Are Vaccines Safe and Effective...Your Opinion

[emma1325]

Do you think vaccines, as a whole, are a good idea?

If you have a moment, after voting, describe how long you've been reading/researching this issue and which information was most convincing to you in helping your form your opinion.

Thanks!

[k9sarchik]

I can't do the pole because there is no "other" as an option.

Vaccines are not 100% safe.

Selective and delayed is fine for some people, just not what I would choose for my DS.

I have been researching for 1.5 years and actually the best resource was the CDC website. From reading their stats I am very comfortable with my decision not to vax. Also my state's disease stats as well.
Other resources have been books on how to treat childhood illnesses through natural and homeopathic methods.

[angie7]

I've been researching dog vaccines for close to 8 years now and childhood vaccines for the last 3.5 years. The nasty chemicals alone were enough to convince me not to vax. I couldn't in good conscience purposely inject known toxins into my child.

[angelpie545]

Almost nothing is 100% safe. Vaccines are risky. There is no argument to that. If there weren't risky, we wouldn't have a fund set up by our own government to compensate individuals and families injured by them. Do I think that some vaccines are worth the risk? Yes. However, it should be decided on an individual basis on which the government is not allowed. The current medical establishment is so pro-vaccination that some do not even consider the other side of the coin, they gloss over stories of vaccine reactions and complications, and end everything with saying that in their opinion, vaccines are safe and effective. By doing this, they are shooting themselves and the public in the foot. People want to believe them. They want to tell themselves that the government, doctors, nurses all those in a position of power want what is best, and would never license a dangerous medical procedure. The trouble lies in finding the truth, which is murky and lost between all the wars of words, medical textbooks, policy making, and dollar signs. I do think that vaccines prevent some disease, but at what cost? A sign that is bigger than what we imagine, that's for sure.

[mamakay]

All the vaccines are so different, I can't answer the poll.

[PassionateWriter]

Originally Posted by emma1325

Do you think vaccines, as a whole, are a good idea?

If you have a moment, after voting, describe how long you've been reading/researching this issue and which information was most convincing to you in helping your form your opinion.

Thanks!

no..not a good idea IMHO.

a little over 3 years.

information? ingredients a huge issue. information actually released by the CDC has actually constituted teh bulk of information convincing me of my opinion.

[spero]

Safe? No. But then, nothing is 100%, across-the-board safe.

Effective? That depends on a lot of factors/situations, and effectiveness depends on an individual vaccine. Again, no general answer for that.

A good idea, in general? Not for populations with access to healthy foods, clean drinking water, and decent health care IMO. I definitely think that, in the US, vaccines are harming more than helping - and that's just looking at the alarming rise in autoimmune disorders, autism, food allergies, and asthma as the vaccine schedule has become more and more saturated from birth.

I've been researching for about four years. I started when I discovered that some vaccines are cultured on aborted fetal cell lines. Info that was most helpful came from posters here (Momtezuma Tuatara, LongIsland, MindfulBirth, and others - all of which can be found here in the forum archives).

Originally Posted by k9sarchik

I can't do the pole because there is no "other" as an option.

:

[rlneub]

I saw no button for ache ee double el NO! We need that option.

[xmasbaby7]

The poll is a little too black and white to answer for me. This is a very complex issue with many nuances in between each of your answers.

I can still believe certain vaccines are effective while still choosing to decline all vaccines, for example.

[runes]

Originally Posted by xmasbaby7

The poll is a little too black and white to answer for me. This is a very complex issue with many nuances in between each of your answers.

I can still believe certain vaccines are effective while still choosing to decline all vaccines, for example.

:

I didn't vote for this reason as well. The issue is so much more complex than the breakdown of the poll. Just because we didn't choose to vaccinate DD doesn't mean that there are kids out there that wouldn't possibly benefit from certain vaccines for specific reasons.

The chicken pox vaccine for instance. For the majority of children in the US, chicken pox is not a serious illness and the vaccine is not indicated. A child with immunocompromise , however, might have some serious complications from contracting the pox and may benefit from the protection that the vaccine may confer, even if it's not lifelong and not 100%.

This is where an INDIVIDUAL risk-benefit analysis is crucial to the decision making process, and a blanket schedule does not address this AT ALL. This is a problem.

[MoonWillow]

Do you think vaccines, as a whole, are a good idea?

No

If you have a moment, after voting, describe how long you've been reading/researching this issue and which information was most convincing to you in helping your form your opinion.

I researched for a few years. I stopped though. I don't need any more convincing not to do it. There was no one thing that convinced me, it was more a combination of things; disgust with the conflicts of interest at the CDC, lack of research on safety, and just plain not being willing to shoot toxins into my babies. I won't ever be convinced that it would be a good idea to do that.

[Mirzam]

I think the concept of vaccination is nonsense. I don't think they are safe, and frankly don't care if some are so-called effective, I wouldn't give them to my children regardless.

I first starting researching vaccines around 13 years ago which was when I decided to stop vaccinating my then five year old.

[LotusBirthMama]

I think vaccines are effective and safe for most people. I have never vaccinated my kids, but not out of fear of the vaccines themselves. I made the choice for religious reasons.

[grniys]

Originally Posted by xmasbaby7

The poll is a little too black and white to answer for me. This is a very complex issue with many nuances in between each of your answers.

I can still believe certain vaccines are effective while still choosing to decline all vaccines, for example.

Yes! That's exactly what I wanted to say but couldn't put it into words.

I think that vaccines can have an impact of diseases and help prevent someone from getting a vpd. But I don't believe they are 100% effective, and to me it would be stupid to say, "Hmm... this may or may not work on my ds, and it may or may not cause a serious reaction, but I'll do it anyway."

There's just no way. I'm not that worried about most VPD's. That's what an immune system is for.

I do not think vaccines are a good idea for most people. At least not when we have good hygeine, clean water and healthy foods. I came her to MDC when I was pregnant with ds1, but thought it was crazy and neglectful of a parent not to vaccinate. I left MDC. But a seed was planted. Then, Guardasil started being pushed like crazy! And bells started going off in my head. I came back to MDC, did a bunch of research, and honestly, all it took was for me to see the ingredients in the vaccines. There's no way I'll ever have that put in my child's body.

Since then, it's become a religious issue for me as well.

[MoonWillow]

Originally Posted by uccomama

I don't think they are safe, and frankly don't care if some are so-called effective, I wouldn't give them to my children regardless.

...and a big fat : to that!

[ColwynsMommy]

The idea of vaccination is a good one. Theoretically, they make sense, and I wholeheartedly agree with the idea of vaccination.

However, I have big problems with how vaccines are made, what goes into them, how little they're tested, conflicts of interest, and the way that health care professionals treat you if you're one of those rare knowledgeable people who don't just follow along.

I'm very frustrated at the mess that the health care industry and the government has made out of what could be a great thing, if done right.

[loveyourohana]

I went ahead and voted with No.... none are safe... because in my research of vaccinations over the last nine years... I don't believe any are safe...

[AllyRae]

I'm an "other". I feel that for some children, they are safe and effective. I feel for other children, they are less safe and less effective, but still work and are relatively ok. Then there are children that it may be effective to vax, but completely unsafe--or, there may be some vaxes that work for that child but one or more that are particularly unsafe. And then some kids in which they are neither safe nor effective.

I have one child where some vaccines are "safer" and some are downright dangerous, and another child where she falls in the "safer but not absolutely safe, but the benefits outweigh the risks". I think most kids fall in that 2nd category--the benefits outweigh the risks. However, the biggest risk is that you don't know if your kid falls in that category or in the 'very high risk of vaccine injury' category...

I don't believe in 1 size fits all for vaxes, which is why I believe in selective/delayed scheduling. I've been researching them since DS1 had a severe reaction to the DTaP vax before he was 6 months old--he'll be 5 years old in a month and a half..

[prettypixels]

I chose the S&D segment, but that's not 100% accurate as to my opinion. I believe that overall vaccines are very, very safe, but NOTHING in this world is 100% safe. Nothing. I am a very mild S&D vaxer, most of her first year she was vax'd on schedule. (Skipped birth dose of Hep B.)

[emma1325]

Thanks, everyone, for your answers so far.

I'm sorry if the poll seems too limited...but I wanted to keep it simple. I'm hoping to get even more votes and responses.