For 12 years now, more or less, I have been reading magazine articles and books, searching the internet for hours upon hours, talking to Doctors in Medicine, Natropaths, Midwives & Doulas, Chiropractors, friends, family, strangers, attending talks and a seminar here and there, and more...all to get a more informed decision made on Immunizations, Vaccinations, Innoculations, Homeopathic Immunizations and every other alternative I could find. This has not been easy, and if I had a better retention on what I have learned, I could write my own book on the matter.
Here is a little bit of info on Dr. Sears The Vaccine Book: It was very informative and more balanced than I have read in a book form (albeit still very pro-vaccine). Each disease & vaccine was discussed in length, along with how the vaccine is made and what is in the injection upon use. He was admittingly uneasy with the lack of better tracking of vaccines and their effects on infants/children/adults over a longer time span, and he was also uneasy with who was paying for certain "studies" in his reference section. Aluminun has a fairly lengthy discussion in the book, as it is very toxic in humans with not enough studies on this heavy metal. Dr. Sears listed 3 seperate vaccine schedules for infants/children that I thought were intersting.
~AAP 2007 Schedule
~Selective Vaccination Schedule- Only the most important vaccines that he feels are non-negotiable and have the smallest side effects.
~Alternative Vaccination Schedule- All the diseases, but spread out over longer periods of time with more shots & Dr. visits, to lessen the effects of each disease on the body and to limit aluminun exposure.
I am personally keen on the Selective Schedule at this point, but since I am starting another book on the subject, I will withhold my liking to it for now. The next book is promoted by Peggy O'Mara from Mothering Magazine and likes it for the lack of "hype" behind it, a balanced bridge between both worlds.
We have only done homeopathic immunizations in pillule form, for Morgan mostly as a toddler that is, and it worked like a charm for Chicken Pox. With that in mind, I am not sure if we even need to do most of those shots anyway since we have the diseases in a kit form and can give at anytime someone is exposed to a disease or shows symptoms.
When my oldest, Morgan, was 3 and we were a part of a cooperative preschool in Oregon City, Chicken Pox was going around and one day he had 15 C.Pox on his right shoulder. He had been getting the homeopathics from time to time as a routine schedule administered by mouth and by me at home. The preschool wanted him to stay home for a full 2 weeks or until the pox were gone. No fever, no lethargy, nothing, just pox. A month later, he got them again, but about 15 of them on the left shoulder this time. Once again, no co-op for us until they were gone, and again, no fevers, no sickness, just pox. After they scabbed (they were tiny and mild), we went and got what I think is called a titer test, and the labs checked his antibodies for C.Pox. The tests showed he had the antibodies, and so the "homeopathic experiment" was successful! They worked! They allowed him to get the disease in the mildest of forms, one that allows his body to create some strong antibodies without all the junk in shots.
So why am I obsessed with vaccinations still then if homeopathics worked so well? Well, every winter I panic when Pertusis season comes around, researching homeopathics and vitamin therapies for good ole Whooping Cough, just in case. I have a file of all the info on this should it hit our house due to not vaccinating. We ironically have used almost our whole vial of Pertussis because I dole it out to all the kids when a "funny cough" is present. I guess getting titers for all of them would be better at this point, fear is no fun and hard to manage a household of children with fear of illness in mind. Fear surrounding diseases abound on the internet though. If you look up a rash or disease, you get stories or pictures of the WORST case scenarios, hard to make a rational and informed decision based on all of that hype! Fear sells though.
The other reason, we will all be vaccinated at some point, we want to travel to the jungles of Costa Rica, Australian Outback, visit Brazil, Mexico and part of India. Japan and China would be fun to see too. With travel in mind, vaccines are inevitable for our whole family, but learning everything about them and how to boost our immune systems A LOT with vitamins, minerals, herbs and homeopathics...side effects from the vaccines are much slimmer.
We are bacially running on "herd immunity" at this point, getting by because so many around us are vaccinated, giving my kids a "get out of shots free" ticket. The moral issue is personal choice/freedom to choose what is best on an individual level, or a more herd-like approach that protects the nation/world as a whole? I am uneasy with the last one because I don't feel that long term studies have been done on what type of disease come from the vaccines themselves...eczema, arthritis, diabetes, cancers...and on and on, LATER in life. In reading the history of vaccinations (which the word derives from the Latin world Vacca, which means Cow...which is how people were treating small-pox,originally from cow-pox scabs), no one has ever gotten it right for too long and without MUCH cost to humans. No long term studies/trials or even TRACKING what happens. Then there is the whole no daycare/and breastfeed for 3ish years that protects the heck out of the kids from even needing most of the shots because they outgrow the need for protection.
I could go on, but it is sunny out and the kids are needing me. So research stops for now, and life goes on, because that is why I do this, for my kids.
I am no expert, but try really hard to learn everything I can for MY family. I can give info I have learned, but don't want others to take my advice on what they *should* with their own children. I don't want the responsibility of their outcomes, that is for them to be responsible for. My strong advice...research, research and more research!!!
