Show Me the Science
While pregnant with now-4yo Drake, I read about possible links between vaccines and autism. I also read about negative effects of vaccines. So I did my own research. I asked not one doctor, but several. From the doctors and from the research, I found no hard science that proved vaccines to be harmful. Again and again, the proven, duplicated studies showed that vaccines were effective not only in preventing diseases in individuals, but in populations. And mercury-containing thimerosol is no longer used as a preservative in children’s vaccines, and hasn’t been in some years.
This NYT article reports an outbreak of measles in California, where many parents have exercised their right not to vaccinate. My research, but also my own medical history, led me to choose to vaccinate my kids.
When my sisters and I were young, my father chose not to vaccinate us for mumps. He was trained in pediatrics, and didn’t feel the vaccination was effective. For my sixth birthday, I got mumps. I have vivid sensory memories of heat, and pain. Family pictures show me smiling feebly in front of a cake with huge cheeks. I had no party that year. A month later my sister Ruthie got mumps, just in time for her 4th birthday. Dad promptly got 2yo Sydney vaccinated. She was the only one of us not to get mumps.
This story is an anecdote. It’s not statistically significant. But along with the science, it’s part of why I think not vaccinating kids is short sighted. I also find it troubling that parents would choose to subject their kids to a chicken pox or measles “party”. Yes, there’s _some_ good science behind that–getting the virus would build a stronger, more natural immunity than that from a vaccine. But suppose you’re a kid–would you choose to be deliberately exposed to something that means high fever, severe discomfort, and possibly serious complications, up to and including DEATH?
Not me, and therefore, not my kids.
March 22nd, 2008 at 5:47 pm
everything i`ve read on the autism connection tied it to mercury / not the vacccines in general. and i (fairly recently) read on one of the kennedy`s web sites that we are still packing vaccines in mercury just not in the US…the ones we send to other countries, such as china, which is suddenly having an autism breakout ever since they started using them.
(hello from kyoto…)
March 22nd, 2008 at 10:09 pm
Yep, in MN the flu vaccines are still chock full o’ thimerosol for the over 2 crowd. I tried my hardest to find THM free vac’s for less than $50 and had no such luck, my HMO doesn’t even stock them for kids over 2. Fortunately, we made it through another winter without illness.
March 23rd, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Well said. I completely agree.
March 27th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
I think vaccines in general got demonized by the mercury connection, and I think many people threw the baby out with the bathwater because of it.
For the China thing, I’d be hesitant to opine till I saw a double-blind study. Stuff like this hits people’s panic button.
The most compelling stuff on autism I’ve read is by Simon Baron-Cohen (cousin of Sasha), who theorizes that its genetic, based on brain types.
I skipped flu vaccines for me and the kids. The thimerosol free were only available a short time, and our pediatrician said he isn’t convinced of their efficacy, though he carefully stated that his was an opinion that many other docs didn’t share. I agree with him, though, that there’s not good science to back up the flu shot.