Why I chose not to immunize my kids
A friend called me and said, “Great site—but are you nuts, about the immunizations?” He pointed out that he grew up in the polio age—he’s committed to the idea that vaccines are a good thing.
The FIRST thing I want to say is that I acknowledge the complexity of this issue, the difficulty of the decision, and never HAVE, never WILL, tell someone not to immunize her children. What I will do is advise any parent to study the issue out thoroughly, doing more than asking the pediatrician, who MUST follow the APA’s current (and ever-changing) recommendations or risk career suicide.
And I will advise any parent to carefully consider whether to “Immunize By Two,” the Utah government’s current marketing slogan for the vaccine industry. Ask a pediatrician why more and more vaccines are being pushed for younger and younger babies. The answer is simple, and it has nothing to do with what’s best for your child. The answer is that’s when they have ACCESS to children, and they must leverage that opportunity—at well-baby checkups. People come to well-baby checkups, but they don’t show up after the baby is older.
I read hundreds of pages on the topic before saying no thanks to the rest of the vaccine protocol for my oldest two kids—and never giving a single shot to the youngest two. I’m going to summarize WHY, in the briefest way possible.
The World Health Organization (WHO) takes credit for eliminating smallpox from the planet as its major coup in the fight against disease. Yet smallpox disappeared in non-immunizing countries faster than in immunizing countries. Some link the eradication of smallpox, instead, to improved sanitation and education in hygiene. This is an example of what you can read about the “other side of the story” with regard to WHO’s claims about the necessity of vaccines.
The U.S. is the only first-world country to attempt to fully immunize children in infancy. When Japan quit immunizing children under the age of 2, the national SIDS rate plummeted 80%. You would think this would be compelling to our own Vaccine Administration, but you would think wrong. Each member of the V.A. receives six figures from the very pharmaceutical companies it is supposed to be the watchdog over. This is an egregious breach of the V.A.’s charge to guard the public health. (Ditto the Food and Drug Administration.) The V.A. is responsible for protecting the health of our little children, and the conflict of interest simply can’t be overstated.
Just to give you an idea of ONE way this conflict of interest manifests itself, the Vaccine Administration considers claims of babies who die or are injured within 48 hours of being vaccinated. If your baby dies of SIDS 49 hours after she is immunized (this happened to my neighbor), her death can’t possibly be linked to the shot, according to the V.A. Their rules are arbitrary, illogical, not grounded in science, and designed to protect the pharmaceutical industry. Parents should trust their instincts and their research, not the U.S. Vaccine Administration.
I studied each vaccine individually. The only one I would agree to give my kids, based on its low risk and high efficacy, is the tetanus shot. However, only 50 people per year die of tetanus, and ALL of them are older than 50 yrs. old. The risks of the pertussis vaccine, on the other hand, are simply too high to tolerate, IMO, especially for my children who were all born immune-compromised (with the autoimmune disease athsma, which makes their risks of being vaccinated higher).
And keep in mind that the published risks don’t include people like my neighbor, whose daughter died on Sunday evening after being immunized Friday morning—no one even brought up the possible link. I personally know of other SIDS cases not counted by the V.A., and several serious side-effect stories (seizures, a month of diarrhea and screaming, etc.) that were never investigated by a medical professional or reported to the V.A. This leads me to question the accuracy of the V.A.’s statistics on death/damage by vaccines, although the reported/published data will give any parent pause.
Some researchers theorize that many reported problems (too numerous and complex to digest here) are a result of immunizing babies with very immature immune systems. I would worry less about an immunization for an older child or adult, especially if you could ensure that the vaccine did not contain thimerosol (mercury cannot be eliminated from the body and is severely dangerous). The vaccine industry has been trying to eliminate thimerosol as a preservative because of massive links to health problems in children. Of course, other vaccine additives like formaldehyde are deeply troubling as well and shouldn’t be injected into the human body.
As for the autism link, millions of dollars were spent to study the problem, and at the end of the study, the researchers said they can neither confirm nor deny that vaccines have caused the meteoric (400% in 10 years) rise in autism. Ask Hollywood mothers Holly Robinson Peete or Jenny McCarthy, though, among others: they say they first noticed the autistic behaviors in their formerly developmentally normal children, shortly after a vaccine.
The new Hepatitis B vaccine is a no-brainer: why would anyone vaccinate their newborn daughter against a disease that she will be at risk for ONLY if she shoots up drugs or is sexually promiscuous? God forbid that ever be the case, but if it is, it will take place at about age 15 or older—about the time the vaccine wears off.
This policy of injecting newborn girls must be driven by a profit motive rather than common sense. Billion-dollar Big Pharma companies are in a constant race to develop new vaccines, because the target market is any company’s dream with unlimited profit potential: it includes every human being on the planet, and the most educated among us (doctors) are a ready-made army in place to sell the product. They’re so rabid about the product that they’ll kick you out of their practice if you don’t follow their mandates to follow the prescribed immunization schedule (this happened to me in Dr. David Johnson’s American Fork, Utah practice several years ago). This sales force also lobbies for laws to take decision-making power away from parents and have stated in their publications that parents should be forced to immunize their children.
The risk of disease from pertussis, diptheria, chicken pox . . . scary! The risk of damage from vaccines . . . to me, more scary, and less within my control! My own personal decision has been to strengthen my children’s immune system with clean and alkaline water, raw plant foods, knowledge about how to use colloidal silver and herbs/remedies known to work WITH instead of fight against the immune system—as well as avoiding the processed American diet that leads to weak immunity and disease.
Best wishes with your own decisions. Trust yourself, because no one has your child’s interests at heart more than you do. Check out my favorite vaccine research book by Neustadter in my Book Reviews.
I would like to email you the
The Klinghardt Neurotoxin Elimination Protocol
According to that paper (from Europe); there are two ways to clear all neurotoxins, including mercury from your body…. I have the paper saved in microsoft word; if you are intereted to read it, please email me at: aprilanna@gmail.com
Cheers;
April-Anna
http://www.aprilanna.com
I have not vacinated my boys (3 years, and a 4 mo old) as I want to be fully educated before taking such a step- what do you recommend if I choose not to vaccinate- I’m afraid of the “what if’s”. (What if they catch something that could have been prevented had they been vaccinated) I’ve heard it can be done homeopathically- but I’ve had limited success with homepathics. Any info you could pass along would be greatly appreciated
I have just started my research since we will be having our babies (twins) in July. I want to be informed on both points of views. I found this blog to be heartfelt and sincere and I wanted to thank you for sharing your story. I would love it if anyone reading this has any information, weblinks, articles etc…. they can share.
If you do email me at sophiamunoz@sbcglobal.net
Sophia, Erin, April-Anna,
You probably already see that the most helpful of the vaccine books I read is Randall Neustaedter’s The Vaccine Guide. Keep an eye on this blog, and in the next couple of days (April 2008) I will write another vaccine-related mini-report. The U.S. government has finally begun to lose its legal battle (in the face of a cascading avalanche of evidence) and has begun paying out for vaccine damage done to children now suffering from autism.
I know that this is a hard decision. Only you are best equipped to make the decision, so go with your heart after fully informing your mind. If you will be traveling to third-world countries or putting your children in a busy day care, these are other things to consider.
Best wishes to you,
Robyn
Thank you Robyn and I will keep checking back. Also, check this artilce from WebMD.
Autism-Vaccine Link: Evidence Doesn’t Dispel Doubts
http://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/searching-for-answers/vaccines-autism?ecd=wnl_nal_040908
My youngest two are not vaccinated. We go to Mountain Peaks Family Practice in Orem. We took the kids in for a well-kid/baby checkup, and the nurse asked us if we would be getting any vaccines. We said no, and there were no eye rolls, dirty looks, or anything else. It was never mentioned again.
All newborns are vaccinated for Hepatitis B, not just girls. My youngest two were born at home, so we didn’t have to fight the hospital over it, but my oldest was vaccinated at birth. I was aware that there was a vaccine controversy, but I had just been introduced to SO much new information in the previous few months (about natural pregnancy/birth, parenting, etc.), that I couldn’t take on one more controversy at the time. We were finished vaccinating him by 12 months though. I skipped the varicella and MMR at the 12-month visit, and he hasn’t had anything since.
I have a 7 year old and a 5 month old baby girl, and I went and got her vaccinated when she was 2 months, but I was not comfortable about that decision. I live in NYC and I know they mandate your children to be immunized in order to go to public school. Can you tell me any more information about this situation, because I don’t want to immunize my daughter anymore. I don’t like the fact of pumping her up with drugs.
When they say “mandatory,” they mean that you have to prove to the school with a form from the doctor that immunizations have been completed. However, if your state is like mine, you can get a waiver from the county health department. I do this for my kids. The school has it on file, and if there were an outbreak of any of the diseases they vaccinate against, my child would have to go home until the outbreak passed. (This has never happened to any of my kids.) You’ll want to contact your county health dept. to ask for sure. But I’m pretty sure no state can literally force you to vaccinate.
Robyn is right – you can get a waiver in most states.
I think a lot of people assume that if they get vaccinated that they are protected for life against these diseases. That is simply not the case.
A few years ago we had a big pertussis outbreak here. Several of my friends got it. We have a lot of nonvaccinating parents here. But it seemed that the only ones who got it were the ones who were vaccinated. I had a very small baby during this time and I called the pediatrician to see what he would say.
Amazingly I found out that the pertussis vaccine only lasts for 7 years and that 10-15 years ago there were a bunch of “bad” vaccines. He said that at that time they were thinking of coming out with a booster so that older kids would be vaccinated again.
I find it simply amazing that they spend so much time on medicines and not very much at all on nutrition.
Sandra
I thank all of you for so much info and stories. This subject is very conflicting for me. I have given my son his shots up until now. He is going to be 12 months old at the end of August and I am conflicted as to whether or not I won’t to continue with these shots. Back in my day they were no big deal and primitve at best. Someone in the family got chicken pox my mom threw us all in the same room so we would have it at the same time and be done with it. I have pock marks left from having them.
I have been reading more and more about MMR and I am getting more and more worried about giving this shot to my son. I found an article that confused me a bit with the conflicting statements like the one below:
“Infection of pregnant woman with “wild” rubella virus is one of the few known causes of autism. Thus, by preventing infection of pregnant women, rubella vaccine also prevents autism, asserts CDC.”
Confused? Me too! The arguement is that it may be wiser to seperate the vaccines instead of them being a 3 in 1 shot thus minimizing the possibility of autism which is my fear from the MMR shot. So when I read the above statement and it says that Rubella is a KNOWN cause of autism and I am injecting it into my childs body isen’t that a bit contradicting. We (CDC) don’t believe MMR can cause autism but we know that Rubella is contribute to it so lets inject our children with a live virus and cross our fingers that it does not give them autism?
Am I understanding this correctly? Because the way I am reading that is that they are referring to an adult getting immunized NOT a child but it would be to keep your child from getting it? Maybe you can shed some light for me Robyn because I am really scared to do these 12 month shots or any others fo that matter. Is there anything that they are immunizing for these days that does NOT have a cure for it that I should worry about? Because you know our world is not getting any cleaner, parents are becoming less and less responsible for their children and what they do and our schools are not so grand anymore either so I do worry that my choice will effect the rest of my sons’ life.
Here is the website that I found with a lot of information http://www.healing-arts.org/children/vaccines/vaccines-mmr.htm which has a great deal of information on vaccines.
Valerie
I am at my wits end. I literally get sick dealing with all of this especially at school time and shots. My oldest now 6 is going into 1st grade this year and she’s only truly received the first couple stopping around the age 2. My youngest who is 4 has never received anything. Under the intense circumstances of dealing with getting them into preschool and kindergarten, I have mislead everyone to believe they’ve been vaccinated. Whats worse is my husband is a P.A. and disagrees with me, but lets me make the decision because I feel so strongly about it. Whats funny is my oldest was born in Utah at Alta View and the slogan Immunize by 2 drove me to the ground. I’m torn. I’m seriously thinking of going to a new pedatrician and being honest about everything and getting them their shots, mostly because I dont know what lies ahead of me legally. I have no religious views and have looked into it – I dont qualify. As far as the medical scenario, I have never known a doctor who would sign a waiver. I would love love love some serious advice from you Robyn and anyone else in the same boat. Please contact me asap if you can. I dont want to get into trouble, but I also want whats best for my kids. Thank you.
Jessica
Jessica,
Are you still in Utah? It is extremely easy to get vaccine exemptions in Utah. It is also relatively easy to find pediatricians who will not pressure you to vaccinate. Although you say “was born in Utah”, so maybe you’re not here any more.
For anyone else who is curious about laws in different states, here’s a listing: http://www.909shot.com/state-site/state-exemptions.htm
Whenever my husband mentions states he’d like to move to, the first thing I do is look up the midwifery, vaccination, and homeschool laws. I would hate to live somewhere that I would have to fight to have those rights. Although we’ll always have to fight to keep them. We’ve only lived in Texas and Utah, and both states make it very easy to get the necessary exemptions. In addition, we’ve never been discriminated against by daycares or schools for having them. (Well, my oldest is only 6; there’s a long way to go yet.)
This isn’t so much for you, but for others who might be lurking: As an LDS (Mormon) in Utah, I could qualify for either the personal exemption or the religious exemption. The religious exemption says “a bona fide member of a specified, recognized religious organization whose teachings are contrary to immunizations”. The LDS church definitely supports vaccines. However, they also have teachings contrary to immunizations. (They teach about using herbs and nutrition for sickness, the sacredness of the body, belief in God rather than man, etc.)
What a wonderful written letter. I, too, have struggled with this decision for the past 6 1/2 years. My two kids have never received any immunizations. I agree with what has been said before, the risks of the vaccines outweigh their “benefits” I have yet to be convinced otherwise. We are in Missouri, where the state waiver says you can opt out of vaccines for religious or medical exemptions. (Meaning your child’s immune system couldn’t handle the vaccines) Most states have those two exemptions. Some states even have a philosphical exemption. Since my state only has the two, I check the religious exemption. That said, that category is all encompassing for me. My religion is based on a belief system and although my church doesn’t have an anti-vaccine doctorine, my belief is that vaccines are harmful for my children. Both my kids attended preschool and my son is now in kindergarten, so, I sign a state authorized waiver that says I want my children exempt from vaccines.
My issue now is with our pediatricians office. We have had the same doctor for the past 6 years and I have always told her what my stance was on vaccinating. I won’t be doing it while the kids are young, but I may change my mind later on. I’ve stated those exact same reasons that were mentioned earlier. (A newborn getting the Hep B vaccine is nuts!) I have felt like I have been bullied in the past to make the decision to vaccinate, but haven’t, so now my doctors office is pulling the plug and “firing us.” I can’t tell you how incredibly sad this situation makes me. I have to wonder what parents will be next for them to fire. Will they start firing parents that smoke around their children? What about parents whose children are overweight? Will they too, be fired? This whole God complex is frustrating and leaves me feeling betrayed. These doctors took an oath and I feel that this contradicts that oath.
I, too, don’t believe that my situation is for everyone. But, this is a decision I’ve made for my family. I try to make my decisions based on the facts. Not the fears or the what-ifs. There are tons of what-ifs. But, there is also a great deal of information out there. So, now I’m forced to find another doctor. Do I find another pediatrician? Do I see our family doctor from now on? Or do I just have our chiropractor do the necessary annual school check up?
Michelle
Good luck to you. These are among the hardest decisions you make as a young parent, I believe.
Can you havea chiropractor do the physical? If so, wow! That would solve a lot of problems. Sometimes you can find a pediatrician who believe in parents’ prerogatives, though. I found one. She is not at all holistic in her approach, but she isn’t controlling and doesn’t try to force me to do anything I don’t want to.
Robyn
Our son is five months old, and we struggled with this decision throughout my pregnancy. He was born at home, so we didn’t have to make any immediate decisions. We found a great family practice doctor who knows our midwife (they refer clients to each other, so we figured that’s a good sign). She has been great – we eventually decided we didn’t want any vaccines for our little boy, and she’s perfectly fine with that. We’ve taken him in for two well-baby checkups, but no shots. I’ll breastfeed him as long as he’s interested – I’m shooting for two years. And he won’t be eating sugar or dairy, which I honestly believe lead to a compromised immune system. My husband and I haven’t had a single cold (or anything else) in over three years, since we gave up dairy and most sugar (we switched to stevia at home, and only have sugar very rarely, if we’re at someone else’s house). We feel very comfortable now with our decision to skip vaccinations.
I am a teenager in High School and found this article while researching for a paper about the immunization of children. As I am still researching the issue, it seems to me that the risks of not vaccinating your child seem much greater than if you were to vaccinate them. Think about the MILLIONS of lives that have been saved through vaccination. Also, think about how many viruses are not a huge problem because of the past immunizations adn what would happen if we all just didnt immunize our children anymore. Thirdly, think about the risk of the community as a whole; yes, your child may be fine and not get the disease themself, but the reason for that is most likely because EVERY other child in the communicty already got the shot and therefore can’t pass it on to your child. But what if every parent decided to not get their child immunized for the same reasons you didn’t get yours? Well, then your child would not be safe any longer.
Mary Smith,
Do you not understand how a disease works? Getting immunized IS NOT the only way to stop diseases. It is the way the world has chosen to do it because it is easier than teaching people good nutrition and proper hygiene. It’s easier to get a shot than to responsibly stop spreading disease. You can only get 90 percent of those things by close contact through body fluids, fecal matter, etc. . . Some things are airborne, but most don’t stay around long enough for anyone else to get them. I suggest you read a little more and stop treating getting immunized like it is some right of passage. It’s just a cope out for the real way to stop the spread of disease.
Real data, NOT opinions, NO conspiracy theories.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed
Our two girls were vaccinated but our son is not…. here is why, our second daughter got ear infection at 26 months the first in her life. So naturally I took her to the dr and got antibiotics for her…….VERY long story short, she died in Sept ’06 of Stevens Johnson Syndrome. If you Google that be prepared it is gruesome! Our son was born 5 months before she died and we said no vaccines…..(We did do the MR for measles when it was going around in our community. After much prayer and indecision.) I have not done a lot of reading on vaccines, our experience was enough for us!! I know several people though who had normal growing children and they are now autistic.
Dr don’t know everything, and the human body was designed by our all wise Creator to heal itself!
Google “Herd Immunity” and see what you’re doing to ruin the health of others.
Also, some sources would be nice here, otherwise it’s just hot air.
VERY SMART people. I was the stupid one My daughter had a bad time after DPT shots.I felt so much pressure to do this! I had Boy girl twins, boy is fine and girl is not!Hep B in hospital didnt help.You all should know merk had a defective vac about 1999! 8 times more mercury than it should have had in it!! Both my kids had this on 5th day of life.Thank GOD I gave my children the rounds of shots a month apart.What if they had a few defective ones?Why is my son ok??? Boys almost aways get Autism before girls do! KEEP fighting and be strong!! Deb k New Jersey
My mom just sent me this link (she knows you, Robyn) and I enjoyed reading it. I’ve read several books and articles on the topic–after avoiding it for years because of all the hype and controversy. I knew the conclusion would be “there is no one right, absolute answer” and that scared me. But now that I’ve researched, so far we are at least delaying all vaccinations, maybe indefinitely. I go back and forth about Tetanus. Every time I decide to take my older girls in to the Health Department for it, something holds me back.
I’d still like to hear some good answers for the “herd immunity” people. I understand their stance, and I realize it’s not really plausible to think that we can get everybody to start taking charge of their own health by maintaining good nutrition, but I still can’t see injecting my kids with potentially dangerous stuff when there is a much more safe and healthy way to protect them.
Hi. I have 2 kids, one 2 1/2 and the other almost 2 months. My 2 1/2 year old is immunized up to date. Now I am in the process of deciding what to do for my 2 month old. I feel like each time I go in for shots, I take a breath that nothing bad happens. A few days later, I heave a sigh of relief that they’re okay. I have a brother with Autism, so when it came time for the MMR, I was really nervous. I prayed long and hard, and didn’t get him immunized until 3 months late. But I did, and he’s fine (sigh). The “what-ifs” are very great to me. Of course, most kids are fine. That’s not the issue, I know. It’s that some kids aren’t, which is why I’m re-reading and re-thinking things this time around again. I just wanted to thank you for this information. I have been calling immunization clinics the last few days, however. They mentioned the Hep B for sexually transmitted. Boy do I hope my girl will never be promiscuous. I wasn’t actually calling in regards to that, however. But I did want to let you know they happened to say that they don’t usually get that shot until years later. My friend is a PA, and she said they usually administer it to 11 year old girls. That actually makes me sick that 11 year olds can be doing that, but that’s not the point. I guess I just wanted to let you know that all that I’ve heard of is newborns aren’t immunized for it – it is when they’re older. At least, as far as I am aware.
Yes, they offered the shot to me for my almost 12-y.o. daughter when she was born, but I hope that’s true that they have abandoned that practice.
No, Hep B is standard at birth in hospitals still. It’s the new one, to guard against cervical cancer…can’t remember what the disease is but I think it also starts with H… that they’re giving to pre-teens now. But Hep B is still given routinely. In the off chance that the mother has hepatitis. Which some do, but that’s not a good case for giving it to every single newborn. Esp. since the immunity would wear off before it would do any good anyway.
cleanse total…
Drink plenty of clean, fresh water daily. Not only will this help you eliminate other junk drinks such as carbonated drinks, which are full of sugar, it will also provide your body with the liquid it needs to cleanse your body from toxins….
i have done a considerable amount of reading about “some” of the vaccines on the market. A major drug company that pushes the “gardisil vacciine” for young girls – (yet nothing for boys- who spread this disease!) has many pending lawsuits against them for damages and deaths caused by some of their other medicines given to adults.
I let my guard down recently when i took my high school age child to the “required” school exam. I allowed my minor child to go into the appointment alone – (against my better judgement-, but thinking my child needed a little independence, (i waited in the foyer) i should have followed up right then and their with the dr., but didn’t as my daughter came out of the exam room saying all was fine. Ten mins down the road my child complains of a hurting arm. He/She was given a shot! (menactra) I had not been informed prior , I was not given any paperwork to sign, no information, nothing. I had no idea this was going to happen. The only information given to my child at the time of the injection was spoken – the doctor said “YOu know you are getting an injection today?” my child: “NO” Dr: ” well it is Menactra and it is required.!”
No information was given to him/her to even take home to inform me.
You can imagine how I must be feeling….i can’t even put it into words!
FURIOUS! I immediately called the office, talked to the office manager and the doctor about their practice of giving injections to a minor without information or consent! Since then I have made numerous phone calls and researched much information about menactra only to find that it is NOT a REQUIREMENT yet in my state and won’t be till 2010. There is nothing official. It is the PROACTIVE doctors pushed by the PROACTIVE pharmaceutic companies that are pushing this injection and i have a feeling it has much to do with GREED.
I just wanted to say thank you. I did not choose to vaccinate my children because, I know this sounds crazy, but it just did not set right with me. Do we really know what’s in the medications that is set to do one thing and one thing only, make a pharm company billions. People around me try to guilt me into giving in and injecting my children, whom I would happily die for, with something that a group of people, who’s opinion is never the same twice, say i should. Thank you for your honesty and thank you for making me feel better about protecting my children.
My oldest daughter who is 12, had the hep b vaccine. She was hospitalized with a fever of 107 about 6 hours after receiving the vaccine.
She nearly died at six weeks old during that week long hospitalization. She now suffers from learning disabilities, we have paid out of pocket for all of her therapies. But that is nothing compared to the heartache of seeing her struggle in school and with friendships. Kids know when other children are different, and they are not always kind. She also gets every cold that goes around and had nearly 20 ear infections during her formative years. This affected her speech.
My youngest daughter will be 2 in January. She has not been vaccinated. I have been told if you have one child that has a severe reaction, you are much more likely to have another child do the same. My non vaccinated child has only had two “little colds” in which she fought off in three days. She never once has been on antibiotics, compared to my eldest at this age she had been on amoxicillin at least 14 times by 2 years. She is extremely healthy & very smart. My husband is in the pharma industry and says there is not enough research say with 100% accuracy that the risks outweight the benefits. There needs to be more solid research done on vaccines. My daughters reaction was never reported as such by the doctors! I am sure that this has happened to to others, which tells me the data must bot be correct.
How can I legally prevent vaccinating my children, and still have them be allowed in school…how do I do this? I have been told it is as simple as writing a letter. But to whom? If anybody has this answer can you please email me at Nkristin34@aol.com?
Thank you,
Kristin
Kristin, that is a heartbreaking story. In Utah, you sign a waiver at the health department (which I have done). I am sure it varies by state, but check with your health dept. I am pretty sure it is legal in all 50 states to avoid immunizations. You may get a “lecture” by the nurse, but that’s okay. I’m deeply sorry for what your daughter has been through.
Robyn
I had an experience just yesterday. I’m pregnant and went in for a 3 1/2 mo check up. The Dr. asked if I had the H1N1 vaccine yet, and I said “no”. She matter of factly said “that’s ok, we’ll get that for you then before you leave today.” I replied that I would not get it. She GASPED, and said “WHY!”, in a very shocked tone. She wanted all my reasons. I told her this was not up for discussion as I did not want to argu the point. (I knew that if I gave her a reason, she’d probably have a good comeback.) She tried and tried, and then used guilt to tell me “don’t you realize that you are at more risk and you are putting yourself and your unborn infant at risk of dying if you contract the H1N1.”!!! She made me feel like a terrible person and an irresponsible mother… I still told her ‘no’, and she just couldn’t understand why. While “I” am not an infant, my baby is and will also be affected by any immunizations I would receive. She made an interesting comment to me…. she stated that when the baby is born, he/she cannot have the shot for the first 6 months of life, so if I get the shot now, it will protect the baby now and for the first several months of life… so… if even the Dr. will not give a new infant the shot, then WHY would I want to allow the immunization to get into my 3 1/2 mo old child still in the womb?
I just want the truth, and as long as we are being used as guinea pigs, and they are trying to pump us full of experimental drugs, I will be cautious about what I allow to be put inside of me. We just don’t know what side effects will come of this drug yet, and may not know for 10+ years, as we have seen of other drugs, or their ingredients “thimerisol”, etc…
I know I’m not a bad parent, I’m tring to make the best decision for me and my unborn child. I guess she said enough though that makes me think, did I do the right thing? I hope I don’t get it (h1n1), and I hope it is not serious if I do… BUT I drink my green smoothie every day. I am taking care of myself and I very rarely get sick, so I feel I made the right choice. If I ever have been to the Dr. for something, they always seem stunned when I say “no” to all the sicknesses, diseases on their list – never had them… I just can’t believe they push SO hard and make you feel like a bad person if you don’t follow the crowd. One thing I know is that people for the most part, feel VERY strongly about either side they are on… but which one is right? For me and my family, good healthy habbits and good sanitation will take care of most anything that would/could be a potential problem.
Hi Shanna
Go to http://www.mercola.com there is much information about the H1N1 vaccine and it’s danger if given to pregnant women. It is listed under “swine flu massive cover up.” It is a video conversation between Dr Mercola, and a leading neurologist. It may be of interest to you. We need to be advocates for our own health, and our babies health. My 21 month old is so healthy & smart, she has had no vaccinations yet. Mainly due to my eldest daughters severe reaction at 6 weeks of age. I think you made a wise decision, just ttrust yoyr insticts and research every vaccine as much as you can to make informed choices.
Good luck with your little baby!
Kristin
Hi Robyn,
Thank you so much for your kind words. I wish so much I knew then what I know now, because then my precious older child would have not had to suffer. Thank you so much for yoour advice, I did a little research and found out it isn’t as complicated as I was making it out to be. Thank you!
Kristin
My husband and I are looking into moving to Alaska as it would be a good financial decision for us but I just found out that they do not have all 3 exemptions in the state. Medical and religious are the only ones available, not the personal exemption. Doing some research in the past I came across a site I can not find now explaining that only two religions count for the exemption, Jehovah Witness and Amish. I see that you stated you could use the religious exemption as well as the personal in Utah. How? How does someone use a religion such and LDS (which I am) as an exemption when there is no set rule like within the other two denominations prescribed? I would appreciate any info you have on this as I am VERY much AGAINST immunizations. My son is 2 1/2 with developemental delays, I truly believe immunizations would hurt him beyond repair, so too speak. My daughter is healthy with out them and I would much rather keep it that way.
Thank you,
Betsy
Hey Besty,
I have been having the same pressures that all of the others have faced with choosing not vaccinate either. We have even lost friends over it.
I have found a site that has helped me feel like I really do have control over what goes into my child. It is homefirst.com , this site is run by normal pediatricians who are at the head of the antivaccine movement. They also really push for good nutrition, breastfeeding, and home births. They do not vaccinate anyone in their practise, and with over 35,000 patients there is NO autism! There are many many other diseases like asthma also that are almost nonexistant.
There you will find how to write a valid waiver and which waivers will work best in which states. Or go here: http://homefirst.com/media-cat/library/webinar-waiver-vaccine.html there is a great video and they give you all the info you will need.
Also, the Amish and Jehova witness are not the only ones that the Religious Exemtion applies to. It just has to be on religious grounds. You can back it up with scriptures from the Bible or Book of Mormon or any scripture of your religion. I would suggest ones that talks about the body being the temple and being sacred. If anyone is interested I can get you specific ones or go to the homefirst and listen to the broadcast. They list many. Nor does it have to be signed by an ecclesiastical leader. The info you recieved was not correct, lucky for us. Also, if mass manditory vaccines came out like with the H1N1, there are specific things you can do in your own community to prevent you from being forced to take them.
I know in Idaho, if there is an outbreak and your child can’t go to school, the school is required to provide the tutor to keep the child up with the class due to the ‘no child left behind’ policy.
Thanks for all the support of every one who does not vaccinate!
But for the girl who talked about herd immunity, it has never been proven to work. The only thing that has ever worked in the history of the world is quarrentine. But healthy hygine and good nutrition are the second best thing. If the vaccines were the whole reason we do not see all these deadly diseases now, then why did yellow fever, typhoid, tuberculosis and all the other infectious diseases drop off the charts at the same time? It was through clean water, waste removal, hygiene and better nutrition.
And if you think it out weighs the risks think about it. The chances of them being exposed, and contracting a disease are slim. If they do, and you take care of them, odds are they will only be sick for a week or so with measles for example. But what you put into them will last a lifetime. Autism, ADHD or ADD, asthma, seizures or neurological diseases last a lifetime. The vaccines contain mercury, MSG, formaldyhide, detergents, and antifreeze just to name a few. Look at the list at the doctors on the box or go to the CDC this is where I got it. And most importantly, don’t confuse vaccinations with ‘immunizations.’ Just because you are vaccinated does not mean you are immune.
I would suggest if you choose not to vaccinate, then have a plan and know what to do if your child does get sick with measles or etc. just like what Robyn said learn about collidal silver and other things to safely boost your immune system and don’t get bullied by anyone. Whenever someone has to sell something through fear, it usually isn’t good.
Whether or not you choose to vaccinate your own children, don’t take our choice away from us.
To all the wonderful people who post and share in this forum, God Bless you all! so much great info. and stories. I have a 12 yr old son and 10 year old daughter who have been given everything I was told, as for vaccinations, as I was young and ignorant to any of this information!!!
Our 3rd child is now 3, she has been vaccinated to about 1 year I believe.
She was 6 mo. when she had a reaction to If I can remember right the mmr. She cried all night, siezered and would not even nurse. I was talked into her 12 mo shot after being very scared to do so. It was only after then did I research and and realize that there was a choice and that I was convinced because of society that that is what I was SUPPOSE to do.
I refuse to put anything else into the bodies of my children.. but what about all that is already inside my precious trio??
i would appreciate any advice as I cannot turn back the clock.. being a more mature and educated mother, there is nothing i can do now, is there? thank you to all the families and may God protect and heal our children and ourselves!!
Tamara
I actually did a search in your blog to see if you had written any articles on vaccination, and I’m glad I did! I have an 8-month-old son and I have chosen not to vaccinate any further. He received a few vaccines because our original pediatrician bullied me into it, but I’ve decided to stop and to seek religious exemption so I can get him into daycare and school. I feel like I have a huge battle ahead of me because I’m in NY and from what I understand, exemption is hard to come by.
I’ve read some of the comments on this post and will finish when I have some more time. Like many parents, I worry a little bit about some of the “vaccine preventable” diseases that he could catch, but I worry much, much more about the vaccines themselves. I appreciate you sharing this information and will happily devour any information you provide on the topic. Thank you for sharing!
I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this site! My son is 18 months old and has never been vaccinated. I have done a lot of research and made that decision after many agonizing hours going back and forth. I just can’t shake all of the negatives vs the “chance” of them getting a disease that can be treated and/or is mild. I have recently had a few situations/appts that have asked me to provide my son’s vaccination record. Each time this happens I panic and spend the next few days reminding myself why I made the decision and going back over everything that I have already read. This blog was truly a blessing to me as it let me know that I am not alone nor am I crazy. I think that sometimes when you go against the “norm” you really begin to doubt yourself and your instincts which is sad. I appreciate all the comments posted here as they have once again re-affirmed my decisions, especially when I see that many are local (I also live in Utah). Good luck to you all!
Thank you so much for this information. Our daughter is 16 mo old and has never been immunized. She is a happy, healthy, smart, and very spirited little girl. She’s only been sick once with a slight fever, and it only lasted a day. My 2 sisters were the ones who informed me on the risks of immunizations. When I was younger, I never really worried or looked into on my own. I always thought to just trust the doctors. When she was a day old, the nurse came in and tried to give her the HepB vaccine. I refused, and had to sign a form, but that was ok. I never really understood why they would want to give a newborn, just a day old, a shot like that, when I didn’t have to get it until I was 21 years old, and in the medical field. (I work for a dental office). A few days after she was born, the nurse came in and tried to give me a shot that would supposedly protect me from a disease that I’d never heard of that would put me at risk of having a miscarriage or birth defects in the future, if I wasn’t immune. I asked her if I had to get it and she said yes. She left the room to get it ready and since I was concerned, I called my sister and asked if she’d ever heard of that. She said no, and that I shouldn’t get it since I don’t really know much about it. When the nurse came back in, I refused the shot and had to sign a refusal form. I wonder how often they try to give that shot after a woman has given birth? Has anyone else ever heard of this?
Every time I take my daughter to her check-ups they always ask about vaccines and when I say “we don’t do shots”, they look at me funny and make me feel like I’m making a bad decision for my child. The doctor once asked me why I choose not to immunize, and I told her because she’s so healthy, smart, and happy now, what happens if I get her vaccinations and she gets sick? The only response I got was, “well all I can say is our parents chose to get our shots when we were young, and we’re ok”. I now feel much better, and more confident that we made the right decision not to immunize our little girl
Please, I impore everyone reading this to vaccinate your children. You do nothing but put your children and those around them at risk of fatal disease. The benefits vaccines bring far any possible negative effect (which themselves are so low). You all speak of how you want to do best by your children, but your conclusions regarding vaccines are unfounded. “The plural of anecdote is not data.”
To Aaron,
MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
To Ash,
Socialism doesn’t work.
To everyone else,
Good job using your head and not jumping off the cliff with the rest of ‘em!
We are still free in America to choose how to live!
You are piggy backing onto the rest of the immunized children for the herd immunity effect. The Hep B vaccine can prevent liver cancer down the road. You’re not going to immunize your girls against HPV? Promiscuous or not, they are likely to get infected in their lives, along with the huge risk of cervical cancer. Do your kids a favor and immunize them.
I think there is one fact that has not been discussed here & that is that children who are not vaccinated get these diseases. Most of the posters here have young children who are not even school aged yet. You extol the virtues of cleanliness and herbal remedies, that’s well and good until your child ventures into a world of nose picking and non handwashers and is exposed to some really nasty bacteria. I met a chiropractor who had a retarded son who was not retarded at birth; he had whooping cough (purtussis) when he was younger which can cause brain damage. He also shared that his children had had dyptheria (the plague) & several other preventable diseases. He was still anti-vaccination! If you’re even thinking that the vaccinations of other children will protect yours stop kidding yourself, you WILL find yourself nursing your child with a serious vaccinatable i.llness. I decided to wait & both of my children had the majority of their vaccines after age 2 & actually then needed less injections. I am comforted that they have been vaccinated when they swim in a pond, lake or kiddy pool that’s a day or two past it’s prime that they a re unlikely to come home with polio or if a squirrel poops in our garden that they have some immunity to the horrible diseases that lurk out there. If you understand and accept that your child will have some of these diseases and still do not want to vaccinate then that is a sound decision. One more thought: The conspiracy to make you vaccinate does not make vaccination a bad decision by its mere existence or purported existence.
Hi Robyn,
My 13 months old son is not immunized,but all the docs out there are making me feel like I am making a huge mistake,and arereally scarying me…Iam looking for some literature to read more details about vaccines and how to protect my child from all these illneses out there (since he is vaccine free). Can you suggest any good books?
Many thanks!!!!!
I found an interesting article on Wiki, proving once and for all that the link between autisim and the rubella has been proved false. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MMR_vaccine_controversy. This is the first paragraph:
“The MMR vaccine controversy refers to the claims that autism spectrum disorders can be caused by the MMR vaccine, an immunization against measles, mumps and rubella.
Claims of a connection between the vaccine and autism were raised in a 1998 paper in The Lancet, a respected British medical journal.[1] Investigation by Sunday Times journalist Brian Deer discovered that the lead author of the article, Andrew Wakefield, had multiple undeclared conflicts of interest,[2][3] had manipulated evidence,[4] and had broken other ethical codes. The Lancet paper was partially retracted in 2004 and fully retracted in 2010, and Wakefield was found guilty by the General Medical Council of serious professional misconduct in May 2010 and was struck off the Medical Register, meaning he could no longer practice as a doctor.[5] The research was declared fraudulent in 2011 by the BMJ.[6]
The scientific consensus is that no evidence links the vaccine to the development of autism, and that the vaccine’s benefits greatly outweigh its risks.
Read this article and do your research (and make sure this research is conducted by certified medical professionals, such as the World Health Orginsation) before you make your decisions to immunise your children or not.
Hi, was your only source the book that you cited at the end of your article? If not, would you mind citing any others that you used? I am due to have a baby in June and am really torn about the immunization issue. It is hard to find peer reviewed resources with any credence to them so any of your resources would be very helpful! Thanks so much!
I am currently a junior making my way through nursing school and a lot of this information on here is disturbing to me. Many people in today’s day and age never lived through the epidemics that plagued the world and cost untold death in children. The reason why people are not getting sick today while not taking the vaccine is not simply because there are other ways to prevent them. There are but a lot of these diseases are highly infectious and vaccines are a way to eliminate all most all the risk of catching them. The reason these diseases aren’t infecting non immunized children today is because we live in a population with such a high immunization rate that the diseases cannot survive in the population. Today however outbreaks of theses diseases are starting to show up as the population of immunized individuals drop. According to the BBC in one year the rate of mumps in 2010 was 8 times high than the year before in Manchester. This is reported to be directly related to fewer people becoming immunized. By not immunizing your children you not only put them at risk you put the population more at risk as a whole. In the US outbreaks are starting and the information about it is very prevalent. I know it is hard to give your children shots at an emotional level but it is the right thing to do. The MMR specifically should be given as non-immunized males can catch it when there older and face sterility and even death because their parents didn’t like the shot. I implore you to vaccinate your children. For your child’s health, your health, your friends health, and my health. Just like every drug there can be side effects but you don’t with hold life saving medications because it could have side effects so why do the same here when the likelihood of any negative reaction is so low.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/manchester/7936627.stm
http://www.healthline.com/health-blogs/healthline-connects/measles-mumps-rise-us-again-are-vaccines-safe
Hi Kevin, you’ve been sold a bill of goods by Big Pharma, who controls the curriculum you’re currently immersed in. There is another side of that story. It is enormous, it is compelling, and you owe it to yourself to take the time to study how damaged the American public has been by the vaccine industry. Countless studies in first-world nations other than the U.S. document that infectious diseases did not disappear because we started injecting our babies with deadly heavy metals and infectious pus. When I was your age, I was oblivious and trusted my mainstream education. Use those fabulous critical thinking skills you’re developing in college and learn the truth, and come help educate people with us!
Also
http://www.parentdish.com/2008/04/10/mumps-on-the-rise-in-the-u-s/
http://www.health.ny.gov/diseases/communicable/mumps/fact_sheet.htm
http://www.hpa.org.uk/NewsCentre/NationalPressReleases/2009PressReleases/090409mumps/
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23801389-rise-in-mumps-blamed-on-low-mmr-take-up.do
http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topicsobjectives2020/overview.aspx?topicid=23
http://wsws.org/articles/2011/feb2011/dise-f04.shtml
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vac-gen/whatifstop.htm
The last is a great article about what would happen if we stopped vaccinating children by the CDC