It's one of those hotbeds of debate, up there in terms of parental controversy with formula feeding and circumcision. I'm talking about vaccines, of course.
It used to be that modern medicine was a thing to be venerated, a doctor's words regarded like golden nectar of wisdom. Now, not so much. As with the unschooling movement, many parents have grown skeptical and jaded with conventional medicine as others have with the education system. Once upon a time vaccinations were seen as miracles in a needle, warding off potentially life-threatening illnesses.
The backlash started with a now-infamous study published in The Lancet in the late '90s linking autism with the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine. And even though the findings of that study were since refuted and thoroughly discredited, the bad taste has lingered in the mouths of parents.
Click here to read what some mothers in the '50s were told caused their child's autism.
In the States, the unvaccinating movement has turned epidemic, with as many as one in 10 parents refusing to vaccinate their children, and many more delaying the recommended vaccination schedule. More worryingly, unvaccinating parents tend to cluster in certain regions, leading to high rates of untreated children in some communities, thereby putting those communities at risk.
In many practices doctors are lenient about protracting the vaccination schedule. Others drop recalcitrant patients like hot potatoes. Kids here can go to school, provided they sign an "unvaccinated" waiver.
Click here to read how this mom made her vaccine decision.
I'm no scientist, granted. I have no idea what caused my son's autism. Yet I can say for certain that if autism has been filtering throughout our family for generations, it's most likely caused by hereditary, rather than any environmental factors.
To my mind, vaccinations are a necessary evil that have kept certain, largely avoidable diseases at bay for decades. It scares me to see some diseases like whooping cough and measles making a comeback, sometimes with fatal consequences. I hope that if parents choose not to vaccinate, they are making decisions that are right for their children and informed on concrete data rather than good old-fashioned paranoia or outmoded studies.
Do you vaccinate your children? Why/why not? What propels you to resist (or embrace) the needle?
Written By: Julie M Green, Yummy Mummy Club
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On the one hand you have science telling you to do it.
On the other you have an old wives tale told by a woman who knew a guy who knew a cat who heard a person talking about a doctor who fabricated a study and was proven wrong telling you not to do it.
Get your kids vaccinated.
[House is in an exam room with a mother and her baby.]
Young Mother: We’re not vaccinating.
House: Think they don’t work?
Young Mother: I think some multinational pharmaceutical company wants me to think they work. Pad their bottom line.
House: Mmmm. May I? [He takes the frog and starts to do the gribbit noise with the baby]
Young Mother: [Whispered] Sure.
House: Gribbit, gribbit, gribbit. [The baby laughs] All natural no dyes. That’s a good business: all-natural children’s toys. Those toy companies, they don’t arbitrarily mark up their frogs. They don’t lie about how much they spend in research and development. The worst a toy company can be accused of is making a really boring frog.
[Young Mother laughs and so does House. The baby giggles again]
House: Gribbit, gribbit, gribbit. You know another really good business? Teeny tiny baby coffins. You can get them in frog green or fire engine red. Really. The antibodies in yummy mummy only protect the kid for 6 months, which is why these companies think they can gouge you. They think that you’ll spend whatever they ask to keep your kid alive. Want to change things? Prove them wrong. A few hundred parents like you decide they’d rather let their kid die then cough up 40 bucks for a vaccination, believe me, prices will drop REALLY fast. Gribbit, gribbit, gribbit, gribbit, gribbit.
Young Mother: Tell me what she has.
House: A cold.
[Cut to House leaving the clinic.]
Parents should do their research at VRAN (Vaccine Risk Awareness Network) and VacTruth.
There are excellent documentaries available on youtube, "Autism Made In America" and "The Greater Good" are two of the best.
I know exactly what caused MY son's autism, he turned pale white after a couple of his vaccinations. The doctor didn't seem to consider that a risk factor so he went on vaccinating him, after the MMR he started flapping his hands, that's when I decided there'd be no more vaccines. He was diagnosed with autism, but he's getting extra help with detoxing, vitamins and a Gluten Free diet.He's slowly getting better. Autism is treatable biomedically, that's the good news.
Vaccines are dangerous for people over 65 too, the flu shot contains a lot of mercury and studies have shown it's NOT an effective vaccine for the elderly, despite the propaganda . They should avoid it .Glutathione, the body's major detoxer, starts slowing down as you get older, so toxins and heavy metals can build up if you're overexposed.
When one is basing important decisions on "youtube" & internet theories, one can find the conspiracy one is looking for.
Yes, the findings of the MMR & the work of wakefield have totally been discredited & the success of vaccines have been proven worldwide for decades by peer reviewed studies - hence the reason wakefiled was totally discredited - he manipulated data & used children.
The result was lower vaccination rates, increased illnesses & even deaths.
The cause of autism has not yet been found but htere are already a zillion chemicals around that we are exposed to. The history of vaccinations proves that this is not one of the causes nor is there any study that supports that view.
http://vran.org/in-the-news/so-who%E2%80%99s-disgraced-now/
Aren't the vaccines supposed to immunize them against infection if they encounter it.
If the vaccines don't even work, blame the vaccine makers, not the unvaccinated children.
In reality, as StacyJ has pointed out, vaccines are not a cure. Not by a long shot. They simply reduce the likelihood of the disease and you need everyone (or a majority) in society to get a vaccine to create what is called "herd immunity". Or, in other words, most people have reduced risk so the disease practically vanishes because it can't spread.
When people hear "immunity" they hear "you are safe. you are protected" and that isn't true at all. When vaccinations decrease, it is more likely people will get sick and the more vaccinated people are exposed to the disease, their own risk of getting it go up.
But this idea that vaccines themselves kill off diseases or protect us is not the truth. Not exactly. And I think this communications strategy is a HUGE problem. There needs to be a new, massive information campaign that properly informs people about vaccines. That they are NOT a cure and only reduce the risk of disease with the primary "immunity" coming from a society with reduced risk.
Which is exactly right.
"you are protected" and that isn't true at all"
Actually, it is true. While vaccines are not 100% guaranteed, it vurtually eliminates the potential for deadly diseases. This is reflected by polio rates. Nearly eliminated except for some countries who have stopped vaccinations.
"only reduce the risk of disease"
Only?
This is a very important factor. As for an "information campaign", if one needs a commercial to understand vaccines, we're in trouble.
Issue is that some people see a conspiracy in anything the Gov't does & unbelievably put faith in some internet pages rather than decades of peer reviewed research & worldwide examples of the benefit.
Not vaccinating is dangerous to others as well as your child.
Ignorance is only bliss if you don't die of a horrible disease because of it...
There is also what I believe is a decades long communication mistake. This idea that vaccines are basically cures, and that if you get a vaccine you can't get sick and are protected. We know for a fact that isn't true. The importance is that vaccines reduce risk and when a lot of people get immunized, the reduced risk for everyone creates "herd immunity" which means diseases start to disappear.
However, once this came out, that vaccines don't protect you and that if these diseases start showing up, you can still get sick even if vaccinated, the "faux sceptics" had their in. They respond with "If vaccines protect you and your kids, then you have nothing to worry about from those of us who chose not to get vaccinated". The problem is they use that correct bit of information improperly and out of context.
I think part of the trouble is that many people have lost faith in institutions like medicine and the government.They no longer feel that their best interests are being guarded.As wards of their children,it's their responsibility to protect them from harm and not just do what they are told.
Statistics can be predudiced and out right lying has become common.Big pharma has proven to be more considerate to profits then people,they have lost a lot of trust.
I had a hard time letting anyone inject an ( unknown to me) substance into my son.I did some research and asked questions at Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto.Eventually I decided to trust the doctor,the risks of the diseases outweighed the risks of the prevention.
I do appreciate the sentiment of the posting below,I just think questioning things is a good reflex.
As the Article points out, the Junk Science linking Autism and the MMR Vaccine has been COMPLETELY discredited. For the Love of your Children, PLEASE Vaccinate them.