Vaccinations

vermonthiker · Mar 3, 2005

All parents have to make informed decisions based on their own research. I choose to delay vaccinations and only had some vaccinations done, not all. If vaccines are so effective, why do so many people win law suits, and why do the ingredients for certain vaccines keep changing? Also I'd much rather my children have lifetime immunity through getting the actual virus - i.e. chicken pox, then getting a shot only to delay the child getting chicken pox ten or twelve years later, at a much more dangerous time to get it. (It's happening to A LOT of my friends right now).

IMO Babies way too young are pumped up with way too much junk, and that's scary. Breastmilk is the best way to keep babies healthy, plain and simple. Even my Dr was supportive of my decision. :)

jeepgirl, LPN, NP · Mar 3, 2005

i almost died from chickenpox when i was 8 years old.

i made damn sure my daughter got the vaccination.

fergus51 · Mar 3, 2005

Getting the virus does not mean you'll have lifetime immunity. My brother had chicken pox as a baby and again as a teen. I think not vaccinating is crazy and dangerous, but every parent gets to make their own decision and it's not my business.

camay1221_RN · Mar 4, 2005

The benefits of immunizations greatly outweigh the risks.

I know a couple who lost their infant son to pertussis, not because they didn't have him immunized, but because he was only five weeks old when exposed and was too young to get the immunization. So, those people who think a child will be better off exposed to a virus than getting immunized against it, have not educated themselves enough on the virus and the damage it can cause.

As far as the link of some vaccines causing autism, there is no research to substantiate this. There was 'research' done years ago stating the MMR vaccine was related to autism. In the last two years, 13 of the 16 'researchers' have pulled their names from the study stating there wasn't enough evidence to back this up.

I used to work at a pediatric clinic and the peds I worked for, regardless of the parents choice, would still do the teaching and offer the immunizations. If they refused, we had them sign each time they were offered and refused.

Those who are against immunizations need to realize that immunizations are to protect our children, not harm them.

kids · Mar 4, 2005

most of us don't remember life before vaccines.

most of us have never seen people who were maimed, crippled or killed by vaccine preventable diseases. their numbers far outweigh the number of people who have been harmed by vaccinations.

i don't believe that vaccines are perfect nor do i believe that they prevent illness all of the time but i do believe that, with the exception of the varicella vaccine, failure rates are generally low and usually result in a mild infection with little transmission

my support for vaccinating (whatever the schedule) is out of concern for people who, through no choice of their own are not immunized. there are infants that are too young to be vaccinated; adults and children who suffer from conditions that exclude them from receiving vaccines and people with suppressed immune systems. these people are both at risk to contract and spread the illnesses. should they spend their lives holed up in their homes to avoid community exposure to a preventable illness because a portion of society who can vaccinate chooses not to?

personally and professionally i have no problem accepting the decision of a parent who elects to delay or selectively vaccinate rather than make a blanket decision to not vaccinate and has based that decision on credible sources and not from books and web sites that are purely alarmist in nature.

as a peds nurse i feel it my duty to educate myself on both sides of the vaccinate/not vaccinate debate

i have found a huge lack of credible evidence against vaccinating. there is a lot of anecdotal "evidence" out there and much of it refers to the wakefield study published in the lancet in 1998 (this is the study referred to by camay1221_rn above). wakefield's study contained several flaws the least of which being a sample group of only 12 and has been repeatedly disproved by multiple researchers in several countries.

i can understand how hard it can be for a lay person to filter the information. many of the anti-vaccination information out there are stories of poor outcomes that are told in a highly emotional manner. parents want to protect their children and it is hard to not be drawn in.

i encourage everyone who is interested the autism/mmr link or pediatric vaccinations in general to read the following 3 studies (requires free registration at medscape):

"autism and measles-mumps-rubella (mmr) vaccination: a challenge for pharmacoepidemiology"

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/465860?src=search

"the basics of pediatric immunizations" http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/472398?src=search

"epidemiology and possible causes of autism"

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/465861?src=search

P_RN, ADN, RN · Mar 4, 2005

My niece chose not to immunize her two kids now 14 and 16. She home schools them too so there isn't any board of ed. pressure. Those kids stay sick! They've had some simple and some complicated and exotic illnesses. She also doesn't believe in antibiotics. Her two sisters, their parents and all her uncles, aunts and cousins have talked to them until we lost our collective voices.

I do believe that there is probably a link between vaccination and autism but I don't know what it is. I do however remember polio and my best friend almost dying. I got my Salk series in 54+/- and the Sabin when it came out. I remember having to get typhoid fever shots every fall. Smallpox vaccination was about all we got. A TT if we got stuck....seems as if it had to be a rusty nail.....anyway there was autism then and before.

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Mar 4, 2005

I too have a friend who had polio in the mid 50's. She seemingly recovered with some weakness, only to develop post-polio syndrome 4 decades later. She is virtually crippled now. And I have a child who caught chicken pox from his sister (before there was a vaccine) while he was on chemotherapy. He spent a week in hospital on acyclovir, recovered then went on to have shingles four years later. I've cared for toddlers with meningococcemia who are now multiple amputees and kids with haemophilus influenzae meningitis who infarcted their basal ganglia. Such devastation.

KRVRN, BSN, RN · Mar 4, 2005

We had a little girl in our community several years ago (pre-varicella immunization) that developed complications from chicken pox and ended up losing all four of her limbs (I believe above-knee and above-elbow) to amputation.

FrumDoula · Mar 15, 2005

My family doc doesn't vaccinate his own child, and saw instances where serious vaccination reactions were covered up by hospitals and not reported as such. So the record of safety may not be entirely accurate because reactions aren't always reported.

We delayed vaccinations and then chose not to do the varicella vaccine. I did do the other vaccines eventually, in part because of school pressure. My kiddo was fine. Now that I homeschool, I'm less worried about illness in general, but am ok with the fact that I vaccinated. I support a parents right to make an informed choice without coercion or threat of reporting to DCS.

It is very difficult to separate fact from fiction, and each side uses their share of horror stories to back their claims.

The varicella vaccine doesn't guarantee immunity and will need a booster, though I will probably end up vaccinating my little guy for it because he hasn't contracted it naturally yet.

Remember the vaccine that was pulled from the market in about the year 2000? It was causing abdominal bleeding in kids, and all sorts of problems? I forget the name of it .... pregnancy brain! Anyway, I chose not to have that one, despite all the claims that it was perfectly safe.

I'm glad they're taking mercury out of the vaccines, and making attempts at improving the safety of each vaccine. It's important.

Alison

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Mar 15, 2005

Remember the vaccine that was pulled from the market in about the year 2000? It was causing abdominal bleeding in kids, and all sorts of problems? I forget the name of it .... pregnancy brain! Anyway, I chose not to have that one, despite all the claims that it was perfectly safe.
Alison

Seems to me that was the rotavirus vaccine Rotashield and it was was causally linked with 99 cases of intussusception and 2 deaths in infants in 1999. It hadn't been approved for use in Canada at that time, so there were no Canadian cases. The varicella vaccine has only been approved for a short time here, and not too many people have availed themselves of it.

The youngster I mentioned in a previous post has since received a heart transplant and is still not immunized. His infant sister has basically lived in our PICU for 2 1/2 months and has not even had the sniffles. Maybe this family has something special we all don't know about! :coollook:

peds25yrs · Mar 16, 2005

Please help! I need info on pediatric vaccinations. Here is a little back ground. My SIL took her 4 month old in for the routine vax. Baby was fussy for a while after then became totally still and "zoned out" for about a min. One doc said this was an adverse rxn and baby had a seizure. None of the doc could tell her which shot did this an if this could or couldn't happen again or what they could do if it did. SIL refuses to have baby get any more vaccinations. Docs won't give her much info. Is this a reportable side effect or adverse rxn?
Any web sites or groups you can point me to?
All three of my kids are vaccinated per schedule. At first I didn't want to think this could be a reaction..She's a nervous mom...but after hearing her story I wonder.
Any info or insight would help. I'm still pro vaccine by the way, but every case is different.
TIA

Reply Each vaccination should be given with a paper called a vis which explains what shot it is and why your child needs it and who should be getting it and what are the side effects . It is a state law that doctor offices give this out with each shot... report it to the CDC. get another doctor...Your peds doctor should have been a little more senisitive to your needs. peds nurse 25 years experience

dd_txrn, ASN, BSN · Mar 17, 2005

I was just coming to this thread to post a question about all the anti-vaccine information that's out there on the internet. Do you peds nurses see many parents who refuse vax for their kids? What do you really think about the anti-vax websites, studies, etc? I'm a little confused by it all, to be honest.

I see it all the time-- I work PRN now in a peds clinic and we get moms who are scared of Autism associated with Thimerisol. So they wait until the child is 4 to get all the immunizations. On one downside--we are seeing an increase number of children with Pertusis in our group. We do have one physician who will dismiss the patient if the parent is unwilling to comply with the immunization schedule.