Vaccine Vent

*** This will be long, I'm incredibly annoyed at the moment******

We do months of research before we buy a car, we check out housing foundations, neighborhoods, school districts before we purchase a house, we even check movie reviews before we spend 20 bucks on a movie but for some reason parents are scolded for doing research on vaccinations.

Why?

Vaccine information is not only found on anti-vax sites. Its found on the center for disease control and the AAP websites too (yes, the sames sites that doctors also look at) but people are told they are idiots when they choose to delay vaccinations or only selective vax or ::gasp:: not vax their children at all. What I find most amusing about this is those same individuals that point their judgemental finger don't do any research at all and blindly follow the doctors reccomendations.

Heres why I find it funny. Do you buy a car from a dealer just because the salesman says "this is a great deal, wonderful car blah blah", no of course not. But because someone spent 8 years in medical school and has the title of "doctor" what they say is gold. Forget that they too get paid by parmaceutical companies to give you those same vaccinations and although they may not be slimy like a car salesman they definetly have more of a motive to go with vaccines instead of another route of treatment, don't you think?

Usually when I say anything about vaccines I immediately hear about Jenny Mcarthy and the autism MMR link and why would you listen to a celebrity? The answer: I don't. I do my own RESEARCH. I'm not talking about the risk of autism when I talk about the dangers of vaccines, what I'm talking about things like chronic arthritis (which has been linked since the early 90s to the rubella vaccine) or allergies, brain damage, deafness and skin issues all which are clearly stated on even the pro-vaccine websites.

Some people say "hey, those are the risks and i'd rather take those small risks than having the HUGE risk of my child catching what we vaccinate against". Well, can you tell me what the chance of your child getting something like polio or diptheria is? What the risks are? How about how well the vaccines work? My guess is no since you were trusting someone else to do your research for you.

For example right on the CDC's website they say "pertussis remains endemic in the U.S. despite routine childhood vaccines". So if the vaccine for whooping cough isn't working to reduce the number of cases of whopping cough why do we still vaccinate for it?

Or how about the Hep B vaccine. Can someone explain to me why it is now a routine for our BABIES to get a vaccine that is mostly caused through sexual intercourse or IV drug use? Sure, if my kids going to get a tattoo at some unsafe place I would make sure he was vaccinated but i'm pretty sure my almost 1 year old isn't planning on swapping fluids or getting tats anytime soon.

Or how about how in the last 15 years the number of vaccines children get has gone from 10 to 36? We now vaccinate for chicken pox for heavens sake! and guess what! YOU STILL GET CHICKEN POX AFTER GETTING VACCINATED!!!

MMR has been proven to fail if given before 15 months of age but the AAP suggests giving it at 12 months. None of this is hidden information its right there in the studies done by the Gov't and Pharma companies so why aren't you reading it before injecting your kids with chemicals? Why does the rating of a car or movie become more important than your child and whats going into their bodies?

I could care less if someone chooses to fully vaccinate their children, but it drives me nuts when they don't do any research then give me the speak about how i'm a bad parent and i'm selfish and i'm uneducated. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Point is.. research.
Vent Over.

Vaccine Safety Awareness Form for your doctor

On mothering.com they have a link to a vaccine safety awareness form that you can give to your doctor to read and sign stating that he is aware of all the problems vaccines can cause and that he/she believes vaccines are 100% safe to use on your child. I love this idea for parents who do choose to vaccinate their children and heres why:

1. You HAVE to go over all the possible side effects with your doctor. I know they hand you a sheet at the end of the appointment stating the possible effects but I think most parents just throw that sheet away, plus why bother giving the possible side effect sheet at the end of the appointment AFTER your child has been vaccinated? This way you have to know ahead of vaccinating the risks included.

2. The form has statistics and information from VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System).

3. It holds your doctor accountable

I think having such a form available will get parents to research vaccine safety. Most parents just do what their doctor tells them without questioning them. Educating yourself on vaccinations is important, you should never just take the word of someone especially if they are getting paid to do what they are encouraging you to do (think about it, would you buy a car just because the salesman says its a great car? of course not! You do your research and even if it turns out that you love the car at least you can say YOU made the decision for yourself).

Chicken pox cases increase since vaccinations

I saw this article on a chicken pox vac thread on mothering.com and thought it was very interesting. I am personally completely against the vaccine and really only understand parents who choose to get a male child in their teens vaccinated.

The article is about how since 2005 there has been a 41% increase in the # of chicken pox cases in Texas even though there is a requirement to get it by age 8. This article is not anti-vacs so I don't want people not reading because they think its a biased piece.

What I found interesting while reading was the following:"Shirley Schreiber, director of health services with the Northside Independent School District in San Antonio, said vaccinated students who get chicken pox end up staying home the same number of days as they would have without the vaccine."

I find that statement interesting because the reason the chicken pox vaccine came out was to keep parents from taking off work, ask your doctor they'll admit it too. So why bother having the vaccine if your vaccinated child still has to stay home the same number of days? The whole point of the vaccine was convenience to parents and their workplace but its looking like the vaccine isn't really that convenient so why are they still pushing the vaccine!? I'm just lost and confused why we keep pumping our children with chemicals for no reason. Bizzare.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5471556.html

Oh Vaccines..

I had never heard about the controvery around vaccinations before being a member of babycenter. After reading many mixed reviews from the posters I decided to research the safety of vaccines on the AAP, AMA, CDC and IOM websites myself to get a better understanding of what the issues were. I found that most of the research I found related to vaccines and autism, which was my main concern due to all the media attention relating to the topic so I was okay with focusing my attention to that issue.

I read a good chunk of the immunization safety review:vaccines and Autism (www.nap.edu/?record_id=10997) and based on what I found I decided to vaccinate Ryland. What I found throughout the review was:

The committee concludes that the body of epidemiological

evidence favors rejection of a causal relationship

between the MMR vaccine and autism.

They stated that low doses of thimerosal exposure has not been demonstrated to be associated w/ effects on the nervous system. I have to admit that after reading that I felt more at ease, considering my main concerns w/ vaccinations was the risk of autism.

I still wanted to consult Ryland's ped though to find out how he felt about vaccines, and learn a bit more, he was great about going over what each vaccine was, and why he felt it was important for me to vaccinate my son. He went over stories about a case in Britian where a man went on about how vaccinations caused nervous system damage and as a result the number of children vaccinated went down, he then said there was an outbreak of measles or something (sorry, my memory is terrible) and children died while the rate of autism stayed the same during that time, then because of the increase of children dying due to not being vaccinated, vaccine rates increased again. He told me that more mercury is found in breastmilk than vaccines, which I didn't even think about. He also tried to make me feel "safe" saying that all the peds in the office had their children vaccinated and it was the best thing I could do as a mother. So he was vaccinated.

I trusted his ped an incredible amount, not just because he was a doctor with "knowledge" on the subject but because that man saved my son's life. If it weren't for him I would have taken Ryland home and he would have died within the week (born with a coarch, but displayed no signs minus a small heart murmer-usually coarch babies are blue, have little movement etc).

I can say now, I regret the decision to vaccinate Ryland. I feel like even though I was briefed about what each vaccine was for, I was not prepared for the effects that it would have on my son, let alone the low immunization success rates and having to continue giving him the vaccines in order for them to work. I feel that it is part of the medical communitys job to let us know EVERYTHING about vaccines- the pros and the cons. In today's society we're told to take the doctors advice, when I tried to do my research I went to "reputable" sites instead of basing my opionings off BCC or blogs and I feel that I was still given biased information collected by people that make money by giving children vaccinations.

My son, who rarely fusses, has been fussy for almost 3 full days now. i've tried tylenol, cuddling, everything I can think of and hes still fussing. not just fussing, full out crying! I can't handle it!!My son is in pain and it is 100% my fault. He has puked more in the last 3 days then he has his entire life, he had a fever for 2 days, and has been extremely sleepy. I'm furious.

I'm going to research Dr Sears vaccine schedule more. I need to find out if children need to be vaccinated before entering daycare (I think they do), A lot of this post was scrambled together because i've been cuddling my poor son who has been passed out while typing and I have a million thoughts running through my head. I feel completely betrayed.

I don't get how when I tell people how Ryland is feeling I get an "oh he'll get over it, all babies react that way" speech. I don't get how such a bad reaction to vaccines is just accepted by parents. Why is it that I don't learn about things until after I do them? Where is a new-unexperienced parent supposed to go to learn(which includes what sources to trust).

I'm just very frusterated...and sad.