A lot of you who read this are much more closely related to the medical field than I am, and are also parents which I'm not! But I would love to hear everyone's thoughts on this subject. Lately, I've heard a lot of controversy over childhood vaccinations being linked to the development of autism and other diseases. In fact, I work with a lady who's first child developed a mild form of autism & she believed it was due to his vaccinations as a toddler & therefore, did not vaccinate her other child. I know there's not really any scientific evidence to support this so far, but what do you think? I don't have children yet, so this is something that as a future parent, I want to understand better to be equipped to make an informed decision for my children.
For a recent article on the matter, you can click here
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4 comments:
this is definitely a popular discussion in my line of work. about 75% of the kids i work with have autism. i could go on and on...i believe many things play a factor. i think the main factor is that its a genetic predisposition. my personal belief is that vaccinations combined with that genetic predisposition can trigger autism...especially when several vaccinations are administered at one time. My pediatrician believes it is only genetic...but he respects our concerns and is allowing Jacob's vaccinations to be spread out...only 2 at the most given at one time (they usually administer 4-5 at one time). i also believe overstimulation plays a factor as well (ie. excessive tv/sound/computer exposure at such a young age). again..these are my opinions that come from the population i work with and the pesonal research i have done. Boys are at a higher risk for autism than girls..and right now statistics show 1/150 children have austism...that is staggering! anyway...would love to talk more about it as this is my soap box..sorry if i took up all of your comment space!!!
I would read "What your Dr. May Not Tell You About Childhood Vaccinations." I do agree with the previous poster about multiple factors playing a part in the autism link, including heavy vaccinations (and the "required" schedule is rather heavy).
We haven't vaccinated Nate and don't plan to unless we get the opportunity to visit Tibet and Albania like we hope to. Our reasons were simple: risk vs. benefit. Even without the concern of autism, the fact remains that vaccines are loaded with substances that I wouldn't put near my kid. And even more than that, introducing those kinds of illnesses in children who are so young (as soon as birth for some) is an overload on their systems.
If the diseases at question were prominent in our society and difficult or impossible to treat, it may be worth the risk. However, all of the diseases are very treatable, and if you do get them, you are immune for life. With vaccines, many children still get the diease in question, and sometimes not until later in life when they are more severe.
Read up on it as much as you can, and then decide where the risk vs benefit falls for your family. It is a very personal decision, no matter what the government or pediatricians try to tell you about requirements and "dangers."
just saw this post... chris just walked some friends through this and guided them to some resources. he would be the best to talk to, not me as he has studied much more on this. i think his main advice is that those that are not vaccinatd can hurt those that are. also, he believes you really need to check your sources before believing everything you read. we had friends who were reading all kinds of stuff against vaccinations from some internet site with no credibility. alex is vaccinated and that was a must for chris.
That's very good advice about checking your sources. Conspiracy theorists love to blog (lol). By the same token, doctors can be (not always, but they can be) just as biased and misinformed. The CDC's lack of long-term testing of vaccines as well as the unbalanced reports the drs send to the CDC (vaccinated children who contract a disease such as measles are rarely diagnosed or reported as having that disease) have left me rather wary of their statements.
However, I've never quite understood the idea that unvax'd kids can hurt vax'd kids. I can sort of see it being a concern if the vaccines aren't 100% effective (which they aren't), but for my family, that just solidifies the fact that it's not worth injecting carcinogens and unproven substances into my baby's body.
From the perspective of working in a daycare and seeing chicken pox and whooping cough sweep through the vax'd kids, then later having my child contract measles from a vaccinated child, I have a hard time believing that unvaccinated children pose any greater danger to vaccinated children than the germs normally in the air.
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