Vaccinations: A Clearer Perspective

Ashlyn's 4-month check up was today and I asked my doctor about his thoughts about vaccines. I will probably offend someone here, but I just had to post my new-found perspective on vaccinations. I have always been pro-vaccine. I guess I never really thought about it much to be quite honest. I just thought: dangerous illness, there's a preventative method, get preventative method. So I've done the full vaccination schedule with both of my older children. Recently, I've noticed a rise in people who aren't doing vaccinations and my thoughts were, "Why would anyone not vaccinate their kids?" Even my doctor said that those who do not vaccinate their kids who come to his clinic quite often don't have an express reason for it, nor do they share any real medical reasons besides they just don't believe in it. What?? I have a hard time with that. Why would you decide to go against the grain--and expose your child to life-threatening illness--without conclusive evidence it's the right thing to do? So I started to do some digging. I am a researcher--always have been. When I have a question, I just go find the answer.

So I spent the better part of my week looking into vaccination articles and medical reports online. Here's a summary of what I found:

1. People fear the ingredients in vaccines and therefore do not vaccinate. In fact, many feel they can make their children immune to diseases through homeopathy and/or basic diet and nutrition.
2. The main ingredients that rub people wrong are: Mercury (Thimerosal) and Aluminum (in the form of salts that act as an adjuvant to get the immune system working when you get a vaccine so that it'll do it's job).

After hours and hours of research here is my reaction:

1. I believe in the adage "You are what you Eat." There is a big part of my opinion that leans towards eating healthy, getting your vitamins and exercise and keep you immune system tip-top shape if you want to horde off being sick. Growing up we hardly ever took medications for anything, and I tend towards that route now. The body is absolutely amazing and there are definitely healthy foods and herbs on the earth to make sure it can "run and not be weary and walk and not faint." That said, I also feel there is a place for science and medicine in addition to the food and herbs. I don't feel there is some major conspiracy theory going on with the pharmaceutical companies wanting to sell their drugs and so they've found ways to keep everyone sick. While I think that there are way too many drugs out there and way to many people dependent on them, there are many, many helpful drugs out there. I have to admit that Percuset was super nice to have for my pain control after my C-section. Moderation in all things is good, and I think that all of us need to be wise in our passion towards any one end of the spectrum here. Remember the baby who died because that stupid, granola-couple only fed it soy milk??? That is the kind of blind ignorance that burns me. If you want to eat organic and be homeopathic DO IT! But don't just do it because it's the "in" thing or because you grew up that way. Do it because you've done your homework and found out that you prefer that type of lifestyle. Anyway, in relation to all that ranting, the point I am coming to now is that I'm not convinced homeopathics and healthy eating alone can prevent major illnesses. Alternative medicines have definitely got their merit, but so far I don't see conclusive evidence that they can prevent the illnesses that we get vaccines for such as polio. Therefore, in my eyes there is still a need for vaccinations and I want to get my kids vaccinated.

2. That leads me to the concerns with Mercury and Aluminum. Mercury is not found in any infant vaccines anymore except for the optional flu and H1N1 vaccines. These are optional and I never get these for me or my kids anyway. It started out that I didn't get them out of laziness, but now I really feel like the flu is something we can manage through nursing our immune systems. I haven't had the flu in years and my kids have never had it.

Okay on to the the stickiness of aluminum. Here is where some of my perspective began to change. I am a cautious person and after all my research I wasn't able to find conclusive evidence on either side of the fence regarding people's concerns about this metal. First of all, aluminum is the most common metal found in nature. We are CONSTANTLY exposed to it in our water, food, and hygiene products. A healthy adult expels about 98% of the aluminum that comes into their system thanks to healthy kidneys. There haven't been many studies done on children and aluminum and there is a serious lack of research on the direct effects of aluminum in vaccines. There is some recommendations out there that say that the controlled, allowable amount of 0.85 mg aluminum in vaccines is too high ( Dr. Bob Sears wrote a pretty in-depth book about this and other topics regarding vaccines). Thus, they recommend splitting up the vaccines so that the baby isn't exposed to so much aluminum at the same time. And after looking into it, that's the only thing that makes sense in my mind. This lady made a good argument for the safety of aluminum. I liked that. But then there are others with severe research the other way. So, here's my conclusion: I believe in vaccines for the safety for of my child. I believe there isn't enough research done on aluminum in vaccines, therefore, I will be more cautious about it and therefore reduce the risk of aluminum toxicity and/or neurological damage to my child's brain.

So, when I went to the doctor today for Ashlyn's 4-mo check up, I asked them to split up the vaccines so that she's not getting all the aluminum at once and her body has a chance to expel it. I'll go back in a couple weeks for the remaining shots. Sigh. I feel good about that.

Oh, and this post had some good info on amounts of aluminum in varying brands. And this list was helpful for the mercury aspect but also just knowing what the brands are for each vaccine.

Hope I didn't make anyone feel bad about their own vaccine choices. Just sharing my new opinion. My opinion is quite often maleable until I see vast research to conclude one way or the other. (Except, of course, in matters moral; then it's more of a matter of what the Spirit tells me is true, rather than research.)