Vaccines

[MeatKing]

I had decided not to vaccinate our children, till an little old lady got ahold of me. She told me the stories, of growing up with polie etc. around. My kids are now vaccinated. i feel really bad for the families with kids who had problems with vaccines. There is probley way more, then we will ever know. We need to do what we think is best for us.

We also could use with better studies aswell, with unbiased studies of vaccines. We could always improve!

 

[gallopingfrog]

I personally am vaccinated. So is my sibling...and my parents. We vaccinated because, as a personal opinion, not vaccinating is irresponsible. Not because you/your kid can get sick. But because you are putting other children, not old enough for certain vaccines, at risk for diseases that could and have killed them.

However, I agree with you Livinzoo. I think that we do need safer vaccines.........right there along with safer food. Do you know that the meat you find in most grocery stores has liquid injection for flavor and tenderness? It says so right there on the label (by law) but that doesn't mean people realize it - I didn't until I was well started into my Animal Industry degree. It has such a high sodium content that even when you try to cook low sodium for health reasons, it is impossible. Also, (assuming you don't have dairy cows) anything but whole milk has water in it. Removing fat to make it 2% or 1% or Skim cost too much, so they dump water into it. Pasteurization removes healthy bacteria and enzymes from milk (which, if you're lactose and tolerant, you can drink raw milk, for example). This is exactly the reason I'm getting into chickens and pigs and dairy cattle (we already have beef). I can control what goes into them and I can control what happens with the end product.

However, I do disagree with your statement that sanitation was a problem many years ago. Every time you cough, sneeze, laugh, talk, etc. you are spraying nuclei droplets (mucus droplets) that hold microorganisms (bacteria, viruses, pollen, spores, etc.). These droplets can stay in the air for loooooong periods of time because they are so microscopic and light. Sanitation isn't just about washing your hands. If you want to take that theory and put it against nuclei droplets, we'd all be wearing protective masks, hats, clothing, etc.

And sometimes sanitation and/or disinfecting is the wrong thing to do. Using these things can lead to chemical resistant (including natural antibiotics like penicillin). I'm am totally at the camp in which you don't use hand sanitizer. You wash your hands. Not with antibacterial soap - with just plain old soap. Hand sanitizer doesn't do jack for you anyway - it only kills Staphylococcus Aureus, a bacteria found naturally on your skin, that can cause "food poisioning", but is easily dealt with.....by washing you hands.

I know, I'm going on and on, so I'm going to get off my soap box now. LOL And, again, I have no interest in being combative or aggressive. I simply am stating an opinion.

 

[Kelly G]

"The Panic Virus" Great book.

People are like sheep and can easily be frightened into bolting away in fear....following the crowd.

 

[silkiechicken]

I think that herd immunity is why so many children who do not get vaccines in developed countries can evade some of the highest killers in undeveloped countries where the vaccines are not available.

 

[Kelly G]

Quote:
QFT!

 

[HeatherLynn]

This is a tough subject because like it or not we have to trust in something that is being forced on us essentially. You can opt out but then you get the scary stories, hassles at school, and the wonderful lectures from the doctors. Skipping vaccinations might be just as risky as getting them. I don't know. I tried to have this conversation with my doctor once. It went badly. All i asked was for some reassurance of safety. I was told get them or find another doctor. The only shots we do not get are flu shots. I prefer to build our immunity and not be depended on such a short term vaccine. I HATE HATE HATE the chicken pox vaccine. Especially for my girls because I worry what will happen when they are older and exposed while pregnant. I asked on that one too. I was told to worry about that when the time comes. I had the chicken pox. Remember it vividly, mostly because my mom made me wear socks on my hands. It wasn't that bad. Other than the socks on the hands part. BUT I was confident when pregnant when a nephew I was watching actually got them and exposed me. No worries, I already had them. My husband sat there cuddling the poor speckled kid. No biggie. He had them too. My daughters will not be able to say that.

I am still of the opinion that we will not get the Gardisil vaccine. I have no confidence in this one and I really don't think its safe yet. It has been pushed very fast and I just wonder who's back is being scratched with this one. Make no mistake, there is a back being scratched. I just wanna know how much risk I would be taking from that back scratching. The doc and I will part ways before that vaccine becomes an issue. My paranoia over vaccines does not come from anyone but my own questions. I want facts. I don't like white washed versions and I don't like being forced. I am waiting for Gardisil to become mandatory. My daughter is 9 so this is already in our conversation. I just don't feel comfortable with it. I have no long term studies to go by. I don't deal well with not have good facts to base decisions on. I surely do not trust the government to decide whats safe and what isn't. They are utter morons.

It would be great if they were safer. I don't think we should ever just accept what we are told without explanation and all the facts. If facts are kept from us for our own good, then I will not trust anything said. We are responsible for our own health and that of our children. So its a good thing to question. Its a good thing to demand better safety standards and more testing. I think somewhere down the middle of the road most of us can find a happy place where we have questioned and weighed our choices and found some choices that have an acceptable risk rate for us. That risk rate is different for everyone so its not a one size fits all happy place.

 

[Amyable]

HeatherLynn, that is a very good post. Yes, getting the chicken pox vax does make people more susceptible to getting shingles when they're older; it's the adult version of chicken pox but much more severe. My great grandma got it and she said it was very painful. Better to get chicken pox as a kid.

lilredCV, I'm very sorry about your child with vaccine damage. You are right, the medical establishment does not want to report adverse effects, the true numbers will shake their faith in vaccines. My son had a mild reaction to his 2-month shots; he is now 5, is it too late to report his reaction?

I find it amusing that humans believe they can control viruses. These diseases are not always present in the environment, and they wax and wane in their virulence. We have very little influence and very little understanding of how disease organisms actually function. Some illnesses run their course over years, die out, or come and go. African sleeping sickness was one that was prevalent and has now ceased to exist. Smallpox is another. Did you know whooping cough becomes virulent every 44 months? Vaccines make no difference there. Look up the chart that shows the decline in overall whooping cough worldwide over the last 200 years or so; you will see the vaccine was introduced at such a low point in the number of cases, it is laughable to insist it was the vaccine that got rid of the virus.

I'm fortunate to live in a state with all 3 exemptions. It is a oft-repeated falsehood that children need to be immunized to attend school. The gov't simply cannot force you or your children to be injected with any substance.

 

[ultasol]

Quote:
In order for people to be informed and truly be educated they have to hear both sides of the issue. Yes, there are vaccine injuries, however the number of vaccine injuries compared to the number of vaccines given each year are low.

This year we've already had an outbreak of whooping cough/pertussis locally. This is a huge killer of babies. Older children and adults can get this disease and show little more than symptoms of a cold, but it kills infants. The best protection is for adults and children to be vaccinated. It saves lives, it truly does.

Meningitis used to be much more prevalent, but the use of two vaccines, including HIB in the infant series and the meningococcal vaccine, has made meningitis a rarity compared to the past.

Sure, there are some vaccine injuries. What is even sadder is the deaths of children from diseases that are, with vaccines, completely preventable. Or deaths that could have been prevented had their parents or family been vaccinated. It's a cost/benefit analysis.... and unfortunately the more people who don't vaccinate will increase the rates of preventable diseases- like our local pertussis outbreak in the schools in nearby Northern OR. The exposed children could take this home to their much more susceptible baby brothers/sisters who have a very real chance of dying if they contract this preventable disease.

 

[mom'sfolly]

Actually, exposure to the chicken pox virus is what causes shingles. I don't know if the chicken pox vaccine protects or not; but having chicken pox is the method for getting shingles later in life. This is a herpes related virus that likes to hang out on nerve fibers, and can under certain circumstances reactivate and cause shingles. I never had chicken pox, or so I thought. Until I got shingles, and a related complication. That extremely rare complication caused permanent hearing loss in one ear, and occasional vertigo even 15 years later.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herpes_zoster

 

[ChikeeMomma]

The chicken pox virus does seem to be evolving. Children, who have had the vaccine, seem to be getting it more and more, albeit a mild case. My kids are vaccinated against it. Hopefully, they won't get a mild case of it, either.

We've been through fifths disease and hand, foot, and mouth (oh my gosh -- the worst!), so I'm sure a mild case of chicken pox is not so bad.

I have to check into Gardisil a little more, but HPV is so absolutely rampant! I cannot believe how many ladies have it. My sister, SIL, and cousin all have HPV to the severe degree that every six months they go in for a pap and have pre-cancerous cells frozen/burned off their cervix. So most likely, I'll get my girls the shot when the time comes, but I'll research it first. If this vaccine does do it's job, I cannot imagine not getting it. HPV is silent and you don't even know you have it. I would hate to have the thought of cervical cancer looming over my daughter's heads if they were to contract that certain strain of HPV that causes it (like a few of my relatives).