Child vaccinations - do you or don't you?

 Hmmm...both of my kids are vaccinated.  Kale was behind on one of his vaccs and he almost had to stay home from school until he got it.  Luckily we got him in at the health unit to get it.  Honestly though, I've never really done much research on it.  And until recently I never even knew it was optional.  In fact, I'm not sure it is up here.  I know you can't get them into a school without it up here...well in my town anyway.

In Illiinois, where I used to live, they are very strict on vaccines for school, if you are not up to date, you cannot go.....

I got all my vaccines when I was little, and all my boosters, and I was fine,  a very healthy baby....

It's mandatory here too.  To be honest, i never even thought about not doing it.  Our friends weren't going to then changed their minds and had to get him caught up which I think is worse than going with the recommended schedule.

g33

Does anyone else not vaccinate?

Both my kids are fully done...I would never even consider not doing it.

Wisconsin passed a mandatory vaccination law last year and is only the second state in the country to have it. Basically it forces you to put these into your child's body and YOUR body and you'll pay a fine or do jail time if you refuse. Kind of shocking! I personally don't like the idea of a government forcing me to put something into my body. Here in IL, you can take a religious exemption and you do not have to vaccinate your kids to get them into school. All the folks we know who don't vaccinate don't have any problem with their kids being in public school. It's quite simple. I thought it was mandatory also but that is not the case. The funny thing is that if there is an outbreak of something at a school, the school will request that you keep your kids home...because they say that your kids will infect the other kids. Well if the other kids are vaccinated, and the vaccines work, how will that happen? I think its more for your own kids' protection. I know a doctor who said he'd rather his own child get sick with Whooping Cough (pertussis) and suffer for 3 months and build a REAL immunity than subject his child to the DTaP vaccine. Here are some links that we looked at, just FYI. I'm not trying to convert anyone to my way of thinking, just food for thought. I respect the decisions and thought processes on both sides of the issue. When it came down to our child though, we made the choice that we felt was best based on our conscience. http://www.ghchealth.com/vaccinations-the-hour-of-the-time.html http://drbenkim.com/vaccination-hidden-dangers.html Watch some of the video if you are interested - it's an hour and a half long but there is good info in just the first 5 minutes.

Anyone know why I can't get paragraph breaks in my posts? I'm using a Mac.

g33

The funny thing is that if there is an outbreak of something at a school, the school will request that you keep your kids home...because they say that your kids will infect the other kids. Well if the other kids are vaccinated, and the vaccines work, how will that happen?

 

actually the risks...like those with flu...are mutations of known viruses. If a person is not vaccinated and becomes a host the virus can potentially mutate within the host. Then it is indeed....transmissible to others that have been vaccinated...and there you have it....big problem. Medical types here can perhaps explore that possbility.

I do know that viruses and such are ever changing...but I believe mutations require a host...and if there are no hosts obviously that's not an issue.

Right - but even flu shots are not mandatory. Also the vaccine against strep (pneumococcus) only protects against 8 strains of the more than 90 strains of strep in existence. That's right from the CDC information.

I had all mine, as did all my sibs, and we never had problems.  I also had several more before going to Tanzania (Hep A, Yellow Fever, something else...I actually got a terrible fever and hallucinations from the Yellow Fever vaccine).  I'm not sure what all was required for school now, but I do know that I had to have some more for college (meningitis, tetanus booster, flu shot was free), so that's something to keep in mind.  Like mrstjohnson said, if it's going to be required for something later on, I'd do it right off the bat and not have to catch up later.  I'm pretty sure we had to have at least tetanus and the Hep B series to enter college (probably high school as well).  DH just had to have a vaccination b/c he's going into a teaching program and he has to have all the vaccs that the school systems require. 

 

Edited to add - I don't usually get flu shots (I did when it was free) and I didn't even know there was a strep shot.  I've never had strep or a strep shot.  I did not have a chicken pox shot, nor did any of my younger sibs, we just got the pox. 

Gina, my comments were on the basic premise of vaccines, and why they work at basically eradicating disease, when used by enough of a population...and why they might cease to work if the things they have been used against...were to mutate to any great extent via some in the population not receiving them. That is all..it was not about the flu...the flu was an example.

 I was vaccinated for the "big stuff" as a kid and never had any trouble. I never had any "extras" like flu vaccines or even chicken pox (hadn't come out yet). I would think that vaccinating a kid for the major illnesses (polio, MMR, tetanus, etc.) would be a good idea for the same reason vaccinating your dogs for the major illnesses (rabies, distemper, parvo...) would be a good idea. I totally understand not wanting to vaccinate unnecessarily, but are child vaccines more dangerous than dog vaccines?

Edit: I had to have vaccines to enter college, too. Well, technically to live in the dorms, but as a "residential college" you were required to live in the dorms for at least 3 years, so... one of those included meningitis, and I had to get it before the locksmith would give me my room key. 

g33

Anyone know why I can't get paragraph breaks in my posts? I'm using a Mac.

 

 Are you using Safari? The entire forum is kind of screwy in Safari, but it's a million times different if I use Firefox (or if I'm using a computer that has Windows/IE).

 

Oooo, smileys! These aren't even an option in Safari!
 

Yep, Safari!!! LOL

I got all my vaccines as a kid, plus my tetanus booster, Hep B, and menigitis before college.  I just completed the cervical cancer series.  I thought long and hard about getting the cervical cancer series, but my doctor was one of the researchers, so i trusted her when she discussed the benefits and risks. 

I am very cautious about vaccinating my dogs, so I follow many of the same rules for myself: spread vaccines out over a period of weeks/months vs. all at the same appointment, go for single vaccines when possible vs. the combo ones (I was ticked to learn the human DtP vaccine cannot be found in anything other than a combo even though I only need the P part), no boosters early.

I know whooping cough is experiencing an upsurge in cases and I'm sure that could happen with any of the major illnesses for kids - isn't there a limited vaccine protocol you could follow to give the kids some protect w/ less risk of overvaccination?  We worry about our puppies getting 10 vaccines in their first 4 months or so, but what about our kids getting 20+ in their first year?!