So you have to make a decision. Vaccinate your child and risk autism, or don’t vaccinate, and, really, still risk autism AND the diseases you are vaccinating against. You have to choose. What is your worst case scenario?
Is it autism? In your head, is autism the worst thing that could happen to your child? This is Casey, he has autism:
Casey is smart. He’s funny. He’s loving. And as he said to me the other days, “I have blue eyes and I have autism.” Autism is hard. But I’d take it over something like these any day of the week:
This child has pertussis:
This child has measles:
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| © Lowell Georgia / Photo Researchers, Inc |
This child has mumps:
The complications of these preventable diseases include encephalitis, meningitis, deafness, mental retardation, and DEATH.
The choice is yours. And don’t think that the chance is too remote for your child to get one of these diseases if you don’t vaccinate. It’s more likely that your child will get one of these preventable diseases by not vaccinating than them getting AUTISM from the vaccines.
And so you think, “fine, I can handle those diseases. It’s rare that they kill someone. Why add “toxins” to my child in order to stop them from getting a disease that is treatable?” I get that. I’ll tell you why:
This is my daughter, Abby. Abby has Down syndrome. A combination of crappy immune system and frequent steroid use for lung issues has made it so she has been unable to get all of her vaccines. There are many children like her. Sure, your child would probably be fine if he got sick with measles, mumps or pertussis, but they could pass it on unknowingly to my daughter. It could very well kill her.
This should be your worst case scenario. Killing another child because you don’t want your child to be vaccinated. And it’s a reality. There’s been a whooping cough outbreak in our home state. Babies have died from it. I shudder to think what would have happened if we stayed there this last year. I have several friends who have gotten it along with their children. I cold almost killed Abby a year ago. This would have been too much.
Please think about it. Please do your research. Please think not just about your children, but children like mine who are dependent upon you and this choice in order to help them. Please.
Lexi Mag 
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I'm not anti-vaccine and I don't think vaccines cause autism. However, I do think that holding parents who choose not to vaccinate accountable for these children's deaths is kind of too much. I vaccinated my daughter until she was 18 months old. She was very very sick and I decided to stop giving them to her because it appeared that they were adding to her overall health decline and her complicated immune system. I would never have thought that I would be someone to postpone vaccines, but when I saw directly how they were affecting her health, I knew that we needed to get her body back in order before giving her immune system any more to handle. She is finally getting healthy and back on track. Before elementary school I will most likely resume a modified vaccine schedule. I did not do this because I'm careless or I don't care about other kids. I did this because my little one was suffering. I don't think vaccines caused all of her issues by any means, but I do think it has been helpful to give her body a break. Its not like vaccines are completely safe. They have a lot of risks and complications associated with them too. Anyway, besides my opinion of why I we have chosen to take a break, there are some logical reasons to be cautious about them for certain children (for example your own child, who cannot take them).
Lexi is not talking about delayed vaccination schedules. She's talking about those who choose not to vaccinate at all. I agree with you, Lexi. I watched a fascinating documentary on Frontline about vaccinations. I thought it gave a very well-rounded and unbiased picture of the history and controversy surrounding vaccines, specifically with regards to autism. There was a time when I wasn't so sure about vaccinations, but after seeing the devastating effects those once-eradicated illnesses can have on children, especially on children with special needs, I've decided I NEED to vaccinate my own. Not to protect them, but to protect others. I feel since I have no reason NOT to vaccinate, I should do it on behalf of those who can't.
It is definitely more scary not to vaccinate than to vaccinate no matter what causes autism. There is a reason they started vaccinating after all. I personally don't think vaccinations cause autism. I hope they find out soon what does.
Yes, yes, yes. My daughter got pertussis before she got her 2mo shots. We were lucky in that her dr was aggressive with diagnosing and treating and she is a healthy almost three year old now. But all I could think was that no parent should ever have to hold their baby while they cough until they gasp for breath. I can't even imagine what parents went through whose kids had it worse, or whose kids lost their lives. And a friend of mine has a 6y/o with primarily immune disorder. He can't mount an immune response to vaccines and is at risk of getting these diseases (has been hospitalized already for many of them). He is at the mercy of everyone else who can get vaccinated. It is heartbreaking that people think a hypothetical autism diagnosis (that is mostly related to genetics and not vaccines) sounds worse to parents than their child getting these awful diseases and possible spreading these awful diseases to other innocent children.
I am scared to death that Kamryn will get one of these diseases before the can get her immunizations. I practically run when I hear coughing.
There has been a huge rise in whooping cough in our state also. Thank goodness both my husband and I were vaccinated before getting pregnant with Hailey. She is behind on her vaccines because of her heart surgery and I worry about her getting something. I know a lot of people don't believe in the flu vaccine but one of our dear friend's son has CP and can't get the vaccine but it is also critical that he doesn't get fevers, so all his family and friends take it to protect him.
This is such a tough call for some.
Choosing to not vaccinate your kids is a much greater gamble than any risk of side effects from the vaccines themselves. When you know you can prevent your child from ever getting one of several very scary illnesses at the minute risk of something bad happening as a result (like, way less than 1% chance), it seems irresponsible to opt out of vaccinations, barring an impaired immune system.
Darn it! I love to read your blog but this hurt my feelings 🙂 I watched two of my brothers end up in the hospital after vaccinations. One was In grade 9 and received his boosters from the health nurse at the school. He seized and collapsed backwards and split his head open. The other was 18 months and ended up with a grande mal seizure problem and whooping cough after his 18 month shots. My wonderful son with autism is the only one of my four boys with it and the only one that I received the flu shot while i was pregnant with him. He is the only one with chronic diarrhea. He is the only one with Mitochondrial Dysfunction. There is no other medication out there that you can say 100% of the people can get it and be fine. There ARE a percentage of people who have side effects from vaccines.
Awesome post. And it's not just immunocompromised kids either. Google "Gene Tierney and measles" if you don't know the story — a truly thoughtless fan *escaped quarantine* to see the actress (who was pregnant), and the result was tragic.But Lexi, what's up with the ENORMOUS right foot in that photo? Yeah, it's closest to the camera, but damn, girl. Oh, sorry, am I putting my foot in it? Making a faux pas? 🙂
Awesome post. And it's not just immunocompromised kids either. Google "Gene Tierney and measles" if you don't know the story — a truly thoughtless fan *escaped quarantine* to see the actress (who was pregnant), and the result was tragic.But Lexi, what's up with the ENORMOUS right foot in that photo? Yeah, it's closest to the camera, but damn, girl. Oh, sorry, am I putting my foot in it? Making a faux pas? 🙂
Fantastic post! I couldn't agree more. It breaks my heart that people risk their children and other children's lives b/c they are afraid to have kids like mine:( Really, are they soooo bad that you would rather a dead kid over the possibility of a kid like mine? For a time I did wonder if vaccines could cause autism. My oldest two spiked fevers after getting ANY of the vaccines. But, I think they spiked the temps b/c they have issues/autism/whatever.Again, thanks for the awesome post.
Kat, I'm not at all saying that in these cases it's wrong to not vaccinate. There are a lot of reasons to stop or to delay vaccines. I'm not saying that they're perfectly safe for everyone, either. I was speaking to the people who choose to not vaccinate because they still believe that vaccines cause autism. I wanted to show them that there are worse things than autism. That losing a child to a disease that could be prevented would be worse. That your child causing another child to die because they passed on a preventable disease that you didn't vaccinate for is worse. It's the WORST CASE SCENARIO. I'm not blaming anyone either. I'm just SO SICK of people who do not vaccinate without doing the research. Without ANY reason other than it's become sort of the "thing" to do. In my birthclub on Babycenter MOST were not vaccinating or delaying it and MOST could not tell you why. It's blows my mind. Your situation with your daughter is like mine with Abby. She can't be vaccinated, so you have to rely on others vaccinating their kids. It's a tough battle. I absolutely did not mean to offend you.
They stopped vaccinating children under the age of two in Japan and the SIDS rate dropped dramatically. Many other issues have been linked to vaccinations besides autism. I agree, it's sad when people don't vaccinate because it's so-called "trendy". I think it's equally as sad when people do vaccinate because they get pushed around by fear tactics from the many who aren't on this "non-vaccination trend", who are usually doing it because they have been scared to death by Doctors, who have not been educated on both sides of the story. There's legitimate research to back up legitimate concerns for vaccinations leading to SIDS, allergies, chronic immune disorders and the like. It's pretty harsh to blame caring parents who are doing what they feel right for THEIR children for these outbreaks when really, it's their choice. The fear about vaccination is not about autism alone. There's MUCH more research linking to MANY more horrible (and death-causing problems) that has been conducted scientifically. Each parent has to do what they feel right for their children's specific needs. If they are doing it because of the trends, that's a problem. If they are doing it because of fear, that's a problem. They should do whatever they do based on RESEARCH – from both sides – and you may be surprised that solid research does show there are serious, death-causing, life-changing effects linked to vaccinations having nothing to do with autism.
The reason they started vaccinating is money. It's a multibillion dollar industry. Something to think about. And again, autism is just one small fear of vaccinations. There are many more disturbing links (i.e. SIDS, chronic immune disorders, etc.) that studies have shown are related.
Fantastic – best argument I've heard for vaccines in a long time.
Amen, Amen, Amen!!
Nothing to do with, you know, the mutilating diseases they've eradicated? Nothing at all to do with that? Just money? All the scientists who invented these vaccines and said "the pros outweigh the cons" were money hungry stooges?
Brin, I would love it if you posted the studies that you are referring to. Just because someone makes money doing something, doesn't mean that there isn't merit to their work.My husband works for the Department of Defense. He works on weapons that could keep us safe and help win wars. Would he do it for free? Nope.My brother in law is an oncologist. He cures cancer. He gets paid. A lot. Does that mean that what he's doing isn't right?I would be very very interested in reading what material you have. I'm interested in all sides of this. I don't think at all that vaccines are for everyone. But I think there needs to be further education in this area.
The Frontline on vaccines is called The Vaccine War and it an be found here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/vaccines/ It's what TOTALLY woke me up to all of this. For so long I thought that Casey's autism was caused by the vaccines. I think I may have led others to believe the same. This is my way of making up for it.
Please post the links to the research. I would love to read all that you are talking about.
Thank you. May this post spread through all the uneducated world.
Yes! Yes! Yes!
Excellent post!
My daughter is immunodeficiency and her shots have not taken, any one of these illness can kill her. Thank you for posting something like this, because I have wanted to for along time
I know this post is older but THANK YOU! I am loving your blog, just found it, but this post was especially great. So, so, so important.Thank you for the PSA. 🙂
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