Immunization

On Tuesday I was watching a rerun of the Law & Order SVU episode where the underlining topic was the parents’ choice to vaccinate or not to vaccinate their children.  This got me thinking about all the vaccinations that I have had through out my life and all the vaccinations my children have received so far.  I always question, are we truly immunized for life?  To be honest, I do not have an answer to my own question.

I will start by sharing my personal story from my childhood.  I have had all the necessary vaccinations including the smallpox vaccine; the former Soviet Unionvaccinated against smallpox through out the 1980’s.  Also as a child I have been sick with everything under the sun.  I had regular measles, German measles, chickenpox and scarlet fever.  They say that if you have been sick with the measles or chickenpox that you are likely to be immune.  The key word is LIKELY and it is not guaranteed.  When I got pregnant with my daughter and the doctor ran all the necessary tests, I was informed that I had no antibodies against the measles.  Not having antibodies meant that I was susceptible to the virus.  REALLY?  Being sick with the measles as a child and having the vaccine in the past, I was not immune.  If you are pregnant it is extremely dangerous if you get sick with the measles. Thank goodness I was fine during my pregnancy and after I gave birth I received a booster shot of the MMR vaccine.

When it came to make the choice for our children, my husband and I decided to vaccinate.  I trust my children’s pediatrician and I consulted with my uncle who is a doctor.  I remember being very against the chickenpox vaccine.  I felt that if a child gets sick with the chickenpox they will build up their own immune system, so why vaccinate?  My uncle educated me on the severe side affects from chickenpox including brain swelling.  My uncle’s son who was sick with chickenpox at age three had severe side affects due to the illness.  He had a fever over 104 degrees, extreme rash, blisters and other symptoms.  I did not want my kids to suffer the intense affects of the illness, I decided to vaccinate.

With all that said, the state of Connecticut requires your child to receive the following vaccines when entering kindergarten: Hepatitis B, MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella), Polio, DTaP (Tetanus), Varicella (Chickenpox).

From April 21st – April 28th is the National Infant Immunization Week (NIIW).  The overview of the NIIW can be found on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/events/niiw/overview.html.  On the website you can also find other pertinent information including the 2012 Recommended Immunization for Children.

I encourage everyone to educate themselves and make the choice that is right for you and your family

Below is a 2012 Recommended Immunization for Children Through 6 Years Old, thanks to the cdc.gov website.

11 thoughts on “Immunization”

  1. What a great article. I read a scary article about the dangers of vaccinations in this month’s issue of Natural Nutmeg and one of the things is said was, in the 1980’s children received around 10 vaccinations – now they get 36. I was shocked, and not sure if this information was correct or not. This topic is one that makes me grateful my children were born in the 1980’s – before any of these concerns were raised, I never had to make a difficult choice. But with two 20-something young adult children – I stay on top of this subject because I anticipate being a grandmother one of these years and I want to make sure my children have all the necessary information to make an informed choice. I had chicken pox as an adult – and passed it to my children. I was never so sick in my life, they had it a bit easier than me simply because they had youth on their side, but it was horrible. I hope there is more research into the health risks of vaccinations because more and more parents are making the choices based on what they read in the media, and the media tends to jump on the story that makes the most alarming headlines.

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  3. Another good resource for parents making the vaccination decision is The Vaccine Book by Dr. Bob Sears (yes, that Sears … the Sears natural family enterprise of parenting books, some people love them some hate them, I know). He basically says that there is not enough research to answer definitively whether X vaccine versus another kind, etc., is “safe” or “unsafe.” In fact, such research will likely never happen, because no one wants to fund it, or because it would be practically impossible to conduct it at that level of precision. But he lays out a lot of evidence-based research that does exist and gives parents straightforward points to consider – it’s written by a doctor, but in a way lay people can understand. After reading the book we decided it was worth vaccinating, but some may decide differently – and while that sounds contradictory, it’s really not. It’s all about making peace with a decision that could honestly go either way after reviewing all the existing data.

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  4. I was provaccine when my son was born until he was diagnosed with A.D.E.M. (accute disseminated encyphalomilitis). It’s a neuro-immunological disorder that was triggered by a cold. Just a regular virus. BUT, it can also be triggered by a vaccine, especially a live vaccine. Basically any virus that is introduced to the body.
    Each virus has an epitope. think of it as a bubble around the virus. This “bubble”s molecular structure happened to resemble the molecular structure in my son’s myelin (a fatty coating around the nervous system). When his immune system started to fight the virus, it also attacked his myelin, leaving lesions in the white matter in his brain and spinal cord. He was 11 months old and was placed on life support for 5 days at the Yale PICU. He was paralized and blinded by essentially “a cold”. Fever, sniffles, and a runny nose, just a plain old cold.
    Fortunately, when demylinating disorders happen to children, their brains aren’t mapped yet as ours are and his was able to remap itself and he has recovered 90% of his functions. He does still have slight paralises on his left side, but if you met him, you might not even notice. Trust me, it doesn’t stop him from keeping me running after him. He’ll three next month and I’m VERY GRATEFUL for modern medicine.
    So, ask me if I vaccinate? You might think no, but I do.
    I’ve seen swelling in the brain. I’ve seen my child so sick that we didn’t know if he would make it through the next hour so I will do anything so make sure that doesn’t happen again. The only reason he hasn’t had his live vaccines is because since he is immuno-compromised, he is on a extremely cautious, delayed schedule.
    Everytime he has gotten a vaccine since that day, I’ll be honest, I take a xanax. I’m so scared that it will happen again, but I know the alternative.
    Everyone talks about herd immunity, but the second you step on a plane or go into a public place that has a higher chance of meeting someone from a foreign country, umm.. basically anywhere, herd immunity is out the window.
    I know this is a personal subject for everyone and I’m not telling my story to sway anyone of you. What happened to my son was extremely rare. 7 out of 1,000,000 people have ADEM every year… that’s rare. Vaccines can be good and bad. It’s up to you to decide for your family what is best, just be educated about it.

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    2. Erin- thank you for sharing your story! Terrifying! As for herd immunity, I am with you. I know there are people with immunity disorders who might be greatly affected by things that healthier people may be able to fight off. This is a reason I feel its so important to have everyone vaccinated- to lessen the spread of these diseases. Yes, I lived through chicken pox and Haemophilus B as a child, but I want my sons vaccinated against it so they don’t get it and spread it to someone who might die from it. We fly a lot, so I really wanted my sons protected as soon as possible from as much as possible.

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  5. Great information. I have seen many more parents choosing not to vaccinate and many times it’s because of a lack of information. Most don’t seem to realize the consiquence not vaccinating can have on their children now and in the future as well as their family members. Many of the disease have not been see in the US in years becasuse of vaccinations but now that many are making the choose not to these diseases are appearing again and can cause great harm to those who are not vaccinated or those with weak immune systems. Yes, there can be side effects to vaccinations but the chance of side effects is much lower then the chance of getting one of these diseases becaue you are not vaccinated. Most of the side effects are minor if they do occur and go away over time, while many of these disease can lead to life long conditions and sometimes even death. And yes, there is treatment for many of these dieases that one may get if they are not vaccinated, but many of these treatments have even worse side effects and many are not 100% effective.

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  8. Thanks for this post Sofia. I love how you approached it in a non-judgemental way and simply encourage parents to get educated about their choices. Nice job!

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  9. Thank you for this post and for the information. I agree that it’s important. Since vaccines aren’t 100% effective, the key is herd immunity. In theory, if everyone is vaccinated, the likelihood of the people in the small percentage for whom the vaccine is not effective will not be exposed. I think sometimes people loose sight of the seriousness of the illnesses against which we vaccinate. My brother had a horrible secondary infection from chicken pox. He had a temperature of almost 105 and was hospitalized while we were in a foreign country. Terrifying.

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