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One thing that people forgot to mention is that 17 years ago they didn't have as many vaccines as today. I wonder if you know the schedule for vaccinations now. I wonder if they were given HepB vaccine to babies on the second day of their lives.
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I guess we have to agree to disagree. Since I will be 60 years-old in a couple of months, I well know about childhood diseases. I remember almost going blind from chicken pox (!), being kept in a totally dark room so that I could keep my eyesight. I had measles .... TWICE....thus, the theory of having vaccines more than once is very similar to having something like measles more than once. I remember that I was 18 the second time I had them and my mother laughing that I was 18 and had the measles -- a "childhood" disease ... which, obviously, affects older people, too.
I had mumps....TWICE! Thus, again, showing one reason why vaccines are given again. So, even in nature these diseases can reoccur. If they occur when a person is older, all the more devastating, and especially with men who can become sterile.
I am in the age group that is NOT required to have vaccines. If you look at any vaccination sheet, you will see a list of age groups required to have the vaccines. My age group is exempt. Why? Because those who didn't die or may have ended up with after-effects of the diseases, still survived, thus, we are "immune." (Although, as I said, I had some of these diseases more than once!)
Polio is making a return in different parts of the world? Why? Because people are becoming complacent. Those who did not grow up with these diseases as a part of daily life, don't remember them. I also hear of measles and chicken pox around these parts because many people are resisting vaccines.
Ironically, more and more mothers work, and if one is from my generation, mothers, thank goodness, often didn't work -- and that allowed them to care for the often sick children! Especially if you had more than one or two kids! My mom had four children ... you can imagine how often she was nursing us...one at a time! I would often think about that when my daughter had her vaccinations, and I'd marvel at the fact that I rarely had to take off work to care for an illness.
By the way, severe allergies run in my family, and I came from the generation that did not have vaccinations! Therefore, I do not believe there is a direct correlation to allergies, asthma and all of that from vaccines. My ex-husband had a cousin with severe autism...he's also in the age group of those who do not have to have immunizations....
And, with homeopathy, it
is the nature of "like cures like." I do know my alternative medicine, too, having worked at one of the very first large well-known alternative clinics in the world. At our clinic, we also incorporated "real" medicine, too, such as antibiotics when necessary. We used a large array of treatments from herbal, to biofeedback, to poultices, to massage, to manipulations, to meditation and to regular medicine, as well.
I still think it is irresponsible to not provide protection for your children -- especially as the number of people refusing vaccines grow, and more people home-school. You could organize a group of people of like-mind to build an intentional community -- off-line and in real life -- and that would be something you may want to think about. There is a "Communities" magazine (google it) and you can find others who will be available to join. I don't think it's fair that our kids protect your kids because you don't want to do it, yet, you benefit from our consciousness in using immunizations.
Oh, and as for Hepatitis -- I almost died from that, too. Had there been any vaccine at the time, I might not have been at death's door. It took me nearly two years to recover. And, of course, now I'm "immune!" (Took almost dying to get to that point, when nowadays people can just have a vaccine.)
As you can see, I do know what I am talking about. And I'm not even old enough to have had polio -- fortunately, the polio vaccine was given when I was in elementary school. I have older friends who were crippled for life as a result of surviving that disease.
When more and more younger people opt out of having vaccines, we will see a rise in these diseases more. I think more conscientious people exist than not -- and, of course, as has been mentioned before, schools do require proof of immunizations -- and there's a reason for that -- they are contagious!!
Unfortunately, my generation is going to be dying off in the next couple of decades, and then what will be left are just stories of those who had these diseases. My daughter will be one of the kids who can talk about how her mom had these diseases, and she will understand about the value of vaccines. Also, when she went to South America as an exchange student, I had her receive a couple of more vaccines as extra protection. As I said, having been through the era of serious illness, almost dying, and seeing that there are vaccines for most of those illnesses now, I did not want her to become extremely ill or die from a now preventable disease.
I hope that those who are thinking about rejecting immunizations for your children, will
thoroughly (and I don't mean reading some magazine articles) research these topics. If you are a biochemist or microbiologist, then you will have a better knowledge of their uses. There are too many articles that are fearful about these topics. I have seen first-hand how people get caught up in these differences, with little or no personal experience.
Obviously, there is free will and free choice in this country -- and I assume most people who do not vaccinate their children home-school them. For those who are on the fence about them, and don't homeschool, I hope that some of my experiences of having gotten some of these diseases more than once, almost dying, my ex having an autistic member in his family, and our allergies and asthma running in our family, help to moderate any qualms about getting immunizations. I honestly have seen how the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages.
And that's all I'm adding about that because I refuse to get into it with people who have not gone through it, and have minimal experience with these things. I feel comfortable in my decision, I know that my child is protected and in turn, she protects others, and I have survived many of these diseases, although it wasn't fun going through them, and I am glad that vaccines were developed.
Have fun with the discussion!
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