Unnecessary to vaccinate

JordynLeighx3 · November 2013

https://shotbyshot.org/pertussis/bradys-story/

I'm curious to know by those who chose not to vaccinate, if after reading this, why you still feel like you made the best decision. I really am just curious and know this is a heated topic but I've never really ever got to hear someone brave enough to say WHY they chose NOT to vaccinate.

Erin10408 · November 2013

Ooo...this should be good.

tondraluv · November 2013

yes, let me grab my trail mix

8->

ceamac0127 · November 2013

Wow, that just breaks my heart. I cannot imagine going through something like that. To think about not having LO with us the past 6 months brings me to tears

ToAoShesha · November 2013

I chose to do a special and delayed schedule. My husband was allergic to a few of the shots as a baby and was hospitalized. So together the pediatrician and I created a schedule to break up the shots to smaller doses and spread throughout the first few years. We also went through the ones that are most relevant and those that are required for school or smart to have if entering day care. Based off all of those things we worked out a delayed schedule. I feel my reasons are important but I also feel that all the shots on a typical schedule is so many for their little bodies! So I am glad it worked out this way.

This thread should get interesting but I don't see why people go in circles with these topics. I think that no matter which way you choose (with shots or any topic for that matter) you can find study's to support your point of view. Every mother does what she thinks is best for her family.

skidderdo · November 2013

Vaccinations are such a heated topic, and YES there are sometimes bad side effects from vaccines (albeit rare), so I certainly understand when parents are nervous about vaccines. I was, and I'm a freaking doctor. But THIS story is why we take such risks. Because the benefits of not having a child become seriously ill or DYING from a preventable disease FAR outweighs the rare risks. This is catastrophic and should never happen, but does when people make decisions based on inadequate information, MISinformation , and FALSE information.

tondraluv · November 2013

As a first time mother I can see how certain decisions are hard to make because like @ToAoShesha said, there is always studies or information out there that conflict with one another

Erin10408 · November 2013

I'm usually in the "do whatever is best for your family" camp, but not with vaccines. When people choose to not vaccinate, it has the potential to harm someone elses child or family.So that decision does NOT only affect your family. It affects your community as well. Pertussis outbreaks in recent years have been in areas where many people choose not to vaccinate.

This topic gets me REAL riled up.

ClandestineX · November 2013

I know the reason why my husband's cousin chose not to vaccinate her daughter. She has an autoimmune disorder, which is understandable and I really think that is more reason for the kids around her to get vaccinated.

My long lost biological cousin has not vaccinated her kids mainly because she is the breastfeeding until 6+, everything not natural is bad, and I judge you for doing anything artificial type. (She seriously gave me a lecture why not to circumcise.. even though I had already chose not to.. but she apparently thought I needed to know all these reasons why it is horrible). She is also the type that thinks formula causes obesity and cancer.

Erin10408 · November 2013

ClandestineX said:

I know the reason why my husband's cousin chose not to vaccinate her daughter. She has an autoimmune disorder, which is understandable and I really think that is more reason for the kids around her to get vaccinated.

My long lost biological cousin has not vaccinated her kids mainly because she is the breastfeeding until 6+, everything not natural is bad, and I judge you for doing anything artificial type. (She seriously gave me a lecture why not to circumcise.. even though I had already chose not to.. but she apparently thought I needed to know all these reasons why it is horrible). She is also the type that thinks formula causes obesity and cancer.

Yes...another great reason that healthy children should be vaccinated...to further protect those who cannot due to illness.

ClandestineX · November 2013

Just as @Erin10408 has stated, it is a community thing, there is a reason why we have not had a polio outbreak in the United States and have eradicated a lot of harmful diseases... because of vaccinations.

On top of that, I honestly do not think anyone would change their minds reading stories such as that because people tend to have 'it won't happen to me' mentality about these things. Also it would be a giant debate in no time because everyone here would not and probably can not comprehend what the other person is feeling on the matter and people would try to rationalize it so they could understand. Just like with those pictures, which will not be named lol, you cannot rationalize why people do that... it just is.

That being said, I am wondering about the future with all these vaccinations as well. Will there ever be a superbug created because of how many vaccinations we get now?

[Deleted User] · November 2013

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sapphire021 · November 2013

We vaccinate, we separate the vaccines into 2 visits, but we get everything on time. I was very hesitant about vaccinating and did a lot of research before making my (our) decision. When I was an infant (early 80's), we received less than half of the total CDC recommendations of today. My concern is, in 30 years when my grandchild is born, are they going to be receiving 10 vaccines per visit? I exaggerate here, but my point is, how many "new" vaccines will we keep adding to the infant/child schedule as years go by and science advances? Will there be a "limit"?

Okay I realize this has nothing to do with OP's original question, just the thoughts it provoked.

ClandestineX · November 2013

@Kravenmoore - Thanks for clearing up my question. I know antibiotics could sprout a super bacteria , which is why I do not like animals which are used for food receiving antibiotics. I thought maybe vaccinations go along the same lines.

By the way did you hear about that outbreak in Princeton Uni? A type of meningitis that isn't found in the US. I've always wondered how many strains of a certain disease there really are in the world? Thousands probably.

JSS1002 · November 2013

sapphire021 said:

We vaccinate, we separate the vaccines into 2 visits, but we get everything on time. I was very hesitant about vaccinating and did a lot of research before making my (our) decision. When I was an infant (early 80's), we received less than half of the total CDC recommendations of today. My concern is, in 30 years when my grandchild is born, are they going to be receiving 10 vaccines per visit? I exaggerate here, but my point is, how many "new" vaccines will we keep adding to the infant/child schedule as years go by and science advances? Will there be a "limit"?
Okay I realize this has nothing to do with OP's original question, just the thoughts it provoked.

But....so what if they DO get 10 vaccines at once? Aside from discomfort / fussiness, if it keeps them from avoiding 10 diseases, then isn't that a good thing?

danuli8 · November 2013

kravenmoore said:

ClandestineX said:

That being said, I am wondering about the future with all these vaccinations as well. Will there ever be a superbug created because of how many vaccinations we get now?

@ClandestineX

Vaccinations do not work that way. Vaccinations teach the immune system how to fight a particular bad guy by showing the immune system what the bad guy looks like on the protein level. Once the immune system knows what the bad guy looks like, it can produce the antibodies to fight him. I think of it as the vaccine is coming in with the wanted poster of the bad guy and sheriff's deputies are then put out on patrol to spot the bad guy. Viruses never actually come into contact with the vaccine, so there is no way for them to learn how to evade them.

Currently, there is no documented evidence (at least to my knowledge) of viral mutations based off of a vaccine. In fact, the flu virus is a perfect example of how this does not happen. The flu is a virus in which we see a lot of mutations. Yearly, in fact. This is not due to the vaccine, but due to something called antigenic drift and antigenic shift. Antigenic drift describes small changes over time and is the main reason for flu re-infection once immunity has been established.

Antigenic shift is more dramatic and rapid. As an example, two different flu strains come into contact with each other and "merge", for lack of better term, and cause a new protein presentation that the immune system does not recognize (so think of the picture on the wanted poster analogy. The bad guy had plastic surgery so the posters are now invalid). Example: When H1N1 hit a couple of years ago and there was a flu pandemic. This was very dramatic and different from the yearly round of flu, if you remember.

On the other hand, antibiotics do work that way. Bacteria do come into contact with the antibiotic and learn how to get around it. They pass this information off to their offspring and the antibiotic resistance is born.

ETA: clarification

That is the best explanation I have ever seen. I wish I could take your immunology course!

danuli8 · November 2013

sapphire021 said:

We vaccinate, we separate the vaccines into 2 visits, but we get everything on time. I was very hesitant about vaccinating and did a lot of research before making my (our) decision. When I was an infant (early 80's), we received less than half of the total CDC recommendations of today. My concern is, in 30 years when my grandchild is born, are they going to be receiving 10 vaccines per visit? I exaggerate here, but my point is, how many "new" vaccines will we keep adding to the infant/child schedule as years go by and science advances? Will there be a "limit"?
Okay I realize this has nothing to do with OP's original question, just the thoughts it provoked.

I wondered about this too, but actually the load on the immune system is LESS than it was when we were young because they are using fewer antigenic particles to generate the same level of protection. The example given in the Baby 411 and Toddler 411 books was pertussis. They used to include several hundred antigenic particles (? I'm not sure what the exact term was that the author used) in 1980 and now they only use 3 to 5. So despite more shots, each "shot" is less involved, for lack of a better word, than it used to be, and the overall immune load is lower. I need to go grab the book and provide the exact quote, but that was the gist of it.

sapphire021 · November 2013

JSS1002 said:

sapphire021 said:

We vaccinate, we separate the vaccines into 2 visits, but we get everything on time. I was very hesitant about vaccinating and did a lot of research before making my (our) decision. When I was an infant (early 80's), we received less than half of the total CDC recommendations of today. My concern is, in 30 years when my grandchild is born, are they going to be receiving 10 vaccines per visit? I exaggerate here, but my point is, how many "new" vaccines will we keep adding to the infant/child schedule as years go by and science advances? Will there be a "limit"?
Okay I realize this has nothing to do with OP's original question, just the thoughts it provoked.

But....so what if they DO get 10 vaccines at once? Aside from discomfort / fussiness, if it keeps them from avoiding 10 diseases, then isn't that a good thing?

I don't disagree here... just pondering, when do we stop? DO we stop? Or do we just keep going and going, adding and adding... this is really just wondering out loud. Yes I agree if it keeps our little loved ones safe than so be it. Purely just pondering....

JSS1002 · November 2013

sapphire021 said:

JSS1002 said:

sapphire021 said:

We vaccinate, we separate the vaccines into 2 visits, but we get everything on time. I was very hesitant about vaccinating and did a lot of research before making my (our) decision. When I was an infant (early 80's), we received less than half of the total CDC recommendations of today. My concern is, in 30 years when my grandchild is born, are they going to be receiving 10 vaccines per visit? I exaggerate here, but my point is, how many "new" vaccines will we keep adding to the infant/child schedule as years go by and science advances? Will there be a "limit"?
Okay I realize this has nothing to do with OP's original question, just the thoughts it provoked.

But....so what if they DO get 10 vaccines at once? Aside from discomfort / fussiness, if it keeps them from avoiding 10 diseases, then isn't that a good thing?

I don't disagree here... just pondering, when do we stop? DO we stop? Or do we just keep going and going, adding and adding... this is really just wondering out loud. Yes I agree if it keeps our little loved ones safe than so be it. Purely just pondering....

I guess if we just keep going, I would see that as a good thing -- the more fatal and/or debilitating diseases that we can protect our children from, the better. I'm so old that when I was a kid, there wasn't a chicken pox vaccine yet -- it would have been great to avoid having that, and lessen the risk of shingles as an adult.

melissad23 · November 2013

JSS1002 said:

sapphire021 said:

JSS1002 said:

sapphire021 said:

We vaccinate, we separate the vaccines into 2 visits, but we get everything on time. I was very hesitant about vaccinating and did a lot of research before making my (our) decision. When I was an infant (early 80's), we received less than half of the total CDC recommendations of today. My concern is, in 30 years when my grandchild is born, are they going to be receiving 10 vaccines per visit? I exaggerate here, but my point is, how many "new" vaccines will we keep adding to the infant/child schedule as years go by and science advances? Will there be a "limit"?
Okay I realize this has nothing to do with OP's original question, just the thoughts it provoked.

But....so what if they DO get 10 vaccines at once? Aside from discomfort / fussiness, if it keeps them from avoiding 10 diseases, then isn't that a good thing?

I don't disagree here... just pondering, when do we stop? DO we stop? Or do we just keep going and going, adding and adding... this is really just wondering out loud. Yes I agree if it keeps our little loved ones safe than so be it. Purely just pondering....

I guess if we just keep going, I would see that as a good thing -- the more fatal and/or debilitating diseases that we can protect our children from, the better. I'm so old that when I was a kid, there wasn't a chicken pox vaccine yet -- it would have been great to avoid having that, and lessen the risk of shingles as an adult.

man, chicken pox sucked.

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