Vaccination Extremes

[liveonearth]

If only it were all that simple. Their point is well made but there are considerations for individuals and for public health that are not addressed. The intelligent course of action lies somewhere between the two extremes. I would suggest that parents should consult a physician who will assist them to actively choose which vaccines to give your child, and when. If you allow the federal guidelines to dictate your behavior, you are letting the vaccine industry sell you some vaccines that you may not want, and you may hurt your child with the injections. There are plenty of issues besides autism. If you choose to avoid all vaccines out of fear, you are contributing to epidemics and disease resurgence that we are already beginning to see. The middle road is not easy to find, and it is different for each person based on their individual risks and strengths.

Comments

[calizen.livejournal.com]

I think there are plenty of reasons to worry about vaccinations and that this is just the Public Health establishment pushing back. I remember my own son's last whopping cough shot and the severe reation to it, but if I had questioned giving it what a bad mother I would have been. Instead of it being a black or white situation, why can't doctors consider sitting down and talking with their patients?

[liveonearth.livejournal.com]

Most of the conventional docs that I've talked to about this question are so alarmed about the impending epidemics that they think anyone who considers not vaccinating is crazy. They don't seem to grasp that there is a middle road, that selective vaccination makes good sense, and that we can maintain herd immunity for things like polio without having to dictate that all little girls be immunized for HPV, or that all infants get a hep B shot at birth. At birth!? The ACIP schedule for pediatric vaccinations is based on the convenience of well child visits, not on science. But people are so polarized about it--including physicians--that it is hard to have a reasonable discussion. It is just like our political situation.

[calizen.livejournal.com]

The medical establishment lumps all of us who want a serious discussion of vaccinations in with the group that they label "quacks" or "crackpots."

[liveonearth.livejournal.com]

It is a shame. Just like the way I am treated by both Dems and Reps when I tell them that I think Ron Paul has some really good ideas. I wish everybody would just chill out a little bit and try to understand the other side(s).