Vaccinations

I have seen this topic spring up several times in the last few weeks. The feeling I get is that most people who choose to vaccinate cannot fathom why you would choose not to?! Why would you risk contracting a potentially deadly virus if you can prevent it? So I thought I'd give my opinion on the matter as best I can in a nutshell. I personally have two children who are partially vaccinated, and one that I chose to not vaccinate at all... so far. This is not a decision that I've taken lightly, nor is it a decision I made overnight or based on a single article or opinion. This decision came from an accumulation of ideas and connections I have made over the last five years.  This is why I rarely debate or try to convince people why I am against the current vaccination schedule, because it's near impossible to explain 5 years to someone in one conversation and if you want hard evidence, I can't exactly site all of my sources. Vaccinations do in fact help prevent the spread of these viruses, there's no disputing that. However some questions to consider are at what costs are we preventing these viruses and is there a better way to prevent them and gain immunity? I am not against vaccinations nor do I think that people who do vaccinate are making a bad decision. However there is information I believe to be true that has made me rethink the decision to impose the rigorous mainstream vaccination schedule on my own children.

1. The standard vaccination age is too young in my opinion. I understand the 0-5 age is a more vulnerable stage of life where their tiny immune systems are not as developed and therefore more susceptible to disease. But that is exactly why I feel they shouldn't be exposed to partially live viruses and artificial additives at that time either! 0-5 is by far the most delicate and fragile stage of development in a human's entire life! Their little bodies are growing and changing so rapidly on a daily basis and all the more vulnerable to a negative reaction.

2. I feel like the ingredients in vaccinations should be explained in detail to parents before a child in injected. I don't think physicians are trying to hide this information on purpose, but if you are injecting my child with any substance through a needle, that would seem like an important routine thing to do. Im sure they have that information available, I just wonder why it is not routinely provided when a vaccination is given? Especially knowing that the majority if not all vaccinations contain preservatives and/or toxic metals.

3. Speaking of negative reactions, the numbers speak for themselves as far as healthy children in this country and adverse reactions are more commonly linked to vaccinations than most people think. Asthma, allergies, frequent "mild" illness (cough, runny nose, fever), autism, vision impairment, deafness, and cancer are some of the conditions you become more susceptible to when you are vaccinated very young. And it is my opinion that vaccinations as well as a diet lacking in nutrients are the main contributors to the dramatic increase of these illnesses in the last 50 years. Autism is a perfect example of this. In the 1940s the number of autistic children was 1 in 10,000, in 2008 it was 1 in 88. Many people will have no side effects whatsoever, more frequently will have the first few I mentioned and even less commonly are the latter. This is because everyone has a different biological makeup and will not respond the same way as someone else.

4. Vaccinations did not act alone in reducing the spread of these viruses. In fact clean water, sanitation, and nutrition awareness around the same time period were MAJOR contributors, and still are.

5. Vaccinations do not provide true immunity, but rather herd immunity. Herd immunity basically means that a weakened version of the disease still exists but without the extreme reactions we used to see before vaccinations. You could very well have measles but you wouldn't know it since your symptoms would be very mild and flu-like. This is why immunized people still get sick when there is an outbreak and also why people need booster vaccinations their entire life. Alternatively if you were to contract a virus and fight it on your own (i.e. no vaccination), you would have actual immunity.

Again, none of these realizations came to me over night, and I've really only scratched the surface here. These ideas have been reiterated to me over and over in the last few years through my own personal health research, as I have strived to increase my understanding of the body and the physical effects that any food or substance has on it. Last week I stumbled onto an article about vaccinations that gives a pretty comprehensive explanation (from an expert) on many of my concerns. To me I don't think you can make a well informed decision until you've looked at what both sides have to say. You can read that article HERE. At the end of the day I know that good parents choose to vaccinate and good parents choose not to vaccinate. I feel fortunate to live in a time and place where information is shared so easily and I have the opportunity to research and decide for myself.