Vaccine Debate

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Just hours after my daughter was born, in 1999, at Atlanta’s Crawford Long Hospital, a nurse bustled in with a metal tray. “Time for her hep B vaccine!” she announced in a chipper voice.

I was 29 years old. I had never questioned the efficacy or importance of vaccines, and was completely unaware that some people suspected there might be a link between autism and vaccines. As a child, I had received the full round of recommended vaccinations. My mother is a microbiologist, my father a chemist, and I grew up with a healthy respect for science and medicine. When, in my early twenties, I spent a year working in international development in West Africa, I updated my vaccination history and got shots for several exotic illnesses, following to the letter the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) schedule of recommended vaccines.

But . . . vaccinate a newborn against a sexually transmitted disease? My husband and I had both tested negative for STDs, and had been in a monogamous relationship for three years. I looked at the tiny, perfect baby in my arms, her legs still cocked in the fetal position, whose entire life now depended on me. We told the nurse that, before we made a decision, we wanted more information about the disease and the recommended vaccination. Her eyes narrowed in anger and her entire demeanor toward us changed, as if we were creating a health threat merely by asking questions.

A few days later, during a routine visit to our pediatrician, we asked what she thought of the hepatitis B shot, and explained somewhat guiltily that our daughter had not received it in the hospital. “Hepatitis B? That’s no longer recommended for newborns,” she replied matter-of-factly. “I have a fax about it on my desk. It’s a good thing you refused that vaccine.”1

We left confused, thinking how badly we would have felt had we agreed to vaccinate our daughter with a vaccine no longer recommended for newborns. We also wondered why the nurse in the hospital had been so hostile. As to why a newborn should be vaccinated against a sexually transmitted disease she had no chance of catching (unless she needed a blood transfusion, which she didn’t), that question remained unanswered.

The desire for more information about the safety, efficacy, and even the necessity of vaccines has led to a growing number of parents choosing an alternative vaccination schedule for their children. Some now have their children vaccinated against only certain diseases, some spread out the shots over a longer schedule, and some choose not to vaccinate at all. Newborn in arms, I began to research, realizing that in order to be educated about vaccines, I first needed to learn about the diseases they protected against. It quickly became clear that making these choices was not going to be easy; my husband and I would need to learn about and consider each vaccine individually.

—excerpted from “Vaccine Debate,” by Jennifer Margulis, Mothering issue no. 155, July-August 2009. ©Mothering Magazine, Inc., 2009