i was going to post this on the PAL board, but didn't want to offend anyone, so i thought i'd vent here instead. i hope i don't offend anyone here, but the immunization issue really irks me, & we were stuck listening to some really obnoxious people at lunch yesterday (you know the kind who take over half the restaurant & talk really loud, so that the entire place gets to hear their "insightful" views on whatever the topic happens to be? yeah, they suck!) anyways...
yesterday this obnoxious group was holding forth on immunizations & how incredibly dangerous they are bc they have mercury in them & cause autism. ok, fine-- parents are allowed to make decision for their own children, but i find it infuriating that people are allowed to make decisions that not only put their own kids at risk (as evidenced by the return of diseases that had been considered extinct), but also put MY kids at risk. Of course we're getting our boys immunized, but it takes several years to get them everything they need, & in the meantime, if your non-immunized kids get sick, they have the potential to infect mine. & if you're going to rationalize your decision not to follow the pediatric association's advice, at least have your info straight-- shots no longer contain mercury, & studies have shown the "link" between autism & immunizations is non-existent.
most of those geniuses having this insightful discussion were my age, so i'm willing to bet they were all immunized as kids, & (other than their lack of common sense) seem to be perfectly healthy. But instead of looking at the 50 years of evidence supporting the safety & efficacy of immunizing kids, let's look only at the latest, unproven, hippie trends. good call, folks.
seriously, we can legislate to stop smoking in public to protect public health, but we let certain parents ignorantly put our kids at risk? The decision not to immunize your kids is not made in a vacuum, & while i support the idea that parents should be able to make unencumbered decisions regarding their children's welfare, when their decision can potentially impact the welfare of an entire community, perhaps the decision should be taken out of the parents' hands.
Ummm this happened to me a few weeks ago.
ReplyDeleteAnd I was told there is no longer mercury in the immunizations they give.
I found out some interesting news. I am not sure if it is true or not.
ReplyDeleteSomeone asked if you found out a child didn't have imms would you allow your child to play with said child.
One of the people who answered said, no. Not because they are worried about their own children, they would be worried about the child who didn't have the imm. When our children get the shot, they can pass the virus on to a child that is not imm. That blew my mind.
Thankfully, I am not really exposed to people who don't believe in the shots. Everyone I know in RL has their children imm.
WORD!!
ReplyDeleteugh!!
AMEN! I went back and forth on this for a while, mainly because I work with kiddo's with Autism and here EVERYTHING from parents from - it was totally the shots, to no, i know he was born with it etc. I think we're going to go on the extended schedule, and our pedi supports it. But I can't tell you the number of mom's who come to my office, see my belly and before they can say anything else, they say "YOU'RE NOT IMMUNIZING ARE YOU?!" Cripe.
ReplyDeleteWhen I talked to hubby about it to see what he felt, he's of the thought of - there's nothing to prove that shots lead to Autism, and that's my stance as well. I'm tired of all the studies. He said at one point, and totally makes sense - "Has anyone ever died from Autism? No? Ok then". I think he has a very good point :)
I'm with you 150% Kate. It's bullshit that the people that choose to not immunize their kids are not only putting their child at risk, but putting mine at risk. Don't they realize their kids can't attend schools with out these shots? There is no link to autism. IMO Dr.s are just better equipped to diagnose such conditions now.
ReplyDeleteUgh...this subject pisses me off.
AMEN! The study that made my mind up was the one that compared children that got immunized on schedule and then ones that waited like 3 years. And equal number of children in each group had autism, and the waiting group being kids that hadn't been immunized at all yet!
ReplyDeleteNot to mention this whole thing started off of a SELF reporting study done by the parents of TEN children...TEN! That is NOT a reliable study.
Oh, and the authors later took back their findings!!!!!
Then, let's talk about the areas with outbreaks of disease...yeah, not looking forward to that!!!!!
I'm glad that schools require them...but around here, home schooling is gaining popularity! LOVELY!
Mine will be immunized. Death and physical illnesses freak me out in ways mental illness simply doesn't (also why I really want to BF). Not to mention that the mercury is gone out of almost all of our vaccines.
ReplyDeleteAmy (webmd)
PS-I'm glad to see your little cuties are doing so well!
I don't immunize,at least I haven't yet (10 year old, 5 year old, 1 year old). And I totally get your point.
ReplyDeleteA couple of notes. They did stop producing vaccines with thimerisol (sp?) BUT, and here is the caveat........the vaccines currently at your doctors office DO have them, because they were likely manufactured prior to the removal. Slowly, we'll be getting mercury free vaccines, but it didn't happen over night. Also......there have been whistleblower reports of some vaccine manufacturers NOT complying with the removal.
Also.......having spent a lot of my career working in the medical field, I think it's dangerous to blindly trust ANYONE who has a monitary interest in any of your medical choices. Especially with the crap nature of our health care system and HMOs ruling the roost. To nameless HMO, my son is merely patient 4982475 that they pay my "doctor" $10 a month to see a little a possible. My doctor get's HUUUUUGE kickbacks to push certain drugs. Peditricians get unbelievable perks to push vaccines. The drug companies have loads of lobbyists advocating for them, but I don't have a million dollars.......no one is advocating for me or my families health care. The money is with the drugs, period. And that's not safe.
So, currently, no..........as crackpot as it may sound to you, no, no one should be able to take away my rights to at least protect myself from the money machine right now. We need to remove the enormous profit margin from things like vaccines and get HMOs out of the business of my kids health.
If we can make fake hearts, we can make undeniably safe vaccines.
I have no clue where I am going with my kids on this issue. NO CLUE. I absolutely think it's irresponsible of me to expose your baby to anythign because of my belief that, for example, chicken pox is harmless anyways. That's MY choice for MY family. But the other side of the coin isn't so clear cut...........so I blindly follow the money trail? So I potentially harm my child to save yours?
It's a tough call. I wish there wasn't so much money tied up in this issue and I wish we could make it safer for everyone.