Thursday, January 16, 2014
The Great Vaccination Debate
One of my friends (a nurse), posted this on her Facebook page. The video is a few years old, but I had never seen it before. It is a pretty forward and easy to comprehend stance on one of the most controversial issues in the parenting world. When I became pregnant and started reading the baby books and looking at different pregnancy and parenting websites/blogs/forums this issue is one that constantly came up. People always get very touchy when it comes to this subject no matter which side of the fence they are on. Similar to talking about politics or religion, it is just not one of those topics where I am like, "I do not want to go there" because people get upset and offended so easily. But I am on one side of the fence and I have an opinion.
My view is that it would be reckless to not vaccinate my children. I feel as though I would leave them vulnerable and susceptible to diseases that modern medicine has a remedy for. I do not want to endanger the lives of my children in any way, shape, or form. That is why I choose to vaccinate. I do not believe that certain diseases that these vaccinations are for are "antiquated". Many countries around the world still have outbreaks of polio, small pox, etc. The United States has such an influx of people from different countries that it could leave children that are not vaccinated at risk. In my opinion.
Vaccinating my children is my choice and is what is right for me and my family. What are your opinions and views on this issues? Are you anti-vaccinations? Why or why not? Let's talk about this.
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Ok, third time is the charm :) This is Ashley M. posting from anonymous in hopes it will finally post!!
ReplyDeleteDo you selectively vaccinate or give them all of the suggested vaccinations? Also, how often or how many times have your girls been sick?
I personally, do not vaccinate.
My 15 month old has been to the doctor once, at 1 week old, and has never been sick (except for stuffy nose from teething). My 8 year old (who is half Lakota Sioux Native American) was vaccinated until she was a year old, because I was 19 and had no real information on vaccinations and decided to only give her the ones I had received as a child. I'm not sure if it's because of the vaccinations, her heritage, or both but every time she received the vaccinations, she would become sick, to the point where I couldn't get her 103-4 degree fevers to break, and had to visit the ER twice. So, needless to say, I started doing more research (not just what they show you on TV and in the doctors office) and I was so sickened and disgusted by what I found and by my own decision to inject my child with these things that I never got her vaccinated again. And, in turn, she hasn't had any illnesses besides the common cold/flu since then. No more fevers that wouldn't break,.. ever.
I'm not saying that everyone shouldn't vaccinate, but I do think more research needs to be done before a final decision is made to inject your child full of unnecessary, harmful toxins that will ultimately make them sick, sooner or later. It's too risky for me to vaccinate my precious mini-humans with things such as :
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vac-gen/additives.htm
^ That's the link (or just copy/paste it into your browser) for the CDC's list of the additives that are in vaccinations, but of course, they don't tell you the negatives of these toxic additives, which are included but not limited to....
Aluminum - a light metal that causes dementia and Alzheimer disease when injected.
Anti-biotics- chemicals that are promoting "super-bugs" aka deadly anti-biotic resistant strains.
Formaldehyde - a chemical used to preserve dead people. Highly toxic to the nervous system- could cause blindness, seizures and brain damage.
Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) - do I even need to explain how bad MSG is? It's toxic when consumed in foods - normally giving the person who injected it a migraine but when injected it can be severely damaging to the endocrine system.
Thimerosol- this is a mercury compound that can damage the nervous system and is highly toxic to the brain. MERCURY! Yeah, the stuff in old school thermometers... yikes.
This is all just the tip of the iceberg, if anyone wants more information and facts on what are in them, well, I'm sure you all know how to do your research beyond TV and what doctors tell you.
Thank you so much for your comments, Ashley! My girls have been sick once when they were 3 months old. It happened right after our plane ride when we relocated here to Texas. They were born a month premature, so their immune systems were definitely under-developed, which I believe is the reason they got sick during our travels. Other than that, the same runny/stuffy noses since they have been teething. Like I said in the post, this is a very personal issue that everyone has their own views on. While I was pregnant I did a lot of research on the subject and I ultimately decided that taking the risk with the additives in certain vaccines was worth not being vaccinated at all. So far, my girls have received all of the vaccines up until this point. However, the vaccine I am still not very sure about is the chicken pox vaccine. There is some research that shows this particular vaccine has the potential to wear off years down the line and getting chicken pox as an adult is far more dangerous than having it as a young child. Aside from that, I plan to continue to vaccinate my daughters. I love that we are able to show our opposing views on this. This is what makes us unique as parents and our approaches to how we raise our littles. I am glad we can discuss and present information on this issue that can hopefully encourage others to look at the opposite side of the coin on this issue.
ReplyDeleteHow awesome they have only been sick once but how terrible it was when you were moving semi-across the country! :/ We were worried about our girls moving from sea level to 10,000ft last year but we spent a couple nights at about 5.000ft to get acclimated, and I think it helped, as they both did pretty well.
ReplyDeleteVaccinating IS a very personal issue and I might get too passionate about it at times! :) I'm glad we can respect each others differences and know that, being different, essentially, is what makes the world go round :) Keep researching mama and taking care of those beautiful little girls!
-Ashley M.
I am so happy the comments I got for this post were the complete opposite of my opinion. I am hoping new parents will be able to see both sides of this issue and it will spark some new ideas in them. It is great to be passionate! And it is great to share without judgement or hurtful words. Too often parents attack one another about hot topics and the only thing I can think of is the children attached to those parents. Those kids are essentially learning intolerance from their parents. We should teach our children to be passionate, but also respectful of differing opinions in others.
ReplyDeleteI vaccinate. I always have, and I definitely always will.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many illnesses out there, that in my opinion if I can prevent I will. Look at how many people used to die (and in some places still do) from things like small pox. Doctors and Scientists have come up with these things for a reason, to prevent children and adults from dying from these diseases.
Also.. JUST my opinion.. when you decide not to vaccinate.. that's fine that you've made that decision for your kid, everyone has the right to make these decisions... but what about the people who can't get these vaccinations who are at risk? Like new born babies, elderly people, people with weak immune systems. They're MORE at risk when we decide not to vaccinate.
I am definitely passionate about vaccinating too.. and I get shot down time and time again, but I guess I'm just kind of sick of the internet providing everyone with so much ''information'' that these days will tell you drinking cows milk will eventually turn you into a cow.. and SOMEONE is going to believe it.
As corrupt and ridiculous as our governments can be... I highly doubt they would allow anyone to inject their people with ANYTHING that was going to cause SERIOUS harm..
but..
that's just my opinion.
lol