The Vaccination Dilemna Continues
Just when we’ve almost reached a conclusion that the vaccinations are a good thing and get over our fears about the reported links to autism, the news throws another wrench into the plan. The pediatrician assures us that there’s no link and no fear with the vaccines as does her nurse. All the research we’ve done contradicts itself and leaves us with no real indicator of a problem. Then, on the news we see parents who have successfully settled with the CDC over vaccines that reportedly caused their daughter to develop Autism. It really peaked my attention to learn that the parents are a neurologist and a registered nurse. So what’s a parent to do? There doesn’t seem to be a good choice here. Deprive your child vaccinations that prevent disease or risk the development of Autism.
From what I read in the CNN article it sounded like the issue was about thimerosal (whatever that is) and the fact that their daughter has a mitochondrial problem that may have been aggravated by the vaccine. Sounds like their daughter probably should not have gotten the vaccine she got. It also sounds like the media is pumping it up more than they should.
Overall I believe vaccines are a good thing. They prevent a great deal of illnesses that can cause a great deal of problems. In the last year or so the Chicken pox vaccine has become standard here in Canada. It means a lot of children don’t have to worry about a couple weeks of misery and the potential of worse complications.
My husband and I have an almost 3 month old and we’ve been debating back and forth about vaccinations for him. We haven’t yet taken him for his two month visit yet, and probably won’t till I feel comforable with the issue.
Good news is, it’s not all or nothing. I believe we will eventually figure out a selective/delayed schedule that works for us. If you’re interested here are two of the sites that have been very helpful for us making these decisions.
http://www.mothering.com/discussions/forumdisplay.php?f=69
http://insidevaccines.com/wordpress/
I was actually planning on blogging about this issue in the next few days *thumbsup*
I am not a fan of the vaccines. Unfortunately not enough studies are being done by independent bodies so we don’t really know the truth. But the rise in autism and kids with allergies is scary and its not because its only being diagnosed now.
Lee, Miranda & Health Nut - I agree with all of you. Your points are right on.
I won’t claim to know much about vaccines, but I am a Psychology major in schooling right now. Anyway, I’ve been learning about testing in psychology and it turns out that the way that we disgnose autism has changed dramatically over time. Alot of kids who had autism where diagnosed with other disorders, and often just labeled retarded. The reality of the situation was very different from the diagnosis, and while psychology is still such a new science, watch out for stuff like that in statisics, because the field of psychology hasn’t really nailed down 100% the diagnosis of anything yet. Still, the vaccines seem scary