I suppose I should tackle this subject at some point because autism seems to bring the most readers to my blog. I guess I should start off by saying all of my kids are vaccinated. I even went so far as to get the flu shot for myself this year. I did it without hesitation. I did it out of desperation.
This subject is not something where I want to tell you what to do. It was a long process for me to get to the point where I made the decision I made. This is my little bloggity do on why I did it. I hope the information helps you on your journey to a decision.
The debate seems to be focused on autism. Here are some points I’d like to point out in that debate…
1. Vaccines most likely do not cause autism. No study DISPROVES the link between the two. They just can’t prove a correlation exists between the two, and the studies that did were debunked. That doesn’t mean vaccines do not cause autism; they still could, but it’s highly unlikely. To add, most evidence supports more of a genetic cause, but there seems to be an overwhelming population of kids on the spectrum being born to families who have no other family member with signs of autism. I would like to see a study done on that portion of the population.
2. Autism is not bad. Stop acting like it is. You are insulting autistic people when you treat autism like the kiss of death.
Here’s a good article for reading. Again I want to clarify that the studies do not disprove a link between autism and vaccination, nor does it DISPROVE a link between autism and MMR. All it does is suggest the link is unlikely because it does not prove a link. There’s a huge difference between saying, “THIS IS PROVEN FALSE” and “THIS ISN’T PROVEN TRUE.” If you find that fascinating, or confusing, I totally suggest taking a college course in Research Methods. I think some doctors may need a refresher course on it as well. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jj-keith/vaccines_b_3829948.html
Let’s assume for a minute (I do this when I’m not sure the accuracy of information), that the “crazies” are right and the MMR vaccine causes autism. If I had to choose between autism and the measles, I’m going to pick autism. There are cases where the measles can lead to death. I’ve not known a case of autism causing someone’s death. Of course we all die eventually, but if you want to compare quality of life, measles kind of suck. To me, the priority is a no-brainer.
When I found myself waiting in the waiting room at my doctor’s office watching their health TV which mentioned the measles outbreak briefly, I saw my one kid, the one allergic to everything, the one who wasn’t vaccinated yet as a result, with the measles. I couldn’t unsee the image my brain for whatever messed up reason created, and yes I let the fear drive me into vaccinating my kid. Because unlike autism, the measles is something you SHOULD be afraid of. Most of the diseases vaccines try to prevent are things you SHOULD be afraid of.
If you can’t look at these pictures, I mean really look at these pictures, then you should probably vaccinate your kids. I say that because these things suck, and they are what vaccinations try to prevent, like if you can’t really look at these pictures and not feel fear of your kid getting it, then you don’t want your kid to get this.
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| MEASLES… CDC/Barbara Rice From http://www.minnpost.com/health/2008/08/measles-report-why-we-still-need-vaccines |
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| This boys at the Cheshire Home for Handicapped Children in Menagesha have suffered extreme deformities from the polio virus. Courtesy of: World Health Organization. Retrieved from: http://www.vaccineinformation.org/polio/photos.asp Caption from http://whatispolio.weebly.com/photos.html |
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| Jaundice is a common symptom with Hepatitis as it affects the liver |
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| An adherent, dense, grey pseudomembrane covering the tonsils is classically seen in diphtheria From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diphtheria |
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| A child “suffering” from the autism spectrum. My child to be exact. Oh the humanity! |
The other argument that got to me in the decision making process for all my children, besides fear, is guilt. To not vaccinate is a very selfish deal because some kids cannot get vaccinated. Vaccinations are not safe for everyone. You can read this story about how the Hep B Vaccination was deadly for this family.
If your kid has some medical reason to not get vaccinated, the only protection for that kid from these diseases is the herd mentality of the rest of us vaccinating our kids. Why? That reduces the chances of an unvaccinated kid getting infected by not bringing them a disease to get infected with. Even my doctor mentioned that me getting the flu shot helps reduce risks of my kids getting the flu by reducing my risks of getting it to pass to them, and if someone can’t get the vaccination because their health already sucks, most likely something like the measles could really complicate pre-existing conditions.
There is another side to this whole herding vaccination concept that says it doesn’t work. They say it’s false information to trick the population into vaccinating. “They” are sometimes people like you and I who took the power of Google to find this out and then inform us all of this great inaccuracy, and “they” are often doctors who questioned the system. Either way, “their” argument usually has some holes to it, and when it comes to “I don’t fucking know who is right!” moments, I generally side with my instinct, which has no logic to it whatsoever. Basically, when logic fails, I stop using it. My instinct in this case says that vaccinations are not 100% safe, nor are they 100% effective, but they are the best we got so far, and no matter how wrong people are on the subject, I think not getting myself sick is good for those around me.
Now the Flu Shot. Why did I even go there? I read everything on it. The amount of crap they put into it. I agree it’s unhealthy, but ever since my kids started public schools, I’ve been sick back to back from August to April. Every time I get over one thing, I catch something else. I do everything for my kids. I have no back up. I have no babysitter. My mother doesn’t come clean my house, or take my kids to school, or pick them up, or help them with homework, or even watch the kids a few hours. My MIL doesn’t. I do that. Sometimes the husband helps. I can’t be sick. My kids are late for school when I’m sick. My kids never do their homework when I’m sick. The house is a mess when I’m sick. We order a lot of pizza when I’m sick. I can’t stand it anymore.
This year it hit me again. After the first week of school, I was sick. Before that infection could turn into bronchitis, I already had symptoms of strep throat. So when I went in for a second round of antibiotics, I was like, “I don’t care if it works. I don’t care if it makes my autism worse. I don’t care what is in it. Give me the flu shot. The chance alone is worth it to me.” I’d give the doc a BJ if he told me his cum was rumored to prevent the flu.
Now my children, they don’t get the flu shot. The oldest is allergic to eggs and nuts. The youngest is allergic to everything. The risk is too high for them, plus studies that most doctors agree with suggest that the flu shot is less effective on young kids and old people. It is most intended for middle aged people, like myself. So knowing that all the little kids and all the old people in nursing homes, even if they do get the flu shot, it probably wouldn’t work, the best thing for them is for people like me to not get sick, and if the flu shot is effective somewhat for my age group, why not? Vitamin C and Zinc are good too.
Arguments I found against vaccinating:
Vaccines do not cause autism, but some people think they do, and some information out there dressed up as something professional will tell you it does. Not to mention, Jenny McCarthy said it did. It wasn’t an issue for me because autism runs in my family, and we have autism pride. My grandfather has Asperger’s, and with that, he survived WWII and helped invent Spandex. There’s a machine at Mobay or Bayer that they still use that he invented. His Asperger’s throws his IQ off the charts into a world of boring special interests. I know Asperger’s doesn’t make you a genius, but in my family, all with Asperger’s have a higher IQ. It doesn’t do anything to us but make us feel lonely.
I saw studies that showed a correlation between vaccinations and allergies and asthma (for instance, this article from a biased source). When I thought about it, allergies are an immune situation, and vaccines touch the immune system. But the National Centre for Immunisation says otherwise. I went into vaccinating my kids under the belief that it could cause allergies and asthma in their future.
I don’t think vaccines are 100% safe. I really don’t trust the medical community. They are profit-seeking ventures. I have been hustled and lied to by doctors and nurses. Some of them have the intelligence of a door knob. I view the pharmaceutical industry to be a legalized Mexican Drug Cartel. The FDA is bought and paid for by these huge companies, and clinical trials are not ethical when you really read them. Not all side effects are listed or claimed, and I occasionally see those articles to cures to diseases out there that go undeveloped because it would hurt the profit margin to treating those diseases on a life-long level. The medical community have destroyed their reputation as a credible science. When you hear your nurse friend complain of another 3 deaths at her nursing home due to the fact they did not have enough nurses because the corporation cut back to cut costs, or because a group of nurses decided to have a pizza party and lie about temps on the charts or they couldn’t get a doctor to agree with them to send the patient to the ER.. It’s really hard to think that no matter how smart these doctors think they are, they aren’t looking out for our best health interests. So when they say, “Vaccinations are safe,” you can’t trust them, especially when you say, “She has allergies, how can we test to see if she’s allergic to vaccinations before administering them,” and they don’t know how. When a doctor’s answer to a concern is, “That’s such a small percentage, I doubt your kid falls under that category,” you question the doctor’s ability to be a doctor.
My smartest friends from school, the 4.0 students who went on to Harvard and Yale, who are considered the wealthy elite for my area… it’s trending in their community not to vaccinate. The smartest people I know offline do not vaccinate. That spoke volumes to me. They also home school.
Places were saying they weren’t effective, but when I dug deeper, the flu vaccination isn’t that effective against all forms of the flu (they only hit the strands they think will trend), but all those vaccinations required by law to get your kid in school had better stats.
Why I vaccinated:
I feared the diseases vaccines prevent more than the perceived side effects of vaccinations.
I wanted my kids in public school.
Real science seems to back up vaccinations.
Guilt. I didn’t want my kid interfering with an immuno-compromised kid dependent on the herd community. I don’t think I could live with myself if my grandfather, for instance, contracted an infectious illness from my kid because my kid wasn’t vaccinated.
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