WARNING WARNING CONTROVERSIAL!

Vaccination is not a topic I have ever had a burning desire to blog about, because although usually non-vaxers hate vaxers and vaxers hate non-vaxers, I am very "live and let live" on this subject. Boiled down to its essence, my stance on this is that since none of the mothers I know are epidemiologists or microbiologists, and I don't personally know anyone who has conducted a peer reviewed double blind study on vaccination, we are all just parents who are trying to make what we think is the right decision for our children. Period, the end.

But as luck would have it, Miles's upcoming first birthday (and first MMR shot on the AAP schedule) has converged with the news story on the faked autism-vaccine link (you've seen it, I don't need to link do I?) and also a discussion with my crunchy mom group on vaccinations. And so... sigh... I have to get this off my chest.

One of my new friend sent me a series of well intentioned messages and articles about the dangers of vaccination. I have read her research paper on this same topic. I read the articles she sent me. I understand that she is sincere in her concern and not just trying to earn Internet Argument points. But I've had enough. Because I  still plan to give Miles the scheduled vaccines this month, and all she has succeeded in doing is making me really afraid again.

I dealt with this fear when I was pregnant. I researched ahead of time about what I was going to do. I didn't know, but I purposely chose a pediatrician who agreed to alternative vax scheduling just in case I wanted to go that way. I found all the information really confusing. Internet sources are sketchy most of the time. Ultimately I figured that Dr. Sears, my old nemesis (I kid), was a reasonable source of information since he is not mainstream or a Big Pharma shill, but is still a licensed pediatric physician who probably has a good working knowledge of how to read scientific research papers. What I found in his book was that he felt there was no reason to believe that any of the major vaccines is more dangerous than the diseases they aim to prevent. He is careful to be accepting of parents who want to delay or skip vaccinations, but to my eye he pretty clearly feels confident in the safety of these vaccines, and does believe that kids who go to daycare and/or school are probably better off getting them. You can read his take on the MMR vaccine here.

So I decided that settled the matter for me and I wasn't going to dwell on it or keep wading through confusing Internet sites. Am I 100% sure of my decision? No. But as a parent you have to move beyond paralysis and make decisions. That is one thing I know for sure. Yes, it is scary sometimes. But avoiding these decisions is just a way of shirking the responsibility for them.

Now, my new friend hasn't convinced me vaccines are dangerous, not by a long shot. She urged me to read the ingredients of the MMR vaccine, which she claimed are ALL toxic to the human body. I saw sugar, salt, amino acids, proteins, blood products. She insisted they are all toxic FORMS of those innocent-sounding ingredients. Well, how on earth would she know that? And she claimed that the shot contains thimerasol, which it does not (who's the careful researcher now?), and also.... aborted baby cells. Which cause cancer. Apparently.

For me all rational discussion ends there. I guess this is the Godwinning of the vaccine debate. When you throw aborted babies in there I don't think civilized discourse is possible anymore. So that ends that.

Still, as little sense as that all made to me, it brought my anxiety bubbling back up to the surface, just in time to bring Miles in for more shots. Great. I'm just going to talk to his doctor, whom I DO trust, to reassure myself before the needles come out.

Now let me say this: I will still be friends via playgroup with this woman. I still don't judge people for not vaccinating, though I know many people do and find non-vaxers socially irresponsible and stupid and all that. I don't think they're stupid - I think they're afraid.  If anything I think the popularity of that fear points to a failure on the part of the medical community to show that they are unbiased, not bought & sold by pillmakers. Anyone who's seen a Big Pharma sales rep hanging around the doctor's office laughing and chatting with the nurses (I have) has good reason to feel uneasy about the relationship between money and medicine. I get that. But in the end I disagree with their decision and am making a different choice.