Pregnancy: Third Trimester Community

don't forget, the reason why we don't have those diseases anymore in our country is because of those immunizations. And always make sure that scientific research publications come from peer reviewed journals. A few researchers have gotten caught falsifying information about their findings regarding the safety of immunizations.

PP is right why do you think we no longer have these dieseases, its becuz millions of ppl got the vac and has wiped it out. My son has had all his imm and so have i. Ive never been ill, and have no other health issuses, mental, behavioral or otherwise.

I agree with these other posters. Actually some diseases like whooping cough is coming back b/c people aren't vaccinating their children. I personally would rather risk the side of effects of the shots than have my child pick up one of these life threatening diseases. There is no research that has proven that vaccinations cause austim, just so you know. My DD is 2 1/2 and is up to date on all of her shots, she's a perfectly healthy child.

Well said to the 3 PPs.
Also remember, today more than ever we have the highest infant and child survival rate in the world. The child mortality rate has dropped more than 60% just since the 1960s (according to the World Health Organization), because we came up with vaccinations that protect our children against things like polio, pneumonia, hepititis, mumps and measels.
What is most dangerous is people reading random articles online that have absolutely no scientific fact in them and making rash and uninformed decisions to not get their child vaccinated.

I am so glad you PP's spoke up - I held myself back for fear of offending people. I have a scientific background, though I am not a medical doctor. So I know the importance of quality scientific research & peer reviewed publications. These "reports" make me crazy for propogating what I consider to be dangerous myths. It HAS been proven vaccines don't cause autism; in fact a majority of the researchers on the supposed original study recanted their results when they realized how much of their data was tainted and flat-out falsified. They are also safer & less stressful to the immune system now than they were before, safer even than "simple" colds or (heaven forbid!! - honestly!!) a flu, which is a very simplified summary of reports I have read. These diseases are not as rare as anti-vaccine proponents would like to suggest, and again, you can find the reports on the resurgence of these horrible diseases in many regions of our own prosperous country.

And I say that as a relative of an autistic man. My brother-in-law is fairly high on the autism spectrum (which, by the way, the amount of classification counting in the "spectrum" is another misleading factor contributing to the "allarming" increase in autism diagnoses). My husband was born after him, and 3 more siblings after. They all got all their vaccines, and it is only in hindsite & life experience that my parent-in-laws say they now realize there were early warning signs indicating my BIL's special needs. If you are going to research this issue, do real research. There are non-government and vaccine-manufacturer's research reports available too. Plenty of people/groups have tried to discredit the value of vaccines, but none have been able to do it so far with credible data and they don't get as much publicity as the more controversy-laden claims.

I must say that I agree with the other PP's. I'm not trying to gang up on cl1234, but I feel that the benefits of immunizations far outweigh the risks. Also, by making the choice not to immunize, parents are exposing children who can't yet be immunized to diseases that they wouldn't otherwise be exposed to. In other words, you're not only affecting your child with the choice but potentially others as well. My DS has received all recommended immunizations and will continue to receive them.

My sister lives in London and has told me that the measles have reached a point of being close to epidemic because of the high number of parents who have chosen not vaccinate their children. I understand having concerns about what goes into your child's system, but you need to truly research well. I'm also fortunate enough to have a pediatrician I love and trust immensely. We've had some good conversations and she completely put me at ease about vaccinating my daughter. She's followed the same immunization schedule with all 3 of her own children that she recommends for her patients. Now that my 2nd is here, she will also receive all of her vaccinations.

As already mentioned you also need to think about the fact that this decision doesn't just affect your child and your family, but it is your decision to make. Please make sure you're well informed.

I agree with you cl1234, I feel the same way. I'm in nursing school and for my micro coarse we just had to do a report on it. It's becoming more common for parents to think twice before they pump their baby with immunizations. They even have a immunization for ear infections, my son had the shot and he had an ear infection every month until they put in tubes! It's just annoying, I had chicken pox when I was a kid and I was just fine! My kids all had influenza A last winter including my 6 month old and they had a fever for 2 days (which was controlled with advil) and a cough but they were fine. I have 7 kids and they are very healthy.Personally I feel that the immunizations are more for people that have problems with their immune system. Although I'm NOT against all the immunizations. I feel SOME should be given. It's just getting out of control. I know a lady that had healthy twins. At 15 months they went in for their shots and one of the twins suffered brain damage, now he's 10 the mother was compensated but her son is like a vegetable. So I'm very careful on what decisions I make with my kids, but for each their own. I just suggest you find a Dr. thats on the same page, I love my kids Dr and he suggests the immunizations he thinks I should give my kids.

If you actually look on the CDC's website and read the boring bits, you'd find that many of the vaccinces they push give "clinical immunity" meaning they have only been shown to cause an immune response but are not garunteed to actually prevent the disease. Thus the reason I had chkpx despite being vaccinated... the vaccine for whooping cough doesn't garuntee you can't carry the disease w no symptoms then pass it on to your children... Why would I risk being a carrier without even having the bennifit of the cough to clue me in so I could protect my child? My husband and I have decided to go with a modified vaccine schedule and preservitave free vaccines. We will only use "dead" vaccinces when we can, and that will be our choice:) To anyone who wants to gripe to us that we are indangering their kid I'll say, but remember, you gave them all 31 of the recommended vaccines. You have nothing to worry about:)

I'm definitly not against vaccines. I just prefer to avoid so many at one time and all the preservatives they put in them. And of course, if small pox makes a comeback we would bump that up the list in our schedule... oh but wait... Every child who came down with it in that outbreak in California several years ago was vaccinated... hmmm... I'll take it a shot at a time and do the real research thanks:)

There is so much I have read, on the CDC website, on the website from where I got the link and my issue is that my generation was the last that did not get 'sick' and did not suffer 'epidemics' and no one I knew back then ever had a peanut allergy. Not until the following generations did we see a rise in disease and autism & allergies. People don't understand that a lot of diseases are gone because they mutate and because they mutate, scientists try to come up with new versions of the same vaccine every year such as the flu vaccine which doesn't work anyways mainly because the virus mutates so often. So instead of popping pills to feel better, stop running to the doctor for a shot that you will not even need in this day and age. Polio? No thanks, that's a waste b/c polio is so rare that it fell off the CDC's radar. So why are we vaccinated? Government control and they make money off it. By using scare tactics towards parents, they get people to rush right out and freak that their kid just might get the chicken pox but little do people realize that a high percentage of kids will get the chicken pox even after having the vaccination. Why do you think you get the flu after having a shot? VIRUS MUTATION. We were not designed to be able to handle synthetic and chemical drugs, including immunizations. Why do you think our kids are full of allergies? Think about how many horrible and life threatening chemicals are in those vaccinations. I won't allow a doctor or the government dictate how I will raise my child including her health and safety.

We see rise in diseases and autism, because we lead way more unhealthy lifestyles, these diseases and autism are being Dx and these diseases like polio are wiped out becuz everyone got vaccinated for it. No one is attacking you guys on your choices and im glad my child got vaccinated, then he wont get sick from your children who will catch these life debilatating diseases.

I also think the simple fact that we have a better understanding of the way illness is spread and basic hygene and sanitation practices also plays a huge role in the fact that so many diseases have been nearly eliminated.

And as far as healthy lifestyles go, yes, we did as a culture used to be more active, but we also had less chemical and anitbiotics added to our food and enviroment... less artificial crap to try to use or eliminate from our bodies. from chicken to vaccines they put in our children, we can't get away from it anymore and that is so, so sad.

In the nine month shots (I believe, the one with the MMR and two othe vaccines given at the same time) a baby recieves multiple times the FDA's recommended limit of mercury for an ADULT daily limit if they are given the vaccines w mercury based preservatives... which is the cheapest and most common type. This is only legal bc they haven't set an official "limit" only a "suggestion". Most people are unaware, and i think the makers of these vaccines, and the agencies who push them should have more responsibility to educate the people they are selling them to without those people having to dig through and try to interpret medical jargon.

I work in radiology and my sister graduates med school in the spring. She has begged me to look into each vaccine and when it is given bc of all she's learned, but I've already done my own research and there was no need for her to beg:) The doctors I work with choose to vaccinate their children based on a more logical schedule, yet the medical community as a whole pushes this on parents who have no medical back ground and shout "herd immunity" at them. Many believe bc it's what the people who are supposed to know tell them. I think people deserve accurate information rather than claims of medical magic.

Once again, many of the "facts" listed in some of these arguements against vaccinations or the more-conservative "standard schedule" vaccinations are not that accurate.

Flu vaccines are comprised of the best guess combination of the 3 most likely strains to be circulating in any given year. It was badly miscalculated a couple years ago, and the prevalent viruses were not any in the vaccine. It was not that the vaccine caused a mutation in the virus.

On a side note, disease mutation occurs from survival of partially defeated diseases in a host organism. Vaccines work in that they are dead or at least significantly weakened infections that the body can successfully identify and kill, creating the "memory" or immunization to defeat any future same/similar infection. Vaccines today are safer and more effective in that manner than the partially-living variations originally used, that could overwhelm the body's immune system in immuno-compromised children/people. It is the over-use and incomplete use of antibiotics that cause disease mutation. When you don't complete that anitbiotic "because s/he already feels better," then the left-over micro-organisms that weren't killed off by the drugs are the strongest survivors. That is how a disease mutates to be drug-resistant, not vaccines that prevent you from having those strong surviovors in the first place.

Back to vaccine myths; the mercury myth, and other "toxins" make me craziest. The thermerosal (not straight mercury) has not been used in years, despite study after study that has proven it is not the cause of autism. So they've taken it out anyway, though they know it's not the problem. As for these other "toxins" . . like everything else, it is the dose, and honestly the vehicle, that causes the poison. Too much water kills you too. So look at the dose amount in these vaccines compared to the level it takes to cause any problems. Even if they were all combined in one concentrated dose, they don't reach the levels required to cause damage. And trust me, you get exposed to more of these "toxins" in daily life than you do in these life-saving medications. For example, technically, there's formaldehyde in french-fries too.

Lastly, I'm assuming the "if you're healthy, you don't need these" arguement is for the diseases like chicken pox and the ear infections someone mentioned (that is a new one for me, never heard of that one). Perhaps . . . but that assumes your healthy child doesn't expose an unhealthy child during the incubation period. And lest you think you know who the "unhealthy" children are so you can keep your child away from them . . . can you tell all of them by looking at them to determine if they are a perdiatric cancer survivor? If they were able to complete the full course of a particular vaccine because they didn't have an allergic reaction at some point? That their immune system did function properly in a way that recognized and still remembers the disease? (yes, a certain portion of the population receives the vaccinations but does not retain the immunity) Or especially for the older generation . . . that their immunity is still effective?

I had a flu about 6 years ago that nearly hospitalized me and lasted more than 2 weeks. I had another flu a couple years ago that lasted about 3-4 days. The bird flu killed many while others barely registered it as a bad cold. You cannot predict how you will respond to a live infection. I cannot vaccinate our newborn for the flu, so the best I can do is get the rest of us vaccinated to minimize the potential exposure. That is how herd immunity works. Those who can fight off or prevent the diseases from infecting do so, so those who cannot do not have to. That is why the decision to not vaccinate your child does have the potential to harm others. It is particularly heart-breaking, I think, for those who wanted the vaccines but couldn't for various reasons, to suffer when "healthy" carriers expose them.