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Originally Posted by Ruthla  But I can't say that I'm either "for" or "against" vaccinations. I'm for informed consent. I'm against compulsory vaccines.
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I don't even know where I stand at this point. I'm not sure where I ever stood. When ds1 was born, the number of "mandatory" (they weren't, but that was never, ever mentioned) vaxes was much, much smaller than it is now. I had some doubts, but figured that the first group (diptheria, pertussis, tetanus & polio) were a good idea (I had an elementary school teacher whose arm was paralyzed from polio, which probably influenced my decision). I'd also had all those myself, as well as smallpox.
When he got a bit older, the MMR was "mandatory". I was really iffy about it...thought immunization for rubella seemed like a good idea, but couldn't see any point in doing mumps or measles...I had
no idea it was even possible to get them separate from each other, and I'd have probably had to pay out of pocket, which I couldn't have done. So...I got the MMR for ds1, but wasn't really happy about it.
So...kind of up in the air about things at that point, but not really researching. The number of vaxes on the schedule was nowhere near what it is now, and it didn't seem like a big concern.
Then, after a long time of thinking I was never going to be able to carry a baby to term again (and therefore not thinking about these things much), I had dd. When we went for
her well baby visits, there was a new vax on the schedule - can't even remember which one. I got it, but I was getting more and more uneasy.
I had ds2. They'd added
another vax. Now, at...6 months, I think...my baby was "required" to get
four needles. I turned one of them down - honestly don't even remember if it was meningitis or Hep B, and can't recall my reasoning. It was a total spur of the moment decision, because they wanted to give him
so many needles. I never did take him back for the MMR at a year or 18 months or whatever. I'm still trying to decide if we'll get it for him or not. If mumps were still easy to find in the general population, I wouldn't even consider it, but I do have concerns about him being exposed after puberty.
And...now I'm pregnant again. I still don't know what I'm going to do.
Now, they've added the freaking chickenpox vaccine. I'm disgusted by this one. I remember seeing the posters about it in my GP's office before it was added to our provincial schedule (and therefore covered by our provincial medical plan), and the marketing slant horrified me.
I never had a problem with vaccines when they were being used for really horrible diseases like smallpox, or polio. When we've decided to inject kids with all kinds of crap to prevent
chickenpox, I think we've lost the path, yk?
So, I'm not pro-vaccine or anti-vaccine. I'm anti-"casual administration of vaccines for relatively mild childhood illnesses". And...that's about as far as I can clarify my stance, even in my own head....
Basically, I wouldn't say my views have been changed one way or the other. It's more as if they've been...refined? I've also been affected less by the research I've done (some, not much - I don't keep track of things very well these days) than by the steady addition of new vaxes to the "mandatory" schedule.
