If you choose not to vaccinate your child, then YES, you are highly irresponsible!! You put your child, and other children, at risk. Stop believing in things you read on a Yahoo group on the internet and start focusing on the science!

I had a baby last year and am now pregnant again, and I've never had the vaccination, and my doctor has never mentioned it. The only thing they've suggested I get or anyone else who will be around the baby is the flu shot.

If by "anti-vaccine" you mean anti-seizure, anti-autistic symptoms, anti-neurological ticks, anti-"collapse and shock-like state" and anti-convulsions, then YES, you could label me as anti-vaccine.

I'm confident that your doctor will tell you without any hesitation that vaccines are safe. But follow that information up with a trip to the autism/special needs boards on yahoo. Listen to what other people have to say about their children and how it happened. No doctor is going to recount the numerous horror stories regarding vaccines during your well visit...that would not be in his best interest and they can not do it anyway due to privacy laws.

Regardless of my stance on vaccines, it is your decision to vaccinate or not to. But more importantly, it is your responsibility to get all the information regarding vaccines...not just the hook-line-and-sinker CDC version. There are many, many children who fare well through the vaccination process, but there are many who don't. That number seems to be growing with no end in sight.

I'm not here to tell you not to vaccinate. I'm here to tell you to do your research and do it well. Because if you do see a reaction, you will want to have a full understanding of what that reaction is and where it came from and what the repercussions are.

I'm sure it's easy for you to sit there and judge me and say that I'm not a responsible person for not vaccinating my children any longer and that I am a danger to the community and that I am "uneducated" but that couldn't be farther from the truth. I've spent the past 3 years educating myself on vaccines and why they do the damage that they do. I've spent 3 years trying to undo the damage that has been done in my children.

How long have you looked into the subject? If it is a 5 minute discussion with your doctor, your sorely uneducated about the risks and dangers that vaccines pose. And if/when your child does react to a vaccine, you have no one to blame but yourself because I guarantee you that when you go back to your doctor and tell him what happened, he'll deny any causation and you are SOL.

Anonymous wrote:Oh, the anti-vaccine crowd has jumped on this of course. But you can listen to a bunch of unqualified people on a website, or your doctor. If you don't trust your doctor, consult with another one.
Personally, when our daughter was born, it was flu season, and my MIL wouldn't get the flu vaccine. We tried and tried to convince her, but she has very irrational views toward healthcare, and wouldn't budge. We told her that she would then have to wait until flu season was over to see the baby. So that's what she did. The choice was hers, and if her own paranoia is more important to her than seeing her grandchild, so be it. The baby is my first priority, and if another person can't support that, then they're welcome to visit when they're no longer presenting an elevated risk to my child.
If the vaccine is contraindicated for someone, that's different and I would then just take precautions. But it's not like I'm taking a 4-week old out a lot to meet people anyway.
Don't get mad, just make the decision based on what's best for your child. The grandparents will get over it, or they won't, but that's on them.

Is it possible your own paranoia was more at play here? I am all pro-vaccination, and we all jus got our flu-mists. But not letting a non-symptomatic grandparent for near a baby for several weeks or even months is way over the top.

I honestly can't tell if people are really that paranoid, or they are just finding convenient clubs to beat their mothers in law away with.

You know, the more I read from the OP, the less I think this is about vaccines, and more about MIL issues.

It seems like she stumbled on a handy excuse to be controlling with the baby and keep MIL from spending any quality time.

You're going to have to come up with another excuse OP when your baby is fully vaccinated.

My suggestions: work out whatever issues you have with MIL, let go of the resentment, and just enjoy the baby!

Oh, the anti-vaccine crowd has jumped on this of course. But you can listen to a bunch of unqualified people on a website, or your doctor. If you don't trust your doctor, consult with another one.
Personally, when our daughter was born, it was flu season, and my MIL wouldn't get the flu vaccine. We tried and tried to convince her, but she has very irrational views toward healthcare, and wouldn't budge. We told her that she would then have to wait until flu season was over to see the baby. So that's what she did. The choice was hers, and if her own paranoia is more important to her than seeing her grandchild, so be it. The baby is my first priority, and if another person can't support that, then they're welcome to visit when they're no longer presenting an elevated risk to my child.
If the vaccine is contraindicated for someone, that's different and I would then just take precautions. But it's not like I'm taking a 4-week old out a lot to meet people anyway.
Don't get mad, just make the decision based on what's best for your child. The grandparents will get over it, or they won't, but that's on them.

Copied and pasted from http://www.vaccineinformation.org/pertuss/qandavax.asp:

"Who should NOT receive pertussis vaccine?
People who had a serious allergic reaction to a previous dose of DTaP or Tdap vaccine, or who developed encephalopathy (brain injury) not due to another identifiable cause, should not receive another dose.

Certain rare adverse events following pertussis vaccination usually serve as a precaution against receiving further doses. Such events include a temperature of 105°F or higher, collapse or shock-like state, persistent crying for more than three hours, or convulsions within three days. Even if one of these precautions exists, there may be occasions when the benefit of immunization outweighs the risk (for example, during a community-wide outbreak of pertussis). A person who developed one of these adverse events after pediatric DTaP vaccine may receive Tdap as an adolescent or adult.

A person with a recognized, possible, or potential neurologic condition should delay receiving DTaP or Tdap vaccine until the condition is evaluated, treated, and/or stabilized. Although DTaP vaccine does not cause neurological disorders, receiving the vaccine can cause an already-present underlying condition to show itself.

Persons with a moderate or severe illness should postpone receiving the vaccine until they are well."

That last sentence in the second to last paragraph is enough to make me think twice about vaccinating my child. Just this past week, the Government awarded over a million dollars reward to the Pollings, in response that the vaccines had brought about autistic symptoms in their child, who was later also diagnosed with mitochondrial disease. Are you planning on having your child screened for mito disease before vaccinating? How can you be sure that your child wont be the next in line for autism?

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for all your responses. My MIL is NOT over 65, and does not want to get the vaccine because she is worried about side effects. I can understand that, but the fact is, my doctor is recommending that all caregivers get vaccinated. I find her decision to be selfish, given the potential risk to the baby, but there is nothing I can do about it. I am not going to keep her from seeing/visiting the baby, but I am not going to let her be a caregiver (aka, she can't babysit, stay for long periods of time, etc.). I recognize that you can't get everyone vaccinated who comes through the door.

At the end of the day, I agree the risks are low. And I'm not going to dwell on it. But would I prefer her be vaccinated? Yes. And I think I'll have a hard time quelling my resentment for this!

Did you not see, just two posts above, that vaccination does not prevent a person from transmitting the virus? Furthermore, there are millions - literally millions! - of Americans who are currently unvaccinated against pertussis. If I had to guess, I would say that upwards of 80% of the adult population is not current. Yes, anyone under 35 got the shot as a kid, but the booster only started to be recommended to birthing women/families in the past year. It seems crazy to obsess over MIL when so many others you will come into contact with are unvaccinated. Also, there are so so SO many other things that are more dangerous to your baby. The vaccination campaign has given us a truly disordered fear regarding these illnesses - and no, I am NOT saying that they are risk-free. Just that the actual risk of your baby even contracting - let alone getting terribly ill from pertussis, is extraordinarily low.

Anonymous wrote:What are you going to do about other children whose parents may refuse to have their children given this and other vaccines, because they do not believe it is safe or for religious reasons?

Presumably by the time your baby has interactions with other children, he/she will be fully vaccinated.

What are you going to do about other children whose parents may refuse to have their children given this and other vaccines, because they do not believe it is safe or for religious reasons?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't weigh in on whether to enforce vaccination, but I do want to provide some information to the PP who indicated that Pertussis is easy to recognize. Please take a look at this LA Times article: http://www.latimes.com/health/la-me-whooping-cough-20100907,0,4190790.story

While easy in older children, in infants below six months it can be very difficult to identify and may have few symptoms:
"Initial symptoms of the bacterial disease in infants are deceptively mild and can lull physicians into a false sense of security.

"It's a tough diagnosis because the babies, they don't look very sick. They don't have a fever. And they have a runny nose and a little cough," said Dr. James D. Cherry, a UCLA pediatrics professor and an expert on pertussis who has reviewed the eight infant deaths."

EIGHT infant deaths. That alone is worth anyone getting a vaccine. People aren't dying from getting the vaccine - they are dying from NOT getting it. I think that poster waxing on about dementia should think about her own paranoia.

How many did not die?

Anonymous wrote:I can't weigh in on whether to enforce vaccination, but I do want to provide some information to the PP who indicated that Pertussis is easy to recognize. Please take a look at this LA Times article: http://www.latimes.com/health/la-me-whooping-cough-20100907,0,4190790.story

While easy in older children, in infants below six months it can be very difficult to identify and may have few symptoms:
"Initial symptoms of the bacterial disease in infants are deceptively mild and can lull physicians into a false sense of security.

"It's a tough diagnosis because the babies, they don't look very sick. They don't have a fever. And they have a runny nose and a little cough," said Dr. James D. Cherry, a UCLA pediatrics professor and an expert on pertussis who has reviewed the eight infant deaths."

EIGHT infant deaths. That alone is worth anyone getting a vaccine. People aren't dying from getting the vaccine - they are dying from NOT getting it. I think that poster waxing on about dementia should think about her own paranoia.

OP here. Thanks for all your responses. My MIL is NOT over 65, and does not want to get the vaccine because she is worried about side effects. I can understand that, but the fact is, my doctor is recommending that all caregivers get vaccinated. I find her decision to be selfish, given the potential risk to the baby, but there is nothing I can do about it. I am not going to keep her from seeing/visiting the baby, but I am not going to let her be a caregiver (aka, she can't babysit, stay for long periods of time, etc.). I recognize that you can't get everyone vaccinated who comes through the door.

At the end of the day, I agree the risks are low. And I'm not going to dwell on it. But would I prefer her be vaccinated? Yes. And I think I'll have a hard time quelling my resentment for this!

Anonymous wrote:You people are scary. These same parents who brought you up and looked after your health (without the overuse of vaccines). And now you are shunning them because they don't want Aluminum Hydroxide, Bovine Extract, Formaldehyde, Glutaraldehyde, and Polysorbate 80 injected into their bodies? Just wondering, have any of you ever been concerned about your parent's vaccine status when you were learning to drive, or going to college, or getting your first job? If your parent's don't feel well, I bet they'll have your baby's best interest at heart and stay home until they feel better so as not to get your baby sick. Your parents will no sooner give you a deadly disease that will kill your child than you could pick it up off the shopping cart at your last grocery run, which is a thousand times more likely.

Exposing your elders to more heavy metals (thimerisol in flu shots, and aluminum in everything else) will increase their chances of dimensia.

The level of paranoia here is ludicrous.

I smell overreaction here. Plus, you don't know my parents.

The vaccine does NOT prevent one from being a carrier and transmitting -- it prevents one from becoming ill once exposed.

I'd keep your baby away from anyone with a cold -- pertussis starts out mild and cold-like then progresses to the horrible coughing. Avoid the person with the mild coughing or cold to begin with and you're off to a good start.

I would not stress over this. I did not ask family members to be vaccinated.