My grandfather founded a women's and children's hospital in our hometown. My uncle ran it for a few years and was a pathologist, my mother was a NICU nurse, my other uncle is a nurse, one sister was a NICU nurse and is now a post-brain-op nurse, and my other sister is a labor and delivery nurse. I chose to selectively vaccinate my son. And then, chose to not vaccinate my next 3 children.
I believed in the vaccines 100% when I had my first. But to me, it was also a matter of selection as there was NOTHING to indicate that 1. Hep B at birth is necessary or beneficial to my child, and 2. I had questions about other shots like Vit K. So I did my research. I called family members, I got information, and I delayed shots in the hospital. This was a mixed blessing b/c my son had seizures 24 hours after birth, and we spent 4 days in Boston Children's and he had every imaginable test run. He was released with a diagnosis of mild to moderate gross motor skills/physical development due to bleeding on the brain. During my entire visit there, I found NO ONE who told me that the Vit K shot was essential or would help his situation, so we never got it. After my experience in the hospital, I realized that getting answers to my questions was something that I needed to focus on, and I started reading every book. Dr. Paul Offit has the pro-vaccine book, which I checked out alongside 'The Autoimmune Epidemic', and the Sears book, and I called everyone I knew in medicine. I decided that 1. polio is important, and 2. my doc thought Hib was an key shot, and I respected his authority. My son had a huge reaction to the Hib vaccine, high fever, screaming, swollen painful leg, and I did the series, but that added a new level of questions to my research.
My sister had a violent reaction to the DTaP vaccine, and is mildly retarded. My grandfather told my mother that she could never finish the series and that this was a vaccine reaction. Nothing was done on a large level, but my family awareness was that there are people who are more at risk for reactions. We also have a family history of autoimmune disorders.
When my daughter came along, I was still selective vax, but thought polio was unnecessary if I were keeping them both home, nursing, feeding them traditional foods and continuing the dialog with my Dr. I also told him I was uncomfortable with the Hib for the first 4 months, due to the reaction. My daughter had made it out of the hospital without having any tests run, and I had to return her to get the heel prick and other tests, and there was a distinct difference in her ability to process many of these events b/c she was 2 week old, not 2 hours. After 6 months, my pedi said that the Hib was really not a priority anymore. And I was recognizing that certain levels of disease are dangerous for certain ages, but not really for healthy older kids.
Fast forward, and I'm now a homebirthing (my family does not approve and will not be in town when I have babies), non-vaxing mom of 4 strong beautiful children who are rarely sick. I am not afraid of many diseases, and do keep in open and honest dialog with my pedi about each disease, outbreaks, what the steps would be for either vaccination or treatment of various diseases, and an honest realization that my children are not a hazard to the community as they are not exposed to disease at the same rate as children in other parts of society, and also, I am willing and able to quarantine any disease that we stumble upon.
Dr. Paul Offit is the biggest reason I chose to not vaccinate. His book turned me off to the entire mentality of the vaccine industry. I strongly feel that parents, especially educated, aware, and active parents, are the ones who should make decisions for their children. Vaccinate if it is the option you believe in, especially if you're scared of disease, but if you're more scared of the consequences of vaccines, you should NOT be forced to submit your family to them. There are bad parents, there are cruel and stupid people out there, but they should not be the ones who dictate how the rest of us get treated for taking responsibility for our children.
Blessings and peace-
x 1,000,000,000. I am not satisified with the "known" safety of adjuvants in vaccines. I am also not convinced that vax beats natural infection advantages on numerous childhood diseases on the standard vax schedule. I think the number of vax on the US pedi schedule is absolutely ridiculous and will only continue to grow. Normal diseases like roseola will become totally feared like chicken pox has become in my lifetime, and measles the generation before me. I do not think parents concerned with vaccine safety are listened to and I find it absolutely disgusting that they would be denied care. I think the pharma industry has corrupted govt policy with revolving door between govt. positions and pharma positions, lobbying, and paid for "studies" which are totally inadequate. I do not think there are adequate exemption possibilities in all states. Informed consent about vaccines does not exist in the US. 
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