Vaccinations..Are they 'really' necessary?

I read in some magazine-Time I believe-a while back about the actual necessity of certain vaccines. Alot of people talked about how some of the vaccines caused severe problems, even mental retardation in young children who were otherwise born completely normal. I know that here in the states you cannot start school without having certain vaccines, so as a parent you ultimately have no choice whether you have your child vaccinated or not, if you want your child in school.

I know it's a difficult decision for a parent because if you don't have your child vaccinated, then they could of course come down with some life-threatening illness but on the other hand if you do-then they could become brain damaged or die. There were actually parents comments in the magazine that absolutely 'refused' to have their little ones vaccinated. And doctors who spoke of the low side affects of certain vaccines.

So here's my questions and concern..Do you think it's absolutely necessary? Did you even study the vaccines before having them given to your child? Or did you just do it..no questions asked because 'they' tell us we have to? Also, if you are from another country, are certain vaccines required there as well?
Thanks Magestica

Yes they are important, just becuase some get retardation or have side affects doesn't mean that the need of the few outway the need of the many.

But just HOW important are they? I mean really? Most of the vaccines we have today we didn't have years ago and people did just fine. How would you feel if you had your child vaccinated at 2 and then she became mentally or physically handicapped? That is very alarming to me..even if the percentage is low.

They don't give us a choice to know how our children will do without certain vaccines because as I stated above, they can't go to school without them..So how can we honestly say that they won't be safe without them when we aren't given the choice? There's no study of say, 100 kids who never get them compared to 100 kids who do..so we can't know. Does that make sense?

Parents have a choice when it comes to vaccinating their childen, even in school, it can be avoided.

You could test a child to see if they need vaccinations.

But i do agree that it is alarming, that a lot of children are having severe side affects.

They're injecting you and your infants with the poison.

We don't have a choice, unless we home school our kids, they have to have their vaccines up to date-you cannot start school if you are missing any or they are out of date.

How can you test a child to find out if they need a certain vaccine or not? That seems impossible. There aren't any test out there *that I'm aware of* that could tell if your child is at higher or lower risks of certain vaccinated illnesses or diseases?? And also if you are military affiliated-you absolutely HAVE to be up to date on your vaccines and your childs vaccines.

I did get my daughter all her infant/toddler shots but I thought long and hard about it..and prayed that she would be OK. But my point is, are they really necessary enough to have parents *guessing* and hoping that their child will not become one of those 'low' statistics that cause major problems from certain shots?

*As a side note* We still don't know the full outcome of certain vaccines-anthrax being one major one-luckily civilians aren't forced to take that shot.

There has been a lot of controversy over the MMR (mumps, measles and rubella) vaccination in recent years. Many parents are worried about the dangers of this particular combination and some are chosing to opt out of having their children protected. (in earlier years measles was a single jab, mumps was not given and rubella jabs were only given to adolescent girls)

However I guess as a parent you have to weigh up the pros and cons of the vaccination. Yes there is a small risk your child could be harmed by it, but there is a greater risk, especially in the case of measles, that your child could become seriously ill and perhaps die. Rubella is only dangerous to pregnant women and unless you are an adult male, mumps is uncomfortable but not fatal (speaking from personal experience here!)

What's with the new chicken pox vaccine? I had chicken pox and so did everyone else I know that's around my age. And we all survived just fine, maybe a few scars and that's all. But there seems to be more danger in the vaccine then actually contracting it..makes no sense to me? PLUS, you can get vaccinated and still get it?? I also had mumps arc..yeah, it was slightly uncomfortable, but didn't seem life-threatening to me.

Originally posted by magestica
But just HOW important are they? I mean really? Most of the vaccines we have today we didn't have years ago and people did just fine. How would you feel if you had your child vaccinated at 2 and then she became mentally or physically handicapped? That is very alarming to me..even if the percentage is low.

They don't give us a choice to know how our children will do without certain vaccines because as I stated above, they can't go to school without them..So how can we honestly say that they won't be safe without them when we aren't given the choice? There's no study of say, 100 kids who never get them compared to 100 kids who do..so we can't know. Does that make sense?

They did just fine without them, except those who died of the diseases because there weren't vaccines.

The world seems safer than it is because of the vaccines.

Should have made it clearer in my last post (to broad I supose).

Parents have a choice when it comes to vaccinating their childen, even in school, it can be avoided. by FoxStriker

I stand by my comment, if the child is found to have an allergic reaction or is cleared by a doctor, he can go to school with other children.

You could test a child to see if they need vaccinations

Go to a doctor and see if they might have an allergic reaction to the vaccination or if it would be safe to administer the vaccination.

I was going to say a counter argument, but Arc took the words right out of my mouth

Do you have kids Fox? If not then you couldn't possibly validate what you are saying..

There is no way to test first to see if a child could/would be allergic to the vaccine without first giving the vaccine?? They are given in a series, so if your child has a reaction to the first one only then would they know that your child is allergic..but the child would still be given the first series, so I don't understand how you are coming to your conclusion?

BTW..my daughter DID have a mild allergic reaction to one of the vaccines, but they still gave her the rest of the series because they said that it wasn't a high enough reaction to not give the rest, and the second set of the same shot, she had no reaction..

Do you know what the severe allergic reations are? Usually they are not seen until later-months later..so it's impossible to know up front.
Magestica

I've heard a lot of bad things about these shots from my sister who has 3 kids. The first child developed a very critical case of Jondice (spelling?). The child was fine when born, but this didnt start coming around till after the vaccinations. The doctors dont know if it was natural or it was a reaction to the vaccinations. The second child seems to be just fine. The third child had some pretty bad heart palpatations from the vaccinations. So, from almost first hand experience two of the three that got them had some severe problems. But then again it could just be the individual children. I dont plan on getting our kids vaccinated, and they're going to home school. Like Magestica said, people didnt have these shots 30-40 years ago and are just fine.

When I was 3 or 4, somewhere around there I had a vaccination, to this date, i still have this massive scar on my right leg, it looks like a big 5 except all purple and stuff, its really wierd, I think the vaccination was some "booster shot" or something

we'll according the Homer Simpson and his made up stuff on the "Mr X. Web page" the flu shot is a conspiracy. When he was on the island the guy said they gave them at x-mas so that people would go on a shopping frenzy

Vaccines are important....have been and will always be so.

As to them injecting "poison"......thats the "snake" calling the kettle black ain't it?!?

I had them, got a scar, no biggie....but I am positive that it contributed to me have a "better chance" at fighting and surviving. Small-pox is quite an example, in light of the millions who died from it when exposed to it.

In light of conspiracies and theories of the such heavily eroding this world in their stench, vaccines are justly warrented as a "better surviability tool."

regards
seekerof

I had a measles vacination. Guess what I got when I was 8? Actually a lot of vacinations are down right dangerous. My sister who deals in infectious diseases at a major hospital in Chicago was strongly urged by the U.S. government to get a smallpox vacination. She and most of her co-workers declined due to the side effects. But she did stash enough of the vacination for our immediate family if it is needed.

Personally i don't believe in vaccinations or any kind of synthetic medicine, this is as i feel that they all just fill your body with crap and weaken your natural immune system. This is going to be a very vague comparison but here goes. It has been proven that steroid users have smaller testicles than non users, this is as steroids are an external testosterone, therefore your testies dont need to produce there own. The end result is impotence, and this doent just get magically reversed when use stops. So i tend to liken this to my view of non natural medicines, i feel that id rather feel really bad for a few days with a cold and have a stronger immune system at the end, than dose up with drugs that i no nothing about, that will just take the task away from my natural defenses. Once again soory for the rather abstract analogy

I believ it is up to the parent to look into the pros and cons......

I did give my daughter the early vaccinations as a baby but never when she was feeling unwell or with a cold!

There was a documantary here a few yrs back about the vaccinations that are given today and a few of the doctors interviewed did not agree with the vaccinations that were given to babies,toddlers and young children!
The doctor had said that he did not give his children all of the vaccinations offered.

I believe that a child should boost his/her own immune system before taking in any form of the vaccine......the vaccines (oral as some are administered)are actually from animals and that is why they ask if the child waits 6months before its vaccination.......alergy to egg is a sign not to have the vaccination.....because of the alergic reaction it may give.......

I think here in Australia there is requirement for children to have all their vaccinations done before going to school!

Then there's home schooling ......which is not very popular here inm Australia..

Read alot and ask many questions when in doubt........It is your child and who most cares about your child then yourself!
helen

Here are some very interesting links:

The Dangers of the Billion Dollar Vaccine Business

Frequently Asked Questions about Vaccines

The Polio Vaccine Myth

Doctors and Scientists who condemn Vaccinations

The Beneficial Nature of Childhood Infection

Health - The only Immunity

The Government's Secret Database

Is YOUR Child at Risk

There are many other links located here

Originally posted by Thomas Crowne
They did just fine without them, except those who died of the diseases because there weren't vaccines.

The world seems safer than it is because of the vaccines.

Agreed... and I should add that as a member of *the* most vaccinated population in the world (children of professional military personnel) no one that we or our families or friends knew ever died or had serious side effects from any vaccination. And I've had them all -- must have had the smallpox vaccine at least four times.

Check the health of missionaries' children. Like military brats, they've been vaccinated numerous times *and* they (like we) live in some of the most polluted places on earth.

These two groups should show the highest risk and the highest incidence of illness/death/damage from vaccinations... and we don't. But check it out for yourselves.