General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Anti-vax asshat RFK Jr. on Dr. Oz, promoting his anti-vax asshat book... [View all]barbaraj
(80 posts)to discuss. When we have children we spend important time choosing ob's, pediatricians, hospitals, birth plans, strollers, nursing systems, car seats, it makes sense that we look at our children's vaccine schedule. But to discuss vaccines ,imo, the most important decision making topic we have, is to give yourself a scarlet letter. I admittedly read everything on the topic. Would I ,as example give my child a dtp after reading this, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3284047/, no. But did I get her a dtap, yes. Am I called an antivaxer, yes, my reading has placed a question mark above a few vaccines. I would not get her an HPV vaccine as a nine year old, the effectiveness doesn't seem to last into the teens. Would I consider it at age 17, maybe. Do I think vaccines played a part in autism, yes. Do I know which ones, no, I depend on studies to provide that information, and there seems to be a failure to proceed with that particular line of science. Is every child at risk, I doubt it, we may one day identify the at risk children and find other ways to protect them. Do I believe that genetics cause autism, it's likely, it's likely that a group of the susceptible would never develop autism without vaccines as the trigger. But since the numbers are rising along with the addition of vaccines to the schedule we may find out it's not so rare a susceptibility. So I do what I do, try to make decisions for my OWN family, I would never tell a person, don't get that shot because "I read", I go to the science, and the science is played in a balance, they use the "weight of evidence", the 'consensus", making it even more difficult for decision making. It's similar to a poll, a board is called in to review the science, five may agree, four my not. The winner gets published. We see a generation of kids in the seventies to eighties that took their vaccines, and they were fine, making that old schedule look pretty tempting.Vaccines alone do not cause autism, but some do cause encephalitis, and encephalitis can result in autistic behaviors, and autistic behaviors bear the label autism. If you choose a lighter schedule, or based on your findings choose not to vaccinate a child,who you believe has the susceptibility , you are not a heretic, you are simply doing what's best for your family. Antivax is an ugly label, and can do nothing but end the conversation. How many of us give our kids aspirin? When our mothers stopped using it because of the whisperings, ten years before the science, twenty years before the bayer admission, they were considered, "hippies".