I need to research. Where do I start?

[LilacMama]

I just read the thread where some mamas said they had spent 90+ hours researching vaxes! I am in awe. I have a little 6 week old baby girl here and I need to do the research. I should have done it sooner. I knew enough to skip Hep B at birth. I did read Dr. Sears' book and I thought that would be enough to help me make informed decisions, but I'm beginning to see what a truly complex issue this is. I've also read everything from the CDC on the vaxes recommended for 2 months of age.

What should I read next? I am a health care professional, I don't mind trying to wade through the complex stuff. Thanks.

[Juvysen]

I thought Romm's "Vaccinations: a thoughtful parent's guide" was pretty good and fairly unbiased... She has a lot of citations, too. You might also browse the citation from the sears vaccine book and see the research for yourself...

[tmaue]

Many would suggest you take one disease/vax at a time and investigate what you can, and then make a decision on that vax, then move onto the next. When I did this, I ended up with a delayed/selective vax schedule (this is not where I am today though).

The cdc pink book should give you what they believe on these diseases and vaxes:http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pin...k-chapters.htm
If you haven't done any other research though, and you are reading cdc stuff, you will likely miss things that they gloss over or skip telling you altogether. You may want to read some of the cdc stuff after you have more info on the diseases/vaxes from other sources.

Sites like insidevaccines.com are pretty good at looking at information and breaking down the numbers. There are numbers thrown around alot by the cdc and we are just to trust them on this. Insidevaccines attempts to trace back and find where these numbers are coming from.

I then started looking into the immune system and how it works, how vaccines are supposed to work, and how they more than likely actually work (since really they don't know). I have come to believe that vaccines do not work the way they say they do, and they are causing more overall society problems as well as individual problems. Also learning about risks of my child actually getting a disease based on todays environment, breastfeeding, etc. and seeing that my kids, today, are at very little risk for any of these diseases based on our family living dynamics. With all of this additional research, I have decided for my family that the risk of vaccination is greater than any other risk for these diseases.

If you have questions that come up along the way, just ask. You can also do searches on mothering and come up with all kinds of discussions.

[Emmeline II]

Here are some questions to answer for yourself in deciding about vax.

1. Name of the disease
2. Description of the disease
3. Length of time from initial infection to end of all symptoms
4. Infectious period
5. Normal symptoms of the disease
6. Known serious consequences of the disease
7. Proportion of persons infected developing serious consequences
8. Transmission route of the disease
9. Prevalence of the disease
10. Treatments of the disease and efficacy of those treatments
11. Relevant research about the disease
12. Name of the vaccine
13. Company that makes the vaccine
14. Contents of the vaccine
14A. The significance of whether or not the vaccine is live
15. History of development of the vaccine
16. Known side-effects of the vaccine and rate of incidence of those side-effects
17. Possible side-effects not yet acknowledged by the vaccine maker
18. Relevant research into the vaccine
19. How effective is the vaccine at preventing the disease?
20.What is the vaccine meant to do? (Many vaccines are not meant to prevent infection or transmission).
21.Number of cases reported each year.
22.Number of deaths reported each year from the vaccine and natural disease.

Here are some sources to help you out:

Inside Vaccines

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/mmwr_wk.html (download the current issue)
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pin...k-chapters.htm
http://vaers.hhs.gov/pdf/PackageInserts.pdf
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...40451107552&q=
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...87981735&hl=en
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pin...ses&deaths.pdf


You should check the site of this former MDC member: http://www.beyondconformity.org.nz/


Vaccines-The Risks, the Benefits, the Choices DVD, By Sherri J. TENPENNY
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7018835240451107552

[Enudely]

subbing

[texanatheart]

:

[stacythemom]

This helped me the most

The Vaccine Guide: Risks and Benefits for Children and Adults by Randall Neustaedter is an AWESOME book. It gives you the facts, pros and cons, and suggestions but ultimately leaves the disicion up to you unlike some books that go completely one way or the other.

[angelofmusic08]

Vaccine research

Hi,
I went through the same thing with my daughter after she was born. I didn't start the research until a few weeks after she was born, but honestly, by the time I started researching, the answer came to my husband and I fairly quickly. I started by going on amazon.com and looking up books on vaccinations. I then read the reader reviews on the books to see if people thought they were fairly biased and what conclusions they may have come to. I purchased the books I felt would give me a very good understanding. I then researched any doctors in the area who might have some insight on both decisions. I found a doctor online who has an office in LA who is a medical doctor, who chose not to vaccinate her children, and also offers preservative-free shots. You can find her at www.drfeder.com

You will know in your heart what the right thing is for you and your family.
Good luck.

[ammiga]

I started by looking into each disease individually. What started me on this path was thinking that Hep B and tetanus were absurd to give to babies. It sort of progressed from there.

I looked into each disease, what the disease was like, potential problems with it, rates of problems, etc. I found the book "How to Raise a Healthy Child In Spite of Your Doctor" to give excellent information on the diseases themselves.

Then I started looking into the ingredients in vaccines, their possible side effects, rates of effectiveness, etc.

I was fascinated when I found these graphs, and really started to question vaxes in general.

I also looked into the real benefit of breastfeeding, how that helped the immune system, and then the immune system in general. I stopped being afraid of illness and realized how our bodies had evolved.

This website and scrolling through old posts gave me a ton of information and insight as well.

Good luck with your research!

[amrijane128]

I personally found Dr. Sears' The Vaccine book to be easy to read, stuck to the statistics and was pretty unbiased.