Exposing Your Child to an Un or Under Vaccinated Child

Hi Marla,

My almost 19-month-old son has had all recommended vaccines on schedule including four flu shots (two for regular, two for H1N1) in the last few months. My husband and I were startled when we recently got a copy of his vaccine history and realized just how many shots (35 or 36 I believe) little children get before they are two.

I really don't think it is a personal choice not to vaccinate your children unless you purposefully then only expose them to kids who haven't been vaccinated or fully disclose their not having been vaccinated to any other children they might come into contact with. We live in a society with other people and sometimes going along with the norms of that society is the way to go.

Why should my choice to protect my child be what saves another parent from having to make that choice? It is also my understanding that for a slim number of vaccinated children - a vaccine may not work. What if my child was in that slim number and while I'd tried to do the safe thing, he ended up exposed to someone who hadn't been vaccinated?. On that same note, there are children who cannot be vaccinated, either because of poor health or allergy concerns. Families who make the "personal choice" not to vaccinate are putting those high risk kids in jeopardy as well.

Finally, I find some irony in the statistics that note it is educated, affluent parents who are deciding not to vaccinate in the highest numbers. Most in the medical field believe vaccinations are necessary and important. I have an education, but it's not in medicine. Who am I to argue with the experts? I will always try to educate myself and be an advocate for my child, but I'm not going to pretend two hours online researching vaccines makes me better able to decide what is medically best for my kid than an MD.

Blurgh, it's a tough issue and I know there isn't a lot you can do to keep your daughter away from non or under vaccinated children. I guess you could start asking parents of children she regularly sees or is exposed to?

I have given my 2 year old all of the CDC-recommended vaccines, on schedule... And listening to recent public debates about the "personal choice" to not vaccinate, I've come to see that it's not a personal choice, it's a public health issue.

In order for the general population to be protected against these diseases, we ALL need to be vaccinated. So, while those individuals who don't vaccinate are clearly at the highest risk, they are posing a public health risk to everyone by not getting vaccinated.

So, I am not a fan of the "personal choice" argument.

What can we as parents do, besides vaccinate our own kids? I am not sure. Would love to hear others' ideas on that.

Wow, I am amazed by the presumptuous, uneducated, go-with-the-flow responses you have received. I truly am. These are our medical rights people. Do you really want them taken away, for "the good of all". And please don't judge others when you have no idea what their personal situation is like.

Anyway, to answer the question. My oldest and youngest are almost fully vaccinated, and my middle child we stopped after her 4 month shots made her very very sick. If I were concerned about anything, it would be that my vaccinated kids would bring something around the unvaccinated one to make her sick (I'm really not concerned though). I guess I don't understand why one would be worried. If you believe that vaccines work, what are you exactly afraid of?

Maria,

I have fully vaccinated my 3 children. In order to attend public school as I understand it, you just have to sign a waiver. I have thought about subject a little bit because my son had a little boy in our ECFE class who was not vaccinated. We had a discussion about it in our parenting portion, and I decided that by vaccinating my children, I have done all I can to protect them.

Your children should not catch anything from the un-vaccinated kids. It would be the unvaccinated kids giving things to each other.

It really is a personal decision, and those who choose not to vaccinate should still be able to send their children to public school. They are the ones taking the risk (in my opinion).

J.

Hmmm...You are going to get lots of responses. I am OK with publicly disclosing that both my children got all the AMA recommended vaccines within the recommended time frames.

I always thought that one of the requirements to make a vaccine truly efficacious is that as many people as possible get the vaccine. Because as you stated: vaccines themselves are not a 100% guarantee. But if everyone gets vaccinated, then so very few people are left to spread the disease. I kinda see it as a sacrifice we make for the common good. An analogy is our grandparents who more than willingly signed up to fight WWII.

People seem to think that vaccines were only needed until the diseases (smallpox, polio, etc.) were eradicated. But vaccines do NOT eradicate disease. Polio outbreaks happen every year and smallpox is making a nice tidy resurgence. There are 8 million cases of TB/year. Why? A decrease in vaccination rates, increased access to exotic travel, increased immigration from places without vaccines, etc.

Yeah -- I am not uber-fond of having my kids hang out with the unvaccinated. But it is more and more common and so it is out of my control (which drives me nuts -- that my kids' health is out of my control). The ones I am most concerned about are RSV, hep, pneumoccochal, flu...