Were you vaccinated?
Yes, but had a terrible reaction to the DTP shot. (Since then, its been reformulated as DTaP since so many babies/children had terrible reactions)
If so, do you resent your parents decision?
No, they did what their doctor said was best. After my reaction, they started reading and trying to become better informed about the risks of vaccines.
Why are you choosing not to vaccinate your child/children? Is the fear of Autism a reason?
This, combined with my reaction as a baby was initially the reason that I started researching vaccines. I started going down the list of vaccines my baby would have when born, and was stymied as to why on the first day of life, my newborn had to be vaccinated against Hepatitis B (she's not a needle-drug user, doesn't have multiple partner sex, doesn't work in the medical profession, and wasn't born into a family with a Hep-B+ member) The more reading I did, the more I realized that the potential implication of Autism was just one thing in a long list of reasons that vaccinating according to the CDC schedule didn't seem smart.
Do you think Jenny McCarthy is a good role model on green vaccines, and is bringing a much needed famous face to the ‘go green’ cause?
I think its great that an articulate person with name recognition is getting up and talking about the potential dangers of vaccines. Let's call it a good start.
Do you believe that you are putting your child in jeopardy by not vaccinating?
I believe that there are many dangers in this world, and that ANY decision we make has potential consequences. I believe that for MY child in OUR family given OUR set of circumstances, the risks of vaccinating against certain diseases is greater than the potential risk of contracting a disease and the potential risk of an adverse outcome.
Humanity in general always feels better about risk when they have taken some action to mitigate the risk. Its my personal feeling that people feel better about the risk of infectious disease when they vaccinate, because, hey, they've done EVERYTHING they can to prevent. No gov't agency, media outlet or community is going to blame a parent if their kid gets an infectious disease if they have been vaccinated because, hey, they did what everyone knows is the only way to prevent disease.
The truth, of course is that there are many things you can do to prevent disease - eat right, exercise, breastfeed your babies, support the immune system, etc. But sticking a needle is easy to do, and easy to check off the list. Not vaccinating requires a lifestyle of healthy, conscientious living, and truly, the recognition that we aren't ultimately in control of life and disease.
Do you believe in the “go green vaccines”, and if so do you believe it is possible for a ‘green vaccine’ to be as effective as the current vaccinations?
The go-green movement says that they are "not anti-vaccination, but anti-toxin" I don't know enough about the movement, but what I do know about vaccines is that when you remove mercury (thimerosal) you have to put in aluminum, as an "adjuvant". Without the adjuvant, the vaccine does not have very much effectiveness. Its the "dirty little secret" of vaccines. So I'm really curious to know what the "go-green" movement wants to do about aluminum?
What are your thoughts on, “if people continue not to vaccinate their children, epidemics are more likely to spread”:
Yeah, duh, people are more likely to contract a disease if they aren't vaccinated from it! But an epidemic? I think that is a misnomer. When I think "epidemic" I think about things like the black plague, people dying by the millions. As a reference point - the measles "epidemic" that happened this year - how many people was it? Thousands? Tens of thousands? According to the CDC's MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) published as of October 24th, 2008, there were 131 cases of measles reported. So, if that is an "epidemic" then sure, there's probably going to be more epidemics. I just don't consider 131 people to be an epidemic.
I think its great you're researching an article taking into account both sides of the debate. In my opinion, its not just the catch phrases of "autism" and "mercury" that get me worried (though those are bad enough) but the lifelong implications of vaccinating people against a myriad of diseases.
How about varicella? That sounds like an awful disease! But I bet you got it as a kid. I did. It was called chicken pox. Now the CDC wants us to vaccinate against it. Most people would laugh if made the chicken pox out to be a terrible deadly disease, an epidemic in the wings, waiting, because we all had it as kids. But, I bet you, in 30 years time, it will be like the measles, a terrible disease everyone has to be vaccinated against. I'm not saying all diseases are as usually inoccuous as chicken pox, or that no one ever gets complications or dies from CP or the measles. The major concern I personally have, and that I hear over and over again on these board is that we are replacing natural, lifelong immunity to diseases that comes from contracting them, with temporary immunity that comes with toxins and many other complications. The issue is complex, and leads to no quick and simple answers.
Want a really interesting research paper? How about projecting out what the CDC schedule will be like in 30 years time, and look at the implications of having a population with no natural immunity to any of the commonly circulating diseases in our environment.
Best of the luck with the paper!
I'm guessing it's not your choice.
