Hmm
So does anybody have any strong opinions on infant vaccinations? *ducks and hides* Ruby is due in a week for her 2 month appointment and is scheduled to get a huge cocktail of vaccines. Hepatitis B, Hib, Polio, Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus, Conjugated Pnemococcal, Prevnar (for meningitis, I think). Most of these, to make things worse, are combined together in one big jumbo shot called Pediarix.
I am all about protecting the baby from scary diseases, but have you seen the stuff they have in these vaccines? Everything from Mercury and Formaldehyde to MSG. The ones with no heavy metals still have questionable ingredients like ammonium sulfate or sorbitol. And I've only started digging.
Anyway, I'm leaning towards at least putting a bunch of these off until she is older and some I don't want to give her at all. I feel like the issue is so polarized though-- I'm afraid I'm going to be defending my choices to everyone, either way.
Oh and Ruby is doing great. She's a sweetie pie. I love her.
I am all about protecting the baby from scary diseases, but have you seen the stuff they have in these vaccines? Everything from Mercury and Formaldehyde to MSG. The ones with no heavy metals still have questionable ingredients like ammonium sulfate or sorbitol. And I've only started digging.
Anyway, I'm leaning towards at least putting a bunch of these off until she is older and some I don't want to give her at all. I feel like the issue is so polarized though-- I'm afraid I'm going to be defending my choices to everyone, either way.
Oh and Ruby is doing great. She's a sweetie pie. I love her.
posted by Joanne at 12:10 PM
6 Comments:
One thing to consider is that it's not just your daughter you're protecting, but others as well. Some people would say it's a responsibility we have to our communities.
Please remember that while some of the diseases we protect our children from have virtually been eradicated, there are many that have not and are very deadly. The post by anonymous is absolutely correct. By protecting your daughter you inadvertantly protect others. It is called herd immunity. Please, have your child immunized and give her a better chance at living a wonderful normal life. Thanks.
Hmm. I am perplexed by the anonymous statements about immunizations. Are there any choices you have in the way they are administered?
Are they all equally important, or are you able to pick and choose?
In Minnesota, unless you sign a notarized statement as a conscientious objector, you have to get all the shots by the time the kid enters school. As far as teasing apart the bundled vaccines, I don't know. I'd have to ask.
Although I generally like to know with whom exactly I agree, I'm with the anonymouses on this. Immunization is a good thing, for Ruby and for everybody else. It wasn't that long ago that some of these diseases were freakily present - I've had TWO boyfriends whose fathers were striken with polio as children and had the shrunken leg and limp to prove it, and my mother's high school yearbook had a spread on the polio ward, with the big huge iron lung looking things and the sad faces of the kids in them. Also, a colleague of mine (an adult man) came down with a horrible virus last year that just about wiped him out and he was told that it could have been prevented with a vaccine.
Freaky as a giant shot called Pediarix is, I think the science behind vaccinations is pretty solid.
Joanne, I'd strongly recommended at least putting them off to take more time and thoroughly research them.
You know what my decision was, and I'd be happy to talk a lot more with you about some of the things I found in my reading and why I made the decision I did.
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