How do you feel about vaccinations?

Vuja_de

I am very wary of them, not solely because of the autism debate but also because of the link to infant death. I think I have been doing too much googling though LOL.

My son is now on a delayed vaccination schedule due to sickness, anyone else on a delayed schedule? (He is getting his next Thursday if he is not sick).

sharmurph18

I'm all for them on the traditional schedule.  I'm not familiar with the delayed schedule but if it's due to sickness I am not opposed.

amoureux

The article that linked vaccines and autism was retracted by the journal.  The study was discredited.

Vaccines have also not been shown to increase the risk of SIDS.

catycombs

I have no problem with them, I think they are important.

Mereou12

Ooooo, it's gonna be another fun day on the Bump!

I feel very strongly about vaccinations, and believe that anyone that chooses not to vaccinate it horribly irresponsible and misinformed. I also don't feel that the delayed vaccination schedule has any benefit whatsoever. JMHO, of course.

sharmurph18

Mereou12:

Ooooo, it's gonna be another fun day on the Bump!

I feel very strongly about vaccinations, and believe that anyone that chooses not to vaccinate it horribly irresponsible and misinformed. I also don't feel that the delayed vaccination schedule has any benefit whatsoever. JMHO, of course.

 

I agree with this and hope these people keep their kids away from mine!

biochemgirl

I agree with all of pp so far.

Vaccines are important and I do not believe that vaccines cause autism.  I think people who don't vaccinate their children and count on the herd immunity to protect their children are selfish.  I don't think a delayed schedule really makes any difference since I don't believe vaccines cause negative health conditions so no need for the delayed schedule.

Vuja_de

he received his first round of vaccinations on time, but he has been fighting a cold since April 7th and had a fever when he was scheduled for his shots on the 20th, so he will get his shots on the 6th of May. His pediatrican doesn't seemed concerned over this slight delay, so neither am I.

Kcaracc

i do routine schedule...we recently had an outbreak of mumps in our city (NY) cuz parents never got their child vaccinated!  i think its very imporant for your child and children around your child.

SeaStar430

We're on a delayed schedule.  I'm not especially afraid of those things, but even if there's a 1 in a million chance, I can't see any argument for NOT spreading them out.

Nikibug

You must have watched Frontline last night too Seriously, I was going to post about this today and then saw this post.

 I may get flamed but I think it is irresponsible to not vaccinate your child. Not only to your own child but to others children as well....That poor girl who was only months old and caught whopping cough because someone didn't feel the need to vaccinate their older child. Blah. All I know is there is a definite chance your child will get sick if they contact any of these diseases, and not enough proof (IMO) that vaccines are causing other issues (ex autism).  Even if proven there is a greater chance of your child becoming sick or infecting others who are not old enough to vaccinate from these diseases than them contracting autism or other types of ill reactions from vaccines.

All I know is I would be mad as H3LL if my DS caught something that could kill him because he is so younge because some other parent decided not to vaccinate their child.

ToledoDeux

I think they are absolutely necessary, both for my children's health and for public health....and I think it is completely irresponsible not to vaccinate your child.  Period.

I think delayed schedules are pointless, trendy, and borne of baseless vaccine paranoia.

sunshine_77

I do as scheduled...i was originally going to delay, and ask to do only 2 at a time, to single out any reactions, but he's really only getting 3 at a time, so i'm ok with it. And he had been fine after each round. Actually the hep B was the worst on him, and that was administered all on it's own.

my LO goes to daycare, so it is very important to have him protected. I have been through so many rounds of colds, -which reinforces how rampantly viruses/diseases can spread. I want to keep my LO healthy, rather than speculate whether or not the vaccines could maybe cause autism.

i think there has to be some sort of link to environmental factors... our environment has changed dramatically in the past 20 years, as have the occurrences of autism. 

amber&patrick

I think it's a complicated issue.  First, I agree that vaccines are extremely important, that failing to vaccinate at all is irresponsible, selfish, and dangerous, and that vaccines do not cause autism.  I hate that most states will let a parent enroll their kids in school after refusing vaccinations for religious or other objections.  I <almost> think there should be an unvaccinated kid registry at schools, so parents can evaluate the risk and make decisions about their child's care, friends, etc.

However, I also feel (based on my own readings/research/talking to relatives in the medical/scientific fields) that some of the vaccines can cause some nasty side effects, some are given much earlier in life than the risk presents (best example: Hep , and some contain potentially harmful ingredients when aggregated (ex: the aluminum debate, which is similar to the old mercury debate).  The argument that vaccines have not been shown to cause x, y, or z is not very persuasive IMO because there's just a lack of research on the issues.  It's not ethical to test these things on babies, so there aren't the kinds of clinical trials that we would otherwise expect.  They haven't been proven dangerous, but they also haven't been proven entirely safe.  The point is there's not much proof either way.

One of the best examples of where I disagree with the schedule is Hep B.  The recommended schedule says to start Hep B at birth.  As far as I understand, this is a disease that is primarily spread through sex, IV drug use, and other contact with infected bodily fluids.  So the only real risk to a newborn is if they're born to a Hep B positive mom or cared for by a Hep B positive relative or caregiver.  However, the schedule says to give it at birth because, as a matter of public policy, that is an easy time to administer the vaccine.  But this can be a nasty vaccine for a lot of babies and it's hard to tell how prepared a newborn's immune system is for this vaccine only a day or 2 after birth.

For these reasons, DS is on a slightly delayed schedule.  Basically, we're breaking each visit's shots into 2 visits that are 2-3 weeks apart.  This allows us to monitor for reactions and, if there are any, better determine which vaccine caused it.  And we did Hep B at his 1 month visit rather than at the hospital, after confirming with my OB that my Hep test came back negative.  His pedi was absolutely fine with this delay (and is fine with all of our slight delays).  I certainly wouldn't delay a vaccine against my pedi's recommendations.  We ask her opinion when picking which ones to delay a couple weeks.

Sorry if that was longer and more detailed than appropriate!