When I was a kid, I do not recall childhood vaccines being much of a hot topic. They seemed standard issue. I only knew of a few families in school who chose to not vaccinate, usually based on religious practice. I did not notice any problems with either side of the topic.
Now that I am raising my own children, I see all kinds of issues being exposed in the vaccination debate. There are so many advantages to vaccines, and so many concerns about them, that it is enough to make a parent's head spin.
Scientifically, I think vaccines are one of the most amazing medical discoveries of all time. I find immunology to be fascinating anyway. So, a means to combat virus attack, is just awesome.
Unfortunately, some of the business practices and ethics in developing the vaccines has been called into question, especially in recent years. Parents are starting to question if all of these vaccines are even necessary. Unethical research practices have damaged trust in the companies who manufacture the vaccines. The marketing tactics cause us to question if the government thinks vaccines are a public health benefit, or just a money-making business? With the increased focus on allergies, the contents and side effects of vaccines are being questioned.
From a public health standpoint, vaccinations are a wonderful thing to the health and well-being of the public at large. They prevent the spread of deadly viruses across the masses. Public health looks at a benefit versus cost comparison. The benefit is the number of lives protected/saved, compared to death by disease. The cost is the number of lives harmed or lost by side effects of the vaccine. From a public health standpoint, the benefits of the vaccines are huge for the majority of the population. The negative outcomes of vaccines affect only a small minority of the population.
Parents do not always appreciate recommendations from a public health standpoint. I for one, find those statistics to be very frustrating when I am trying to figure out what is the best medical choice for our family. Even though negative outcomes are low for the public at large, if those negative outcomes are happening to MY family, they are HUGE!
For the most part, the vaccine debate appears to be centered around public health versus family health. Some families do not want to risk any negative outcomes, regardless of what is best for the general public. Folks pushing for the best public health outcome, seldom respect the position of families who are looking at their own specific situation first.
I respect both ends of the polarized debate, and I am thankful for the freedom to make informed decisions. I see where folks are getting their information and why they are choosing the side they are on. I just don't agree much.
I really do not understand how folks can dismiss the benefits of the Pertussis or Polio vaccines. There are people who are not quite to retirement age who live with paralysis or crippling due to polio. Its damaging effects are still active in our communities. The Referee and I have had a mild case of Whooping Cough (Pertussis), and I would not wish that on anyone. It was so awful and ruined more than 6 weeks of our life. The fever and coughing eliminated my ability to breastfeed Jersey #4, so she weaned much younger than desired. The Referee had his work ethic called into question, as he was missing work and not performing well during that time. It is hard to look professional when you are coughing and miserable like that. I can completely understand why infants die from that disease, as you cough so deeply that you stop breathing and can't catch a breath. It is a scary feeling. I was not certain we would survive.....and that was the *mild* case. I thank God that my children were vaccinated against Whooping Cough at the time that it hit our household. Thankfully, they remained healthy.
I do not think there is a need for a Chicken Pox vaccine. That vaccine appears to have been created so that parents would not have to be inconvenienced/home from work because their children are home sick for the week it takes to endure the disease. There have been so many complications with that vaccine. Now, there is an increase in the number of folks fighting Shingles, which comes from the same virus. It seems we have just traded a childhood illness for an elderly adulthood version.
The new Rotavirus vaccine is another one that strikes me as bizarre. Rota virus causes some nasty diarrhea that in turn causes profound dehydration. It is one of the common reasons infants and toddlers are hospitalized. From a public health standpoint, it makes sense to vaccinate against it and cut down on the need for so much hospital care. From a family standpoint, if I am home, caring for my own children, then I have the ability to assess my child's hydration needs, in addition to needs for baths, cuddling, and rest. It seems unnecessary to put my child through the risks of vaccine side effects (which an older version of the vaccine had a pretty dangerous one of twisting the bowels, so it was removed from the market), for an illness that simply requires focused mothering until the body can fight it off.
The feud about whether or not vaccines cause autism is a big one. The number of recommended childhood vaccines have greatly increased in the past couple decades. The number of children diagnosed with autism has simultaneously increased. Some parents are adamant that their child did not start exhibiting autism traits until vaccines were administered. Research studies continue to report that there is no link. So, the heated debate continues.
One of the things that I appreciate most about the vaccine/autism debate is that it is getting a lot of attention. Parents are becoming more aware of the business practice of vaccinations, and are starting to study and research the vaccine benefits, costs, and contents. I am hoping that the autism voices will one day grow loud enough to encourage alternate vaccine options. The specific vaccine in question in the autism debate is the MMR vaccine (measles, mumps, rubella). I personally, would like to have an ethical alternative to this exact vaccine.
The R (rubella) portion of the MMR vaccine is derived from the cell line of aborted babies. This practice goes against my core values. Abortion is murder of an innocent life. I value life. As much as I appreciate the benefits of vaccinations, I cannot support giving my children a vaccine that involved the murder of other children.
I would like to vaccinate my children against measles, as that is another big disease that I would like to prevent. I am on the fence about Mumps. I am not convinced the Rubella vaccine is necessary, and I certainly despise its unethical origin. Unfortunately, the company who produces the MMR vaccine in the USA does not currently sell the 3 parts individually. It is all or nothing. Plus, they are increasing marketing 4 parts to that vaccine, by including the Chicken Pox vaccine with it. (Right now, it is still possible to get the Chicken pox version separate).
It is the unethical practice of using cell lines from aborted babies that helps me understand and respect families who choose alternative vaccination schedules, or even refuse to vaccinate at all. It is wrong that my pro-life value is trampled in order to protect the health of my children. The Rubella vaccine, the Chicken Pox vaccine (Vericella), and the Hepatitis A vaccine are all derived from cell lines of aborted babies. So, I want nothing to do with those vaccines. In addition, I have lost respect and trust for the developers and manufacturers of those vaccines, which makes me want to question any other vaccine they offer. So, I am hoping that the autism advocates will create a big enough voice to force the vaccine company to make some changes....hopefully in a more ethical direction.
Every family is different in their values and priorities for their health. The Referee and I laugh at ourselves for the ways our choices have changed through the years, based on the needs of our family. Prior to Jersey #2's birth, neither of us had ever received a flu shot, and neither of us had ever had the flu. Our family rolled up our sleeves, and immediately took a flu shot that winter...when our family physician recommended it....as a means to help prevent Jersey #2 from catching the flu while she was also recovering from her first open-heart surgery. We made certain to get a flu shot every year, at the start of the winter, to help give her some "herd" protection.
Two years ago, Jersey #2 and Jersey #4 both caught the flu, in spite of our vaccine efforts. Healthy Jersey #4 progressed through the flu illness at the textbook rate. Jersey #2, on the other hand, gave us quite a scare that the flu could take her life. She kept a fever longer. She fought the upper respiratory symptoms longer. She dropped 10% of her body weight. I took her to see a doctor 3 times during that 1 illness. It was a scary experience, that clarified exactly why her medical team did not want her to catch the flu. We did not regret a single flu vaccine.
When the H1N1 (swine) flu took the world by media storm, I was really torn about whether or not to trust that vaccine. Thankfully, I did not have to make a choice in the matter. The virus reached our state long before the vaccine did....and then it swept through our family like wildfire. Thankfully, it was a very mild form of the flu. It was no where near as difficult to endure as the seasonal flu the girls had experienced a couple years prior. Since Jersey #2 was facing her next open-heart surgery, we did take the risk of giving her the Tamiflu antivirulent after her first symptoms emerged. The irony is that after questioning the safety of the vaccine, we turned around and readily tried the experimental antivirulent medication for her. (Yes, parenting is full of tough choices). The medicine worked wonders, and her flu experience was much easier than the rest of the family, and tremendously better than her past illness.
With her new, fully-functioning heart valve, Jersey #2 is no longer in the high-risk category for flu complications. This year is the first year of her life where our family can pass on the seasonal flu vaccine. It is a wonderful milestone. It is also temporary, so our choices will change as that valve wears out.
Looking at the great vaccine debate, I can take sides with both sides: I am in awe of the miraculous power of vaccines to fight viruses and keep our population alive. Yet, one of the greatest privelages of being a healthy individual is to be able to choose to decline recommended vaccines, and trust our body's immune system to go to work for us instead.
Now that I am raising my own children, I see all kinds of issues being exposed in the vaccination debate. There are so many advantages to vaccines, and so many concerns about them, that it is enough to make a parent's head spin.
Scientifically, I think vaccines are one of the most amazing medical discoveries of all time. I find immunology to be fascinating anyway. So, a means to combat virus attack, is just awesome.
Unfortunately, some of the business practices and ethics in developing the vaccines has been called into question, especially in recent years. Parents are starting to question if all of these vaccines are even necessary. Unethical research practices have damaged trust in the companies who manufacture the vaccines. The marketing tactics cause us to question if the government thinks vaccines are a public health benefit, or just a money-making business? With the increased focus on allergies, the contents and side effects of vaccines are being questioned.
From a public health standpoint, vaccinations are a wonderful thing to the health and well-being of the public at large. They prevent the spread of deadly viruses across the masses. Public health looks at a benefit versus cost comparison. The benefit is the number of lives protected/saved, compared to death by disease. The cost is the number of lives harmed or lost by side effects of the vaccine. From a public health standpoint, the benefits of the vaccines are huge for the majority of the population. The negative outcomes of vaccines affect only a small minority of the population.
Parents do not always appreciate recommendations from a public health standpoint. I for one, find those statistics to be very frustrating when I am trying to figure out what is the best medical choice for our family. Even though negative outcomes are low for the public at large, if those negative outcomes are happening to MY family, they are HUGE!
For the most part, the vaccine debate appears to be centered around public health versus family health. Some families do not want to risk any negative outcomes, regardless of what is best for the general public. Folks pushing for the best public health outcome, seldom respect the position of families who are looking at their own specific situation first.
I respect both ends of the polarized debate, and I am thankful for the freedom to make informed decisions. I see where folks are getting their information and why they are choosing the side they are on. I just don't agree much.
I really do not understand how folks can dismiss the benefits of the Pertussis or Polio vaccines. There are people who are not quite to retirement age who live with paralysis or crippling due to polio. Its damaging effects are still active in our communities. The Referee and I have had a mild case of Whooping Cough (Pertussis), and I would not wish that on anyone. It was so awful and ruined more than 6 weeks of our life. The fever and coughing eliminated my ability to breastfeed Jersey #4, so she weaned much younger than desired. The Referee had his work ethic called into question, as he was missing work and not performing well during that time. It is hard to look professional when you are coughing and miserable like that. I can completely understand why infants die from that disease, as you cough so deeply that you stop breathing and can't catch a breath. It is a scary feeling. I was not certain we would survive.....and that was the *mild* case. I thank God that my children were vaccinated against Whooping Cough at the time that it hit our household. Thankfully, they remained healthy.
I do not think there is a need for a Chicken Pox vaccine. That vaccine appears to have been created so that parents would not have to be inconvenienced/home from work because their children are home sick for the week it takes to endure the disease. There have been so many complications with that vaccine. Now, there is an increase in the number of folks fighting Shingles, which comes from the same virus. It seems we have just traded a childhood illness for an elderly adulthood version.
The new Rotavirus vaccine is another one that strikes me as bizarre. Rota virus causes some nasty diarrhea that in turn causes profound dehydration. It is one of the common reasons infants and toddlers are hospitalized. From a public health standpoint, it makes sense to vaccinate against it and cut down on the need for so much hospital care. From a family standpoint, if I am home, caring for my own children, then I have the ability to assess my child's hydration needs, in addition to needs for baths, cuddling, and rest. It seems unnecessary to put my child through the risks of vaccine side effects (which an older version of the vaccine had a pretty dangerous one of twisting the bowels, so it was removed from the market), for an illness that simply requires focused mothering until the body can fight it off.
The feud about whether or not vaccines cause autism is a big one. The number of recommended childhood vaccines have greatly increased in the past couple decades. The number of children diagnosed with autism has simultaneously increased. Some parents are adamant that their child did not start exhibiting autism traits until vaccines were administered. Research studies continue to report that there is no link. So, the heated debate continues.
One of the things that I appreciate most about the vaccine/autism debate is that it is getting a lot of attention. Parents are becoming more aware of the business practice of vaccinations, and are starting to study and research the vaccine benefits, costs, and contents. I am hoping that the autism voices will one day grow loud enough to encourage alternate vaccine options. The specific vaccine in question in the autism debate is the MMR vaccine (measles, mumps, rubella). I personally, would like to have an ethical alternative to this exact vaccine.
The R (rubella) portion of the MMR vaccine is derived from the cell line of aborted babies. This practice goes against my core values. Abortion is murder of an innocent life. I value life. As much as I appreciate the benefits of vaccinations, I cannot support giving my children a vaccine that involved the murder of other children.
I would like to vaccinate my children against measles, as that is another big disease that I would like to prevent. I am on the fence about Mumps. I am not convinced the Rubella vaccine is necessary, and I certainly despise its unethical origin. Unfortunately, the company who produces the MMR vaccine in the USA does not currently sell the 3 parts individually. It is all or nothing. Plus, they are increasing marketing 4 parts to that vaccine, by including the Chicken Pox vaccine with it. (Right now, it is still possible to get the Chicken pox version separate).
It is the unethical practice of using cell lines from aborted babies that helps me understand and respect families who choose alternative vaccination schedules, or even refuse to vaccinate at all. It is wrong that my pro-life value is trampled in order to protect the health of my children. The Rubella vaccine, the Chicken Pox vaccine (Vericella), and the Hepatitis A vaccine are all derived from cell lines of aborted babies. So, I want nothing to do with those vaccines. In addition, I have lost respect and trust for the developers and manufacturers of those vaccines, which makes me want to question any other vaccine they offer. So, I am hoping that the autism advocates will create a big enough voice to force the vaccine company to make some changes....hopefully in a more ethical direction.
Every family is different in their values and priorities for their health. The Referee and I laugh at ourselves for the ways our choices have changed through the years, based on the needs of our family. Prior to Jersey #2's birth, neither of us had ever received a flu shot, and neither of us had ever had the flu. Our family rolled up our sleeves, and immediately took a flu shot that winter...when our family physician recommended it....as a means to help prevent Jersey #2 from catching the flu while she was also recovering from her first open-heart surgery. We made certain to get a flu shot every year, at the start of the winter, to help give her some "herd" protection.
Two years ago, Jersey #2 and Jersey #4 both caught the flu, in spite of our vaccine efforts. Healthy Jersey #4 progressed through the flu illness at the textbook rate. Jersey #2, on the other hand, gave us quite a scare that the flu could take her life. She kept a fever longer. She fought the upper respiratory symptoms longer. She dropped 10% of her body weight. I took her to see a doctor 3 times during that 1 illness. It was a scary experience, that clarified exactly why her medical team did not want her to catch the flu. We did not regret a single flu vaccine.
When the H1N1 (swine) flu took the world by media storm, I was really torn about whether or not to trust that vaccine. Thankfully, I did not have to make a choice in the matter. The virus reached our state long before the vaccine did....and then it swept through our family like wildfire. Thankfully, it was a very mild form of the flu. It was no where near as difficult to endure as the seasonal flu the girls had experienced a couple years prior. Since Jersey #2 was facing her next open-heart surgery, we did take the risk of giving her the Tamiflu antivirulent after her first symptoms emerged. The irony is that after questioning the safety of the vaccine, we turned around and readily tried the experimental antivirulent medication for her. (Yes, parenting is full of tough choices). The medicine worked wonders, and her flu experience was much easier than the rest of the family, and tremendously better than her past illness.
With her new, fully-functioning heart valve, Jersey #2 is no longer in the high-risk category for flu complications. This year is the first year of her life where our family can pass on the seasonal flu vaccine. It is a wonderful milestone. It is also temporary, so our choices will change as that valve wears out.
Looking at the great vaccine debate, I can take sides with both sides: I am in awe of the miraculous power of vaccines to fight viruses and keep our population alive. Yet, one of the greatest privelages of being a healthy individual is to be able to choose to decline recommended vaccines, and trust our body's immune system to go to work for us instead.
Thank you for being so open about vaccines! All I can say is if they start putting the MMR and Chicken Pox vaccine together we will pass on it.
ReplyDeleteI'm so thankful our family physician has allowed us to make our own decisions about which vaccines to give Kyle or not and been respectful about it. He doesn't give the Rotavirus or Chicken Pox vaccines for many of the reasons you mentioned. We also chose to skip the Hep. A and Hep. B.
The book The Vaccine Book was a helpful guide in figuring out which vaccines really are necessary.
I also have so many issues with the H1N1 we all skipped the seasonal flu shot this year since it's included.
The whole Done By One shot schedule our state tries to push is rediculous. Though I understand for the general population they are trying to vaccinate as quickly as possible to protect the majority.
Well said!
ReplyDeleteI am just glad we found a pedi that lets us do what we want. There aren't definitive answers on so much of it, and you just have to go with what you think is best for your kids. We have skipped some and given some. And luckily it appears we haven't had any issues with anything we have given the kids.
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