The other vax list:
FIRST OFF
If you are reading this list for the first time you may feel a bit overwhelmed. Take a deep breath and know this: You do not have to follow the doctor’s schedule for vaccinating your baby. You are well within your rights to delay until you make whatever decision makes you comfortable. This is your child, and your child deserves a well-educated decision, which can only be achieved by viewing all sides of an issue then choosing the path that is best for your child.
BACKGROUND
I decided to put together a list of links and books for those people who periodically ask me for vax information. When I say vax information I mean the “other” vax information.
There is one general vax assumption out there which pulsates like a drum beat….it says, “JUST DO IT.” I don’t need to support that message, there are plenty of ways one can get that information it’s just about anywhere....
I’ve compiles this list for those people who are questioning vaxing and the possible long term effects of it….. (we are a growing lot, by the way). Anyway, here are the links I learned about from friends, from my own researching, and from the mothering.com community of likeminded moms.
HARD NUMBERS
For me, I think the first place to begin is with hard numbers.
Just how many cases of all these vax-diseases do we get here in the united states? (by the way, if you are out of the us I recommend you search your country’s online stats)
This is one of the hardest to find pages at the cdc… the way that I actually found this page was by accident. I had called the CDC to find out about hib cases and I got a doctor and he sent me to this page…
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/mmwr_wk.html
if you download the current issue it gives you the most uptodate stat that the cdc has on the reportable diseases by the way, the stats are at the end of the document. Anyway, I would start there first.
But just to give you an idea:
Here are the hard numbers for 2003. This is what I found for the last week of the year..... this is the total amount of cases reported to the CDC for 2003.....
Total reported cases to the cdc:
Disease Cases
Diptheria 1
Measles 41
Mumps 186
Rubella 7
Congenital rubella 0
Tetanus 14
Hib (under 5)
Sero b-20
Non sero b-80
Unknown b-178
Out of a population of 280 million people in the united states!!
If you check it now, you will see the number of cases for the year as of now (well to be specific as of last Friday..they update the list on Fridays or weekends-from what I can tell).
Remember it is a cumulative list... it is not that many cases per week. It's the year to date.
I will say that critics of the CDC will say that the numbers don't reflect all the cases since sometimes the cases are so mild they don't even get reported or people don't even go to the doctors because the symptoms are so manageable.
HARD NUMBERS ONE MORE TIME
Can we just go back to the topic of “hard numbers” …one more time.....
One of the smartest things a friend of mine who doesn’t vax said over and over again when I started to question vaxing (before my son was born) “start to figure out what your child is really at risk of getting.” And then weigh the risks of the vax to the real risks of getting the disease.
For example:
I live in a county with ten million people. Ten million people, that’s a lot. The last figures available online from the county health department were for 1999. That year there was one (1) case of measles reported. It was in a 44 year old woman.
There were also 250 cases of pertussis, (whooping cough) 250 out of 10 million is not much of a stat and then when I looked closer at the records I saw that of the 250 people, a certain percentage were children and of those children most had been vaxed for the disease. Only two children of the 250 were not vaxed and they were in a poor neighborhood with poor nutrition and possibly weakened immunity…Again in a county of ten million.
Also, periodically there are reports that come out stating that a city is experiencing an “epidemic” of pertussis. But what the article doesn’t always say is the number of pertussis cases that make an epidemic and of those cases many are in vaxed or partially vaxed children. There is an assumption made that it is always non vaxed children who get pertussis or are responsible for the rise of the disease. I hate that assumption and I really hate reporters who don’t do their homework.
I actually wonder if my own pediatrician knows those numbers… he probably does not…because that is the kind of research only parents who question have the dedication to find out….
More stats to consider
so as we have already noted.... and you can double check this with almost any of the books listed below....
roughly the cases per year in the US of the following
measles 40
mumps 600
rubella 300 of those
moms who caught it and gave CRS to their children is 25
5 cases of diptheria per year
and Polio has been eradicated in the western hemisphere and western Europe. As of 2003 there were around 700 cases of polio world wide and they were primarily in hot spots in india, pakistand and subsahara africa.
http://www.who.int/features/2004/polio/en/#
And then there is the data on vaccine injuries...kept by US dept of health..basically a summery of the most dangerous vaxes...here is a link that contains that link plus more:
http://www.thememoryhole.org/health...us_vaccines.htm
MORE LINKS ON VAX
Then these links are valuable for information about vaxes and vax damages and other associations with vaccines.
http://www.mothering.com/experts/te...e.shtml#tetanushttp://www.testfoundation.org/thimerosal.htmwww.mercola.comwww.909shot.comhttp://home.san.rr.com/via/www.vaccinationdebate.comhttp://www.vaccineinfo.net/http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.c...support_org.htmhttp://www.vaclib.org./http://www.*********/vaccines/mendelsohn.htmlhttp://www.*********/v/mend.html
more on vax ingredients
http://www.momtoanangel.net/ingred.htmhttp://www.**********/general32/thru.htmhttp://www.naturodoc.com/library/pu...ine_who_how.htmhttp://befreetech.com/vaccine_poisons.htmhttp://www.justeatanapple.com/vaccination.html
Here is Sheri Nakken's site...her site is loaded with info.
http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/vaccine.htm
This organization is not necessarily where you go for vax information, but this is an institute that is passionately working on autism and helping parents and released the report last year about the epidemic proportion of autism in California. Caveat: the man who started this organization, his son developed autism after the MMR and he has been very vocal about such.
http://mindinstitute.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/
INSERTS
A doctor is suppose to give you the inserts whenever they give your child a shot….I must say, from what I understand (since I passed on shots) that usually for some reason doesn’t happen….
Anyway, here is a link to those inserts
http://www.vaclib.org/chapter/inserts.htm
STATE STUFF
I started a state by state thread. I have to warn you up front that a lot of these state links do dry up fast because it seems they change them fairly often…maybe that’s just part of the state government procedures…but do give this a shot for more info on your state and if it is dried up maybe I can find the new one:
http://www.mothering.com/discussion...ght=chicken+pox
WHAT EXEMPTIONS CAN I USE IN MY STATE FOR MY NON VAX CHILD TO GO TO SCHOOL?
http://www.909shot.com/state-site/state-exemptions.htm
and here is an example of exemption document you can offer your doctor if they want you to sign something.
http://www.vaclib.org/legal/refuselt.htm
any legal concerns?
http://www.vaccineexemption.org/
MORE DISCUSSION THREADS:
Mothers on mdc have many hours of research in each of them… here are some informative links to those discussions..
And for goodness sake, take your time.. you don't have to read all these threads at once. Just tackle it bit by bit.
topic: Reasons you don't vax
http://www.mothering.com/discussion...ght=chicken+pox
topic: Why I didn't vaccinate my youngest after vaccinating my other children
http://www.mothering.com/discussion...highlight=polio
topic: Really Confused about Vax
http://www.mothering.com/discussion...hlight=confused
topic: Is there a correlation btw eczema and certain vaccines
http://www.mothering.com/discussion...ighlight=eczema
topic: convince me to skip the MMR
http://www.mothering.com/discussion...ighlight=trabot
topic: ingrediants
http://www.mothering.com/discussion...ght=ingrediants
more on ingrediants
http://www.mothering.com/discussion...220#post1496220
topic: tetanus
http://www.mothering.com/discussion...ighlight=trabot
topic: my kid isn't vaxed but yours is..
http://www.mothering.com/discussion...ighlight=trabot
topic: flu 2003 the fat thread
http://www.mothering.com/discussion...ighlight=trabot
topic: scared to vax and scared to not vax
http://www.mothering.com/discussion...ighlight=trabot
topic: chicken pox
http://www.mothering.com/discussion...ght=chicken+pox
topic: does stopping vaxes midstream negate earlier vaxs
http://www.mothering.com/discussion...light=midstream
CANADA
Here is a canada link that might be helpful for those in canada
http://64.41.99.118/vran/legal/legal.htm
WIC STUFF
and for those who receive assistance and are afraid that you HAVE to vax or might lose wic .... please check this out:
http://www.mothering.com/discussion...threadid=111461
ANTIBIOTICS
And this thread is very important in my opinion…even if you decide to vax…please, please, please..don’t ever do it after antibiotics…delay way, way, way after..
edit to add:
I should say that some of the postings got edited out for various reasons..primarily to protect the poster. But basically, the patterns that have popped up... baby gets ear infections,.. gets antibiiotics, the antibiotics wipe out the good stuff in the intestines..then the baby gets something like MMR and the measles run amock in the intestistines because there is no good flora to fight them... anyway at a conference in chicago in late spring 2003, this was brought up as part of the link in why austistic children have more measles in their systems than other children... (do a google search on Dr. Geier you should find them)
but here is this abbreviated thread.
http://www.mothering.com/discussion...ghlight=chicago
BACK ISSUES OF MOTHERING
And speaking of Mothering… some back issues of the magazine have been completely dedicated to this issue and I recommend you poke around at this site and see if you might want to pick up some.
look here:
http://www.mothering.com/article-index/subject.shtml#V
and here:
http://www.smartcart.com/mothering/...lean=AND&next=0
BOOKS TO READ
Get thy butt to Amazon
And finally here are books with the amazon.com links, which are very, very and very important to know about…read, study etc…. I started with Nuestadder’s book but I encourage you to check out the amazon links and see where you want to start.. (note: I provided the links to amazon..but if you want to help mothering.com, please consider purchasing the books via Powell’s books which you will find the link here on mothering.com…a portion of the purchase will come back to mothering)
· The Vaccine Guide: Making an Informed Choice by Randall Neustaedter, Randall the Immunization Decision Neusdaedter (Paperback)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...=books&n=507846
· How to Raise a Healthy Child in Spite of Your Doctor by Robert S. Mendelsohn (Paperback)
· Confessions of a Medical Heretic by Robert S. Mendelsohn (Paperback)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...=books&n=507846http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...=glance&s=books
· A Shot in the Dark: Why the P in the Dpt Vaccination May Be Hazardous to Your Child's Health by Harris L. Coulter, Barbara Loe Fisher (Paperback)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/A...9760692-6387203
· Vaccines: Are They Really Safe and Effective by Neil Z. Miller, et al (Paperback)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...=glance&s=books
Jamie Murphy. What Every Parent Should know about Childhood Immunization
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...914539?v=glance
· The Immunization Resource Guide : Where to Find Answers to All Your Questions about Childhood Vaccinations by Diane Rozario (Paperback)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...=glance&s=books
· What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Children's Vaccinations by Stephanie Cave, Deborah Mitchell (Contributor) (Paperback)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...=glance&s=books
· Smart Medicine for a Healthier Child: A Practical A-To-Z Reference to Natural and Conventional Treatments for Infants and Children by Janet Zand, et al (Paperback)
· I should say, this book is pro-vax..which I am not thrilled about…but the other stuff is very, very helpful)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...=glance&s=books
· Vaccinations: A Thoughtful Parent's Guide: How to Make Safe, Sensible Decisions about the Risks, Benefits, and Alternatives by Aviva Jill Romm (Paperback)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...=glance&s=books
· The Sanctity of Human Blood: Vaccination Is Not Immunization - Sixth Edition - 2003 -- Tim O'Shea; Paperback
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...=glance&s=books
· Naturally Healthy Babies & Children: A Commonsense Guide to Herbal Remedies by Aviva Jill Romm, William Sears (Paperback)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...=glance&s=books
IN CLOSING
And finally, this really should be stated over and over again….
NO ONE HAS TO FOLLOW ANY DOCTOR’S RULES FOR VAXING. MEANING YOU DON’T HAVE TO FOLLOW THE DOCTOR’S SCHEDULE. YOU MAKE YOUR OWN. IF YOU WANT TO DELAY VAXING UNTIL YOU’VE DONE YOUR RESEARCH AND YOU FEEL CONFIDENT ABOUT THAT DECISION THEN THAT IS WHAT YOU SHOULD DO. DELAY UNTIL YOU ARE SURE OF WHAT YOU ARE DOING. AND NOT ONE MINUTE BEFORE. REMEMBER IT IS YOUR CHILD. NOT YOUR DOCTOR’S.
good luck and happy researching!
