Why do so many folks not Vaccinate their kids?

[QUOTE=palebluedots;1053284]I find this topic interesting and a bit infuriating as well. I think people who do not vaccinate their children are being irresponsible to the rest of society. Grrr.....[/QUOTE]

Seriously? Why? Why vaccinate if you clearly think it doesn't work going on that logic.

[QUOTE=Crabbcakes;1053326]we do not need to comply with any school-mandated vacc schedule[/QUOTE]

What happens when you go to school if you aren't vaccinated? Can they refuse you? Here in Aus that is illegal. We just have to get a conscience objector form signed by a Dr (Very easy to do), and that is that.

[QUOTE=Earthy Mama;1053327]I don't vaccinate because there is no way in [I]hell [/I]I'm shoving a shit ton of chemicals in their bodies, or mine.

Food industry, Big Pharma and Med Industry can suck it.[/QUOTE]

Yep this too :)

[QUOTE=Rusty;1053404]I have to laugh at those who think that unvaccinated children are a "risk" to others, especially to the others that are vaccinated.

If you have vaccinated your child against whooping cough, how can they get whooping cough?

I have chosen to vaccinate all my children, and I also have a child on the autism spectrum who started off just fine and regressed as he got older. Was it the vaccine? I don't know. But what I do know is that I don't want to take a chance of my children getting polio, tetanus, or whooping cough.

It's a family choice. I support those that choose not to vaccinate.[/QUOTE]

Yep this. Although yes you can get things you are vaccinated against. But for those who do vaccinate, are they not doing it so they think their children are not 100% protected? If not then why? I know people who just do it because they are told to without thinking twice, plus the government here gives a small payment for doing it, although we got it anyway, even though we signed that CO form LOL.

[QUOTE=Rusty;1053404]I have chosen to vaccinate all my children, and I also have a child on the autism spectrum who started off just fine and regressed as he got older. Was it the vaccine? I don't know.[/QUOTE]
And you'll never know Rusty, so you're right not to stress out about it. Better to focus on how best to help your child than to obsess over what the cause was. I have seen parents of autistic children take up the "anti-vaccine crusade" so vehemently and with such passion that the time they have devoted to the crusade (for an as-yet unproven link) is to the detriment of their autistic child. The more time spent crusading, the less time able to spend looking or ways to support your autistic child.

It's a question of priorities getting mixed up for a lot (but certainly not all) of parents in my opinion.

[QUOTE=Drumroll;1053510]Zoebird, she's very welcome to choose not to vaccinate her kids. Probably a good thing in the long run. I just don't want to see her get wrapped up in the cause when the solution is what is really important here. You can blame the vaccines all you want, but it's a little late to change what happened. If you assume that's what happened.

And really, solution is a poor choice of words. Makes us autistics sound like we're so broken and incapable only a cure can fix us.

And YES, that's a potshot at YOU Autism Speaks. :rolleyes:[/QUOTE]

I don't see her getting wrapped up in anything, though. So I didn't see how the assumption was there.

Part of the problem with vaccinations is that I don't think that the downsides are adequeately explained to people by the medical professionals, whose performance is being measured by the number of people that they get vaccinated.

The 'official' stance is so pro-vaccination that there's almost a political correctness where you dare not question the official line.
They don't encourage people making an informed decision. They just want you to do it, and not question anything.

So anyway, we decide whether or not to use each vaccine on a case by case basis (since some of them have a very dubious cost-benefit ratio).

This is just one of these topics that discussions could go on for days and people will never all agree.
Just one of these things not worth discussing I think, because it could get way too heated.

[QUOTE=zoebird;1053678]I don't see her getting wrapped up in anything, though. So I didn't see how the assumption was there.[/QUOTE]
Oh, I hope you got the Autism Speaks potshot there. Heh. It's probably my least favorite organization that purports the "help" people with disabilities. Yeah, if you call "helping" supporting the research into mind-altering drugs and surgeries for autistic individuals on the premise that autistic people somehow have "broken" brains.

And in regards to your comment, I don't know if she was or not. If you see my post in reply to Rusty, above, I have met parents who HAVE been wrapped up in it to not good effect.

However, I am sure she is a perfectly wonderful mother, honestly I am. :)

Her ability to mother her child was never in question, as much as it was intended to be a warning to everyone with an autistic child of their own to keep things in perspective. Even if you think vaccines are the most evil thing around that "ruined" your child's life, your child comes first before any sort of crusade against the medical industry. You do more for autistic individuals everywhere by helping your own child than you ever could by leading some sort of grand crusade.

Remember, as the slogan of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network goes (self advocacy meaning we advocate for ourselves), "Nothing about us, without us." Autistic people need to be involved in making the policies that shape their own lives, they need to be able to fight their own battles, take responsibility. We need to lead our own crusade. If we can't, nothing will get better for us.

Perhaps those objectors should look back into history at the enormous rate of childhood death by disease. You NOW have the luxury to object because so many diseases that killed or left children with horrible lifelong issues have been controlled by our parents and their parents vaccinating us. So now, we don't know the horrors of these diseases. But they still exist - not all of them have been wiped out completely and then can resurface.

As soon as enough people in the population stop vaccinating and the "herd" immunity threshold is breached (I think it is around 90% of the population), you watch kids dropping dead from diseases we thought we long gone. There are risks with everything in life; the debatable risks associated with vaccinations is no where near as high as the PROVEN risks if these diseases become commonplace in society once more.

Do you truly think 100% healthy people get these diseases? Who have good, non compromised immune systems?
I don't.

I don't 'think' that - it's fact. Even the healthiest most robust person can catch a disease under the right circumstances. And we are talking specifically about infants and children who are especially vulnerable, no matter how healthy.

You as a healthy adult might have it to little effect (even carry the disease but not suffer any effects) but you still have the capacity to pass it on to a vulnerable infant - for example.