I did my research :: Vaccines

I know I've talked about vaccines before, so I don't need to rehash that (but it's here, if you're interested).

So there's a debate going back and forth (and back and forth and back and forth) about vaccines. In the interest of a broad perspective, reading both sides is vital.

Here's my frustration: I hear the pro-vax side saying over and over - just do your research.
This makes my insides get all hot and angry with frustration at the underlying message that clearly non-vaxing families have not researched.
Who chooses not to vax?
The person who has done no research and is at the pediatricians office and the pediatrician is saying: "today your child is due for X, Y, Z vaccine" or the person who has researched extensively and has an informed conversation with the pediatrician?
Think about it.
Our children have now been seen at 3 different doctors offices. Not one (even our favorite MD) has ever been comfortable with no conversation about our choice. No doctor has ever said: "today your child is due for X, Y, Z vaccine .... Oh, you want to pass on vaccines right now? Okay."
Never ever ever.
And I wouldn't want that. I want to trust my doctor enough to value their insight into the choice around vaccines. I also want them to respect the fact that it is my choice, what medical care (or not) I or my children receive.

So if I see one more pro-vaccine article that says something along the lines of: "if these stupid anti-vax people would do their research..." I might just lose it.
If these pro-vaccine people had done their research they would know that you can find studies supporting whatever hypothesis you want. If you want to believe that vaccines are safe, you'll find studies to back that up. If you want to believe vaccines are harmful, you'll find studies to back that up.

As with any "Mommy War", you have every right to do your own research, heart-searching, etc and make your own decision for your own family. And I will respect you by assuming you've looked at all of your options and made an informed decision - even if it's the opposite of what we've decided for our family. I expect the same respect in return.

Disclaimer: yes, our children have been vaccinated on a limited and lengthened schedule.

Why I think I might be an anarchist

The definition of anarchist according to thefreedictionary.com is:

anarchist [ˈænəkɪst]
n
1. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) a person who advocates the abolition of government and a social system based on voluntary cooperation
2. a person who causes disorder or upheaval

I think generally I'm a peaceful person - I like everyone to be happy.
But I also resent being told what is best for me when I don't agree with said "best".
This comes out in my thoughts about healthcare.
It seems unreasonable that choosing a homebirth which is statistically safer would not be covered by insurance and lead to headache after headache when trying to obtain birth certificates, etc. It seems unreasonable that this health decision is made by the powers that be when not only is this safer birth not covered by insurance it is also illegal in many states.
It seems unreasonable that when you choose to make an informed decision about vaccinations - if those decisions lead to a child not vaccinated on the CDC's schedule then exemption forms need to be filled out before a child can enter public (and private) school. Since when does school have control over private health care decisions?!?
So I think I might be leaning towards anarchy. It might be too chaotic, I'm not sure.
So anarchy lite? Thankful we can move to a more secluded life ... perhaps a culture that is not any more comfortable with alternative though ... While it will be a fight to unschool I don't think the fight will be as great as it is with healthcare decisions. (Don't even get me started on everyone's concern about health insurance and our secluded life where we work for ourselves - that's a whole 'nother rant!) Hopefully. I don't know though - we have a 4.5 year old as an oldest so no one is too worried yet. We'll see what happens in the next couple years.

Why I'm concerned about vaccinations

Last night I heard the end of an NPR (yes, NPR) program about the advances of science and a discussion on vaccines. I was infuriated to hear an MD (I presume) say things like: rates of polio decreased as a direct connection to the vaccine, vaccines are completely safe, it's selfish for parents to be risking society for their child by not vaccinating them, etc etc.

A) the decrease in polio was decreasing BEFORE the vaccine
B) when parents notice an immediate change in their child AFTER they are vaccinated - how is that not connected?!!? To add to the frustration, it is reported that often pediatricians do not take parents concerns seriously or will state that the change in behavior is coincidental.
C) Society ISN'T safer due to vaccines alone and I WISH my children COULD contract illnesses naturally for life long immunity (chicken pox, rubella...) Vaccines contain toxins - (following list found here)
• Formaldehyde – an embalming agent for the dead
• Thimersol- 49% mercury
• Aluminum – detrimental to brain tissue
• Phenol – extremely toxic
• Glycerin, tri-atomic alcohol – extremely damaging to organs
One doctor on the program said that some children DO have negative reactions but it's the risk we take as a society to protect the greater good. I'm wondering how that MD would feel if it was HIS kid who was affected.

No, it's not fun to have a sick kid - but I'd prefer to take my chances with the illness than a vaccine. And statistically speaking my kids are more likely to be injured and/or die in a car crash than from one of these diseases that vaccines are claiming to protect against. Doesn't mean we don't drive in the car.

Will we ever vaccinate? I always think we will at some point. Ark Boy was vaccinated up to 12mos so he's set for a while and Farm Girl has had no vaccines. I wanted to wait until she was two so her body had time to develop enough in order to process the vaccines most effectively.
Then she turned two and it seemed to early still. I heard about serious side effects to the claimed cervical cancer vaccine (as a side note it really irks me that they call it a "cervical cancer vaccine" - it isn't. It's a vaccine against a small number of the strains of hpv, an std, that increases the risk of cervical cancer).
I heard about the vaccine injury process. At first it seemed promising - vaccine companies are taking responsibility for injuries. Actually... no. What happens is when a person has a vaccine a couple of dollars paid for the vaccine goes into a pool to support the vaccine injury compensation fund. The government oversees the vaccine injury process. The companies MAKING the vaccine are not held responsible.
I get that presumably those companies working on vaccines are doing this with the idea that they are helping society at large. But they are FOR profit companies. They are in it to make PROFIT. Again, this doesn't mean individual employees don't have their heart in a good place - just that the whole picture leads to not necessarily safe vaccines. It doesn't mean unsafe for all - but unsafe for some is too much for me. The studies done are not extensive enough (subject pools are too small, studies are too short term).
In 1983 (the year I was born) the recommendation was 9 vaccines between birth and six years. Now it is twice that.
Here are some other interesting statistics I found here

1) A 1992 study published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases showed that children who received the DPT vaccine were significantly more likely to contract paralytic polio than children who were not vaccinated with DPT.

2) The New England Journal of Medicine stated that in 1993, during a highly publicized Pertussis outbreak in Cincinnati, 82 percent of children stricken with the disease had received regular doses of the vaccine.

3) A 1992 study in Clinical Infectious Diseases concluded that every case of polio in the United States since 1980 was caused by the polio vaccine.

4) A 1995 Lancet study found that those who received the measles vaccine were 3 times more likely to develop Crohn’s disease and more than twice as likely to develop ulcerative colitis.

A great article for further reading is here.

This comes back to my deep anger and frustration over the medical system. I am not necessarily anti-vaccine - I AM concerned, however. BUT if I didn't seek out additional information I would be told that vaccines are safe and necessary in childhood with additional boosters into adulthood.
I am happy for families and individuals to decide to vaccinate or make any other medical decision that I wouldn't choose for myself or my family - as long as they are INFORMED! There's a little thing called informed consent and in my experience it doesn't happen. Informed consent is not: "we're just going to take him to get his hepb" which is what was said before Ark Boy was whisked away from me for the first time before we left the hospital after his birth. I had no idea what "hepb" was!
Informed consent -ha!

doctor's visit

Farm Girl had a well child sick child check yesterday.
She had spots on her foot that suddenly appeared last Thursday.
Pox?
We couldn't see where she would have gotten it from but isn't that how it used to be?
Weird that it started on her foot.
They were spreading
a little.
She also had this crazy fever that was unending.
John McGonigle (site coming soon) took one look and diagnosed the girl.

hand

foot

and mouth

He says sans fever she's no longer contagious.
Now we're fighting a cold.
Oh, and Ark Boy has spots on his legs... so presumably he has it too?
McGonigle said he's seen several cases (7 in the last couple weeks) of this recently.
Explains why she's been crazy grumpy pants who will not eat and only nurses.
In fact, when we weighed her the scale read
12.5lbs!
eek!
we didn't know it was that bad!!!
Then we rechecked
21.5lbs.
phew!

Chicken Pox

Let's talk about it.
No.
Ark Boy doesn't have it.
Neither does Farm Girl for that matter.
But it would be okay if they did.
They aren't getting the chicken pox vax (and several others - but we can talk about that later).
The American Academy of Pediatrics has said that the chicken pox vaccine is solely for the convenience of parents - who can afford to miss a week of work?
In addition, the vaccines effectiveness diminishes with time, as do all vaccines.
As a result all 20 year olds who have been vaccinated against chicken pox will need a booster in order to limit the chances of catching chicken pox/shingles which is much more unbearable and more likely to be deadly at this age.
However, what are 20 year olds doing?
Not many are watching the calendar and thinking: "hmm- 'bout time for that chicken pox booster"
These reasons coupled with the fact that we aren't convinced of vaccine safety we've opted not to give our children this vaccine.
As have several other parents that we are acquainted with.
But this means that it is vital that our children contract chicken pox, ideally, as early as possible.
What is a parent to do?
Enter
Chicken Pox parties.
Seriously.
You've heard of this, right?
If your child has chicken pox you announce it (typically on various forums) and invite local children to come and get infected.
Seems counterintuitive for a parent to want their child to get sick.
But it's essential.
And it's becoming increasingly difficult as more and more children receive this controversial vaccine.
It may seem ridiculous to put your child in harms way but I for one would prefer my children naturally contract the illness which gives them lifetime immunity rather that the alternative (the vaccine).
While I have thought that the vaccine was ridiculous from its inception
the parties seem equally ridiculous
But now Ark Boy is 2 and that's closer to 10 or so- when I'd feel less than comfortable with him having chicken pox.
So should we be scouring the internet for parties?
Evidently there is a yahoo group... but the group fears being shut down due to their... ummm... radical nature (I think not- a parent's got to do what a parent's got to do!).
Then again, at a recent playgroup a mom talked about having someone fedex her child's infected saliva so that she could give it to her son.
Don't think I can go that far...
then again- I never thought I'd consider bringing Ark Boy to a chicken pox party.