More Information on Vaccines

M.,

Good for you for asking questions and seeking more information. I've posted on this subject before and will try to summarize my OPINION and educated thoughts on the subject. Just as an FYI, I am a registered nurse with over 25 years of experience. I've worked within the pharmaceutical research industry and in a doctor's office dealing with pharmacuetical reps on a daily basis.
My kids are much older, almost 18 and almost 14 and if I had to do all over again I certainly would ask more questions and probably refuse at least 2 of the vaccines.
In my opinion there is no reason a newborn needs a hepatitis B shot! Hepatitis B is primarily transmitted through prostitution and IV drug use. The reason why it is given to all newborns is that the government knew they would not get those 2 population groups to come in and get the vaccine so their answer was to just vaccinate everyone! Also, I would not get the chickenpox vaccine. 99% of the time kids do not have complications from getting the virus. My 18 year old had a very mild case a couple of years before the vaccine came out. Our daughter was one of the first in our area to receive the vaccine and still got the virus 2 year later! The response from our doctor's office was that at least she had a mild case due to the vaccine. But agian, my son had a mild case WITHOUT the vaccine. We are potentially setting these kids up to getting chicken pox as older kids or adults where the chance of complications is much higher because they don't know how long the vaccine lasts.
And the vaccine that really threw me over the edge and made me question everything I knew as a mom and a nurse is the HPV vaccine. My almost 14 year old daughter did NOT get the vaccine, just 2 months after it's approval, and will NOT get it! I have very strong opinions on the politics behind this vaccine, but the valid science is showing this is a dangerous vaccine and the side effects are either not being recognized and/or covered up. The info is out there.
I'm now struggling with the menegitis vaccine for my soon to be college freshman.
Dr. Sears is a source of good information from a doctor. A great resources is www.nvic.org
I have a ton of information from a variety of sources if your interested in more.

I applaud you in your efforts.

In Good Health.

Lori K.
____@____.com

Have you checked out the Vaccine Book by Dr. Sears? I haven't read it, but I did read an article by him summarizing it. I am with you. I have a hard time vaccinating my kids, but ultimately generally have. Dr. Sears talks about doing it appropriately and not so many at once (as I can remember, it's been awhile). I'm sorry I'm not much help, but I just wanted to say way to go on looking into something so important, not just listening to what the pediatrician is told by drug companies! I think different things are right for different families. I mostly vaccinated, in the end, out of a feeling of responsibility to society, and I'm still not even sure that is right. Also, keep in mind, you can always get them vaccinated, you can't get them un-vaccinated! Anyway, you know this. I wish I was more help.

K.

i am in the same boat as you, having a LOT of skepticism about the medical industry in general - i too think they have WAY too much to gain financially to be honest with the consumer. and on the other side, you never can tell about these "so called" anti-medical-industry types, because at some point it's probably financially motivated for them too. i still haven't made up my mind about it, but now that my son is past his first year and i have a little mama experience, i find i am a lot more hesitant to rush him to the dr. at the first little sniffle. (partly because anytime i've ever called the pediatrician's office about ANYthing, their stock answer is always, "you'd better bring him in". and i got real sick of hearing that!)

as far as vaccines go, i did my son's...they were covered by our medical insurance, and i just couldn't wade through all the "information" out there to be reassured not doing it was a valid option.

You are right that there is lots of conflicting information out there! My only advice is to talk to you pediatrican about it. When I talked with ours he explained why there was so much false information and where many of the rumors began and I know I felt much more comfortable after that.

I have been using The Vaccine Book by Dr. Sears very heavily in my decisions. It is impossible to get a straight answer out of anyone regarding what is the best thing to do. I guess this is because "what is best" differs from child to child. It is also very difficult to design research to study the side effects of vaccines, as anyone who has taken a statistics class should know.

I agree with the other responder about chickenpox and hepatitis B. We are also delaying the polio vaccine for quite a while because polio has not existed on this hemisphere for a couple of decades. We have delayed all vaccines for our son, but have given him Hib and Prevnar. We are committed to giving him only one or two shots at a time, depending on the amount of aluminum they contain.

Good luck as you read and research. Again, I highly suggest The Vaccine Book as a valuable resource. I love to discuss this topic, so contact me if you have further questions.