to be the same age frame as when vaccines are given. So many other new things happen with babies at the same age but aren't blamed for it. Vaccines were an easy target.
I have had both my kids immunized at the regular schedule. While yes, I may have some concerns about certain side effects, I think what you have to look at is what would happen if we didn't have vaccines. There are diseases that we haven't seen for a hundred years in this country that are suddenly coming back in outbreaks - because more and more people aren't immunizing. When you choose not do it, you may be saving your child from a side effect, but you are exposing them to risks far greater than that. Consider how you would feel if you didn't immunize and your child got some dread disease and died - a disease that is completely preventable with an immunization. I've been overseas in underpriveleged countries, and parents over there would give their right arm to be able to have the immunizations that we have available here. Why? - because they are watching kids die every day from things we immunize against. My personal opinion is that we are spoiled in this country. We take these things for granted and question it's value. We don't remember what it was like a hundred years ago when plagues routinely wiped out whole families. And we don't commonly see that it's still happening around the world today in countries that don't have the vaccines we have here. I'm not saying there aren't risks to vaccines, I'm not saying we shouldn't be informed. For my family though, we decided the risks to our child's health would be 10 times greater if we didn't immunize. Also, it is true that the choice to not immunize doesn't just affect your family - it will affect anyone your kids come in contact with. The protection only has it's greatest strength when we all immunize. The more people who don't, the more we will all be at risk. To be honest, I have struggled with letting my kids play with kids I know haven't been immunized. That risk concerns me far worse than side effects from the vaccine.
Ok, sorry to ramble, and I hope I haven't offended anyone. I just wanted to bring some thoughts to mind to consider. Another thing I would say if you are researching vaccines is to look at them individually. What concerns you about one, may not be an issue with another. So if you find some you aren't comfortable with, don't lump them all in the same boat - look at each one.

Well, the only reason I can forsee you HAVING to immunize your children in the near future is if you want them to go to school outside of the home. Other than than, it really is your choice. I know a lot has been said about vaccines and Autism, I don't know if this is what you are debating, but, there is so much conflicting evidence that it is a hard decision for many. The most recent thing I saw on TV about Autism was on PBS, which I am fairly trusting of, because it seems to be less biased, but I lean toward the opinion that Autism, like most other disorders, has it's roots in genetics. If there were any Autistic people in either sides of my kids' families, I would probably second and third guess doing anything that has been linked with it, or anything else for that matter. I believe that nothing is ever completely Nature OR Nurture, but I do believe that Nature loads the gun to which environment(Nurture) pulls the trigger. Not having this been an issue, I can tell you that as part of my training in nursing school, I witnessed videos of children that were sick and died from whooping cough and other childhood illnesses that we commonly immunize against today, and that was enough for me to go ahead and take my chances on getting vaccines. Plus, as many gripes as I have about the education system, I do not plan on home schooling, and I would rather vaccinate in small doses over time, then try and get my kid all caught up before entering school at once. Also, I am skeptical of diagnoses of Autism, Aspberger's, etc. in general, because I do believe that sometimes kids are misdiagnosed as any number of diseases for insurance billing purposes. I believe this is the case with MH diagnoses as well. 20 years ago, being clinically depressed or bipolar or ADD was not neaarly as common as it is today. What changed? Certainly people haven't all started going crazy in the last 20 years, but what has changed is the amount of pills and treatments that became FDA approved for treatment, and thus, would be paid for by insurance with the right diagnoses, seemed to increase tenfold or more.

Honestly, I can see both sides of the debate and respect everyone's decision. I have an autistic child, and we vaccinated, but I believe my child was born with autism. It runs in our family, and I noticed autism like behaviors prior to him getting vaccinated. I also have several friends whose children have autism and were never vaccinated, so we know their autism wasn't caused by them. However, I do believe there are both environmental and genetic causes for autism, meaning that not everyone with autism got it the same way. I believe there are people who were predisposed somehow and the vaccinations "triggered" the autism-like behaviors, leading to a diagnosis of autism. I think that we're still at a point where we can't figure out what causes it simply b/c there may be many causes. I respect everyone's individual decisions to vaccinate or not, and I know that in most states you can get a waiver for your child to attend school without being vaccinated. I personally chose to vaccinate b/c I come from a medical family and weighed the risks and decided that, even if vaccinations caused my child's autism, I'd rather he be autistic than potentially die from a disease that can easily be prevented. That was my personal decision, and I don't regret making it.

Hi M.!
Opening a can of worms can be a good thing! :) And research never hurt anyone. Knowledge is power.

I do want to clear up some of the misconceptions that other mom's had. You CAN send your child to school unvaccinated and an unvaccinated child is NOT a risk to society. It doesn't matter what people's opinions are on the matter because informed parents who opt out of or delay vaccinations are protected by law.

Some resources for you:

"What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Children's Vaccinations " by Stephanie Cave M.D.
"Vaccinations, A Thoughtful Parent's Guide" by Jill Romm
"Vaccine Safety Manual...." by Neil Z Miller and Russel Blaylock
"Saying No To Vaccines" by Dr. Sherry Tenpenny
-Dr. Tenpenny is a microbiologist who is lauded, even by the CDC, for her work on finding out the truth about vaccines. The people who want you to just trust your doctor??? Well, I recommend listening to this one! :)
She also has a website www.drtenpenny.com
Oh, and Christie already beat me to this website! www.informedchoice.info

I have not read Dr. Sears Vaccine book but I plan to. We haven't vaccinated yet but we may. My husband and I read everything we can on the subject, both pro and con. Good luck in your study!

I will try to find the link for a study done by a Mayo Clinic doctor about the risk of flu shots. It's a very interesting read about how kids who get the flu shot are 3 times more likely to be hospitalized for severe flu symptoms than unvaccinated kids.
Happy reading!

Read the recent article in last week's Time Magazine. A major scientific journal just rescinded the research of the man who began the whole anti-vaccine movement with a study trying to link autism to the MMR vaccine in the 1990's. Do you know that he did that study with only TWELVE children? As the article concludes: "It's easier to scare people than to unscare them."

Believe science. There is no conspiracy here. Vaccines have been keeping the majority of our population alive and healthy for decades.

And by the way, Dr. Sears used to be my kids' doctor, and the guy is very weird in person.

We decided to not vaccinate. I personally have not done a lot of research, but my husband has done some. He read through Childhood Vaccination: Questions All Parents Should Ask by Tedd Koren, DC. It does seem to be a fairly biased issue. On the pro side, studies can be questioned because the companies that made the vaccine did the study.

On the point that vaccines have eradicated disease, I've seen graphs on that showing the diseases were steeply declining before the vaccine came out. After the vaccine the slope downwards doesn't change, suggesting that the vaccine didn't have much impact. Sorry, I don't remember the source. Many of the diseases that are vaccinated for went away because of improved sanitation and nutrition.

Good luck doing your research!

In the case of Whooping Cough the only people who currently die of it are children 3 months and under. This is because these very young babies should not get that vaccine until they are over the age of 3 months. How do we keep them safe until they are 3 months old? By vaccinating every other child at the appropriate time and keeping Whooping Cough disease from spreading in epidemic proportions. Each new mother must rely on the rest of us to vaccinate. I got this information from a segment on NPR last year.
D.

Be very careful about the information you read on "anti-vaccine" boards. Most of the "research" is NOT accepted by the scientific community, and the English Dr. used to verify MMR issues is currently being stripped of all of his credentials in England as I write this.

There is no evidence supporting any problems with vaccines, save for their verified side effects. The evidence used is NOT accepted by the scientific community. Yes, I am repeating myself, but I think it's very important to look careful at where you get your information and it's support.

Please take a look at this book: http://www.amazon.com/Autisms-False-Prophets-Science-Medi...

Both vaccinated & unvaccinated children develop Autisim.

dont put full trust in your ped. they were only trained in one aspect and have many reasons to push the vaccines. we as parents need to educate ourselves and their is no rush.....your children will be fine while u do your research.
we chose to not vaccinate based on months of research in all areas.
i admire you for at least looking at both sides so when u make your decision u feel comfortable knowing you did the research. it takes time......just look at everything slowly and the pieces will fit together.

I am of the camp that decided to decline/delay vaccinations. It's very difficult to know what the real consequences might be because the science and studies are unclear so far. But I felt that given the number of recent childhood epidemics that are unexplained and MIGHT be related to our aggressive modern vaccine schedule, it was a risk I didn't want to take. I would rather risk an unpleasant illness (almost all of which are treatable and temporary) over the possibility of a lifelong condition.

If you want to understand the science behind vaccines and the things to watch for, a very good resource is The Vaccine Book by Robert Sears. He's very neutral and balanced, and spares you the hype and passion of the debate. Just look at facts. He does not, by the way, advocate for not vaccinating. He just sets forth what the concerns are and offers a variety of suggestions for alternate schedules and things for concerned parents.

(by the way, I know people suggest we should just "listen to our pediatricians," but they don't all agree either. Most of them actually know very little about the details of vaccines and the concerns. Those that have gone the extra mike to really learn (at least the ones I know), well, that have concerns too. My pediatrician is very concerned about vaccines, and very careful about them. he's also very supportive and helpful with alternate schedules. So, really, you have to do your own research and decide which risks YOU are most comfortable with for your child. it's reasonable to go either way. I just don't like to see people bullied or pressured into a decision. As for the "public health" issue, if other people have vaccinated their own children, what are they worried about. And Oregon's religious exemption law is written very broadly, so have lots of freedom there. It is up to YOU. Good Luck!

Most of the moms on here have already given such good information, and I am in the same boat as the majority on here. I am in the delay/deny camp as well. The fact that there is a debate at all should be enough to make one question. Yes, most of the childhood vaccines have removed mercury, but most of them still contain aluminum - another neurotoxin. There haven't been any good studies done of the effects of aluminum on children, but there has been on adults, and the conclusion of that was the adults can only assimilate a certain amount of aluminum before it effects the brain, and the amount found in childhood vaccines is much greater than that amount. The exact information can be found in The Vaccine Book. Another great source of information on vaccines can be found at www.mothering.com. Mothering Magazine's website. The articles have been very well researched, and are very informative. Of course, The Vaccine Book by Dr. Sears is good information, they're not anti-vaccine, they give you all the information on what's in the vaccines, and highly recommend being more selective on the vaccines, and adopting a different vaccine schedule of spreading them apart. (www.askdrsears.com). Not to mention that as long as you're breastfeeding your children, they have antibodies for all the diseases you've ever had. So I don't think it's at all necessary to even look at vaccines until you've stopped breastfeeding (which, hopefully, is at least 2 years).
Another website or source that I haven't seen mentioned yet is Dr. Mercola. (www.drmercola.com). He has a lot of extra information, such as the political and monetary connections of the members of the FDA and CDC with the pharmaceutical companies. Those things can also be taken into account when looking at the big picture of motivations. Such as the fact that the government has given the vaccine companies cart blanche with the H1N1 vaccine, giving them federal protection against any lawsuits as long as they don't have knowledge of adverse side effects from the vaccine. Think that makes them want to research side effects? No, because then they have culpability. As long as they don't know of any adverse side effects, they can't be sued. Not to mention they spent more on advertising for the vaccine than on actual research. So, yes, this can be taken into account when looking at the big picture.

And just because your children are no longer babies doesn't stop the vaccines from coming, or trying anyways. They were vaccinating children at schools for the H1N1 virus, even going against the parent's preferences in some cases. There was a school in San Diego where the child was a 3rd grader (I believe), and the parents signed a form saying that they didn't want their child to get the vaccine, but when the day came, they still vaccinated the child - despite that the child AND the parents said NO. There was another case where a teenager was passing out informative pamphlets on what was in the vaccines at his High School when they were doing the vaccinations, and he was shut down, assaulted by a teacher, and suspended from school. The school made him take down his video on YouTube explaining what happened, but he was interviewed on a radio talk show, and that's on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31Vqk-bPS8M . The interviewer is a little extreme, but the interview with the kid is interesting, and a little scary. Usually schools are pretty good about respecting parents wishes, but it's still good to teach your kids to stand up for your wishes (and theirs) as well.

They push vaccines on all of us throughout our lives. It's good to thoroughly research all of them, for our children and for ourselves. I'm not against ever getting a vaccine, but I think it's very important to research each one, find out all ingredients, and weigh the risks of the vaccine against the risks of the disease itself. I hope that the information you've gotten from all these responses helps you out. And it's important to remember as a mother that regardless of someone's views on vaccines, each mother is trying to do what is best for her child. :)

We selectively/ delay vax and it has nothing to do with me being worried about autism, as many doctors/people assume. I read the ingredients in the vaccines, first off. In the MMR, the rubella vaccine is made using aborted fetus cells, and that's not ok in my book. Many vaccines also use animal cells, etc... and it is disguisting. I read many books, talked to our doctor, naturopathic doctors, etc... , then did what I felt was right for my family. I also looked at the adverse reactions and deaths from the vaccines, then compared that to the number of deaths from the disease. If more people died from the vaccine, what's the point? Here are some resources I like:

http://www.care2.com/c2c/share/detail/529621

http://www.informedchoice.info/cocktail.html

http://www.thinktwice.com/allvacs.htm

my now husband's daughter was fine until her 16 month shot where within 3 hours she had a severe reaction and ended up with brain damage, mildly retarded and autistic. From my personal experience, my 10 yo daughter got a shot when she was about 8 and that night about 2 hours after she had been asleep, she got up, came into the living room and was acting very weird and it really scared me. She did that every single night for a couple months and it eventually stopped but I can't help but think it had something to do with her shot she got that day. I have a younger child who I have signed refusals for and none of my kids will ever get any kind of shot again, including the flu shot. If you do decide to do it, make sure you spread them out. Good luck to you.

I've been doing quite a bit of research on this issue myself. I did some before my son was born, but wish I had access to more information at that time. I am currently doing an online course with a lot of information. You can find that info here: http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/vaccine.htm Also on the site you will find information about books and other reading that you may find interesting.

This is a site that I bookmarked:
http://www.informedchoice.info/cocktail.html

These tend to be in the "why I shouldn't vaccinate" category. There is a lot of info out there in the "pro" category too - I just don't have as much of that at my fingertips. ;) Whatever your decision, I applaud your efforts to be well informed. Good luck with whatever you decide.

Ditto Brooke B. Read hers again.

Don't go to the internet for advice (I'm talking about the internet, NOT asking Mamapedia moms for their advice).
You will get information from unreliable sources on the internet. A lot of it!
Doctors have been trained, been through medical school and residency. Trained by professors with years and years of experience.
Why can't we trust our pediatricians? Please refer to yours.
I've gone to the internet to investigate and received sooo much poor unreliable information.

Hi, there! After doing my research, we decided to be a non-vaccinating family. I recommend "Vaccines: A Thoughtful Parent's Guide" and "The Vaccine Book." Blessings to you whichever way you choose, and good for you for doing your research!

http://www.who.int/en/
http://www.cdc.gov/
www.emedicine.com

Dr. Sears who conducted the very flawed study on vaccines and a potential link to autism was later recanted by the publishing journal. The story on this in in the Arizona Republic and I believe it was also on CNN. This Dr. also lost his licence to practice medicine in the UK. There was also a report in the Arizona Rebublic recently showing a link between the age of the mother and an increased risk of children with autism. You can also find on-line the published story 1/2008 in California that shows that when the state removed the preservatives from of the vaccines, the rates of autism actually increased, even when accounting for the broader definition of autism. One such article is on the aafp.org website.

I read as much as I could find when my children were born 16 and 14 years ago. At the time, I knew a woman whose infant had a terrible, near-deadly reaction to a vaccine, which scared me. I felt the risks were not worth it and I also felt bombarding an infants immune system with vaccinations so early didn't make sense (the schedule started sooner back then).

I really want to add something here, because an earlier poster mentions that one of the reasons you need to vaccinate is if you want your kids to go to school. I'm not sure if there are different laws in each state, but in Michigan I've had to sign a waiver stating that my children are not vaccinated. I haven't had to sign one in a few years, but I do remember having to state whether it was for medical, personal or religious reasons.

I will also say that I have never been 100% sure of my decision, and I'm positive that if I HAD chosen to vaccinate, I wouldn't be 100% sure of that decision, either. We all want to be the best parents we can be, and if research and care go into your decision, you are making the best choice you can for your family.

I just wanted to say, the dr's office that I work at, have preservative free vaccinations. They contain no mercury, which is what I've learned is what parents and others are saying cause problems. Maybe do some research on those. HTH and sorry I don't have more to add. I have gotten my two dd's vaccinated. The only one I have not gotten is the H1N1 vaccine. They got their seasonal flu so I felt safe enough with that!

oh wow, you are right, big can of worms, i have had to tell off nurses and other mothers based on my decisions with this. I got my first daughter her first year of vaccines and she had such terrible reactions, coughing up blood and 3 weeks long episode of diarreah and a phase of mental fuzziness that i thought she would never recover from. i havent even attempted to give her any more shots since then and am very apprehensive about certain ones with my new child.

I totally see both sides, i wish there was an easy answer, millions of doctors and nurses will say its important, but way too many moms say it effected their child, and changed them forever. There are more blurred lines with this than any other decision i have made in my 7 years of being a mom.

I print out these papers "exemption from immunizations for reasons of conscience:" from my states health board website, and i have them notarized, this way my daughter can enroll in school.

I worry all the time that i am making a mistake, i never do this (make mistakes), ha ha, jk, i mean (worry that im making one). but one of my number one fears is to bring my child in for a shot, and something turns the light off in her head. i feel she is a very thoughtful bright child, and would die if i ever thought it changed.

but i fear some debilitating fever will take her over as well, and that it will be all my fault because i had access to the tools to protect her.,

I will probably get her certain shots after she turns 10, but i just dont know.

good luck to you on your decision, whatever it may be

If you have always gotten your children vaccinated, why are you concerned about it now? Recently there have been outbreaks of measles in areas where vaccinations tend to be given less often. If you don't want your children to be affected by any of the diseases/illnesses that the vaccinations cover then I would say to get the vaccinations. The article that was published regarding the link between Autism and vaccinations has been discounted and is now known to not be true. Do some research, actual research, not just trusting what other mothers advice is. After you have researched it and have arguments for and against vaccinations then you can form an educated opinion on the issue to determine if it is worth it for you to vaccinate your children.

Here's another post going on this morning about the subject.

http://www.mamapedia.com/questions/6956371761101340673