14 responses so far ↓

• 1 Star // Apr 22, 2008 at 7:19 pm

  manda,

  This is a subject near and dear to my heart. I was so confused when I was pregnant with Taya as what I should do, so I got a book called What your doctor may not be telling you about your childrens immunizations. It written by a doctor who in the beginning of the book tells the reader that she is simply there to state the facts and believes that parents should have the right to be able to make an informed decision. Not just based on opinion or speculation. She stays pretty neutral and even tells parents what she recommends for her own patients. Then I asked Taya’s peditritian for a book that is Pro vaccination, I read that and came to the decision to not vaccinate Taya. I just had a very strong feeling in my gut before I even educated myself on this matter that I needed to look into it and Im so glad that I did.

  One thing I will strongly warn you against is if you do decided to update Emma on her vaccines, DO NOT have them give them to her in one bulk dose. Its EXTREMLY dangerous! Please read that book before you make any decisions. Also you can go to NVIC.org and there is a lot of useful and current info on what going on in the Vaccine world. I get email updates to keep me posted! I hope this helps! Love you and good luck! Go with your gut, thats what I did I firmly believe it was and is the right decision.

• 2 Traci // Apr 22, 2008 at 8:46 pm

  I have a niece that they think is autistic because of vaccinations. I chose not to vaccinate my son who is now almost 16, if you put on your paper for school, I always put that we choose not to for religious reasons.

  You have to decide what is right for you and your family, it is your body and your kids body….
  good luck

• 3 Jessica // Apr 22, 2008 at 10:02 pm

  Well, you know where we stand! My favorite resource is the book Star mentioned plus Dr. Tenpenny’s stuff is really great: http://www.nmaseminars.com/

  She also has a blog: http://sayingnotovaccines.blogspot.com/

  I agree with Star, if you do get Emma updated and choose to get Isaac up to date, do not do everything all at once!

• 4 Darcy // Apr 23, 2008 at 6:47 am

  OK. You know where I stand on this — vaccines save lives — countless numbers of them.

  But I have to ask you, as you explore for information, are you looking to sources that are trying to sell you something? Trying to inflame your opinion to support their agenda? People just forwarding a political opinion?

  The website you pointed to is full of unsubstantiated, unscientific claims. None of the reaserch uses a recognized form of scientific proof. It’s all hearsay — “I heard of a guy who’s son got autism from a vaccine” or claims but without actual scientific studies to back up what he’s saying.

  Anything is easy to say — totally unsubstantiated by any form of actual research.

  I listed the American Academy of Pediatrics website because all of the information there will reference the scientific studies to back any claims they make.

  I could go on and on. Journalism rule of thumb as my sum up: Always look to the source. What are they gaining?

• 5 suzyQ // Apr 23, 2008 at 9:06 am

  I’ve always thought it was important to get vaccinated. There may be some risks associated with it, but I think it would be far worse to get the actual diseases.

  I’m religious, so take this for what it’s worth…but my church does a lot of humanitarian work…and one area I know they have helped a lot in is vaccinating children in places like Africa. I know they don’t have someone else’s agenda encouraging them to be so giving. So I guess it just solidifies to me how important immunization is.

  So there’s my 2 cents. I’m like you. I’m horrible at debating my opinion. But that’s how I feel. I don’t really know of anyone who had troubles later in life because of vaccinations. But I do know a couple of people who didn’t receive vaccinations as a child, and then had to get several as an adult to be able to travel outside the US. And it was a huge pain…

  Good luck! In the end, you’ll have to do what you feel is right.

• 6 pb // Apr 23, 2008 at 10:24 am

  The risk of an adverse reaction to a vaccine is real. Some children - though few - DO react badly. And in rare circumstances, the reaction is severe.

  But there’s no debating the data-based risk vs. benefit comparison: the benefits of routine vaccination overwhelmingly outweigh the costs. In other words, the number of vaccine-related serious adverse events is miniscule in comparison to the number of deaths and diseases prevented by vaccines. No one — NO ONE — inside the medical-scientific mainstream debates this.

  Of course, many people choose to rely on their intuition (”how can I inject a potentially harmful agent into my child?”), rather than on the data. As a new parent, I can understand that.

  But if you do choose to “go with your gut,” then at least consider the other side of the emotional coin: the permanent brain injury associated with whooping cough’s capacity for robbing a child’s ability to breathe; the inability to speak one’s name because due to the ravishing effects of type b menengitis (before vaccines, the most common form of mental retardation); the desparate convulsions associated with advanced lockjaw; and the never-ending loss that accompanies diptheria’s lethal spread.

  Traci points out that you’re making these decisions for your own children. That’s true, but the decision also has consequences beyond your own family. We belong to communities, and the only reason people can even consider not vaccinating their children is because most parents have accepted the risk for their own, thereby decreasing the spread of these terrible diseases for everyone around them. To completely eliminate these diseases, however, everyone must join the social contract.

• 7 Lindsay // Apr 23, 2008 at 9:55 pm

  I really like what pb says. There are risks and it can be scary, but these horrible diseases are slowly creeping back into society. I know a little girl who caught whooping cough this winter, and it was completely frightening for not only her family, but for those around her who had been chosen not be vaccinated.
  I, like you, felt so confused when it was time to vaccinate. I talked to a family member that I really trust who is in the research medical field. He spent about a week looking into studies about vaccinations, and one study that he found published in an objective medical journal reported a study that was done on 100,000 kids (a huge case number for such a study) and the results showed no correlation between immunizations and childhood onset diseases. It also related how often times people believe immunizations cause problems, because they are often given at the same ages where such disorders appear.
  Such a hard decision. I hope you feel peace with whatever you decide. Good Luck!

• 8 Julia // Apr 24, 2008 at 6:46 am

  I strongly side with those who support vaccinating their children. In fact, the thought of not having my three young daughters vaccinated never crossed my mind. Growing up, I had a mother who wasn’t too into doctors. In fact, we never had a family doctor; instead we’d go to Immediate Care for minor illnesses and injuries, and the hospital for anything more serious. Rather, than medications that some doctors hand out by the bucket-load these days it seems, my mother preferred holistic and more natural approaches to healing. Even with these beliefs she immunized every one of her 8 children. It seems controversial, but my mom actually contracted many of the childhood illnesses that most kids, and parents, don’t even have to worry about anymore, such as scarlet fever, the measles, the mumps, and chicken pocks of course (which I’m sure most of us moms had as well when we were children) just to name a few. She remembers how awful it was and how sick she really got. That was back in the day when penicillin was quite new and doctors made house calls. I believe that so few non-vaccinated children get ill from these diseases today because the majority of children with whom they come in contact with have been immunized, and therefore aren’t sharing all the harmful germs that can cause our little ones to become so sick (sometimes irreversibly so). Like many have already said, vaccinations do a tremendous more amount of good then they ever do bad. And lastly, concerning the link between immunizations and autism, their is none. My husband went to medical school and the students there both researched and discussed the topic thoroughly. However, that was four years ago, there may be some new reputable information, backed by empirical data, out there. If I were you researching it on the internet, I’d stick to more scientific websites, like the ones that have already been mentioned. I wish you the best in your decision-making. It’s hard to make such important decisions for our little ones, isn’t it?

• 9 Jeremy Carver // Apr 24, 2008 at 3:57 pm

  This may be the longest comment in the history of blogging but it is from a CNN article I read from April 2nd.

  YUMA, Arizona (CNN) —

  Mike and Theresa Cedillo believe vaccines played a role in the autism of their daughter, Michelle.

  Michelle has no idea she is at the center of a court case pitting thousands of families of children with autism against the medical establishment. A number of prestigious medical institutions say there is no link between vaccines and autism. The families believe vaccines caused their children’s autism, and they’ve taken their case to court.

  “I think there is a link,” says Theresa Cedillo, Michelle’s mother.

  Theresa and her husband, Mike, say their only child was a happy, engaged toddler who responded to her name, said “mommy” and “daddy” and was otherwise normal until she received a measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine at 15 months.

  They believe the MMR vaccine, combined with a mercury-containing preservative found in that and other vaccines at the time, drastically altered the course of their daughter’s development. Within days of receiving the injection as part of the normal course of vaccinations, Michelle suffered from a high fever, persistent vomiting and problems with her digestion. Worse still, her parents say, Michelle stopped speaking and no longer responded to her name.
  Unraveling the mystery
  CNN reports on the global impact and latest science concerning the developmental syndrome of autism in a global investigation.
  All day today
  see full schedule »

  “I thought it was because she was so sick. I thought certainly she’ll start talking again,” Theresa recalls. “You think you’re dealing with something that’s going to come and go, and you’re going to get your child back, and you don’t.” Michelle has since been diagnosed with autism, inflammatory bowel disease, arthritis, osteoporosis and epilepsy.

  Dr. Paul Offit, chief of infectious diseases at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, says the connection between vaccines and autism is nothing more than a sad coincidence. Video Watch Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s report on the Cedillos »

  “About 20 percent of children with autism will regress between their first and second birthday,” says Offit. “So statistically, it will have to happen where some children will get a vaccine. They will have been fine. They will get the vaccine, and they will not be fine anymore. And I think parents can reasonably ask the question, ‘Is it the vaccine that did this?’”

  The answer is no, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization, and the Institute of Medicine.

  In reaching its conclusion, the Institute of Medicine pointed to five large studies finding no link between autism and the preservative thimerosal, which contains mercury, and 14 large studies finding no link between the MMR vaccine and autism. Childhood vaccines no longer contain thimerosal, though it remains in some flu shots.

  The studies compared autism rates among populations of children who did and did not receive the MMR vaccines, and among those who did and did not receive vaccines containing thimerosal.

  “It’s been asked and answered: Vaccines don’t cause autism,” Offit says.
  Don’t Miss

  * Autism mystery remains as numbers grow
  * CDC: Autism Information Center
  * Vaccine case draws new attention to autism debate
  * In Depth: Unraveling autism’s mystery
  Impact Your World
  o See how you can make a difference

  Michelle Cedillo’s parents disagree. They’ve sued the government through the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, established in 1988 to pay damages to those who have suffered as a result of vaccines. Funded by a 75-cent tax added to the cost of each vaccine dose, the program’s trust fund balance is more than $2.7 billion.

  Michelle’s autism claim is one of 4,900 in a single case before a special federal court, dubbed the “vaccine court,” part of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. The court picked Michelle’s claim as the first of a total of nine test cases from the 4,900.

  The court heard testimony in the Cedillo claim last June. Testimony in other test cases is scheduled for later this year.

  Three special masters — attorneys appointed by the court to make findings in this case — are considering whether a combination of the MMR and the mercury-containing thimerosal preservative in vaccines could cause autism; whether MMR vaccines alone could cause autism; and whether thimerosal alone could cause autism. To prove their case, families need to show a plausible biological mechanism for vaccines to cause autism. Interactive: Autism and vaccines »

  While many studies have concluded that vaccines do not cause autism spectrum disorders, researchers are still looking for the causes. Some have found that a child born with certain genetic mutations is more likely to develop autism than one without the mutations.

  At Michelle Cedillo’s hearing last year, Dr. Marcel Kinsbourne, a pediatric neurologist who is a professor at The New School in New York, testified that he thought the measles vaccine was a “substantial factor” in causing the girl’s autism. Traces of the measles virus were found in Michelle’s gut, leading the Oxford University-trained doctor to conclude the girl’s immune system had not rejected the virus. Kinsbourne told the court the measles virus invaded cells in Michelle’s brain, resulting in her autism.

  Already, families who believe vaccines can trigger autism are pointing to the case of 9-year-old Hannah Poling as a major victory.

  In November, the government conceded that vaccines “significantly aggravated” the Georgia girl’s underlying illness, predisposing her to symptoms of autism.

  “Vaccines save lives,” countered Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, after the Poling decision was announced in March. “The most reputable scientists around the world have looked at this situation over and over again, and they have stated that they cannot see an association between vaccines and autism.”
  Health Library

  * MayoClinic.com: Autism

  No matter what the vaccine court decides, the debate will most likely not go away anytime soon, nor will the sometimes devastating symptoms of the children with autism.

  At the Cedillos’ modest home, Michelle receives nutrition through a feeding tube, cannot walk unassisted and uses hand motions and tapping to communicate with her mother, father, grandmother and grandfather, who are her constant companions and caregivers.
  advertisement

  The Cedillos hope the vaccine court will award them enough money to ensure Michelle receives all the medical care she needs in the future.

  “We all want our children back, and we can never have them back,” Mike Cedillo says. “If me and Theresa aren’t here anymore, and Michelle’s well taken care of, that’ll make me happy.”

• 10 Cami // Apr 25, 2008 at 9:14 pm

  I like the nvic.org site for information on the diseases themselves. It’s changed a lot since I first went there. I’ll email you my long version on this topic.

• 11 Jared // Apr 25, 2008 at 9:58 pm

  Check out the CDC’s website on vaccine myths.

  See also this article on the autism fuss.

• 12 Dane Ann // Apr 27, 2008 at 5:20 am

  I am a very strong advicate for childhood immunizations & please let me tell you why.

  My mother was one of the last victims of the Major Polio outbreaks in 1946. Not long after, the Polio Vaccine was approved and people rushed to get the vaccine. My mother has lived with Post-Polio Syndrom for many years and what it is doing to her body and daily quality of life, no one should ever have to go through. She is trapped in a body that is twisting and slowing squeezing the life out of her by crushing her lungs and kidneys with her ribcage. She has lived in constent pain since she was 5 years old. Since I was born after she started the Post Polio phase, and have had undiagnosed health problems myself, I was recently tested to see if I had inherited the syndrome. I tested positive. My children will have a greater chance of inheritence as will theirs. Reprocutions of not being proactive are farther reaching than most people believe.

  I also have a brother who had Hepititis when he was young. He has issues with his liver and kidneys now at the age of 46 that we never expected. He also can not be a donor of blood or organs.

  People who have had the chicken pox are more likely to have the very painful Shingles when they are older. If they have the Chicken pox vaccine, they will not get the other disease as the chicken pox virus lies dormant in those who have had them. I wish it had been available when my children were young before they contracted CP if only to save them from the more painful Shingles.

  Please understand I am not lecturing, I’ve just lived with the other side of the terrible diseases that our children don’t have to be faced with. Unfortunatly, what we have recently learned about the inherited value of polio will long affect myself, my children and theirs for years to come. It doesn’t matter that we have all been vaccinated as it was with us at birth.

  Food for thought!

  Have A Very Blessed Day!

• 13 Julia // Apr 29, 2008 at 5:30 am

  I have an uncle who contracted polio as a young child as well and he is permanently disfigured (crippled) on one side of his body. My father also contracted some pretty scary childhood diseases when he was young; one of which left him with a heart murmur. I strongly believe that we are SO blessed to have the medical knowledge and technology to save our children and ourselves from the grief, pain, and suffering caused by many avoidable illnesses. If you look at the infant mortality (death) rate alone and compare the 1940’s to today’s numbers, the results are outstanding. The medical field has come a long way, and I’m sure it will continue to make leaps and bounds of progress as substantiated research is conducted, tested, and tried through time. For the medical knowledge that we have, alone, I am grateful to be living, and raising children, in today’s world. I consider vaccinations a blessing.

• 14 Shannon // Apr 29, 2008 at 12:04 pm

  Hmm this is a tough decision. I am for vaccinations and believe we are blessed to have the gift of medicine these days. However I am pretty sure that your kids have to be vaccinated to serve a mission someday. When Trevor served in Brazil he had to have all of his immunizations along with extras because of where he was serving. Just something to think about.