Vaccination Debate

I just finished watching NBC Nightly News.
I cannot speak for anyone else, but my birds
were both FINE ( with perfect Apgar scores) before their
Thimerisol laced government mandated shots.
I've never recommended that anyone NOT
immunize their children based on my experience
(or on the waves of anecdotal experience that have washed over me
in the past two decades...)
but I am ALL FOR
opening the floor
to debate.
I pray that whatever the outcome,
TRUTH prevails.

Comments

[Kathleen]

Sigh...very sad about this whole thing. I don't know if Owen had it before his shots or not...he always seemed a bit different. But he also spent a week in the NICU without me. I, too, hope truth prevails! And we can protect other children and families. Interestingly enough, I held off on Cameron's MMR as we were living in the UK. A false sense of security, back in the US, lulled me into all of Owen's.

[Maryann]

I hear ya! I have a 3 1/2 year old autistic, Eva. I did not notice any difference after her shots, but this whole business about possible coverups, etc. scares me to death. How can we trust our government?? How can we feel safe?

[Laura Gallagher]

I recommend a book to you - What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Childhood Vaccinations, or a title close to that, by Dr. Stephanie Cave. It goes into specifics of what types of family medical history make a difference in your chances of bad reactions to vaccinations, and discusses the various autoimmune diseases that can get triggered, and their rising rates. It's a great book. I loaned my copy out to an expectant mother and didn't get it back before our move, I need to buy a new copy. Medicine is NOT one size fits all! The risk can vary greatly. My family, on BOTH sides, has almost all the risk factors she discusses. There's something like 10 reasonably close family members that I know have autoimmune diseases. I wish I'd read this book before my eldest, my autistic son, was vaccinated. My younger two are NOT.

[Norma]

Oy, I've told Kathleen this story before. My Abigail had her first shot and had a bad reaction to it....something happened, something that I didn't recognize, but my very alert pediatrician characterized, after I told him exactly what I had seen, as probably a seizure. And he said to me, "You are a very alert mother for having noticed what happened. And I'm just telling you now, if she were my daughter I would NOT give her the rest of the shots." He gave her the rest of the series withOUT the pertussis portion of the vaccine, which he said was the most unstable and suspect part of the vaccine. He was in the minuscule minority on this issue at the time (and still), and thankfully for me, he was MY pediatrician AND he was the President of the Vermont Pediatricians' Association. Many times over the years, whenever our daughter had a cough, we'd second-guess him, worried that she would get whooping cough. And then whooping cough even came back, and three children in her theater group got it. We were always nervous. And every time we had a different doctor look at her for various reasons (our guy was on a day off or whatever), they would seriously raise their eyebrows and contribute to our feelings of second-guessing. Then one day when my daughter was 16, I was the court reporter for a hearing on a program for financial recovery...I don't remember what it was called, but people had a small window for being able to make a claim against the government for damage done to their children from the shots. One couple was extremely articulate -- the father is a lawyer and the mother was a nurse -- and they told their story. It was EXACTLY THE SAME STORY as mine, except THEIR doctor insisted that the baby should get the shot. The girl was the same exact age as my daughter, and was severely retarded, but had been perfectly alert and normal and developing normally before the 2nd shot. They put her to bed that night, and the next morning they KNEW something was seriously wrong. The baby would no longer make eye contact with them. In fact, we eventually remembered that we had both been in the hospital delivering our babies at the same time. I literally lost my composure for the first time in a court hearing. I drove immediately back to my town and barged in on my pediatrician's office. I didn't kiss him, but I wanted to. I sat there crying in his office and said, "THANK YOU FOR SAVING MY DAUGHTER'S LIFE!" (and by the way, the Government officials treated these people like they were IDIOTS during the hearing. It was sickening.)

[caroline]

Greta, I so totally respect your position and yet I have a terrible sinking feeling about this. And in answer to Maryann, we cannot trust our government on this at all. if you doubt me check on the legally disclosed sums pharmaceutical companies contribute to senate, house, and presidential campaigns. Both sides of the aisle but heavier to republicans.
And lastly, this is the government that has repeatedly used its own, not informed and not consenting population as guinea pigs. The African American men injected with syphillis in the 40s and 50s? The troops and citizens in Utah and Nevada exposed to radiation in the 50s? The insufficiently tested anti-miscarriage drug given to women in the 50s and 60s that causes cervical cancer in the daughters born? The inmates and others being used as guinea pigs for pesticide testing now? Check out Senator Barbara Boxer's website. Very scary stuff. And all in the public record, not in the realm of paranoid fantasy.
anyway. my heart goes out to all whose children are affected. If they can admit the problem and get going on the etiology, perhaps there will surface a way to prevent or reverse the effects, yes? please, please..
heartfelt hugs to all.

[barbara]

If it makes you feel any better about the vaccinations - autism has been around a lot longer than the MMR.

I know, I have a 45 year old brother with severe autism. We have many friends who were diagnosed with autism in the 50's and 60's.

Autism existed but was very rarely diagnosed and little talked about. Children were ususally institutionalized and forgotten about.

There are so many more children being diagnosed today because the standards have become so broad. In the 1960's any child who could read, talk and understand a simple command was not autistic. Today, college students are being diagnosed as autistic spectrum. In my book if you can make it into college, you are not autistic.

Back in the 60's,the medical "experts" believed that it was caused by parents (usually mothers) who were so cold and uncaring to their children that the children withdrew into autism. can you imagine the guilt!!! My parents were told this by the top "expert' in the world. I don't believe this is the cause any more than the MMR vaccination. 20 years from now the real cause will be known.