What VPDs scare you, and do you believe in herd immunity?

[mamakay]

Honestly, only pertussis scares me, and now that my son is almost 2, even whooping cough isn't really scary.
It would be a huge pain in the butt, though.
But if polio were to make a huge comeback here in the US, I'd probably vax for it.
Smallpox, as well.

Where are you all at, and why?

[laprettygurl]

I dunno about that smallpox vax! I've heard some nasty things about it.

Honestly, I worry about everything, not just diseases! Ah, I can't help myself. But I guess to answer your question, they all scare me to a point but not enough to vax for them!

[DesireeH]

I think that "herd immunity" is garbage personally.

I would never vaccinate against smallpox (for myself or my son). I have eczema and my son had a small patch of it when he was a newborn and those with eczema are not supposed to get the smallpox vaccine anyways. It is dangerous and not worth it IMO.

With polio, 95% of the people exposed show no symptoms. I would never ever ever get OPV for my son (sadly I already got that one as a baby). The last few cases of polio in the US were caused BY the vaccine. I realize that now they use IPV and not OPV but still, the risks to the vax that contains nuerotoxins, blood toxicants, and carcinogenic ingredients is more than the 95% chance of having no problems with polio.

[ERSsmom]

Pertussis is really the only one that scares me, but not enough to get ds vaxed. That shot is really scary also. Ds is only 8.5 months. As he gets older, I won't be afraid of pertussis either--until the next babe. I worry about all of them, though, mainly because I just worry. I think it's all part of being a mom. I am interested to see what other mammas worry about.

[stayathomecristi]

MOOOOO! No, I definitely do not believe in herd immunity. I think it's another gimmick to get people to vax "for the good of all".

Smallpox vaccine?????? Never. I'd take my chances on that one and quarantine my kids if I needed to. Wayyyy too many deaths and side-effects have been attributed to it. Why do you think it's not on the current schedule? The other thing that's interesting is how they actually make that vaccine. Sounds like torture for the poor calves who have it grown on their undersides

As far as polio goes, as Desiree mentioned most people don't show signs of it after exposure. Obviously, some people did, hence our grandparents who had paralysis etc, but I think if you research it a bit more you'll feel comfortable not vaccinating for it or using IPV if you did.

[aira]

I gotta be short and sweet - not much time...

Don't believe in herd immunity b/c I think vax is junk science to begin with. So can't build a valid argument on top of a wrong one.

I'm concerned for my family's health, of course. I want them (and me) to be healthy. So I don't look at disease and say "Heh, it's nothing." But I'm WWAAAAAYYYYYY more scared of vaxes. Numbers don't lie. Plus, my whole family has suffered unbelievable effects of vax so I'm not naive.

There are no shortcuts to health. Eat an impeccable diet, exercise, rest, and ENJOY life! That all we can do. I don't worry excessively about the rest...

[Sasha_girl]

As with others, I don't believe in herd immunity. The only disease that ever worried me was pertussis, but now that my youngest is over a year my fear has abated somewhat. I never considered giving them the pertussis vaccine.