To Vaccinate or not... this is the question

  • Thursday, July 03, 2008 2:33 PM
    Message # 41722
    Claire (Administrator)

    One of the most common questions that I hear from other moms, is "what do you think of vaccination"...

    Well, I do vaccinate however, I am very careful with timing and I never take her for a vaccination when her immune system is down either due to a cold or virus.

    My naturopath tells me to try to prolong it as long as possible, my pediatrician tells me that my naturopath doesn't know what she is talking about and that the more vaccination she gets the better it is for her, so who do I listen to?  who's right?  I don't know. 

    Now there is a lot of negative ideas and comments about vaccinations...

    Does anyone else feel like they are doing a tug-of-war whenever it comes to vaccinations?

     

    Last modified: Thursday, July 03, 2008 2:33 PM | Claire (Administrator)
  • Wednesday, July 16, 2008 1:52 PM
    Reply # 44512 on 41722
    Joanna
      I believe in parents' rights to do what they think is best for their child and I love this country for enabling its citizens to do so. Vaccinate or not vaccinate-- your choice. Here are a few links that talk about vaccination from a different perspective. 10 Reasons Why Parents Choose Not to Vaccinate (australian article) http://www.bellybelly.com.au/articles/baby/question-vaccinations http://www.909shot.com/ Personal stories found at the bottom of the page http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2001/08/18/vaccine-myths.aspx
  • Wednesday, July 23, 2008 8:08 PM
    Reply # 45706 on 41722
    Elena

    Before making this decision, i recommend reading the book called "The Vaccine Book" by Dr. Sears (the son). It gives you all detailed information about each vaccine, as well as his personal thoughts, and suggestions.

     

    After reading the book, i opted for not vaccinating my daughter. It was a very hard decision, and i can't say i am 100% comfortable with. Me and my husband spent literally hours discussing it, going back and forth on our decision. Our biggest reason not to vaccinate was the aluminum content in most of the vaccines. However, i hope most ppl do not think like me:) and vaccinate their babies, so we can prevent the reappearance of these diseases.

  • Monday, July 28, 2008 9:47 AM
    Reply # 46312 on 41722
    Masha

    I've had a hard time deciding what to do as well. I've done some research and talked it over with my pediatrician. I also have a lot of info available to me, since i'm a pharmacist myself. it doesn't mean however that i'm pro-drug. I use natural medicines and homeopathy as well. I've decided to vaccinate Eric. What helped me to make up my mind is the risk vs benefit ratio. I looked at the statistics on mortality vs morbidity from various infectious deseases. There are still many babies dying from lets say meningitis in Canada even nowdays. And i'm not prepared to lock Eric inside with minimum interaction with other kids. So i chose to vaccinate him against anything with potentially deadly outcome. I won't do lets say rotovirus, since it's an unpleasant, but not overly deadly disease. But i chose to do the rest of the routine vaccines. Hope it helps someone else to make their desicions.
  • Wednesday, July 30, 2008 9:45 PM
    Reply # 47007 on 41722
    Marina

    It was and still is a very hard decision to make.

    But as someone told since Canada is multicultural country. Since our kids eventually will all go to daycare and school and will be in contact with other kids from different countries, as a result I would say I made up my mind to vaccinate Melissa.
  • Sunday, December 07, 2008 12:38 PM
    Reply # 73971 on 41722
    Eileen Siva
    Interesting read.  Pharmacist here as well.  But being a pharmacist, you would think that I would have been well prepared and up-to-date on all the readings, but I wasn't really.  It wasn't until they suggested we vaccinate our newborn that I decided to do at least a minimum bit of reading.

    Ultimately we ended up pushing out the vaccination dates by about 2 months.  She initally got her 1st Hep B shot, and we didn't continue the rest (decided it wasn't necessary for her as an infant, plus her low grade fever and unusual fussiness caused us to rethink this vaccine).

    Like Masha, we skipped the Rotavirus shot.  Agree with risk-benefit ratio, in that it wasn't too worthwhile the risk for the net benefit gained of a rotavirus infection.

    However, our little one did get her main shots thus far... the ones that can cause deadly diseases even today.

    Overall... we're looking at each vaccine, and being selective.  The ones that can cause deadly disease, and still occurs today, we give... and the shots with an improbable disease/death risk, we avoid.
  • Tuesday, February 03, 2009 9:07 AM
    Reply # 91899 on 41722
    Suzette
    I've left it up to his pediatrician.

    The only thing I do know is that daycares require a child entering their facility to have had certain specific vaccinations.  I guess I'll have to see which are the required vaccinations.  Now you all have me thinking.
  • Thursday, February 05, 2009 3:34 PM
    Reply # 93186 on 41722
    Joanna
    You are not legally required to have your child vaccinated at daycares and/or schools. True, some facilities may give you a hard time, or they may just be ignorant of the law (or just too scared for whatever reason to accept your un-vaccinated child) but by law, they must accept your child.

    However, you must present a letter stating why your child is not vaccinated. And that's just a simple letter stating it's for religious reasons or for reasons of conscience. That's for daycares.

    For school (kindergarten and up I believe), that letter must be notarized.



  • Friday, February 13, 2009 1:27 PM
    Reply # 114988 on 41722
    Deleted user
    We chose to vaccinate as well.. but here are the current levels of aluminum per shot of the following vaccines, as listed on each vaccine's packaging:
    • DTaP (for Diphtheria, Tetanus, and Pertussis): 170-��625 mcg, depending on manufacturer
    • Hepatitis A: 250 mcg
    • Hepatitis B: 250 mcg
    • HIB (for meningitis; PedVaxHib brand only): 225 mcg
    • HPV: 225 mcg
    • Pediarix (DTaP-��Hepatitis B-��Polio combination): 850 mcg
    • Pentacel (DTaP-��HIB-��Polio combination): 330 mcg
    • Pneumococcus: 125 mcg

     
  • Monday, February 23, 2009 8:32 PM
    Reply # 119791 on 41722
    Deleted user
    We chose to push the vaccines out over a longer period of time and so Alexis is currently 6 months behind schedule. This was a difficult decision for me to make but after allot of research and discussion between me, my husband and my pediatrician, we all decided that waiting for her immune system to develop further was not a bad idea. I discussed this extensively with our pediatrician and he actually recommended waiting. Also Alexis is not in daycare so I knew that we have time on our side.

    This is a very personal decision and do what you feel is right for your baby and your family.