I'm not a fan of Western medicine generally and today I started thinking about whether The Wiggler should be vaccinated or not. I assume that if we choose the non-vaccination route there will be people who are angry and think we're being selfish. I really don't know enough about the subject to make a decision at this point.
It seems that there are 2 camps: the "vaccines are evil" lot & the "vaccines are essential" lot. I'd really like to speak to someone who can give me the facts so that we can make an informed choice. Is that even possible with this subject? There are so many books on the subject - one I would like to read is What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Children's Vaccinations by Stephanie Cave. There's also Raising A Vaccine Free Child by Wendy Lydall.
I have to say that initial feelings are complete bewilderment. One one hand you want the best for your baby and to protect them from the nasty world. Then you think, hang on - the world isn't nasty. Then you start to think - what's in these things that doctors say are vital? Are they really? How is the immune system supposed to cope if it's bombarded with synthetic substances? From my few minutes web browsing I've read comments such as "linked with Autism" and things suggesting that the research stating vaccines are necessary is done by people with a vested interest in the sale of said vaccinations.
At school I ended up refusing the yearly flu jab because it always made me ill and I didn't actually get flu. I had mumps when I was little and I survived! I dunno. Maybe have some & not others. I'll talk to our NCT class teacher and have a read & a think.
I am all for vaccinations, I have a 3 year old who has had all her shots and she never developed any crazy reactions or got ill from them. Obviously it is a choise you need to make based on what you believe is right, although having said that, look at the amount of life threatening and crippling diseases, such as polio, which have all been eradicated due to vaccinations.
ReplyDeleteI rememeber watching a program a few years back on a community in Africa, where they had been getting vaccinated for polio for years and polio was wiped out in their community. The leaders of the community decided that vaccinations were evil and there was no need for them, so they stopped. Polio is now rampant in that community again.
Personally I think a lot of the possible side effects and potential unknowns of vaccinations are things I would rather 'risk' than risk my daughter getting the illness's that the vaccinations prevent.
And there is also the point that a lot of childcare centres and schools won't enrol children who have not been vaccinated.
Hi Fiona! Thank you so much for your comments, it's nice to finally hear someone give their opinion rather than sitting on the fence for fear of retribution!
ReplyDeleteI understand where you're coming from. It's not so much that I'm worried about crazy reactions or illnesses as a result of being vaccinated as I understand that the percentages of adverse reactions are relatively small when you consider just how many people are vaccinated in the world, it's more are they really necessary and are they really that successful? We are lead to believe that they are by those that make them, but how prevalent are the actual illnesses they supposedly vaccinate against? If your daughter was actually exposed to whooping cough would the vaccine actually work? You can only go on what you're told and all I've been told by doctors is that they are government recommended. Where is the independent research?
I think that some are probably more important than others and we are still undecided as parents what our decision will be. It could be could end up selecting a few, we might go for them all, but a lot are seemingly quite pointless and a lot of the actual illnesses they prevent are treatable & would increase natural immunity in the long run. It's a shame that, as I was vaccinated as a child, I won't pass on natural immunity against certain viruses to my child through breast milk. It's a nasty cycle and someone somewhere profits from it!
I've read that the scientist who eliminated polio now suspects that the handful of polio cases which have occurred in the US since the 70s were caused by the live viruses that were used as vaccines. Was the source of the polio outbreak revealed in the program you watched or was it blamed on the lack of vaccination? Do we have better sanitation in this country/wherever you are than the community in Africa?
Are you aware that one of the risks of vaccines can include diabetes? It is something which is much more prevalent in humans in recent years and the trend shows no signs of stopping. The government tells us it is caused by diet & lifestyle, which (agreed) is a major contributing factor, but would they tell us if it was caused by vaccinations?
Also, do you actually know what goes into the vaccines your daughter has had? Please don't think I'm having a go, I'm merely curious & interested!
You raise a lot of good points. Especially in terms of research and can you believe what it is you are being told etc.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, who knows? How do we know that the scientist who suspects the polio cases in the US were because of vaccinations is right? How do we know that his research is correct.
I guess what I am saying is that there is always one scientist who will disprove another, or come up with something. Even with the view on vaccines stopping a natural immunity. My view on that is that the diseases they are preventing are ones which people really havent had a natural immunity to anyway!
I know things like whooping cough there is a risk they can still get, I had a friend recently whose 3 year old got it even having been immunised. But rather than being life threatening, it was relatively mild and treatable. And they were told that it was lucky that she was immunised otherwise it could have been a lot worse.
I can see where it can be a big decision for some people as to whether or not to immunise their children. I also think there can be a little too many 'what if's' that go into the thinking.
I will always get my children immunised. I need to trust what the doctors and health care professionals tell me. Yes i agree it can be a scary thought to put all your faith in them, but I don't have a medical degree and I don't do the research so I really don't feel I am qualified enough to decide that what they say is wrong.
And I don't think you are having a go at all! From reading your post you are obviously just not saying 'I am not getting my child immunised because it is evil, end of story' You are weighing it all up, trying to figure out what is best.
Everyone has a different opinion on it all, and I think you can always find a paper or some kind of research to back up your case, no matter what you believe in. I think that makes it even harder to make a decision!
And I am not having a go at you either, even though I believe in immunisation, at the end of the day it is your family, and your choice for what is best for them.
Oh and I forgot to say that I do not know 100% what goes into the immunistations. But to be honest, even if I did, it probably wouldnt mean much to me, and to totally understand and know about all the ingredients I would need a medical degree anyway, and I don't trust 10 minutes researching on the internet compared to scientists who spend years in labs testing things.