VACCINES
Okay, so I'm really struggling with this whole vaccine issue. Do we vaccinate or not? Myah and Joel have been fully vaccinated, and Kiana only has one more round to go. So why am I so uneasy about all of this? I research on-line and find horror stories, which the doctors tell you are very rare. Is it doing harm to our kids that we aren't even aware of? Is this where ADD and ADHD and Autism and all those awful things are stemming from? Doctors certainly don't give enough information out, in my opinion. They just say you need them. Is anyone else struggling with this? I'd love to hear some opinions and decisions you've made for your families on this issue. I'm really having a hard time with this one.
4 comments:
Hey, Terri! Well, you obviously know my opinion on this matter as I am an immunization nurse and that is what I do all day when I am working! I have a whole wealth of information that I could give you regarding the many benefits of vaccination and the myths to vaccination. Here is one unbiased website that you might want to check out: http://www.chop.edu/consumer/jsp/division/generic.jsp?id=81553
It is the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and is not biased from a pharmaceutical perspective. One of the problems with doing internet searches is that you can get info that is not researched or backed by research. There has not been any evidence as of yet to prove the vaccine/autism theory. It is interesting to note that one of the research studies that started this whole debate about vaccines causing autism(the Wakefield study)has been proved to be a false study that has no credibility. See this site: http://www.pkids.org/mmr.htm
Another issue is that our generation has not seen the devastation of many of the diseases that vaccines protect against. When researching the vaccine issue, one needs to also look at what the complications of the diseases are. Many parents have read things on the internet about alleged vaccine side effects that have frightened them, but have not remembered how frightening the diseases are. In this country, there are parents that are able to "get away" with not vaccinating their children because those around them are vaccinated. However, these diseases are just a "plane ride" away and if too many people stop vaccinating we will see a resurgence of these diseases and the complications that come from them. If you want more info. I will gladly get it to you! Thanks for bringing up the topic and I enjoy reading your blogs!
Love, Julie Kuiper
Thanks, Julie. I was really hoping you would read this and comment. I definitely will check out the websites, and if I'm still looking for more information, I'll let you know.
What's your opinion on age for vaccination and on how many different ones they get at one time? One of my fears is that they put all that into their perfect little bodies at such a young age. Could this be put off a little bit and spread out a bit more? Would that maybe be better than putting all that into their systems at one time? Do parents have the right to ask for that? These are just some questions I have had going through my head.
I honestly can see both sides of it. Evan's point was, what if we didn't vaccinate a child and they ended up dying from something they could have had a vaccine for? Would we ever forgive ourselves? But then, I'm sure if you ask a parent who has lost a child because of a reaction to a vaccine, they would speak totally different. How common is that??? (Obviously I've been reading some horror stories....)
Anyway, thanks for your time and thoughts, Julie.
Love,
Terri
Interesting you posted this this week, Terri, because Sawyer had his first round this past week and has been sick ever since (could be unrelated, of course).... and it was making me wonder if I did the right thing. I didn't really even give it much thought before I did it, but as they were sticking him for 4 needles at once I just had to wonder if that was necessary for a little 2 month old. I just talked to some friends this morning that just waited a bit longer and/or spread them out more... I think that Julie had some good points, too, and I will have to look into those websites she mentioned.
Val
My opinion is to vaccinate as soon as possible. Parents that come in and want to spread out vaccines are able to do so at our health dept., but we encourage them not to (in a nice way). If they still desire after some education, then we respect their wishes. The thing is, you have to decide then what disease you want to leave the child susceptible to. Babies can die from pertussis and can have permanent disability from haemophilus influenza b (Hib). Prevnar protects against 7 types of pneumonia and another form of meningitis. Yes, there's no polio here in the U.S., but it is elsewhere and is obviously devastating. Hepatitis B... well, if your child is not in daycare, nursery or around many children 1their risk is low. However, it is known that babies make real good immunity to the hepatitis b vaccine (better than older children and adults) and chances are they will be exposed at some point. Hepatitis B is spread the same way as AIDS, but is 100 times easier to get, one reason is because it lives on the surface of things for a long period of time. Also, hepatitis b is one of the main causes of liver cancer later on it life. As far as too much on their immune system... Well, think about how much they are exposed to every day just breathing in the air around them and putting their precious germy hands into their mouths (even though we try to wash them!) And, actually, even though we have much more vaccines than there used to be, they are made differently than the older vaccines and it is actually a lot less on the immune system than when kids only used to get 1 or 2 shots. Also, ask about combination vaccines if you don't like all the pokes. A 2 month old, for example, needs DTaP, Hib, polio, hepatitis b and prevnar. We have a combination vaccine for DTap, polio and hepatitis b and so they end up getting 3 pokes instead of 5. As far as side effects - again, they are a lot less than the older vaccines that you may read some stories on. Kids used to get DTP (whole cell pertussis) and some children had very high fevers and seizures. They have reformulated that now to be acellular pertussis and kids don't get those high fevers and uncontrollable crying and seziures like they used to see. The infant shots have main side effects of redness, soreness, swelling, fever. Most of the time it is coincidental regarding a severe illness after vaccination as they probably were exposed shortly before vaccination.
As far as death from side effects...very, very rare. The government is actually very careful monitoring side effects before approving vaccines and there is a system set up called Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) that monitors severe reactions after vaccinations. If there even seems to be an increase in severe reactions they will pull the vaccine from the market. They did that back in 1999 or 2000 with the rotavirus vaccine and then later realized they pulled it too soon and that the side effects reported really may not have been side effects from the vaccine at all. Again, when you read stuff on the internet make sure it is backed by research. I understand parents wanting to figure out why their child has autism, ADD or died. However, vaccines have saved millions of lives and most of the stories you read are paretns opinion, not scientific proof (I hope I'm not sounding harsh on the parents here).
Julie
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