Tuesday, December 8, 2009

To Vaccinate or not to vaccinate????

THE VACCINE BOOK by Dr. Robert Sears has answered most of my questions regarding vaccines. This book, being neither extremely for or against vaccines, has confirmed my feelings about vaccines. It has given me the details I need to make definite decisions concerning the vaccination of my 2 and 5 year old boys. The decision is to discontinue the vaccination process. These are the facts, as I understand them, that brought me to my decision:
1. It seems that the risk of fatality or permanent damage from any of these diseases come in infancy and at older ages. This being said, I feel a huge relief taken off my shoulders, as my children are passed the infancy stage. *Dr. Sears offers an alternative vaccine schedule in his book, which in essence you go every month to the doctor for 2 vaccines each time. The schedule ensures that the child will only be given one vaccine with aluminum at a time.
2. Most vaccines contain ingredients that are point blank questionable (animal and human tissues, mercury, aluminum, fermaldehyde, etc.) I will go into more detail as I address each individual vaccine on additional posts.
3. At this point in time, the length in which any vaccine doses will last is unknown. So we are vaccinating our kids for chicken pox at age 12 months and a booster at 5 years old, but the vaccine can lose its potency into adulthood. That being the time when chicken pox is the most dangerous. I would rather just let my kids get the "disease" in childhood and thus not have to worry about any ill effects later on.
4. Obtaining natural immunity is the best!
5. Breastfeeding into the second year of life greatly reduces the chance of catching any of these illnesses.
6. Infants put in day-care will almost definitely be exposed to some of these illnesses and again exposure in infancy can have some unwanted side effects.
7. There is a simple blood test that can be done to see if one has actually been exposed to some of these diseases and has become naturally immune to them. As my children get closer to the ages that some of these diseases can potentially harm their health, we will do this blood test. Once we determine what they need to be immunized for, we will then begin the process.

Lastly, the question that Dr. Sears poses is are we in this for the health of only our children or for the possible eradication of many of these diseases. His thought is, if all people are immunized, then the diseases would no longer have a place to live and would no longer exist (presumably). My question on this is, does disease ever really disappear and if they can possibly mutate into different, maybe more threatening diseases then they already are??? Stay tuned for detailed info on the individual vaccines....

5 comments:

  1. Great post, and I'm looking forward to your vaccine series of posts. As you know, I read the book as well and we came to make very different decisions vaccinating our third child than we did with our first and second. I just wish I was more knowledgeable the first and second time around!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Another great post! I also like Dr. Sears' views on the no-crying sleep solution.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love this! When I was pregnant with Brayden (now 12 yrs)I had a very amazing midwife who encouraged me to look into all sorts of things....vaccines, circumcision and co-sleeping (Dr. Sears in general...;) What I came away with in those months of research has greatly shaped our thinking, our parenting, our home and our kids. We chose (after agonizing decision.....) not to vaccinate our kids, we did not circumcise and chose to breastfeed and co sleep which I have been FOREVER grateful for! It has bonded us in a way I could never explain! Thanks for the vaccine info...it used to be a soapbox for me, and after losing countless friends over the issue...I just got silent. Great to know one of my friends is likeminded in soooo many areas! So glad you are my friend! Love you!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you for this awesome post! I have, until now, been unable to find a likeminded CF parent in regards to vaccines and I'm thanking God for the timing of me finding this! My girl, 7 yrs old, with CF has had selected vaccines but every flu season I struggle with our decision to keep her unvaccinated. This year I also have a 10 week old to consider, and though he was born without CF, I certainly want him to stay healthy too(he is exclusively breastfed and unvaccinated)! Have you ever given your boys the flu vaccine? Can you tell me more about the blood test you refer to regarding immunity? I so appreciate your time and all the great info here on your blog! Bless you and your family!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thank you for your response Nikki!!! We have chosen to do flu vaccines. Basically we succomb to the scare tactics of our physicians and just don't want to take the chance of severe complications. I know all the statistics and I mostly know that they don't help much, but.....
    You can just ask for the blood test at any physician, I believe. When I was pregnant, one of the blood tests was to make sure I was still immune to the measles (I believe). My mother-in-law, upon traveling overseas, was able to request a blood test to see what she was already immune to prior to updating the immunizations required.
    My boys are now 8 and 5. If you would like to connect more closely, you can find me on facebook...Melissa McRoy Meyer or e-mail me heleadsmyway@cox.net

    ReplyDelete