Thanks for being a mom w/ an "effing" brain. This whole "mother's intuition" about not vaccinating kids, because it causes Austism...Please...cherry pick and ye shall find whatever the hell you want.

After this I think you should follow up about the "Mother Warrior" Jenny McCarthy and her huge campaign about "Green our Vaccines", which if she ever stopped to actually look at facts and science she would shut up...Funny thing about Jenny McCarthy is that in the same breath she denounces vaccines she says she can't live w/o Botox...does she not know what Botox is...its botulism...a neurotoxin..she is putting it in her face...WTF...I digress...actually No I don't...can you use this blog to speak on it...maybe help another mom not be lured into the "Hollywood" of her campaign...and her partner...Jim Carrey, whatever...he just wants to get laid...

At this point it's important for people who don't legitimize their "opinion" w/ high quality research from legitmate sources...like the AMA...should shut their mouths!!!! (Do they even know what the scientific method is...no you can't pray about it, you actually get an answer from testing a hypothesis through experimentation...its not magic people)

Stop counting on us logical and educated parents, vaccinating our kids to protect yours....idiots....its basically child abuse, like parents who put their kids on a Vegan diet...WTF....

If you don't vaccinate your kids...can you do us all a favor and stop redproducing....Thanks.

Great post...

I guess what I don't understand is how when I was born and vaccinated, autism wasn't as large of an issue (and the number of kids with autism wasn't nearly as numerous), but that now it is. Have they changed the vaccines offered to children now? Are the live viruses different?

I can sympathize with the concern and need to blame someone if a child becomes autistic shortly after a vaccination, but unless there were radical changes to the way they are now developed, it just seems like perhaps its something else altogether that causes autism. Maybe it's the food we are eating. Maybe it's our paint. Maybe it's the environment. It could be anything.

I understand it's a personal choice, and as someone who is pregnant, I've made the choice to vaccinate my unborn child so that they and their classmates can be safe from diseases I've never known.

I tried to read as many of the posts that I could to see if someone mentioned one of the reasons I had my children vaccinated. I am a working mother of four. I did not have the time to stay home in the event that kids came down with these childhood diseases. It's nice if you are a stay at home Mom to tackle all these childhood diseases. With four kids, I don't think I would have liked to do that with all there is to do anyway. We did have the chickpox go through the gang and luckily it went through the day care too so we got to bring our kids back earlier than usual. My third son did have a reaction to one of his shots which caused him to have a fever and then a grandmal seizure. That was quite scary, but the doctor said that that reaction was common and they just adjusted what he got in the next series of shots.

Also I don't know if this is all over the US, but here in California, before entering the 6th grade our children have to get vaccinated for hepititus. And even though I am 54, I choose to take care of myself rather than get a flu shot, as I had a friend that had a really bad reaction from that shot, which left him disabled.

One of the comments was it was common that the people who don't vaccinate their kids home school. But don't those kids go out in their neighborhoods and out in the world like to the market with their Mothers? I don't think that home schooled kids stay home all the time.

I agree with you 100%. I'm pregnant right now, due with my little girl on June 9, and she will receive all of her shots, as recommended by the medical profession.

I worked for a number of years in the field of autism research, and there is no connection ever proven between the onset of autism and the vaccines. The symptoms of autism display themselves between a year and three years of age, around the same time as some vaccines, so of course, people looking for a "reason" for autism, jump to the conclusion that one caused the other. Scientific study after study have proved this conclusion wrong, but for some people, that is not enough.

I agree that those people who decided not to vaccinate their kids are putting everyone else at risk, its a very selfish thing to do.

Here in New York, most day care centers will not accept kids into their programs until they have been vaccinated, and you certainly can't register your child for public school without proving they have had their vaccines, so all those NY parents are doing is delaying the inevitable, as they will have to immunize by the time their kids are in kindergarten, unless they are planning on home schooling. Of course, the dangers for a child before kindergarten age are still very real, and parents should really think about what they are doing...not just to their children, but to everyones children.

I appreciate you being so honest and forward about this. Its a very touchy subject for some people. Your willingness to take the leap, knowing that it would alienate people is the reason I like to read your site. Thank you.

If there were a smallpox outbreak, would the non-vaccinating parents run to get their kids vaccinated at that point? What about polio? I would bet my life they'd be lined up because many of these people have never experienced growing up and seeing people die from diseases that can be prevented.

Having lived in 3rd world countries before, I've seen the effects of polio, mumps, and death by "simple" childhood diseases and I thank God everyday that we have the opportunity to keep our children safe by giving them vaccines. I would never in my mind consider not vaccinating my children.

I also had a close friend who lost a baby in utero after being exposed to measles, by a child she taught in her class who was exposed and of course, he was not vaccinated.

I'm totally with you on this one Heather. My husband didn't want to vaccinate our now almost 6 month old child and I refused to budge on that. My heart breaks for parents of autistic children, but there is no scientific evidence that vaccines are causing autism. There is tons and tons of scientific evidence that vaccines save lives. I work in global health and know that millions of children around the world die every day because they don't have access to these life saving technologies. And you're right about herd immunity. It becomes ever more important in this day and age when parents make the (in my opinion, irresponsible)decision not to vaccinate. I think some of this stems from the fact that we haven't seen children die from these diseases in the US in our generation, but they are still around and killing children daily all over the world. And with increasing globalization, we are exposed to them, even if we don't travel to a part of the world where they still exist. Thanks for never being afraid to bring up the hard but important topics.

I've always thought of George Santayana's quote in connectin with immunization: "those who do not remember the past are doomed to repeat it".

People used to die from a lot of these diseases, or be seriously affected. People still do. The risk from the vaccine is much less than the risk from the disease - heck, it may even be less than the risk of driving your children to the doctor's office.

Great post, Heather, and very well put. Best wishes!

I read that story re: the family exposed via the child who traveled to Switzerland. There was an NPR story about it and the mother who had the 10-month-old said she believed that families had the right not to vaccinate, but only if they all moved to their own infectious disease island.

I vaccinated my daughter (almost 1) and will continue to do so. I declined Hep B since she's not at risk but I will vaccinate her at a later date.

For me, some of it is about doing right. If I didn't vaccinate my child and she caught something, I am lucky enough to have a job that has sick time, vacation time, and paid FMLA leave. My husband has the same. We could care for our sick child without losing our home.

But we live in a poor city -- Baltimore -- where many people do not have that luxury. As most low-income wage earners (the majority of whom are women) have NO sick time or vacation time, caring for a sick child on a long-term basis could mean economic disaster.

That's why herd immunity is important. It isn't just about you and your choices -- it is about participating in a common good that protects all of us.

As a kid, I nearly died of a staph infection that started with chicken pox. If I hadn't had a really vigilant mom, she may not have noticed something was wrong with me when she did (at that time, not much was known about staph, and it was killing people in as little as three days), and I would have died because of a chicken pox complication.

I don't have children, but when I do, they are getting a full run of vaccinations, most likely on a modified schedule. Even chicken pox.

Wow, I'm so encouraged by the even keel kept by this post and all the comments. It makes me want to be a more active commenter.

So, I'll comment: I agree with Heather.

And I'll add: I think viewing parenting through a world lens (e.g. Heather's luxury comment) is a great way to get perspective on other important issues, like out-of-hospital birth and so-called sleep training.

With regards to the comments earlier about Gardasil- Do your research people! When you first see the commercials you think "Yeah, sure, why not?" or at least I did until I had to do a piece on it for the paper that I write for. People going into ANY type of vaccination blindly are simply stupid. You can't make ANY decision without the facts.
Read about Merck other "wonder drug" vioxx. Understand what you are putting into your body and why.
As for the "mandatory" vaccination of children- if you chose to not vaccinate against contagious diseases, you are in effect putting every other child around you at risk. You have made the vaccination decision for them as well as for your own child.

I vaccinated my daughter and will vaccinate my second daughter when she is born and old enough to start vaccinating. With Madilyn she had no reactions to any of the vaccinations so I don't feel worried about doing so with my second child.

I'm not sure how it is in the states but in Canada (well, BC where I am from) I've been told that if your child does not have all current immunizations they are unable to enter the school system.

I am not anti-vaccine. I would LOVE to believe that everyone who makes the decisions at the CDC & the pharmaceutical companies truly have my childrens' best interests at heart. I think we all know this is not the case - just look at the "stock" of a pharmaceutical company & you will see what they are really in it for: $$$$$.

My fear about these issues came when my NEWBORN son had a severe reaction to the anti-biotic jelly that was put in his eyes immediately after his birth by c-section. I had never questioned dr's before that happened. Only then did I find out what an ineffective & antiquated practice it was to administer this antibiotic to EVERY baby. Any infection that MIGHT be developed in a few babies was easily treatable with antibiotics AFTER they developed an infection. And most babies end up with conjunctivitis BECAUSE of this practice.

I no longer trust these entities who do most of the things they do for the financial benefit. I do vaccinate but on a schedule that works for OUR family. My fear with any of the issues related to vaccinating is that there is so much conflicting "evidence" out there - each person as sure of their side as the opposing - each with as convincing evidence. With the AMAZING amount of money provided the pharmaceutical companies with almost NO risk to them (the government has made them absolved of responsibility for any adverse reactions) - I honestly don't believe we will ever know the absolute truth on this subject. If autism is NOT linked to vaccinations, then why aren't they trying to find out WHAT IS causing this outbreak??? Instead it is only about making sure they are not responsible & "too bad, so sad" for all these families who's lives have been devastated.

It wreaks of the same absolution OJ Simpson had to "find the real killer".

Also wanted to add real quick, while I don't have kids, I do have cats. My cats are indoor only, and have not been immunized. And while different vets I have been to have occasionally had concerns:

"You really should at least do a rabies shot just in case your cat ever gets outside."
"I live on the eighteenth floor. If my cat gets outside, she's got more important things to worry about."

My cats have never been really sick.

That said, they are cats. I don't take them on public transportation or vacations or even walks around the block. With a kid, I would think this would be a lot different, even if just based on potential exposure to all the diseases out there.

I don't have kids so perhaps my opinion is of the "doesn't really get it" variety, but my view towards vaccinations is pretty definite. Refusing to get one's kids vaccinated seems selfish and entitled, esp. since the parents who seem to debate this are w/in a certain socio-economic class, one that is less likely to be harmed by diseases (better nutrition ad healthcare and job situations for time off w/ a sick child) and more likely to spread them (travel via airplane).

I understand that vaccines are an easy scapegoat for a number of diseases. But an apparent link doesn't imply a causal one. And I think we're really rather spoiled and naive about communicable diseases after such a lull in pandemics. Yes, it's good to hold government and biomedical firms accountable for what they're doing and why, but it's also important to realize that vaccines in general have prevented a hell of a lot of suffering. Ever heard of smallpox? How about polio and iron lungs?

Frankly, if I were a parent, I'd be far more concerned about kids being exposed to environmental toxins in paints, new mattresses and bedding, vinyl, etc., that actually have been linked (unlike vaccines) to things like SIDS and autism.

"...an unease at what might logically happen if more and more parents refuse vaccinations, even if that refusal is well researched"

Hopefully, what would happen is that it would become financially profitable for the companies who make vaccines to willing produce safe and healthy vaccines, in order to win back their customer base. Our first job as a parent is to protect OUR children. Anyone who thinks that these companies are putting our children's best interests first is crazy... the bottom line is how quickly can they get something to market in order to make money.

What an amazing post. This is a delicate topic but I commend you for recognizing this and still bringing it up for discussion.

I am a mother to a one year old boy. When we found out we were having a boy I did a lot of research on alternative schedules based on the much higher rate of autism in boys.

We have chosen to vaccinate our son but like many other parents, he is on an alternative schedule where he only receives two shots at a time. We did opt to skip the flu shot this past winter and I was worried we would regret that decision, but at this point he has not had the flu.

I think the more parenting experiences that are shared the better decisions we as parents can make.

Thanks for sharing your gift of writing, fellow Tennessean.

The strongest, most well articulated argument I've heard that vaccines may be related to autism in some children was presented by David Kirby in his book, Evidence of Harm. (http://www.evidenceofharm.com/) Even in this extremely convincing report, it is clear that
a) only some children are affected
b) vaccines alone are not the cause, there seems to be something within the child that makes them sensitive, and that might be triggered by other environmental factors
c) there are ways to vaccinate without exposing your child to the risks (thimerosal free vaccines, modified schedules, etc.)
d) the risk of diseases associated with not vaccinating your child is FAR worse than the risk of autism that may or may not be associated with vaccinating

While I am a strong proponent of the idea that thimerosal MAY have played a role (not the whole cause) in SOME autism cases, I cannot at all understand why a mother would endanger her child and others by not getting vaccinated at all. I think as a mom you have a responsibility to find the safest option for your child. To me, this means doing the research and making adjustments accordingly. The research clearly shows that vaccines have eradicated diseases in the past, that countries without vaccines have higher child mortality rates, and that there are ways to avoid the dangers (that may or may not be real) simply by modifying schedules or asking for preservative free vaccines.

Once again, it seems the answer is all about moderation. Reacting out of fear is rarely a good solution.

If you have a happy, healthy pregnancy, thank the Pediatritian who vaccinated the other children you've been exposed to. So many of the illnesses we vaccinate against aren't too bad for the young'uns, but are killer if you're an adult.

I see immunizations not only my responsibility to my children, but to future generations via their parents as well.

I have to wonder -- are the rates of Autism adjusted for the increase in population? 1 in 10 doesn't sound as bad as 10 in 100, but it's all the same. Are the rate increases actual and factual? I don't know -- didn't go to school for that. All I know is if there are more persons out there who have not been vaccinated, the risk certainly goes up, and I'm all for protecting me and mine.

i apologize if this is a similar post to anyone else's, as i haven't gone back and read all the comments.

i just wanted to put my perspective on choosing to vaccinate or not:

we vaccinated our son for whopping cough and rotavirus (that one was particularly wful for him and us) and polio and tetanus (i think).. all the ones the recommend for under 1 because for the wee small babes, some of those diseases can be pretty scary or require hospitalization and we just felt it was better for us to go with the vaccines. we did hep b because he was going to daycare, although i think that is a pretty ridiculous vaccine to give to infants. we just did that one because we got scared into it.

we haven't done the vaccine for chickpen pox, measles, rubella, or mumps. none of these are life threatening or cause hospitalization except in rare cases. we're going to have his titers checked for these in a few years and get the vaccine(s) for anything he hasn't contracted.

my reasoning: the immune system needs to be challenged to be strong. as a phd immunologist (not bragging, just trying to explain my background), i am particularly concerned about the sudden rise in allergies -- how related is this to the fact that we aren't exposed/don't get to "battle" bugs like we used to? the rampant use of vaccines and anti-bacterial soaps means that we are living in an incredibly sterile enviroment. that's great for germaphobes, but not so great for our immune systems. what is this going to mean for us later in life? will there be higher incidences of autoimmune diseases and/or cancer in addition to this sudden rise in allergies because our immune system is not used to doing its job?

we take very seriously our decision not to vaccinate our son and we are very careful about his exposure to people and especially infants or children who do not have a similar philosophy if we suspect our son is sick with anything besides a common cold.

i just wanted to put this out there because i think it is a little bit different of a reason than why many people say they aren't vaccinating.

I chose to immunize my son. I like to travel, we live in a city with a lot of tourism and a large immigrant community. He went to public schools. We sometimes use public transportation.

He began showing signs of autism in toddlerhood, after his 12 month checkup where I was shot up with a ton of vaccines.

Maybe that caused his autism, maybe it didn't. I'd rather have an autistic child than a dead child. Yes, it's hard to parent him. But I get to parent him.

Thank you so much for your post! It is refreshing to hear someone else discussing the same concerns that I've had for years about NOT immunizing children nowadays. Both of my kids have been current on all their vaccinations and I'm so thankful to have the option to protect them from these awful diseases. I honestly don't believe there is a link to autism, rather it's just a fad that everyone is doing. My niece was born autistic and she has never had a vaccination in her life.

Ditto Heather, Ditto.

Bravo!!!! I am 37 weeks pregnant and there are so many issues out there that I never gave a second thought to before peeing on that stick. And now? Yeah, now I will take any info and opinions I can get my swollen hands on. Thanks for being brave enough to express yourself on such a controversial issue. It makes a first timer feel not so alone....

I wonder what the studies will show a few years from now when we have enough unvaccinated children to see how many developed autism even though they were NOT vaccinated?

I don't believe that the link to autism is due to vaccinations so much as a link to multiple vaccinations. As has been pointed out, most of the Baby Boomers were vaccinated and did not have as many (if any) multiple vaccines......it could also be the additives in our foods, as those did not exist either............let's do a REAL study and not just jump to conclusions based on fear.............

I agree with all of you who have said that I would rather have an autistic child than a dead child.......for me, there is no choice.

Thank you for speaking out on this, Heather. Sometimes all the "we can all make whatever choices we want and do what works for our family and celebrate each other as mothers" talk is just bullshit. Someone else's decision to cosleep or bottle feed or whatever doesn't impact me and my family at all. I might think someone is a quack, but my opinion doesn't matter.

But the vaccination issue is not just about individual choices - it's about public health. And all the latest research (see the three February decisions handed down by "vaccine court" where the burden of proof was as low as it could possibly be) doesn't even support the claims of most of these anti-vaccine parents. If you CAN vaccinate your kid, then you SHOULD.

I'm with you, Heather.

I've only skimmed 2 pages of comments (you people sure can write alot!) but here's what it comes down to for my family. We read about vacs before son was born, and had some concerns about the unknowns involved, but the benefits of vaccinating outweighed the risks.

We've chosen instead to live our life in a way that we are careful about the chemicals we come in contact with in our daily life--e.g., eat a partly organic diet, minimize household chemicals (cleaning products, furniture, mattresses), etc.

I spent a good portion of my undergrad schooling studying autism and looked into the link between it and vaccinations. From what I've learned, it seems a lot like the link between BPA and hormone problems in children: They've been unable to successfully and demonstrably replicate lasting negative effects in humans.

There's just the hint of a link. A whisper of fear, and that whisper is enough to make many people stop and think.

If your child has a sensitivity or allergy to something in the vaccination, it's definitely understandable to choose an alternate route. I agree with you that if mothers witholding vaccinations from their children because of vague fears is irresponsible.

If my child caught measles or any of the other diseases we have vaccinations for because someone decided it was unnecessary, that is unconscionable. If you want your own kid to be open to these preventable diseases that's your business. Don't make it everyone else's.

I am about to become a first time mother and I expect I will approach vaccinations as I've approached everything about my pregnancy to date: get educated. By get educated, I don't mean googling "child vaccinations" and reading the first couple of blogs or articles about Jenny McCarthy that come up to form an opinion. I mean, actually seak out reliable resources from knowledgable university researchers and practitioners who have expertise beyond annecdotal reports from distraught parents or case reports of individual children. To be truly informed, we all need to really question the validity and quality of the information that we use to form our opinions. I choose quality research over celebrity gossip any day.

Oh and I should have added that IMO, an illness that can be fought and won is more acceptable to me than a lifetime of autism. My mother had small pox when she was pregnant with my sister. Neither of them suffered any effects of the disease but just recovered easily. I had the mumps, also recovered without any problems. My sister had chicken pox, recovered. I could go on and on to other family members but you get my drift.

I have vaccinated my children. If there has been a breakdown in the system somewhere due to the significant increase in vaccines or the ingredients in them, does anyone out there honestly think the vaccine companies would EVER admit fault. NO WAY! Vaccines are big business. Follow the buck. No matter what study comes out linking vaccines in ANY way to autism, (and there are already plenty) the AMA and the Pharmaceutical industry will always say it is flawed. Everyone should educate themselves and make the best decision for their family.

I really appreciate your stance on this as I feel the same way. I do understand the other side of this argument yet also realize that my child's health is at risk as well of many others. Thank you for expressing so wonderfully what I think we all feel as parents... pain for our child and every other child out there.

Two good podcasts debunking the connection between vaccines and autism:

Quackcast: http://preview.tinyurl.com/cd5vtf
Skeptoid: http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4055

Regarding Chicken Pox - I WILL vaccinate my future children from this. Shingles are horrible, as my grandmother has proven to me for the past 6 months she's had them (and still not over them).

The Chicken Pox may only be an itchy week or so, but breaking out in Shingles, for 6 months or so, when you are 88 is miserable.

Vaccinations are a good thing, people are lucky to have them. Delayed, on schedule, when ever.

Thanks, Heather, for your comment about it being a "first world luxury" to reject vaccinations. I work for the GAVI Alliance (http://everychild.gavialliance.org) and think that more people need to understand that 2 million children die each year from diseases that vaccines can prevent.

Their parents don't love them any less than I love my daughter, and they struggle to give their children the best they can, as do I. But they happen to live in countries where routine health care is not an option for them. And they die as a result.

I've never seen anyone argue against vaccinating children in poor countries. Why is that? Are we less worried that they will get autism? Or is it that the benefits of vaccination to society CLEARLY OUTWEIGH the alternative?

This is my first time commenting - and I'm SO in agreement with you on this topic. My grandmother was the youngest of eight children. Only she and her eldest brother lived to adulthood, because of common childhood illnesses that killed all of her siblings. I fully vaccinate my daughter, because my father remembers my grandmother's lifelong grief.
I have a good friend who refuses to vaccinate her daughter, and they've traveled overseas several times. It was a shock to her that I didn't want her non-vaccinated toddler in my house when my daughter was a newborn. It had honestly never occurred to her that a non-vaccinated child could be a danger to a newborn. Not that this changed her mind, of course.

Thank you!!! I also firmly believe in vaccinations. With a family full of doctors, even though I can empathize with parents concerned about "side-effects" from vaccinations, the bottom line is these vaccinations have helped terrible, painful, devastating illnesses disappear. Refusing vaccination is playing with fire...

I think people need to step back and look at the full picture. Certain children may develop/be more prone to side effects from vaccinations, but why? Maybe these children were exposed to other toxins in our environment that MADE them more hyper-sensitive... I'm only 34, but when I was a child, asthma, food allergies, other sensitivities... RARE. However today, those afflications are more common than not.

I hope medicine can reach a point eventually where a child could be tested for sensitivities towards vaccinations...

I had my daughter vaccinated on my doctor's recommended schedule, for the concerns raised here. What made it an easy decision for me was her assurance that her office no longer used vaccinations with mercury in them. We shouldn't have to choose between exposing our children to a known toxicant - the heavy metal mercury - and risking their health from infectious disease.

As an environmental health advocate, my passion is to protect people from toxic chemicals. Whether or not mercury in vaccines can be linked to autism (a subject of much debate), it does affect our bodies, and is hard to excrete.

I encourage all parents to talk with their doctors about mercury-free vaccinations.

WORD.

Great post! I am a newlywed and hope to begin the baby journey in the near future. All the information out there is staggering! I totally agree with your post. If i had a child who was too young to receive shots, and my child got sick because another mother refused to vaccinate her child I don't think I could forgive her. Vaccinations are there for a reason and that is to protect!

Jen
www.afterthealter.com

Heather I LOVE YOU. I LOVE YOU. That is all.

No, it's not - look, if you ever find yourself in West Yorkshire please let me know and I will happily stand you your own bodyweight in cakes and fine wines. Honest.

I completely agree with your opinion. i'm currently living in Slovakia, a country that vaccinates children against tuberculosis. For all the times I've had to be tested for TB while in the US, i wonder why we don't do this vaccine. And this past october, when i was sick with a lung problem that lasted a month, i had to wonder if i would be one of those few at risk for catching a serious illness in a country protected. Anyway, bravo, excellent writing as per usual!

That was a great Momversation all around, Heather! As someone who lives a slightly different life that some may consider "conspiracist" and also someone recently concerned with the possible negative health affects of childhood immunizations, the video was of great help to me, and triggered an interesting thought. My brother and I were both vaccinated successfully, and up to this point, I still plan to have my own children vaccinated - and why not? With this greater health awareness that we have, and with the amazing strides that attentive parents are making for their autistic children, there is no reason to not vaccinate.

While I take a strong position against scientific "advances" like genetically altered foods (which my family has developed an intolerance for), these vaccines (if used for the betterment of mankind, and not the control of) are a blessing.

Do vaccinators keep their recently vaccinated child away from babies and the elderly? The MMR is a live vaccine that sheds, which means your vaccinated child could also infect someone. What about the parents? Vaccinations don't last forever. Has everyone received their recommended boosters?

The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program has paid over 1.5 billion to children and families that have been harmed by vaccines. Vaccines do harm some children, it's a fact.

I think I would feel worse if my child is injured by a chemical I shot into her body rather than injured by a sickness she caught naturally. That said, we will vaccinate because I do think they are important, but not until the twins are 2 years old. It has nothing to do with autism or not wanting to see my babies get a shot. It has to do with the blood-brain barrier not being fully developed until the middle of their first year and the amount of chemicals they would receive.

The same amount of chemicals would have been put into my preemies as a full term child. At 2 months my girls weighed 6 and 7 pounds. When I asked if they would adjust the dosage for their size, I was told no. When I questioned why, I was told they just don't. No further explanation, no reassurances, just a nope, we don't do it. I have the same conversation every time we go for a well baby visit.

My twins (15 months) have had 1 ear infection that was gone within 3 days treated with garlic oil. They have never been on an antibiotic. They do not have asthma, allergies or constant colds. I do not keep them in a bubble, they play with other children and yes, I do ask Moms if their child has received any recent vaccinations before we go on a playdate. I have yet to meet a vaccinated child that has the health record my children do.

Please do not blindly follow the CDC schedule or what your favorite blogger says, do your own research.

Great post! It is such a controversy now & a personal choice. My daughter is 7 and while there was some talk back then of not immunizing it wasn't anything like today. Therefore, we immunized her, with no problems. We have never given her the flu shot though and I have to say that many people think we are bad for not doing it. Again, a personal decision but I have learned to just keep that to myself. I am not sure what I would do if I were to have a baby now. Lots of reading and studying, of course. Thanks!

Well, it seems most people agree with you, so looks like the herd is good and strong.

I do feel that it's a luxury to not vaccinate...one that I am opting for. My kid has anaphylactic food allergies and the more research I read, the more convinced I am that the vaccines he did get are a contributing factor. Severe food allergies have become more and more common as the schedule has become more compact. In countries that start big vaccine campaigns the same thing is being noted...especially with HIB and peanut allergies. It messes with those people who have a propensity toward allergies and might make those reactions more severe.

I'm not just some dumb crack-pot like many of your readers suggest (see "602. Stephanie", for example). I have my PhD in a scientific area and I've read more articles on allergies and food allergies than anyone I know.

There is some scary stuff that I hear from my friends at the CDC (we live in Atlanta, so I know many)...stuff the can't publish, but that they are aware of...about things like hormones in standard milk. Sometimes there really are conspiracies...more likely by the money grubbing pharm. companies.

Do your research. And do what's right for you family.

Dr. Wakefield has been attacked here. He's currently working at The Thoughtful House in Austin, Texas. From the website...

"Is Dr. Wakefield anti-vaccine? Is Thoughtful House?

No. The researchers and clinicians at Thoughtful House are searching for answers to the biological origins of childhood developmental disorders. One area of research involves determining if there are children with a genetic predisposition that makes them more vulnerable to adverse vaccine reactions. If so, we (medicine and society) need to identify those children and offer them a safer vaccination program (for instance, spacing standard inoculations over time).

Autism is not a gift. It's a tragedy.

In the meantime, it is the belief of Thoughtful House that parents have the right to be informed of the benefits and risks of all vaccinations, in order to make informed healthcare decisions with their child's doctor."

You can check out their press releases here - http://www.thoughtfulhouse.org/pressrelease.php - and snoop around the site if you choose.

I'm not anti-vaccination. I believe parents need to do their homework and know their family histories. If auto-immune diseases have occurred within your family, a revised vaccination schedule might be a simple safeguard.

Excellent post, Heather. You captured my feelings on the subject better than I ever could.

First world luxury indeed! I am AMAZED that this is even a topic of discussion there. In our 'third world country' we are trying so hard to get everyone immunised and reduce children dying. I understand that there may be fears (whatever you have mentioned) but I just can't wrap my head around the fact that people would refuse vaccinations. No offence to those who do, but wow. First world luxury indeed.

i completely agree with you on this matter.
i am from switzerland, where we continue to have a measles problem and many people choose not to vaccinate their children. every now and then someone calls for vaccines to be made compulsory.
for one, i believe that there are still a lot of people who believe the autism fallacy. on the other hand, i still hear older people go on about how those childhood diseases are simply a part of growing up, showing a complete ignorance of the complications that can arise.
there will always be a hardcore group who is against any vaccines, regardless of what kind, but i sincerely believe many parents are simply mis- or underinformed - or completely confused by all the conflicting information to be found on the net!
i also think that parents should be given the option to split the mmr combo, if they are concerned, and as far as i know you can choose that route, even if you have to specifically ask for it.

Heather, I absolutely agree with your post for the most part. Vaccinations such as MMR have been tried and true for a while now and as a nurse put it to me, the kids who show signs of autism were most likely showing symptoms before they were ever immunised.

However, where I am in New Zealand, a recently introduced vaccination schedule has caused many parents to be very distrusting of vaccinations in general, which is a shame. It is wholly the fault of the New Zealand government in this case.

To give you some background, a new vaccine was introduced for Menningococcal B here and all parents were encouraged to give it to their children. We were assured it was safe and that it had been fully tested in Norway. I, in fact, gave my first 2 children the vaccine, believeing the advertising.

What instead happened was a lot of children became very ill as a result of this vaccine, chronic fatigue disorder being the main problem. On top of that, children who were supposedly now immune ended up getting sick with the disease anyway - a dangerous situation when you think about it as a doctor would cross it off their list of possible problems once they find out the child has been vaccinated.

A journalist then uncovered that the supposed "testing" in Norway had only a 60% success rate, a number not deemed high enough for the Norwegian government to consider adding the vaccine to their schedule. On top of that, a large number of participants who took part in the test also have life-altering sickness as a result of the vaccine.

In short, our children in New Zealand were used as guinea pigs for this ineffective poison. I am now very wary of any "new" vaccine that they bring onto the market due to this humungous stuff up. Many of us will be very selective in future as to what we put in our children's bodies. I thought this was a perspective you'd be interested in hearing about. Sorry it's so long!

Precious were our kids in old days, when every family had many but so many of them died.
Precious are our kids today, when each family has only a few and no stone is unturned, no study or book unread to make them happy, healthy and succesfull in life.

It's good to be critical. Studies, discussion, information: it all helps to refine and improve existing vaccination practice. But taking the decision to give your kids no vaccination at all, to me, seems like throwing good things away and losing sight of the long road we have travelled in health care, and the high mortality rates we battled down over the past 100 years.

I think that is the crux of the issue: "health and safety for all of our children." When one parent makes the choice NOT to vaccinate their child because of real, valid concerns due to allergns or previous ill effects of a vaccination, that is a choice made out of the concern for their child. But once that becomes a movement that says "no one should be doing that because this is the experience I had," it puts every child at risk for something very, very dire.

Heather,

You have articulated the topic with your usual grace and passion. For that I thank you! Yes I agree to vaccinate your (and mine!) children, but might I point out that the vaccination is not perfect and children and ourselves can still get the particualr disease that we have been vaccinated against, granted the chance has been SIGNIFCANTLY reduced, but the possibility is still there.

And for the parents who choose not to vaccinate at all, while they are looking at the reasons not to vaccinate, they should also take in to consideration, what that will mean to the quality of there lives. Even what appears to be a common cold may not be so innocent.

I couldn't get passed the first page of comments before being overwhelmed by the thought that this comment section is just another way to make Mothers more culpable than anyone else in the decisions made on behalf of children. 3 separate commenters said "I would never forgive that Mother" and I am left thinking "well, what about the Father? Would you forgive him? Or was just an innocent bystander?"

I have vaccinated and not vaxed my kids. I have adjusted the schedule and read the research, I agree with some of your points, and don't agree with others. I am a pediatric emergency nurse and with all that said, this can be a slippery slope of Mommy Blame. Another way for women to get blamed for the demise of society.

Thank you for writing this.

I live in San Diego and the measle outbreak here hit close to home. Too many friends had infants at that time, who could not yet be vaccinated and the children who were diagnosed with measles lived and shopped in the same areas of town as us. I was lucky that my son had just turned one year and had been vaccinated, but knowing the risk our friends' infants were exposed to made a lot of us change our mind about the parents who do not vaccinate. We felt they were risking our children’s health.

As the mom of a 3 1/2 month-old, I am scared shitless by the whole vaccination issue. At her 2-month appointment, my little daughter received all the shots on the schedule and promptly woke up screaming from her afternoon nap, with the leg on which she received the DTaP shot red, hot, and swollen. Nothing would calm her down, not even Infant Tylenol, for over an hour. This had me in tears, too, and on the phone with the ped's office, where a nurse assured me in a bored voice that everything's normal. Put a cold compress on the leg; if it doesn't go away in 2 days, call again. Needless to say that I wanted to walk over there with a baseball bat, screaming kid in tow, but wouldn't have been able to find my way through all my tears and snot.

So, I'm dreading her 4-month appointment because, heck, I don't want to see her hurting like that *ever* again. Ideas/ advice is more than welcome.

On the whole, though, and as a European living here now, I do think that this schedule is very aggressive (certainly more so than in my home country, Germany: http://www.babycenter.de/baby/gesundheit/kinderkrankheiten/).

Heather - I agree with you completley.
I'm an Aunt to an Autistic child. Our family has been left wondering (of course) if it was the vaccine or if it was genetic in nature or what else. Yes, we have reason to wonder.
As a new(er) mom, it didn't take much for me to be convinced that immunizing my children was the way to go. My board certified pediatrician, the doctor I selected to care for my children, discussed it with us and there are too many reason to vaccinate your children and for us (living in SoCal) too much risk in not vaccinating.

Bravo Heather! Could not agree more. This is a parenting choice that affects other people's children so it is a *totally* different category from most parenting choices. Why should I have to vaccinate my child to allow other people the luxury of coming to the conclusion that the risk of measles is less than the risk of vaccination (not an assessment of risk I agree with anyway but that is a different point)?! We have a social responsibility to vaccinate and I dislike people dodging that responsibility and ignoring the fact that this dodge has consequences for all of us.

I have a long term friend who has vastly different views on parenting from me (she favours extended breastfeeding, babywearing, co-sleeping etc - I do not). Our differences never caused me a moment's concern (live and let live was my view) until she wanted to bring her unvaccinated son to stay in my house when my son was 9 months old (babies are vaccinated at 12 months in the UK). Then I was stuffing socks in my mouth not to tell her what an irresponsible parent she was.

Thank you! I am so happy you are writing about this subject. My daughter has had all of her vaccinations and I plan to vaccinate my baby (due in October). I totally agree with you that the parents who don't vaccinate are relying on the rest of us to do so- I find this very frustrating.

Science (rigorously conducted, double-blind, independent, scientific studies) has shown no link between autism and vaccines. But you know what? I know a lot of people with autism and they are, in general, rad, interesting, amazing people who march to the beat of their own eccentric drummers. I would way rather have a kid with autism, complete with all the frustrations and challenges, than a kid who is dead from a preventable disease. It really all boils down to prejudice and people with disabilities are extremely stigmatized in our society. I think that as soon as we start accepting autistic people for who they are and devote our resources to improving their (and their families') quality of life, this whole vaccine hullabaloo will die down.

Autism is not the end of the world.

While I completely understand your position, my husband and I have chosen to use an alternative schedule of vaccinations for our children. Our pediatrician, and all of the pediatricians in her practice, vaccinate their own children on a different schedule than the one the government suggests. Ultimately, I knew that if my child were to suffer a terrible adverse reaction, that I would not be able to live with myself. The guilt and pain would completely overwhelm me, much the same as it will if any of them contract a preventable illness before they are vaccinated. I take the risk knowing that the herd is helping us. I take the risk knowing that it's a first world luxury. I take the risk knowing that if my circumstances were other, I would weigh those circumstances and possibly make a difference choice. I'm just glad that we live in a place that allows me to still make choices about my own and my children's healthcare. I hope that the freedom afforded all of us will never be revoked.

A! MEN!

I totally and completely agree with everything you wrote in this post. Well said..

I read as many of the comments here as I could, and wanted to comment on a few of them:

24. Lori Cleghon said:

"... But I wonder if it might be a coincidence that this condition close to the age that vaccines are normally administered."

Absolutely. Children are born with Autism. The fact that they begin to exhibit the symptoms coincides with when they're getting a lot of their childhood vaccines is just that, a coincidence, however unfortunate.

56. Anonymous said:

"As the mother of an autistic child I can understand delaying vaccines but not completely eliminating them. After his MMR he changed. He stopped laughing, smiling, and making eye contact then retreated inside himself. Maybe it was the vaccine and maybe it wasn't but if I had it to do over, I would have delayed them and probably omitted a few. If a case of the chicken pox meant my son would still look at me I would gladly take it."

I cried when I read this comment... I'm so sorry your son is unable to share simple joys with you. As a nanny who was taking care of a little boy when he began exhibiting the signs of Autism (and was later diagnosed), I remember when he stopped making eye contact and found it very unsettling. Obviously I cannot totally understand your feelings, as I was not his parent, although I loved him like he was my own. I agree that a case of the chicken pox would be worth having your son back the way he was... out of curiosity (and certainly no judgment), would you say the same thing about a case of the measles?

I personally believe in vaccinating children, and will certainly vaccinate mine when I have them. As for the parents of the little man I used to take care of, they have stated unequivocally that they will vaccinate their future children on the same schedule that their first son was vaccinated on, because they firmly believe that neither the vaccines, nor the 2 episodes of Sesame Street he watched a day (TV - also believed to cause Autism!) caused him to "become" Autistic. He always was... we just didn't know it.

And however heartbreaking it can be at times to have an Autistic child, I would always choose that over a potentially life-threatening disease that we have a prevention for. How lucky we are...

I think we have lost site of the fact that without vaccination our lives as mothers in America would resemble the lives of mothers in Africa - almost every one of us would have experienced the loss of a child or been related to someone who had lost a child, endured months out of every year caring for a seriously sick child and watching their pain and suffering, and been forced to contemplate larger families with all that that entails because we would have had to factor in the potential loss of a child. This is still the reality of life for mothers in Africa, India and Central and South America. Vaccination is a chapter all of its own in the story of growth and development and the quality of our lives as mothers in developed countries. We take it for granted - just ask a poor mother living in Africa or India.

"some ridiculously unnecessary vaccines that will probably hurt our children in the long run more than they will help (I'm talking the chicken pox vaccine mostly)"

The above is an ignorant comment. Chicken pox causes more deaths a year inthis country than any other vaccine-preventable disease: up to 100 per year. in addition 3,000-8,000 children are hospitalized with serious complications from chicken pox like necrotizing pneumonia that can cause permanent lung damage and encephalitis that can cause mental retardation, blindness and deafness. Chicken pox is NOT always a benign disease. And babies under a year of age (who are too young to be vaccinated) are more likely to develop serious complications. So if parents don't vaccinate their older children we will never eradicate chicken pox in this country (like we have done with polio) and infants and others will remain at risk.

I believe vaccinating children is a requirement for the privilege of living in our society. If people don't want to vaccinate they should go live in the third world. And in addition: vaccines DO NOT cause autism.

I would like to wholeheartedly agree with Heather and add another point about the vaccines themselves. I have my concerns too, but my reason for them is the question of has the vaccine been altered over the years for cheaper product or mass production, other reasons, etc? And has this modification caused the side effects? I never hear anyone ask this question. I understand the fear of side-affects but the only and sole reason some of these diseases disappeared in this country is because of the invention of the vaccine. I am in my thirties and was certainly vaccinated and my parents were hippies and are intellectuals and my father is a scientist. They never followed anything just because it is mainstream and they guarded our health like no one's business including what we ate and the air we breathed. But they knew the reason for vaccinating and found it necessary.
I will say that Heather's incredibly well illustrated thought of those not vaccinating counting on us to get vaccinated is a resounding statement and should be echoed everywhere. And it is my reason for always believing the vaccines should stand. And it angers me that those who do not vaccinate don't see this!
I would like to make a point about the animal vaccines as well - as this is my genre. I have yet to hear many people argue that the animals should not be vaccinated at all. The argument in this community so far is whether or not they need to be vaccinated each year. The veterinary doctors I know, who are experts in their fields, will say time and time again that there is no research supporting the need for annual vaccinations regarding if a dometic pet NEEDS them each year. They do contend, as do I, that the pets need the initial vaccines and boosters - JUST LIKE HUMANS! It is the pharmaceutical companies who have, no doubt, pushed for the pets to be annually vaccinated. But, there is a blood test for immunity that has been developed and the idea is that instead of vaccinating every year, you have your pet tested for the immunity. If they have it - no vaccine. But I do not hear very often a call to stop all vaccines in comparison to the call for ending the annual vaccines after initializing and boostering. In fact, an older animal may not even take the immunity if they have never been immunized, so why keep giving them every year after a pet's "childhood?"
So I ask this of people who say we should stop vaccinating children... what if we stopped vaccinating animals too? Including the rabies vaccine? You wanna take that chance? I don't. I love my animals and my neighbors too much.

I really believe each parent does the best that they can for their child, with their child's wellbeing in mind. Do not forget that immunized infants, children, & adults can STILL GET ILLNESSES they are vaccinated for. No one is ever completely immunized, thus the 'booster' concept.

I really feel that acceptance and understanding needs to replace blame on both sides of the issue. Loving parent's intentions are for the good.

I was exposed to late-stage TB while working at a homeless shelter years ago. I never developed TB (yet) as a result of that positive ppd result. I never blamed the homeless woman who utilized the shelter on a regular basis, who exposed me and others. It happened and I dealt with it.

So, good for those who vaccinate! Good for those who don't! Good for those who alter the schedule! I believe you all are doing the best you can for your child.

Parenting is tough, lets support eachother in our common journey instead letting that judgement overcome us.

As for us, we did choose to vaccinate selectively on a alternate schedule.

And to those who said they could "never forgive", wow. Forgiveness is for YOU, not the other person.

I just made the decision to go ahead and vaccinate my now three month old baby. And it was not a decision I made lightly. I researched, and I read and I discussed. I consulted Doctor friend's and a naturopath. And I do NOT regret my decision. The risks associated with vaccinations do exist, and these risks are closely monitored and are very tiny in comparison to the huge risks if my child does get the measles, pertussus, or other illness.

What disapointed me was the very knee-jerk reaction I recieved from the naturopath who I consulted on the subject. "There's mercury in vaccines" she told me. Not true (in Canada the ingredient she's referencing is a preservative derived from a mercury solution that is no longer used in vaccines, not sure about the States). "Vaccines cause autism." And, "if you want information about what vaccines can do to children, talk to a parent whose child was damaged by a vaccine." Very fair and balanced...

I do not regret my decision to vaccinate.

This topic is as polarizing as religion. People can be very close minded just because it's the common belief system held by society/medical society. This, however, does not mean it's the best belief system for our health. Comment by Fiona Taylor is a balanced anti-vaccination comment. I have not vaccinated my children and don't intend on doing so. Vaccinations elicit an immune response, true, but not the same immunity you gain from actually getting the disease. Because the immunity isn't *natural*, now we're seeing an increase in auto-immune diseases. Basically, we shouldn't be messing with how you gain natural immunity. Chicken pox is a good example...most (now there always exceptions, I realize) kids get through it and then have immunity for life. Now that very few of us are being exposed year after year to chicken pox (and thus getting a "boost"), shingles cases are sky-rocketing because we're all losing our immunity to the zoster virus. Anyway, it's a complex subject. There's lots of money at stake (vaccine manufacturers). There are no easy answers, but I would highly recommend spending time researching the anti-vaccine side. (btw, I was pro-vaccine until I had my first child and did extensive research on the "other side").

740 said: Now that very few of us are being exposed year after year to chicken pox (and thus getting a "boost"), shingles cases are sky-rocketing because we're all losing our immunity to the zoster virus.

As I understand it, from having had shingles and researched it well, it's not late exposure and loss of immunity, it's a re-emergence of the original virus in the body still, that went dormant after having had chicken pox as a child.

AMEN. To me, choosing not to vaccinate your child (and counting on everyone else to do it) seems so incredibly selfish, like YOUR child matters, but not anyone else's. I put these people in the same category as people who buy SUVs because they are "safer." They are only "safer" because they crush people who buy smaller cars. What makes you so important?!

I love Chuck.

The reason that autism "occurs" at the same time that vaccinations are administered (and thus why people think they're linked) is because most major vaccinations are FINISHED around the age of 3-4, which HAPPENS to be the same time autism symptoms become apparent and testing can be done.

I'm so tired of hearing that excuse when someone asks why a child died because his/her parents refused to vaccinate him/her.

Thank you Heather for taking on this important topic. I think your approach is a balanced and thoughtful one and really appreciate you tackling it.

I grew up hearing stories from my mother about polio and how frightened her parents were that their children would get the disease. Her memory of this time is so vivid even today - they could not go to swimming pools, friends were getting sick, her parents were frightened - she felt so vulnerable as a young child. I grew up without this fear and my children are doing so as well - in some ways we take healthy childhoods for granted because vaccines are protecting us.

There have been some good comments about how lucky we are to have vaccines and be able to safeguard our children. This is a good point. I know there are places in the world where parents spend hours waiting in line to protect their children with vaccines. Increasingly the vaccines against diseases that are rare in this country are becoming available in poor countries and lives are being saved. Perhaps someday their children will hear about meningitis and pneumonia outbreaks from their parents with the same disbelief we hear about polio. Here's hoping.

BRAVO!!!

I have to admit that I feel a somewhat irrational rage directed at people who do not vaccinate. I am a scientist and I am most swayed by scientific data not anecdotal "evidence". There is absolutely no proven link between vaccinations and autism. I always want to asks someone who chooses not to immunize if they are encouraging everyone else also not to vaccinate. I don't believe that they can honestly say, "Yes, everyone should immediately stop vaccinating their children." If everyone stopped vaccinating then all of these diseases would come back. They only have the luxury of choosing not to vaccinate because almost everyone else does. I find this hugely selfish. We need to consider the Social Contract. We have a moral obligation to our families, but also to society at large.

THANK YOU!!!! It is SO refreshing to hear from women who DO vaccinate. I feel like I'm outnumbered sometimes by these parents who are into believing the government is out to get them. They resist vaccinations, formula, hospital births etc because they think the government doesn't care about them and are trying to kill us all off. I think that's ridiculous and there is more harm then good in NOT vaccinating children. I wish vaccinations were mandatory since this issue affects EVERYONE!!! It should be mandatory to maintain the health of all and keep the diseases from coming back full force.

I totally agree with you Heather. Parents who refuse to vaccinate their children are selfishly taking advantage of the rest of us who DO vaccinate to protect their children. I understand their argument that their child is TOO precious to take even the slightest risk, no matter how miniscule, but they are essentially saying to the rest of us that OUR kids are their safety net and they couldn't give a flying $&*# about our kids.

I am sure I am repeating at least one of the 700+ comments above mine but I can't help but comment anyway...

I applaud you for putting your views, as usual, out front and center. I also happen to agree with you on vaccinations and have vaccinated both of my sons. However, I do feel that the momversation would of been more balanced if there was at least one mom who chose not to vaccine or who had a child with autism. I'm not sure how moms are selected or how it's edited but it would of made more of a lively discussion if it had included those voices.

I am someone who is close to the issue since I have an adorable 6 year old nephew who is autistic. He's still non-verbal and it's yet unknown where on the spectrum he lies. My sister, his mom, did not buy the vaccination connection. Looking back, she can see where her son was different (hard to engage as a young infant, didn't go through a pointing phase).

Now, at the risk of adding to the hysteria, just recently she did see regression in her son after having the Flu vaccine. What's more, his "poop" was mucusey and smelled weird in a pungent way. It's known that children with autism have GI problems but she swears that the smell and texture of this was exactly what he had when he was an infant. After his shots.

It angers me as a mom (and a woman, btw,since historically our personal medical observations have been discounted) that the parents of autistic children are not seemingly taken seriously. That they're observations, while not exactly scientific, are not accounted for in any way that I can see. Vaccines may not *cause* autism but they may inflame whatever neurological anomaly that is the basis of it.

Perhaps this is being researched and just isn't "newsy" enough and this is happening but not reported. Thanks for providing a venue to express this. Now I must be off since my child is demanding my attention...

I don't have kids, but like a previous commenter had to deal with the same decision when I got my puppy. To vaccinate or not vaccinate. The rescue organization we adopted from was very anti vaccine...we went ahead and had him vaccinated. And every time we take him to daycare or the park I am glad we did. When I find out someone hasn't vaccinated I get a bit indignant because of the risk they are putting my dog in.

I know people don't like to equate kids to dogs, but the similarities are unbelievable....I mean..just look at their toys!

Great post Heather...I had never quite looked at it in that way, but totally agree with you on this one!

I know I'm commenting in the 700's now, so this might not get read, but I wanted to put in my thoughts.

I have a 17 year old, 14 year old and 6 year old. When my son (17) was born there was no discussion about any of this stuff. Circumcision, who didn't? Vaccinate, who didn't? But then there were also people not required to wear seatbelts either. So things change. And boy did they when my 6 year old was born. More and more parents were choosing to not vaccinate, books were pouring off the shelves about the negative effects of vaccinating. And suddenly I became my mother! My brain said, "You've raised 2 vaccinated children and they're just fine! You'll vaccinate'em all!" And so I did.

Then came the HPV vaccine. And I had a 12 year old daughter at the ripe age to get it. And I swear to you, when thinking about this I would find myself stopped in the grocery store aisle unable to move - should I or shoulnd't I? The vaccine was new! Were the side effects really known? What was I exposing my child to? And why the hell did I have to make this decision? I was finally talked into it by my gynecologist. He insisted all 3 of his daughters would be getting it. So I did it. And I held my breath - for, like, a week. I'm still on the fence about it, even though I did it. I have a 6 year old daughter and I'll have to make the decision again and I could not tell you today that I would do it again. For me it's the newness of it. The idea that my 12 year old daughter and her friends were the first generation to receive it is just too much for my brain.

It's definitely an individual decision, and I think as long as you make an informed decision that's the best parenting you can do.
/Sabrina

I struggled with this issue when my daughter was a baby (she is almost 13 now) as there was so much information on both sides. In the end I did decide to have her vaccinated. I must admit I am somewhat leery of some of the newer vaccinations. I didn't want to have her immunized against chicken pox but her Dad did and so she was. She got the chicken pox anyway from another child (very mild case) but two years ago she came down with shingles. I know this could happen at any time and I'm not blaming the vaccine...it has just left me with a lot of questions. I had no problem vaccinating for measles, rubella, mumps, pertussis, etc. I just was questioning the chicken pox vaccine and I guess I still do.

As a nearly-graduated Deaf Education major, I can't help but notice not only the life and death risk to infants that many childhood diseases represent, but also the risk to pregnant women and their fetuses. Fetuses can not only suffer hearing loss from certain diseases acquired by the mother during pregnancy, but can have severe developmental changes and even die. I could never forgive myself if I exposed someone and their precious unborn child to such a risk. I completely agree with the "herd" approach to vaccinate everyone able and pretty much everything you said in your post. And my personal way of living is to base major decisions as much on science and empirical data as possible, rather than unprovable fears of conspiracy theories and vague, yet-to-be-proven correlations. Yet, as the pediatric-oncology nurse explained in one of the first 10 or 20 comments, children are still dying from these diseases that should not exist anymore all because people are still choosing not to vaccinate. This is an atrocity.

Great post, Heather. Vaccination is a public health issue for everyone, whether or not you have children. There's a reason infant mortality declines when vaccine rates increase. Check out Doctors Without Borders at http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/index-alt.cfm

That said, I do wish that providers were a bit more understanding and flexible when parents want to vaccinate using an alternative schedule.

I also wanted to add that I don't understand why they're not pushing for boys to get the HPV vaccine, too. Aren't they just as likely to carry it?

So far, I have immunized my 15-month-old daughter on schedule - everything except the dreaded MMR.

I am not committed to refusing that immunization, but the fact that there is that IDEA out there, that someone somewhere thinks that the MMR might somehow be linked to autism (including parents of autistic children whom I have discussed this with), even if those studies have been disproved time and time again, scared the ever living shit out of me. Even though my brain told me "The doctors know a hell of a lot more than I could ever find searching the internets," I had to hold off.

I have considered the fact that she could get sick with either of the Ms or the R and that I would feel like a POS if that happened, and even more so if she then passed it on to a child who was too young or unable to get the vaccines. This is why I think I will eventually get her up to date on the MMR. However, somehow it has made me feel better to wait.

Effing motherhood... This is hard!

Life is a risk. I'm pro-vaccination because I do not want my child to be a walking plague bomb. I don't want other people's walking plague bombs to kill my child. It's an easy choice for me.

Those who don't understand parents that choose not to vaccinate most likely do not have a child with autism. I had my first born child vaccinated according to the aggressive schedule and to this day I have regrets. I blindly did just what the doctors advised. After my daughter was diagnosed with autism at the age of 2 1/2 yrs I went back and checked her vaccination record. To my surprise I discovered that the brand of DTAP my daughter received had trace amounts of thimerisol (mercury)! In all the literature I've read (including info from the CDC) they say that all mercury had been removed from vaccinations by the late 90's... not true! And what about all the other preservatives in the shots? It is my strong belief that as with medication, all people do not react the same way to vaccinations. Some children may be genetically predisposed to autism and the vaccinations act as a trigger. With my second daughter I waited until she was 7 months old and decided to go with a less aggressive schedule. She is 3 years old and has yet to get the MMR, varicella and hepatitis shots. I will wait until she starts kindergarten to get those. I don't subscribe to the survival of the fittest mentality when it comes to vaccinations. People should ultimately do what they're comfortable doing... please don't judge.

Re: 775

Because vaccines are not 100% effective in all children. Their efficacy varies by vaccine and child.

beautifully written and articulate as always Heather.

We vaccinated our two kids.
my mother is a polio survivor.

enough said.
peace.
Ngaire In Brisbane Australia

Gosh, this post comes right on the heels of one I did about this very subject. You have done really well to articulate opinion on a very touchy subject for many people. Personally I think the kind of 'research' that people do (online especially) into vaccination (with a view to NOT vaccinate) is terribly flawed.

I have special reason to feel strongly on this subject, and invite you to check out Dana's Story: http://bushbabe.blogspot.com/2009/03/dear-dana.html

I have been told that it is not the actual virus that causes reactions, but the serum (right word?) that it is in - surely there is a way to test for allergies to this if parents are worried?? I feel for those who blame their children's health issues on vaccinations, and my heart shatters for those who lose their cherished babies because others would not vaccinate. There MUST be an answer.
BB

I understand your points on this. I'm pregnant with my first and have been going back and forth on this issue. I agree that if another child who was not immunized infected my child and this resulted in a serious illness or worse, I would never be able to forgive the parents of that child. Which unfortunately would probably be my best friends since they opted out of vaccinations for their last 2 children. However, I keep coming back to the question, which is worse some other parent hating me or living with the knowledge that I was responsible for my child having autism or another symptom that have been linked to vaccinations. There are a lot of things to consider with this issue. Another thing to consider is getting vaccinations does not mean you are immune, it means you have a reduced chance of getting the disease, my sister had the measles vaccination and she still got measles.

Heather, I'm a long time reader and LOVER of your blog. I am a mother of a child who, after receiving 4 shots (on schedule) at 12 months, was visibly changed. I will never know if it had anything to do with mercury or the tiny immune system not being mature enough to fight the diseases themselves or what. But I did see my son change. And there are many of us out there who may not know the reason but had children literally regress after immunizations. I agree that immunizations are one of the wonderful advances in medical history. I get that. I also understand that it isn't fair to other children to not immunize my own kids. But with my second and then my last, I took it MUCH slower. The "schedule" given by the medical community, with all due respect, is ridiculous. My son was given a shot on the first day of his life that you can only get by sexual transmission. Maybe someone can tell me why that was necessary. Again, to reiterate, I understand the need for vaccinations, completely. And that's why I immunize my kids. But parents have lost their kids because of immunizations too. Today my son is a very low functioning autistic little boy who will probably never live on his own. Is it because of the vaccinations? Who knows? Maybe not. Do I want to take the risk? Hell no. Thank you so much for your blog and all you do, Heather. You're awesome.

NB: Comment #775.

Newborn babies CANNOT be vaccinated immediately. They need to be protected by the whole community - you, me, your kids, my kids. We can afford to help protect our vulnerable when they are few in number - but when the majority opt out of the scheme, the whole immunisation system breaks down and epidemics occur. And that is a fact.

It's a community issue.

Someone else mentioned that vaccines do not totally protect someone from getting the disease. This is true. But it DOES enable your body to fight the disease much more strongly. And it DOES help prevent you passing on that disease to someone less able to combat it. Isn't that better than nothing??

I agree completely! That story on This American Life about the Measles outbreak and the baby who was too young to be vaccinated and caught measles solidified my feelings about vaccinations. I think parents have the choice to not vaccinate and should never be forced to do so. However, the option to not vaccinate is a luxury created by years of vaccinations.

I think one of the misconceptions about vaccines surrounds the term "bundled." Are we talking about the number of needle sticks or the number of individual vaccines? MMR is a combination of three vaccines - Measles, mumps and reubella. DTAP is a combination of Diptheria, Tetanus and acellular pertussis (acellular because it is safer than the old DTP). Antoher one is is a combination of Hib and HepB. And on and on. And the delayed schedule? Which schedule are we talking about? The one that has the Hib plus HepB combo or the one that has just Hib? Do you know that there is a difference? Do you know that certain DTAP vaccines have higher side effects (hugely swollen limbs, higher fever, etc.) and lower protection than others? And what are "natural vaccines" anyway? Vaccines have to be manufactured people! You can't just mix them up in your kitchen and you can't just go to your local health food store to pick them up. You could send your kid into the room of someone with pertussis to get the disease the "natural way" and see how that turns out, but I don't think I would take that risk. You can say what you want about the pharmaceutical companies, but who else would make the vaccines that can protect your babies from death?

Oh, and Jenny McCarthy? I didn't reallize Playboy was a medical school. Did she do her undergrad at MTV?

Thanks for all the different viewpoints. Rock on.

I am a foreign national and an eighteenth-century scholar, who focuses on early women writers. This discussion is reminiscent of the controversy that Lady Mary Wortley Montague (1689-1762) faced (see http://www.pinn.net/~sunshine/whm2001/mont1.html) after her return from Turkey in relation to the smallpox vaccine.

Are there risks to vaccines? Yes, of course there are. However, unless your child suffers from a known allergy to vaccine ingredients or has some sort of autoimmune disorder, it is irresponsible, reckless, and downright negligent not to immunize your child. Only Americans can afford to be so solipsistic.

A little bit of background for what it's worth from a physician:

The controversy surrounding vaccines and autism started in 1998 when the Lancet (a prestigious British medical journal) published a study by Dr Andrew Wakefield suggesting a link between autism and MMR vaccination. The study had only 12 patients and has since been disavowed by the other authors of the study, the Lancet and the general medical community as irresponsible, unethical and blantantly lying in some portions. A link between autism and vaccination has NEVER been demonstrated in any reputable medical study, and there have been some big ones since the controversy developed. What we do know is that the signs of autism tend to occur in a chronologic fashion that coordinates with the timing of vaccine - that is, the absence of language development is noted around 12 to 18 months right around mmr and other vaccinations. At most, anecdotal evidence demonstrates correlation but does NOT in ANY way establish causation. It has been completely blown out of proportion by the media and the reality that we do see more autism now (why is unclear but maybe at least partly because we are better at recognizing it). Moreover, we KNOW that not vaccinating your children can have devastating consequesces. As a result of the initial Lancet study, the rates of mmr vaccination in England tanked and they now struggle with all three illnesses (measles, mumps, rubella). The diseases we vaccinate our children against seem esoteric - this is because we live in a place and time where we are fortunate enough not to see the realities of endemic polio or measles. There is absoluately NO question in my mind - not vaccinating your children for the ridiculous autism question or the vanishingly rare serious reaction is completely irresponsible, for your own child and for the population as a whole.

And in terms of the "aggressive" schedule - vaccines expose children to a miniscule number of new antigens (or immune-reaction things that lead to immunity) compared to the new exposures children are exposed to on a daily basis in the general course of life.

To #793 -

While I realize that combining vaccinations may increase the profit margin and that putting preservatives in vaccines allows them to be used from multi-use vials, why not see it from a different light...

Combining vaccines allows for less needle sticks for the infant/toddler. Less needle sticks means less visits to the physician, too. Which means less cost for office visits to the patient/parent.

Putting preservatives in some vaccines allows for them to be stored for longer period of time. Physicians who see children and adults will go through less vaccine than physicians who see only children. So the vaccine in the child/adult physician's office will need to "wait" longer than the ones in the pediatrician's office. Some parents also do not have a regular pediatrician, so part of one patient's scheduled vaccines might go unused, waiting until another child needs those particular ones. Parents might also choose to delay vaccination by stretching out the schedule, so that vaccine needs to be ready when those parents come in. Also many physician offices and health departments may have only one day a week where they schedule vaccine visits, so the vaccine needs to be ready for those days, too.

They also need to have some sort of preservative in order to be shipped into physician offices - across the country and around the world.

Just my two cents.

I'm with Aime (607) - somewhere, sometime, some family is going to sue another for a death caused by an unvaccinated child giving a newborn or immunocompromised child a deadly disease. I think that will start the tide turning back more than any rational arguments could.

I totally agree with you. This is a subject I feel very passionate about and have ranted about on my blog. I get especially steamed when I hear a parent say they don't vaccinate, because my twins were born prematurely with immune systems still developing, and I live on an island, so if an outbreak happened, we'd all be toast.

As for Autism- I do have an enormous amount of sympathy for what parents have to go through. They deserve respect, understanding, and better treatment options. They don't, however, deserve the right to blame vaccinations, because it simply isn't true. My Mom's a pediatric PT who has worked with Autistic children for 35+ years, from a time when no one had even heard the word until now. Currently she runs an early intervention program for infants and toddlers with Autism. She says that never in her decades of experience has she seen or heard of Autism suddenly coming on after vaccinations. It just doesn't happen that way.

P.S. My husband's mother didn't believe in vaccinations, so he got measles, mumps, rubella, and whooping cough. With our kids, he can't sign the consent forms fast enough ;)

Thanks Heather. This is timely. Appreciate the sanity.

Heather,

I thank you for your diplomatic comments, but I think some of your commentary is ill-informed. I suspect that you, as a parent of a child who did not suffer adverse reactions, did not research this extensively beyond what your family doctor said.
Bravo Judy, #793, who echoed many of the comments I'd like to make. This is such a complex issue, that I'll just add a few thoughts that I think are important.

--It is very easy for a parent of a healthy child to say they'd prefer autism over measles. Most parents of autistic children feel the opposite. Measles usually is not deadly.

--Regardless of what you believe, it is absolutly, mind-bogglingly beyond me, how anyone would just believe their doctors word, or even the word or supposedly double blind trials, when it comes to injecting a foreign substance into their child. Remember hormone replacement therapy? How long were doctors recommending that as a universally beneficial treatment for women in menopause before there was a breast cancer link identified? What about all the other supposedly safe FDA approved drugs that were found to be deadly and had to be pulled.

--Speaking of vaccines, the Gardasil vaccine has already been linked with eight deaths and will probably be pulled from the market. How many doctors said it was safe? Oops.

--The fact of the matter is, scientific research often lags what individual patients see. It can take a long time to spot a trend and it can take even longer to put together the right study to explore it. The fact is, there has not been a lot of good research comparing autism in vaccinated and unvaccinated populations. There hasn't been much research about the impact of administering concentrated vaccines versus spreading them out. So the anecdotal evidence is critical.

--Autism is not the only issue. Why are so many kids today ADHD, athsmatic, etc. Many researchers believe this is a result of the strain that over-vaccination has placed on our immune systems. Here my own lack of a science background challenges me to repeat the research on the spot, but I have read it, and it is compelling. You can't just eliminate all disease and all germs. That is BAD for the immune system. So fine, vaccinate for polio. But chicken pox? Who really doesn't believe that is a money-making agenda and nothing else.

--Doctors, more than having to look out for your child, are charged with protecting public health. They have an interest, as they should, in preventing measles outbreaks. But parents have to look out for their own children, first and foremost. Therein lies one of the trickiest parts of this problem, and underscores why parents can't rely on their doctors to be an advocate for their kids. It is much easier to trust what a doctor told you than dig in and read all the research, but that's what you have to do. When I read "The Vaccine Book," a basically pro-vaccine book, I was stunned when it stated that the risks of the MMR vaccine are greater than the risks of not being vaccinated. So that line about the benefits outweighing the risks isn't really accurate.

--Don't even get me started about Dr. Wakefield, the doctor who supposedly created false test results showing a link to autism. That story has been widely retracted, since his primary critics were within the pharmaceutical industry.

--People need to know that doctors are wined and dined so much by the pharmaceutical industry that many don't even know anymore what their own beliefs are. Whatever profession any of you are in, I am sure you know that much of the time you are on autopilot, just doing the job you know how to do, rather than constantly striving to know more. Same with doctors. I've called important research to my doctors attention many times: Don't assume they have all the latest research.

--When are we as a society going to realize that more medicine is not always better? We are an overmedicated society and are overdosing on much of the modern medicine that was once so miraculous. The U.S. recommends about twice as many vaccinations as any country in Europe? Why do we need all these vaccines?

--Why to people dismiss Jenny McCarthy just because she was playmate of the year a million years ago? First and foremost, she's a mom, and a very intelligent mom who has exhaustively sought answers to her child's condition. I've found her books highly educational.

Heather, you say you could never forgive a parent who didn't vaccinate a child, but god forbid, what if your chid suffered a vaccine injury (read about the vaccine court to see how many settlements there are)?

I could go on, but you get the idea.

Regarding the "aggressiveness" of the current schedule - I really don't think it is aggressive at all. A baby's immune system is placed under far greater stress at the moment of birth and is subjected to a multitude of viruses and bacteria as soon as they are out of the womb.
The reason they are spread out is because that increases the immune system response to the vaccine, thereby creating more immunity. It is important to vaccinate babies because they are most vulnerable and most likely to have serious side effects or death from one of these illnesses.
I think the media jumped on one poorly designed study and created a hysteria. Something occuring at the same time does not imply causality. I am just as likely to say that the vaccine taught my child to walk - since that occured at the same time as his vaccine.

I have a beautiful son who has severe autism. He was born a normal child. He smiled, laughed, made eye contact. He was vaccinated until the age of 16 months. A day after his immunizations he suffered a grand mal seizure, spiked a fever of 106, and almost died. His pediatrician believes the combination of vaccines he received did cause this to happen. He reported it to VAERS and we did receive a large amount of money from the federal government from the vaccine injury fund.

Don't tell me that my autistic child is beautiful. He is not beautiful because of his autism. His autism is a terrible disability that leaves me feeling emotionally ill every day wondering who will care for him when I am gone from this earth. Every day I have to fight to get him the therapies he requires, the FAPE from the public school, the insurance company that won't pay for anything leaving us broke.

Life is far from beautiful from where I am standing. Vaccines harmed my child and I will never vaccinate again until our government takes action and requires the pharmaceutical companies to create safer vaccines without aluminum, infected animal tissue, aborted fetal tissue, among many other toxic ingredients.

April should be called Autism Action Month. I'm sick to death of autism awareness. If I become any more aware I'd be dead.

Lilly

Lilly,
I'm so sorry. Parenting is hard when things are going well. I can't imagine your pain and worry.
Bless you and your son.

Very well stated! Always love reading your site. I love the variety of topics you cover and your style!!

Very interesting topic. I could stay up all night reading these responses! I am the mom of 4 healthy kids (ages 9 to 2) who have all been vaccinated. This was our healthiest winter yet. Not one sick visit or antibiotic. That was until my sister-in-law called to tell me my niece tested positive for whooping cough and I should contact my pediatrician to see what they think. My three boys slept in the same room as my niece and she was coughing that night (also an asthmatic and allergic kid...so I didn't think much). Although none of my kids had the symptoms, the pediatrician's office put all the kids on an antibiotic, which they all finished today. I guess what I learned from reading some of these posts is that you can be immunized and still get the disease, which is why my kids were probably put on the antibiotics since they were in such close proximity to my niece. I didn't really question the dr.s because I'd rather be safe than sorry. Anyway- kind of interesting.

My sister-in-law is a nurse in the Nursery at a wellknown hospital in the Boston area. She has her own little theory on the autism. She claims (and I'm not judging..just stating the facts) that there are so many pregnant women (a significantly high percent)on antidepressants that she feels that this might be contributing to issues with kids. Just her theory based on seeing it in the charts. An interesting observation I think. She may just be right.

This is SUCH a headed debate !! I have learned that as a mom, you had to do what you feel is right. I chose to have my son receive all vaccines. (Of course he is 13, so 13 years ago, there was not too much controversy over vaccinations.) I did however, research ad nausem the polio vaccination. My grandmother did not receive the vaccination when she was in 18 - her brother in law who was a dr told her it was unnecessary- and contracted polio. Although the virus only lasts a few days/weeks, (although in her case, she had to live in a iron lung for months, the first few months of my mothers life) the effects of it lasted a life time. So needless to say when it was time for my son to receive the vaccination, I wanted to read everything I could get my hand on to make an informed decision.

The other thing is that a lot of commenters have noted they had vaccines in the 70s and 80s to no ill effect. The vaccine schedule is VERY different now than it used to be. It's my understanding a child will get 3x the number of vaccines as they would have in the 80s.

Hepatitis B? Are you kidding me? I didn't even get that before going to South America.

Usually, I agree 100% with your opinions and thoughts on all sorts of issues from the environment to politics, etc. However, on this one, I just can't agree.

As a sibling of an adult with Autism, I know the questioning and fear that occurs with that diagnosis. Let me be clear, I love my sibling very much and she has impacted my life in every single way imaginable. I am even a director for a center for Autism. With that said, the more rapidly I approach my child-bearing years, the more anxiety and fear rises in me that I, too, will have a child with Autism. Though this would definitely not be the worst thing that could happen, I know, see, feel what a disabling condition Autism can be.

As an educated person, I know that there is no research that affirms a link between Autism and vaccinations. I know that, but as a future mother, I'm not willing to take even the slightest chance. I'm not saying I'll never have my child vaccinated, esp. if we were leaving the country, but I certainly don't think I should be considered selfish if I do what I think is best for my family!

I am a mother of three, who vaccinated on schedule.

After my youngest was born, I started researching what is really in vaccines & alternatives schedules, thinking that would be a safer, less toxic (because vaccines contain neurotoxins) way to go.

Up until 12 mo. he was on the regular schedule, but I decided to split the MMR and do less shots at once starting at 18 mo. Well, he got the Rubella shot last summer and had a horrible reaction. We ended up in the ER twice over the 4th of July weekend, because his fever was over 105, he was shaking, and limping. It was one of the scariest times of my life.

I am TERRIFIED about giving him any more vaccinations. It weighs on my mind daily. It scares me that he not be vaccinated and face a low chance of getting infected with Measels or Mumps. But after seeing him so sick, and honestly worrying that he wouldn't wake up in the morning when he was so sick, I don't know how I could possibly risk doing that to him again, or worse.

This is not a black and white issue. I am in the grey on vaccines after what happened to my son and feel very alone and scared, because I am not "anti-vaccine" but may have a child who is not fully vaccinated.

It's interesting to see some issues emerge around vaccination that *seem* to be specific to the US. Like Julia #72, I live in Australia with an advanced socialised health system. Vaccines are free and provided in a community setting; the vaccination schedule is spaced over five years; the most vaccines received in one setting is four (five?) and they are secondary or tertiary rounds, not the initial shot or dose. There is a great deal of information about vaccines delivered to parents and it's source is considered trustworthy (government receives advice from a group of scientific advisers with no commercial connections). I think that there is greater community trust in the schedule and the reasons for vaccinations - namely, herd immunity.

So my comments happen in that environment. There are some parents who refuse to vaccinate and there is public debate every time an outbreak occurs. I find it difficult to understand a complete refusal to vaccinate (dealyed, or altered schedule? fine). Reliable scientific evidence consistently demonstrates that vaccination saves lives. Many of them. We're not immune because we live in first world countries.

I believe in vaccinations and my kids are on the schedule recommended by my doctor, but that schedule never has them getting more than two shots at a time. I've heard of 3 or more needles at a time but that seems a bit excessive and am glad my doctor hasn't suggested it.

I once heard a doctor say that, after the availability of clean drinking water, vaccinations are the biggest advance in history in terms protecting human health from preventable disease. It made quite an impression on me because it's so obviously true. Even if there are some who don't react well to specific vaccinations, no one could argue that the practice hasn't saved an incredible number of lives. I have no problem being part of that.

Say you choose not to vaccinate.

What if your child grows up and decides to travel the world. And then he or she visits a developing country with health care that doesn't compare to the health care we are privileged to have in the U.S. What happens if he/she come down with an illness (that could have been prevented through vaccination) while traveling. What kind of care will your child receive?

I realize that these are a lot of "what-if's" but I think it's important to think about how your choices now could play out even into your child's adult life. Will your choice not to vaccinate limit them in other ways? Hmmm.

Measles are not deadly. However a friend of mine took her sweet 3 month old to get stabbed in his legs multiple times and injected with diseases so he could be immune to these (mostly not lethal diseases).... An hour later that precious baby, Anthony, was brain dead. His brain swelled and although he lived... he will most likely never be normal.

I get sick over moms like you who say you couldn't forgive a mother if her child gave yours measles. Get a flippen life man! Measles are not deadly! Neither are chicken Pox! And when have you ever heard of a BABY who is not sexually active or shooting up with needles getting Hepatitis???

Why don't you just send the pharmaceutical companies a portion of your income from this web site instead of using your pull to convince other mom's to endanger their children! You don't know what you are talking about Heather. I pray to God you don't have to learn by visiting your 3 month old baby in the NICU while she fights for her life because you didn't want to deal with measles!

Rebecca

I had my own personal children innoculated as recommended when they were little. Now, my baby is 23 years old, so this was a while ago. And while I do think that children should be innoculated (if possible) against diseases that are passed through casual contact, like DPT, MMR and the like, I am less convinced about innoculating against blood-borne infections without cause.

Like Hepatitis B. This is passed through blood and blood products, you can pick it up from unprotected sex with an infected person or by sharing needles with an infected person. Now, I'm thinking that these risk factors are not really that high in the pre-school community. At least as a general rule. So, maybe we should consider vaccinating for these types of things a little closer to the time when there might be a risk.

And people should be educated about the innoculations that are given to their child. At least once every school year, a couple of children at the school where I work end up with chicken pox. In spite of the chicken pox vaccine. Which is a possibility. But obviously the parents didn't read that particular line in the brochure, because they know that their child CAN'T have chicken pox. Because they've had the shot.

So I guess my actual opinion is that people should THINK. Which is probably a good idea in any case.

I've never met a parent who used vaccines who believe it is 100% effective or 100% safe. That's a strawman arguement and I'm suprised to see someone who claims to have a PhD employing it.

Refusing vaccines is absolutely a first world luxury. Just once I would like to hear a non-vaccinating parent thank those of us who provide the safe herd for their child to thrive in.

I'm not a parent, but hope to be one in the next year or so. I live in a community of people who are often quick to jump on any health-related conspiracy bandwagon that rumbles through town, so this is something I've had a lot of thought and discussion about recently.

I was born in 1979 and my brother was born in 1981. He developed autism, I did not. We had both received whatever the full round of vaccinations was at the time. My parents raised an autistic child at a time when it was still very much an emerging disorder. There was almost no information, barely a set of diagnostic criteria, and it was a long time before they were able to connect with other parents dealing with the same struggle. (Imagine! No internet!) It has been a tough job for them, raising my brother...the tantrums, the social and sensory challenges, the isolation, the tireless advocacy...to this day my mother is certain that it was NOT the vaccinations, and she has absolutely no regrets about it. Maybe it is the vaccinations, but it's not JUST the vaccinations. An MMR shot cannot explain why there are seven autistic boys for every one autistic girl, for example. And there are so many other possible culprits in our society with ever-increasing pollution, changing diets, etc etc. (I, for one, would be interested to see how many non-vaccinated children develop autism. Surely there are some.)

I plan to vaccinate my children. And if autism is a risk, I'll gladly take it. These parents make it out to be a death sentence, and yes it is challenging, but it's not so tough as to make me unwilling to do my part in helping keep our society at large healthy and strong. A child with autism is still a child, YOUR child, and you can both have very fulfilling lives.

It's tough. There is so much confusing information out there and I live in a town where a lot of people dont vaccinate and it worries me. My daughter got rotavirus when she was 2 months old after her vaccine and I opted to continue the schedule anyway and after rotavirus created havoc in her daycare and some infants were very seriously ill, I was glad I did. But she also has food allergies and I was worried that it was because of her vaccines but when I looked at REAL research and not just crap on the internet, I began to realize that it wasnt the vaccines and something brilliant a brilliant person told me years ago came ringing in- Fear should not be confused for intuition.

People tried to tell me that my son's autism spectrum was a result of immunisations he had at the age of two. The main flaw I see in this argument is that wether you are immunised or not, if you are going to have autism, it kicks in around then and the parents start to notice the symptoms.

Beautifully worded, Heather. It's not just our own children we need to be considering when this issue requires a decision.

I don't have any kids so my opinion probably doesn't count, but I am curious as to why there suddenly seems to be a rise in autism and vaccinations and is this awareness due to the fact that we have the internet or have their always been problems? Did the vaccination change in recent years or have people changed?

Either way I think it is always best to be educated about whatever important decisions you make in life and not just letting the government or general societal consensus make your decisions for you.

Anywho, it was great meeting you in person finally today!

Heather, I hear your concerns here, and understand where you are coming from. I think what's important to decide on, is how one plans on protecting their kids. There are so many ways to go about this, and personally I don't agree with the schedule the doctors recommend, or the number of vaccines they recommend.

In fact, there are some that were borne out of pure convenience, like the Chicken Pox Vaccine. There are also certain diseases which are, though convenient, and not fun at all, more beneficial to gain immunity from the old-fashioned way.

My community has pox parties just so we can get that over with early. My first daughter has definitely had them, although my second daughter has not, though she was exposed when my older daughter had them last year. I will have her tested for titers (immunity) if she has not had them by age 14. If she does not have titers, I might consider vaccinating her, because adult chicken pox can be dangerous.

I wonder sometimes about the damage that may have been caused with my first daughter who did receive vaccinations on the recommended schedule. She had VERY delayed speech. I don't think she presents the classic symptoms of autism, but even at the age of 6, still has issues with her speech.

I also don't think that every child who receives vaccines develops autism. I am sure there are some people who are pre-disposed, in much the same way someone may have an allergy to a certain component, while others aren't.

My other daughter is 2 1/2, speaks in full sentences, including all of the proper adverbs. She is extremely articulate; in fact, she is more articulate than my first daughter was at age 4. She catches on very quickly to just about anything. This might have more to do with having an older sister she likes to emulate, but I can't help but wonder if the vaccinations had something to do with the vast difference between the two in that arena. I have not, as of yet, vaccinated her. I am considering doing a very delayed, separate schedule for each shot when I do, and then only for the diseases that have proven deadly, or so detrimentally disfiguring that it would be worth it to do so.

Another thing that I have heard of recently during my research, has to do with the auto-immune conditions that seem to be popping up. It's hard for me to ignore this, since I suffer from a pretty horrendous one myself, and it makes sense to me, especially with the over-vaccinating that goes on. We were never meant to be inoculated in such a way, with such a number of diseases.

There are alternatives out there that I'm researching now that give me hope, like homeopathics, which, if taken properly, can afford immunity to some things to the right extent without throwing the immune system so far out of whack it starts attacking vital organs. Like vaccines, it's important to find the right strains, and like vaccines, they, too, can be wrong. I would consider using the homeopathy for some, but not all of the diseases that are being vaccinated for today. I think I would probably still schedule shots for things like Dyptheria, Tetanus, Pertussis, Polio, etc. And again, I would choose to have them done separately, and not close together time-wise.

I have known a NUMBER of people now who have gotten their kids the Chicken Pox vaccine, and some time afterward, their kids still got the chicken pox. I have known a NUMBER of people who get the flu shot every year, then however long down the road, they end up with the flu.

I wonder how different it is with vaccines for more serious diseases? Do they provide false hope at least some of the time? It isn't a perfect system. Life isn't perfect. Nature isn't either.

I would love to continue this conversation with you sometime. I know that respectful discussion on this topic is possible, and my hope would be that we would each have something to teach one another.

I agree with what many people have said -- that it seems to be coincidental that autism appears around the same time as a certain set of vaccines. And the epidemic that people refer to may be attributed to more doctors being aware of the disorder and diagnosing it.

My agenda here is a bit different. My son has Fragile X Syndrome, which is the leading known inherited cause of autism. 1 in 280 women and 1 in 800 men are carriers Fagile X. I just want to get the word out and encourage people who have autism, PDD, ASD, and/or mental impairment to be tested for Fragile X.

www.fragilex.org

I think that we have to accept as parents that our choices for our children will always impact others, and we ought to take that into account (yet so few people do). Whether it's allowing a child to behave in certain ways, or something like refusing to vaccinate. No kid lives in a bubble, and we need to take responsibility for the effect our choices have on others.

I really worried about the issue 5 years ago when my daughter got her first vaccination, but ultimately decided that since I didn't *know* the shots would harm her we HAD to do it because *not* having them done would certainly have repercussions down the road.

I honestly don't know about vaccinations = autism thing, but I don't believe that Jenny McCarthy is an expert. It's sad when people take their cues from a celebrity instead of medical science.

As a person who cannot get the DPT vaccine, I wanted to be upset with you at first. After receiving my first DPT vaccine at two months, my mother watched me go into seizures and stop breathing. I am in my 40's now and have never suffered any other symptoms from that shot. But I also never got another DPT vaccine. To this day my mom still gets a very horrified look in her eyes when she talks about the day I got the first vaccine. But even though she was very scared that she might lose me on that day, she is still a firm believer in childhood immunizations.

With that said I do think that vaccinations are still a very important part of well baby care. I have raised one child to adulthood and am now raising a grandchild. Both of the girls have always received all of their immunizations but usually at a modified schedule. The vaccinations are available because they are very necessary in preventing deadly childhood diseases. But I do disagree in the recommended scheduling. I really feel like little babies are often times just too small to have 3, 4 or even 5 vaccinations at one time.

This is an area that is important to be informed in and parents should definitely research so that they can make educated decision about vaccinating their child. Thanks for bringing this up on your blog and for also not making the blanket statement that people that don't vaccinate are totally irresponsible.

My question to all who chose not to vaccinate: Do you allow your child(ren) to ride in motor vehicles? If you are willing to place your child in a motor vehicle, then how can you justify not taking the DRASTICALLY lower risk of vaccinating your child??

I agree with the decision to vaccinate. Especially NOW -- when the medicines have been altered, and the mercury has been removed. That was the big problem. Now it's gone.

Let me preface that I am not anti-vaccination. I do not agree with the aggressive schedule of vaccinations. For example, here in NY, many hospitals pressure new mom's to immunize for Hep B before the baby leaves the hospital. I really don't feel my child will be exposed to a needle drug abuser or someone having unprotected sex in the first 2 days of life.

I have a 4 year old daughter (and another one on the way in 20 days). My 4 year old is completely up to date on her vaccinations, however I used my own schedule consisting of mostly of mommy common sense... My main rule was:

I never gave her more than one vaccination in a day/visit. I feel that if she was to have a reaction and had 4 vaccines in a single day, I would not know which one she was reacting to. (this is for singular vaccines, not including the ones that are already combined like DTP and MMR). The doctor said, if you want to bring her back every few weeks and have her stuck that many more times, that is your choice and I took it as such. I also felt that a 10 - 15 lb kid should not have that many toxins injected in one day.

I did not give the MMR on the recommended schedule -- I waited on that one as long as I could and gave it to her right before she entered pre-school.

I still do not give my child a flu shot due to the mercury concerns and the fact that most of the time they are wrong on the flu string anyway. However, during flu season I ensure she stays out of social situations like public malls and airplanes. This year she was in school but I did bathe her in antibacterial after each class.

Again, I am not anti-vaccination. I just felt I had to go with my own intuition and sense on this and thankfully I have wonderful pediatricians who enabled me to do this in a way I was comfortable.

We take care of our children as best as we can, every day. We make sure they wear hats on cold days and put extra broccoli in their bowls. We read them stories and give them baths. The art of protecting our children is complex. We buckle their seat belts and string prayers over their heads, but we worry anyway. We are a legion of parents devoted to the health and happiness of our kids. There isn't a perfect equation in all of this. You decided to do something that I did not, and that is okay. As long as there are people on this Earth, there is going to be at least two ways to go about doing things. I don't think either side should make concessions in this issue. If folks want to get huffy, there are bigger obstacles on the horizon for our kids. It would be nice if these babies, who so bravely battled the pirating infectious diseases of their youth, had a world to inherit on the other side.

I live in Switzerland, and even though I hadn't heard of that particular kid who took the Measles back to the States, I have heard of several outbreaks here in Europe over the last couple of years. Now Europe used to have a near 100% coverage of vaccinations (highly encouraged and paid for by the governments). However, due to parents feeling much like the ones you describe, the coverage has dropped rapidly, so that single cases have been able to spread all over.

It is actually quite scary.

Heather, thank you for this thoughtful post. I live in New Zealand, and I am a parent of a four-year-old boy. My son has a family history of food allergies and reactions to vaccines. He is allergic to EVERYTHING. We felt however that it was and is our social responsibility to vaccinate. Especially since we travel between countries. My small rant on this topic is at http://juliryan.blogspot.com/2009/02/vaccinating-is-good-idea.html.

My jaw dropped when I read this...
In Belgium it is downright illegal to refuse to vaccinate your children, not to give parents or children a hard time but for the mere sake of society's health, of everyone's health. In reality hardly anyone makes a fuss out of it. As you put it so rightly, it is a miracle we can protect our infants the way we can do now and that fact is widely acknowledged.
Please do not use the proposition 'those-parents-do-not-complain-because they-do-not-know-any-better' against me, because while Belgian government has many flaws, health care ànd the excellent available information about it, is one of this country's.
And no, there is no autism-vaccination-hype around here. (maybe for parents it is easier to deal with it that way, to be able to blame at least something?)

@#257 camille

"He did get very sick and less than a week later my sister was hospitalized for Diabetes. Something he brought home with him triggered something in my sister and she has to live with this disease the rest of her life."

You think that your brother getting vaccinated gave your sister diabetes? Did I read this wrong??

As some one who was one of those children allergic to some of the vaccanations, i thank you and all the parents who have their children vaccinated.

As some one who has lost family members in infancy i caution others of what you risk in wilfully not vaccination your children. You take all the risks against cot death, you didn't drink during pregancy to avoid FASM. Remember what the vaccinations are for, please?

As a soon to me MD I need to respond to the many people above who have said that the diseases we vaccinate for are not very serious... The reason you think this is because you grew up in a world where you didn't see these diseases and have a completely distorted perspective. Saying that chicken pox isn't serious is completely ignorant. 1 in 50 children with chicken pox has a complication and used to be responsible for 100 deaths per year (and this compared to a fictional cause of autism?) Complications can include inflammation of the brain, kidney failure, pneumonia, bleeding disorder and severe skin infections. Not to mention that most of these disorders we vaccinate for are fatal/cause severe disability to the fetus so we are protecting the unborn with herd immunity.

People need to remember that the decisions about vaccination are made by pediatricians-those who care most about children. There is no conspiracy. I have never met a doctor for children who wasn't wary about a new treatment in children and expected the most rigorous evidence for it before recommending it. Think about it.

Thank you so much for stating what I believe to be a widely held opinion of vaccinations. I am a nurse and watching parents choose not to vaccinate their infant who has spent months fighting for his/her life in the NICU can sometimes be difficult to understand. It's good to hear that there are some who feel just as strongly about vaccinating their children and abstaining. Thanks.

let's talk about diptheria for a minute, ladies. It is still in this world. The single most profound moments I remember with my grandmother was when she was telling me about the death of her only son John Henry from diptheria in the 1930's. One day he was fine - the day after that he had died. It was like lightening. I am a medical librarian and I know that medicine has no better luck saving a child with diptheria today than it did all those years ago. What is available is the vaccine. I would have loved to have known John Henry. My grandmother grieved for him for the rest of her life.

Well, my refusal to vaccinate stems from my own bad experience and has no relation to conspiracies, fear of autism, etc....simply put, I gave birth to a health, happy, loving little boy, who remained completely healthy for almost 2yrs (save for a few runny noses). He was never vaccinated, not because I was lazy...or didn't want him vaccinated, I simply was unable to obtain adequate medical care for him during this time (we were escaping from my very abusive ex husband) When we finally settled down and I had the money, coverage, and care available to get his vaccinations caught up, I did. Well...we spent the next 6months in and out of the hospital fighting all sorts of viruses/illnesses/unexplained problems. My son had never had an ear infection, let alone been hospitalized for any reason....so I had nothing to attribute it to except the recent vaccinations. Since then I haven't given him, or his younger brother....and form of vaccination whatsoever and *knock on wood* they've both been completely healthy. I can understand other parents concerns about having a non immunized kid around but I would hope they understand my concerns as well. I take extra care to keep my children well, and when they have any form of illness (colds, tummy flu...etc) I keep them home until they're better and cleared to return to school. Hopefully this will continue to work out in our favor, but it's not something I endorse or encourage every parent to do. I think it's strictly a case by case decision.

Heather, you are so right. I too would be hard pressed to forgive the parents of the infected, non-immunized child. A friend of mine gave my 6-month-old baby a cold by initially acting like they were healthy to get us to their house, only to find they weren’t once we were there, and I have been pissed at her for three weeks now. So, to forgive someone from exposing my child, and infecting them with the measles, would probably be on my "not forgivable list". What I think people tend to forget is that before we had vaccinations, these diseases ran rampant and caused death, something that is still a possibility if a baby were to catch it. We should be grateful that we live in a country where we have the ability to vaccinate and protect our children form these diseases. That being said, I can understand peoples concerns with vaccinating their child, but I am more a fan of a less aggressive way to vaccinate. Break up the shots so you are not dosing your child with several different viruses all at once, but to not vaccinate at all, I feel is reckless. It sends a message that you care about your child, but not the well being of other children. I agree that with the rise of autism in the last five years (100%), it can be very scary, but what these mom's don't realize is that by not immunizing your child to "possibly" prevent autism that their child may or may not get due to a vaccine, they are jeopardizing killing another child. Do you really want that on your shoulders? I personally would not. And a word to the parents that say "I quarantined my child when they were ill". Well, the thought is nice, but your child is actually most contagious when they are showing no symptoms at all. So, you cannot say that your child was not a risk to others, as I am sure your child was not quarantined before the first sign of illness. I am sure I have said a dozen things here that will probably offend people, and I am sorry if it does, but I personally am offend that there are people out there that are willing to put my child at risk to prevent something that has not even been medically proven to be a risk or cause of autism. I guess the bottom line is that no one out there will protect your child or care for them like you would. Sad, but true.

I agree with you completely. My husband and I both came down with whooping cough this winter in an outbreak on the East coast directly related to decreased immunizations. (We were both immunized as children but didn't know that the immunization wears off after 10 years. They have only recently introduced an adult vaccine, which most people don't know about.) I am 27 weeks pregnant. I was horribly ill for two solid months, unable to sleep, having difficulty breathing during paroxysms, and the coughing aggravated my already bad morning sickness making it difficult for me to work when I was past the contagious stage, much less enjoy my life or my pregnancy. My husband was sick for three months and utterly miserable the whole time.

As badly as my husband and I suffered, we were not at risk of death. Our baby was protected by being in my uterus. However, had he just been born, he easily could have died. Whooping cough can kill infants whose immune systems are not established and who have not yet been vaccinated. I'm already angry at the needlessness of mine and my husband's illness this winter. But if I had a baby who died from this preventable disease, I wouldn't be able to forgive the person who exposed him to it.

For those who say that they quarantine their sick children: whooping cough has a symptomless (or symptoms of a mild cold) incubation period that can last up to 25 days. Imagine how many people you can infect before you realize how seriously sick your child is.

I say this again because people keep talking about how all the non-vaxed kids are spreading Whooping Cough:

The Pertussis vaccine DOES NOT confer total or life-long immunity, and people who are vaccinated for Pertussis can still be carriers. They *may* have an easier time if/when then do contract WC, but they CARRY AND SPREAD THE DISEASE-just as if they had not been vaccinated.

DISAGREE! First time commenter. GET MORE INFORMED! Wait until you have a perfectly normal child become autistic after being vaccinated!

I've never been to your site. I doubt you even have time to read all these comments.

BUT...MEASLES????? SERiously? You are upset about measles cause a child got dehydrated? HELLO????? children get dehydrated from colds...do we immunize against it. No one dies from measles. Do people get seriously harmed from immunizations though? YES! Much more so than measles. PHOEY.

Silly.

Measles. Seriously? At least attack non immunizers with a serious disease like polio or menengitis. But measles?

The outbreak was spread by GASP! Immunized children. WHAT you say? IMMUNIZED children can still get it? YEP. Bet your doctor didnt tell you that.

Probably I would be nicer if I though there was any chance you would read my comments...teehee. SO on the weird, remote chance you actually do read your comments. Oopsy. Sorry. I'm not mad atcha. SO don't be mad at me! Hehehehe

I totally agree with you and have vaccinated my children. I also feel like if my son were to "get" autism from shots, (which I don't think would happen), then yeah, it'd be a huge challenge, but I'd still have my child. Autism won't kill my kid, but those diseases could! I'd take that risk and get them vaccinated. It'll do more good in the end.

I am going to sound pretty harsh on this one, because I AM pretty harsh on this one: It is simply not sensible to forego immunizations. This is the 21st Century; we have beaten these dreadful illnesses, and now because of, frankly, a fringe group they are in danger of coming back.

The link between immunizations and autism has been proven to be non-existent. But thanks to some alleged celebrities, autism is now the "flavor of the month" in journalism, so poorly researched news items flood us with bogus claims of linkage.

If you do not immunize your child, you are putting many other children at risk. Moreover, you are putting your own at risk. Which makes you a pretty poor parent.
Heather's right; this is one of those "first world" luxuries. In the third world, where immunizations are badly needed, a parent who said, "No thanks" to them would be thought quite mad.

I am not a doctor, but I really feel like if your kid is going to have Autism, he's going to have it whether or not you immunize. I feel like there may be a link to the onset of autism and immunization, but I believe that because of how many shots kids get - people are making hasty generalizations and immunizations are getting a bad rap.

It's like giving kids carrots and when one of your kids gets cancer you blame it on the carrots.

I immunize. Sometimes life just sucks, but blaming it on a life-saving, healthy choice is just passing the blame to make your feel better.

Hi all

What I love is how much you are all thinking on this issue, digging deeper than the biased story to get information that will guide you to the right choice for you and your family.

The World Health Organization provides an immunization profile for the US. Some interesting information posted there. For example, the number of total cases of measles in the US for 2007 was 30 (note there were 30 cases not 30 deaths).

Another bit of information I found very interesting was that the decline of deaths related to measles had dramatically declined (registering just above zero on the graph) before the measles vaccination was introduced in 1963. See healthsentinel.com for the graph. The reference here is vital stats.

Carrie

Well said and I totally agree. Herd Immunity is so important for those who need protection from these diseases the most.

Really it's not a matter of right and wrong. There is no right or wrong when it comes to a parent doing what's best for their particular child. Some children are unable to get vaccinated for medical reasons, and some for fear of the devastating results that can occur from vaccinations. That including ADEM & Autism among a few.....

"The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has concluded the family of Hannah Poling of Athens is entitled to compensation from a federal vaccine injury fund, according to the text of a court document in the case. The amount of the family’s award is still being determined.

The language in the document does not establish a clear-cut vaccine-autism link. But it does say the government concluded that vaccines aggravated a rare underlying metabolic condition that resulted in a brain disorder “with features of autism spectrum disorder.”

Link to full story......
http://www.ajc.com/search/content/health/stories/2008/03/06/autism_0306....

It may not be "clear cut" but it has been ruled in a FEDERAL COURT that vaccines can cause the kind of brain damage that is on the spectrum of Autism.

So....when it boils down to it, EVERY FAMILY NEEDS TO DO WHAT IS RIGHT FOR THEIR OWN.

Weather that's an alternate vaccine schedule, picking and choosing the vaccines they feel are important, following the schedule the government recommends, or not at all....when it comes down to it, people do what they do because they want what’s best for their child. So you do the research and make your own informed decision. What ever that may be.

Another link of another court case won....

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-f-kennedy-jr-and-david-kirby/vaccin...

Just be informed, and make your own choice. That's all a parent can do....I would never call it reckless....Just a different choice.