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Autism and vaccines is a MYTH. Even the Autism Society says there is NO connection. Get your kid vaccinated and keep him/ healthy!
I am sorry, but NO ONE knows what causes autism. A recent court case just determined that due to an underlying genetic issue (that no one would have known about), vaccines WERE the cause of the girl's autism.
A lot of parents question the safety of vaccines and do a lot of research into the subject, making informed decisions with the results. Many people don't just blindly follow the recommendations just because a doctor says so...
It is your decision. I get asked this question alot as my son died 22 years ago 24 hrs after his First DPT vaccine. I watched my son die right before my eyes and did not realize it until it was too late. All the info the dr gave me happened, so I never called as it was supposedly a normal reaction. SIDS is what the coroner report said but DH and I will never believe that. Our two youngest sons had all their vaccines except Pertussis as we did research and that is the component that most likely caused the reaction in our son. Our pediatrician would not give them their MMR booster before kindergarten due to their adverse reactions with the first one. His reasoning was when they first came out with that vaccine it was supposed to protect them for life and he didn't believe in the boosters. To top it off it is a live vaccine, same with the varicella vaccine it is also live and due to family history drs refuse to give my kids any live vaccines. I had a great pediatrician that filled out my kids immunization records for school saying they were up to date.
No one can really tell another parent what to do when it comes to vaccines, but we can give you our stories of any problems our children had with the vaccines.
I am so, so, sorry for your loss. Thank you for sharing your story with the parents here. So many people just don't know how dangerous vaccines can be.
To me, the main reason to delay vaccines is because an infant has such an immature immune system that the vaccines are not that effective for them. If you wait a few years until they have a mature immune system, the vaccines will be a lot more effective. Even just waiting a few more months helps a lot. This is why babies need like 5 shots of DTaP and such.
I delayed the Hep B vax which they recommend at birth, which I think is absolutely ridiculous. They don't recommend this one any earlier than the DTaP because the baby is any more likely to come into contact with it earlier, which I think would be an acceptible reason. They just recommend it at birth because if mom has Hep B then the vax would protect the baby. If the mom doesn't have Hep B, well then there is no reason to do it then. But it's easier to have universal policies in place, so they just put it at birth for everyone. Birth is a terrible time though to get a vaccine because a baby's immune system is still switched to a weaker mode from being in-utero (both mom and baby's immune systems are turned down so they don't attack each other). It takes about 2 weeks for the baby's immune system to switch to outside-mode. So even just waiting 2 weeks for this vax would produce a much better immune response to it.
I also preferred to delay the live vaccines, MMR and Varicella, because of similar reasons. The longer you wait, the more effective the vax will be.
I did say that MOST of the time children recover from them just fine. That is part of the problem with things like measles, mumps and chicken pox. Mass vaccination has pushed these diseases into adulthood where they ARE more dangerous. .
That statement doesn't make any sense. If children are getting vaccinated, then they won't get the disease as an adult either.
Children should be vaccinated. On the other hand, if you don't get your kid vaccinated and they die from a childhood disease that could have easily been prevented, maybe that's natural selection at work.
I also preferred to delay the live vaccines, MMR and Varicella, because of similar reasons. The longer you wait, the more effective the vax will be.
Which is a great alternative for parents who don't agree with giving the vaccines to babies. My friend did this with all her kids. Didn't start until her kids were a year old. She also didn't take them out much for that first year, so their exposure to anything was minimal.
I posted in another thread about my friend who got Pertussis as an adult, about a year ago. He was really sick, in the hospital for a week. He had small children at home and thanked God they were covered by their shots. He stated he didn't know how a small child would survive being as sick as he was.
Pertussis, Measles and Mumps have all made comebacks in the area I'm in, in the past 3 years. I'm glad my kids have been vaccinated and are protected.
BTW, Polio can cause deformity, and any of the above can cause SERIOUS illness, and even death in some cases. We aren't talking about a stuffy nose or harmless rash.
That statement doesn't make any sense. If children are getting vaccinated, then they won't get the disease as an adult either.
Children should be vaccinated. On the other hand, if you don't get your kid vaccinated and they die from a childhood disease that could have easily been prevented, maybe that's natural selection at work.
This vaccine immunity is not quite the same as the immunity a person gets from actually having the disease. It seems to wear off as the person ages. Then, if the person is exposed to the disease, it can be rough. Measles or mumps can be fatal to an elderly person.
Polio is a horrible thing. I raised my children before the vaccine. Every year, we worried throughout the summer as children all around us contacted the disease. We were lucky. Not everyone was. The polio vaccine is the only one that I would insist on. Whooping cough and diphtheria would be the only other two.
Mrsmo, I'm terribly sorry about your loss. Thank you for sharing with the CD group. One can never know the sadness you parents must feel.
I agree, I do think it needs to be the parents' decision whether or not to vaccinate. We decided to vac but I know there are others who don't agree. As far as adults who were vaccinated, people really need to stay on top of their boosters. Their primary doctor can help them keep track. I've had a measles booster and tetanus booster. I also went through the Hep B series because I'm a healthcare worker. Again, personal choice (some healthcare workers desire to go without) but I was recently exposed to a patient's blood when an IV accidentally slipped out during patient care. He was Hep+ and I was very thankful I had the vaccination. I'm also glad my children have been vaccinated because who knows what I could be exposing to them from the hospital. In my situation, the risks for my children being exposed are there since I work in healthcare. Others might not have those worries.
People who don't think measles, mumps, rubella aren't serious illnesses are kidding themselves. Many people got through them ok but there were many children who died or had serious long term effects from these illnesses.
Being in the special education field, this question has always been an interesting one to me. The original study conducted on the link between autism and vaccines was done in Europe, I believe, on a very small sample of children. The link that was SUGGESTED was that "thimerosal", an agent in the then MMR vaccine, (derived from mercury) was the link. Many other studies have been done on this possible link, all showing that there is NO link between the thimerosal and autism. But, due to the public outcry, the vaccine no longer has thimerosal in it. And, as an added precaution, you can get the vaccines for these three diseases separately, instead of in one injection. I have a couple theories, myself....one, is that our ability to diagnose syndromes such as autism, etc, has improved tremendously over the years. Years ago, folks with these kinds of disorders were put in institutions and considered crazy, etc. Two....there is soooo much going on in our environment now, that it would be very difficult to pinpoint one cause---it is probably a combination of factors that contribute to causation. And three--if you look at the overall numbers of people who get vaccinated, the likelyhood of getting sick from them is soooooooo small.......sort of like me winning the lottery!!! The chances of my child dying in a car accident is far greater......and I drive my child around every day. But, of course, I feel for any one who has lost a child to any sickness, or for any child who has been affected in any way........and ultimately, each parent needs to make their own decision.
I worked in healthcare for many years. When I started working at the hospital I needed to have my titres checked to be sure I was immune to certain diseases. I was, 20+ years later, still immune to all those things I was vaccinated against as a child.
Most of these diseases are sooooo contagious (sp?)! Some, you would only need to be in the same room as an infected person BEFORE they even had symptoms to catch it. With so many people going in and out of our country every day, I just wouldn't risk it!
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That is part of the problem with things like measles, mumps and chicken pox. Mass vaccination has pushed these diseases into adulthood where they ARE more dangerous. .
