Reasons to Vaccinate

My job today is to give you some reasons why my family decided to vaccinate and to vaccinate according to the AAP recommendations. Here are some factors to consider:

1. Vaccinations are given to protect your child from disease. Well, duh, I know, but it has to be said. Some of the diseases can be dangerous and/or fatal.

2. The Immunization Schedule put forth by the AAP has been studied in the order and spacing recommended and deemed safe. Now, there are varying side effects to immunizations and some children are at higher risk for these than others. This has been pointed out by many others and I believe it is a very valid point. But the other side of the argument needs to be put out there. The majority of children who receive vaccinations are not adversely affected by them.

3. There is a Public Health benefit to vaccinating all/almost all children. The reason our children today are not at a high risk of contracting some of these diseases is because of consistent immunizations.

4. Spacing out vaccines causes you to make extra trips to the doctor's office. This costs extra money and causes your child to have to get a shot or two every month. This can be traumatic to a child (and a mama). This may be a minor point, I realize, but it was an important one for me.

Here is how I arrived at our decision:

Around the time that Samuel was 18 months old and finished with his shots, I was due to give birth to Joel. I was still hearing a lot of things about vaccines and we had become a bit more health-nutty as a family, so I figured I better do some more research. I totally second Christina's recommendation to read Dr. Sear's Vaccine Book. I checked it out at my local library and read it cover to cover. The book gives a lot of information, facts and conclusions by Dr. Sears. He gives reasons why some parents do and some don't give each vaccine. It was a very helpful read. Check to see if your local library carries this book. If it doesn't, ask at the Reference Desk to see if they will order it for you to add to the library collection. My library did that for me.

After reading the book, I also had a candid discussion with my Pediatrician. Now, I am blessed to have a really great pediatrician. She spends oodles of time with me each time I go in for a visit and is great at hearing me out about things. I wanted to get her opinion on vaccinations as well. She went down the list of vaccines with me and explained which ones she thought were most important and which ones I could consider delaying/opting out of. She also told me why she supports the AAP's vaccine schedule. What she said made sense to me. She said that the AAP has studied these vaccines in the schedule in which they've set forth. Delaying or spacing out vaccines is outside of the studies they've done to ensure safety. This just gave me more food for thought as I considered what to do. She was very forthcoming about the unlikelihood that Joel would contract a lot of the diseases we vaccinate for, but also candid about the reality of the devastation of a disease should he contract one.

I think through it all my concern was less with the links between vaccines and autism or other problems and more with causing my child undo pain and putting things into him that he didn't really need.

In the end, we decided not to give Joel the Hep B vaccine in the hospital, or to have him circumsized (another issue altogether, I realize, but part of my point). I couldn't bring myself to inflict pain on such a tiny new baby. We decided to decline the Hep B vaccination altogether because of the unlikelihood that he would contract the illness.

At his two month appointment, I went ahead with all suggested vaccinations, including Rotavirus. I decided to do this for 3 reasons: 1) At 12 1/2 pounds and completely healthy, I felt he was big enough and well enough to handle them; 2) I was convinced through the Dr. Sears book that there is a strong Public Health benefit to vaccinating children; and 3) As my doctor had said, the AAP had studied the vaccinations given together, spaced the way they suggest and determined that they were safe. I was on the fence about the Rotavirus because the disease itself isn't necessarily all that bad. But I decided to go ahead in the end because: 1) It's not a shot, just an oral vaccine; 2) My doctor said it had been studied given in conjunction with the other vaccinations; 3) I have an older child in the home that will bring home germs; 4) My doctor said she wouldn't have had me do the Rotavirus vaccination a year ago, but she now feels more confident in its safety and eficacy.

Joel just had his 4 month appointment yesterday and we gave him all vaccinations again. I will follow on schedule with the exception of: No Hep B, Chickenpox, or Flu Shots. No Hep B because of reason given above, no Chickenpox because I rather they get the actual disease and have lifelong immunity (BUT, if they don't get it by 12 years old, then I will vaccinate because it is much more dangerous to get varicella as an adult), and no flu shots because no one in my family does them.

I want you to know that you can be a concerned parent and a "crunchy" mama and still vaccinate your children. But I also support my friends who don't vaccinate. Just consider both sides of the story.