Anyone Formerly Anti-Vaccine But Now Vaccinating?

[JumpyTheFrog]

Can we please keep this civil? If you are pro-vaccination and are worried about lack of herd immunity, can you please not start "yelling" about it? These threads usually go downhill, often because someone gets very worked up about herd immunity. I already know that herd immunity is a big concern for many of you. Can we please keep that for another thread? Thanks!

 

 

Is there anyone here that has gone from not vaccinating their kids to having them get some (or all) vaccines? I am reevaluating my position. I know plenty of people that have gone from vaccinating to not doing it. I want to hear the stories of people that have gone in the other direction. What led to you changing your mind? Was it an outbreak of something near you? Did you come across information that cast doubt on anti-vaccine viewpoints?

[twinmami01]

I'm all ears....

[Dandelion]

My journey has been the opposite (from pro-vaccine/fully vax'ing to selectively vaccinating). Just giving you a bump (and am interested in seeing the responses). :)

[Ipsey]

Hmm, I'm afraid I've always been a vac-er, but a friend of mine is a Doctor of chiropractic, and her husband is a Ph.D. in biology. They didn't immunize until their 3 kids were elementary school age. She explained it this way; she had been anti-vac because she wasn't vaccinated as a child, and it was sort of a source of pride. Her husband wanted the kids vaccinated but waited until she had convinced herself it was best. She read and read and read and finally decided that herd immunity was important enough that she decided to have her kids vaccinated. She was too.

 

I know that's second-hand, but well, I don't see any other answers here.

 

There was no outbreak, it was merely her interest in science and a thorough going-over of the research.

 

Sorry I can't give you more than that. I remember when her kids got vaccinated; we lived in the same town and discussed it.

[JumpyTheFrog]

Ipsey, thanks for the story.

[higginszoo]

I have a family member who held off on vaccines with her second son after her first showed signs of autism. He showed some signs anyway, and she did decide to vaccinate him, but I believe that she went with a selective schedule, separating the components as much as possible, using safer formulas when available. His autistic symptoms never developed like his brother's, though both are productive, accomplished young men now.

[Susan in KY]

I have waffled. I vax'ed one dc normally, but delayed/opted out on some for the second dc. I had no intention to re-vax now that they are of an age for boosters, but I have changed my mind. I will avoid certain vaccines due to noted problems (e.g., Gardasil), but I have decided that, as my children get older and they haven't yet had some of the diseases I had hoped they would (e.g., chicken pox), the danger of severity and side effects increases enough that I would rather they be vax'ed.

 

Herd immunity being what it is or is not—depending on the population we hang out with and the area—I don't want my soon-to-be adult children facing some potential hazards from my not having vax'ed, such as sterilization and the risk of birth defects. When they were younger, I worried more about the effects of the vaccines on their development. Now that they are older, I worry about the effects of the lack of a vaccine on their futures. So, I have flip-flopped.

 

It is still a bit troublesome to me, however, because I have a friend who was vax'ed at 18 and immediately began having petit-mal seizures. She is now 40 and still has them. So, I intend to go slowly, give them one at a time over a period of time, and avoid the "optional" ones, particularly Gardasil.

[JumpyTheFrog]

I had no intention to re-vax now that they are of an age for boosters, but I have changed my mind.

 

If I understand you correctly, before didn't vaccinate because you were worried about permanent side effects. Now you are more concerned about the disease than the vaccines for disease. Were you concerned about preservatives and adjuvants before? Are you still concerned about them?

[6packofun]

I was never totally anti-vaccine, but I am definitely of the much delayed vaccination mindset. That said, as our kids became teens we were still behind in their shots--not a huge deal to me, honestly--but they ALL volunteer at dh's workplace. A children's hospital. LOL

 

So, yeah, they had to get some vaccines. But not all of them and we spread them out and everything is fine. The dr. we take them to is very understanding and helpful. He doesn't push the HPV vaccine, for example. I feel like our kids have just enough and it was actually kind of nice to have them get titers and find out ONLY what they needed, for which ones they already had immunity, etc. (Our insurance coverage and even primary care physicians have changed many times so there was no "schedule") I still feel like our kids got the least amount absolutely necessary and I'm good with that.

[Ali in OR]

We've always vaccinated, but I'm reading a book now that may be of interest to you. Someone recommended it last week on the Book a Week thread and it sounded interesting so I picked it up.

 

The Panic Virus, written by Seth Mnookin and published in 2011, looks at the fear of vaccines. He goes through the history of vaccines and mistakes made by those implementing them as well as the mistakes made by those like Britain's Andrew Wakefield who raised the alarm about MMR and autism based on his own very shoddy scientific work that no one was ever able to verify or duplicate. Oh and he was being paid by those who wanted to bring huge lawsuits against the vaccine manufacturers. Mnookin also looks at the role of the media who hyped the stories to sell papers while they were also gutting their scientific staff who would have been most able to understand the science. It's a really interesting book and it might help you understand the background of the anti-vaccine arguments (and question their validity).

[sbgrace]

We vaccinated to 6 months when my son's health took a severe decline. No one knew what was wrong so we stopped while we figured it out. At 3.5 he was finally diagnosed with a metabolic condition and the geneticist told me he avoided many vaccines (the live ones particularly) for his patients so he was glad we didn't get the shots. I really felt at the time, and still feel, that I made the right choice waiting. I don't know how he would have handled the shots when he had an untreated metabolic condition and was already declining. I don't know that vaccines wouldn't have possibly triggered my other child.

 

We have gotten vaccines since though. A couple of years ago my son had an accident and we got a dpt booster for him. With pertussis going around I later got genetics OK to do a dpt with my metabolic kid. We've had an outbreak here. Metabolic kiddo may have got pertussis anyway but, if so, it was mild so I think the shot lessened the severity. Last year genetics recommended MMR given there is now measles in our state so I had both kids vaccinated. That wasn't, as it turned out, easy at all to do. Both kids got the flu vax this year because both my kids are asthmatic. Non-metabolic child has had the flu vax in the past as well because of asthma. I guess it's a cost/benefit for me right now and I'm relying on genetics to help me weigh the needs vs. risks.

 

FWIW, it's difficult to get select vaccines here. The pediatricians office outright refused to do vaccines when I asked for MMR because we weren't on the typical schedule. The health department took the same stand. Finally I called the health dept. begging and they agreed to do MMR on metabolics kid with a signed statement from genetics asking for it. I had to ask an MD relative to arrange MMR for the other child given he's not genetics patient.

 

I mentioned that we may need varicella at the new pediatricians office and they said they are uncomfortable with non-traditional schedules and would need genetics to write a prescription. I can't get that for the non-patient obviously. I was at the well check with the non-metabolic patient when I brought up the vaccine so I've got a mess on my hands. The MD relative has moved to another state. I don't know what I'm going to do to get that shot. I don't know why they would make vaccinating a child so difficult but, around here, they do. I imagine it has to do with liability concerns. You'd think there would be a bigger liability concern refusing a vaccine recommended for a child when the parent is begging for it but I guess not. I wish a medical professional would just agree we want to do what we can to protect from x and help me do that for my kids. But not around here apparently. I'm not very happy with pediatricians right now.

[MedicMom]

I was antivax until I had kids. I did a whole ton of research, primarily reading the actual studies. Eventually I felt that the anti-vax statements were overblown and the benefits outweighed the risks.

I do notice that as some of the childhood diseases have started making a comeback, there is less emphasis on "my kids are not at risk" to "the diseases weren't THAT bad.". To each their own, but I am glad that my kids are now fully vaxxed.

 

And I speak as one who had a serious allergic reaction to the DPT as well as varicella vaccine.

[Jennifer in MI]

Sort of? Our story is that we had the typical vaccines when our first and second were born. Oldest changed after his MMR. He was later diagnosed with Aspergers. We stopped vaccinating at that point. It wasn't that I was convinced that vaccines were the cause, but I was SO scared and leery.

 

Fast forward to two summers ago. Three of my kids (including the vaccinated ones) got whooping cough. It was absolutely horrific. Whooping cough was the ONLY disease I was scared for my kids to get.

 

Since then, we selectively vaccinate. We have a wonderful doctor who is willing to work with us on catching the kids up. We are still skipping certain ones, but so far, so good!!

[JumpyTheFrog]

I was antivax until I had kids. I did a whole ton of research, primarily reading the actual studies. Eventually I felt that the anti-vax statements were overblown and the benefits outweighed the risks.

 

Are you willing to be more specific about what claims you think are overblown? If you don't want to post here, you can PM me.

 

I want to read about the facts. I want to avoid hysteria from either side.

 

I will look up the books previous posters recommended.

[6packofun]

 

FWIW, it's difficult to get select vaccines here. The pediatricians office outright refused to do vaccines when I asked for MMR because we weren't on the typical schedule. The health department took the same stand. Finally I called the health dept. begging and they agreed to do MMR on metabolics kid with a signed statement from genetics asking for it. I had to ask an MD relative to arrange MMR for the other child given he's not genetics patient.

 

I mentioned that we may need varicella at the new pediatricians office and they said they are uncomfortable with non-traditional schedules and would need genetics to write a prescription.

 

I don't understand this mindset at all from the medical community. It's like they just don't want to be told by anyone else what to do (for your own child, no less) and are basically punishing you for doing so. What happened to do no harm? It's one thing to not accept a client who makes it clear they have no intention of vaccinating...a doctor can have a philosophical, even moral argument that would lead them to decline and that seems only fair to me. But to turn away anyone who is *trying* to vaccinate? Ridiculous.

[CupOCoffee]

Hmmm...not sure how I would classify myself. First born got everything on schedule except for the Varicella. It had not been out long enough at that time, and I was not comfortable giving such a new vaccine. With Dd, I was a little more on the "not all at once" band wagon, and did not let them give her Hep B in the hospital, and was on a delayed schedule. They tried to bully me into, I still refused. By then, I was more knowledgeable and in my work field, I knew more about what Hep B was for; saw NO reason for a newborn to have it. I also see no reason to bombard a new born with all kinds of stuff; and I think now there are more combined vaccines than before? Just seems dangerous to me.

 

My kids have since been vaxxed with Varicella. The 16 year old has had Hep B because he wants to spend some time in a research lab, and those that are willing to accept him, work with human materials. My 11 year old still has not had Hep B; she will not be getting Gardasil.

 

I said this in another thread today: I am the parent of my child, not some drug lobby, politician taking money from a drug lobby, or even a pediatrician, being influenced by a drug lobby. Do the research, get information from reliable and non-biased sources (um, the gov't is NOT either of those) and make the best decision for *your* family. Every family will look different in this choice, and you know what? That's OK; it doesn't make one parent better than the other or more uncaring.

 

~coffee~

[Acorn]

I have changed my opinion on the influenza vaccine. I wonder if dh getting influenza contributed to his heart attack. At the time of his heart attack, all cholesterol levels were normal.

[Element]

I have changed my opinion on the influenza vaccine. I wonder if dh getting influenza contributed to his heart attack. At the time of his heart attack, all cholesterol levels were normal.

 

 

The flu vac was the only vaccine we've never done. It seemed totally unnecessary. However, sitting here with 2 flu-ish kids for the past 36 hours, I think I've reversed my position.

[MedicMom]

I am at work, and will look up the specifics tomorrow. Obviously, the now discredited autism link, and the fact that there are no fetal cells in vaccines. Also I believe the claims about some of the toxic additives are overblown, as many are naturally present in our bodies in much larger amounts.

 

I do not believe that vaccines are 100% safe or effective. As I said, I have has serious reactions to two different ones. I simply believe that the benefits outweigh the risks.

 

As I said I will PM you the details tomorrow.

[pdalley]

Oldest vaxed on regular schedule. Reacted to MMR slightly. Thought this caused his autism. Slowed down and spaced out middle's vaccines. Then youngest came along - got one at a time - spaced out, etc. Youngest had not one reaction of any type - no fever, nada. He's the most 'classically' autistic of all of them. We came to the conclusion that for our family autism is genetic and we wanted them to have the vaccines. I read a lot from both sides and I was pretty anti vax right after oldest was diagnosed.

 

All are autistic. I had done a lot of genealogy research of my own family by that point. I can trace the 'traits' back to pre Civil War. My late grandmother was a nurse who saw what happened without vaccines. She urged me to be cautious about delaying but never pushed us to get them done. Neither did our Pediatrician. He still does not think the boys should get the flu vaccine. Right now they are all current.

[Butter]

When Melody was born I was pro-vax. Then at 4 months she had a severe reaction. She got no more vaxes and Wil also got none. Adric was born with lots of allergies. He also was not vaxed. And then I had Rory. While I was pregnant with him I felt VERY strongly that I should have him vaxed. Not on schedule and one at a time, because we don't know for sure what Melody reacted to (likely DTaP, but since she got three or four vaccines that day we'll never know). Our doctor will not give any of my kids DTaP because he was our doctor when Melody had her reaction and so he highly recommends all our kids skip that one. He recommended Adric not get any vaxes until he is 7 due to how sickly he has been his whole life. He is getting stronger now as he approaches 7 so I see the wisdom in that advice. Melody and Wil are now up to date. Rory almost is.

 

So I've gone to pro-vax to no vax to okay with vaccines. I wouldn't say I am totally pro-vax even now. I think kids get too many at once, and I also think parents should still be able to decide (hopefully along with their doctor - I realize our doctor is probably a bit unusual compared to many others). But my kids, well three of them, ARE vaxed now. Adric has had tetanus (and diptheria since they come together). I just felt like he should get it and our doctor agreed that even though he wasn't 7 yet that one was probably smart. He did fine with it (he was 3 when he got it).

[UrbanSue]

I haven't read the rest of the thread, but, yes, that's me. My first was fully vaxed, my next two have none or close to none and my fourth is being selectively vaxed but getting most of them.

 

My first has a ton of medical issues and I meant to research it but didn't get to it until he was pretty much done at age 2. My second reacted badly (IMO) to her first double vax and our very alternative ped was fine with just pulling the plug. I was part of a very, very "crunchy" community at the time and, while I did a LOT of research on my own I honestly felt pretty 50/50 about it and just did what all my friends did.

 

By the time my fourth came along I was in a new place and had more time to think. And I'd also had a few friends have horrible experiences with things they didn't vax for (to be fair, one family all got pertussis--EVEN the vaxed kid--I know it doesn't always work). Anyway, I came back around to a more moderate position.

 

I basically follow the modified/delayed schedule in Dr. Sears's The Vaccine Book. We get only one or two shots at a time, never combined. We don't do the one at birth that is escaping me . . . I promise I'm more informed than I sound!--or MMR, or chickenpox, or the flu. The others we mostly do slowly. Our ped is awesome about helping me figure out priorities and not doing them if other things are going on.

 

So, that's me :)

[JumpyTheFrog]

Since the additives are what concern DH and I, we specifically want to read about the doses of each ingredient in each vaccine. We also want to compare that to established blood levels for each. For example, comparing the amount of injected aluminum to the allowable ingested amount isn't a good comparison. I did come across today a reference to the FDA having guidelines for the amount of aluminum allowed in IV nutrition for preemie babies. That gives me a place to start.

[AngieW in Texas]

I have questions for any of y'all who might be OT or ST.

 

My middle dd is looking into becoming an OT or an ST. Since those are considered health professions, they require vaccination, right? Exactly which ones are required for these professions?

 

My 17yo is partially vaxed. She is also Aspie. She is going to need to get whatever shots are required for her as a professional and I want to have these next few years to spread them over.

 

Do any of y'all know what is actually required?

[higginszoo]

I have questions for any of y'all who might be OT or ST.

 

My middle dd is looking into becoming an OT or an ST. Since those are considered health professions, they require vaccination, right? Exactly which ones are required for these professions?

 

My 17yo is partially vaxed. She is also Aspie. She is going to need to get whatever shots are required for her as a professional and I want to have these next few years to spread them over.

 

Do any of y'all know what is actually required?

The ones that they were most concerned about when I was working in a medical office were Hep B vacc and a TB test. I don't know for sure that that's all they ever asked about (I had all of my standard vaccs so it wasn't something I noticed), but the Hep B and TB came up repeatedly in the paperwork, etc. This was just for front office (billing, insurance, appointments, payments), so the back office staff may have had more.

[Susan in KY]

 

If I understand you correctly, before didn't vaccinate because you were worried about permanent side effects. Now you are more concerned about the disease than the vaccines for disease. Were you concerned about preservatives and adjuvants before? Are you still concerned about them?

 

Yes.

 

At some point the dangers of not vaccinating outweighed my concerns about the vaccinations themselves. A small body/young, undeveloped brain on a quick, all-at-once vaccination schedule is not as able to process the vaccines as well as a big body/developed mind on a slow, a one-at-a-time vaccination schedule. I am not as concerned about developmental devolution as I was about developmental delay or impairment. Now that they are much older, I think the dangers or side effects for most vaccines are lesser, or at least not as impactful, as they would have been when the children were small.

[amyrobynne]

I'm a selective vacc-er and my kids have each gotten more, sooner. They've all gotten the actual chicken pox (the first 2 at a pox party at ages 1.5 and 3.5 and the youngest out of who-knows-where at 16 mo). We started getting flu vaccines after suffering through the flu 2 years ago and being miserable. My oldest didn't get his first vaccine until 8 mo. My youngest started at, I think, 3 mo, maybe 2, although the timing for both was more due to getting vaccinated before winter when whooping cough was hitting the area. I was able to spread the MMR vacc out with my first into its 3 parts and I can't do it anymore because it's not available like that.

 

If/when I have a 4th child, I still won't do Hep B at birth, but I might consider doing more at the 2 mo, 4 mo, 6 mo schedule. I don't know. I like having each vacc separately the first time to check for reactions before combining them. My husband used to agree, now he says we should just vacc on schedule.

[renmew]

My first two were vaxed on schedule. The oldest is was diagnosed at age 5 as HFA. He was also speech delayed and is a stutterer. My second child didn't speak until she was almost 2 1/2. By the time my third was born I was freaking out about vaccinations and swore she wouldn't get any.

 

Around her first birthday is when it came out that the British doctor's study was fraudulent. Slowly, very slowly, I am catching her up. Because of her age, there are a few she doesn't have to make up. She has had just enough to get into school without a fuss.

 

No one in my family gets the flu shots. Ever.

[VeganCupcake]

We've always vaccinated, but I'm reading a book now that may be of interest to you. Someone recommended it last week on the Book a Week thread and it sounded interesting so I picked it up.

 

The Panic Virus, written by Seth Mnookin and published in 2011, looks at the fear of vaccines. He goes through the history of vaccines and mistakes made by those implementing them as well as the mistakes made by those like Britain's Andrew Wakefield who raised the alarm about MMR and autism based on his own very shoddy scientific work that no one was ever able to verify or duplicate. Oh and he was being paid by those who wanted to bring huge lawsuits against the vaccine manufacturers. Mnookin also looks at the role of the media who hyped the stories to sell papers while they were also gutting their scientific staff who would have been most able to understand the science. It's a really interesting book and it might help you understand the background of the anti-vaccine arguments (and question their validity).

 

I read that book last week. :)

 

My eldest was very selectively vaxed, but I've since changed my position and I want to get her brought up-to-date. My second is current on all his. I feel like I was a bit misinformed when I chose to decline several vaxes for my DD. I bought into a lot of ideas that I now believe to be hype and misinformation.

 

I myself have been vaccinated for a wide variety of stuff, since I did a lot of international travel in my 20s. Perhaps all along, I was pro-vax and didn't realize it.

[hollyh]

Any links or other books of actual studies to research? I keep feeling the need to really study this, but don't know where to start with actual FACTUAL information.

[myfatherslily]

I selectively/delayed vaxed my first and second when they were very young. I waffled back and forth and couldn't decide on what I felt was best. There were two main factors that eventually swayed me. The first was the what-ifs. What if my child either had a vax reaction or what if they were seriously ill from a vax-preventible illness? Which possibility was I more willing to take the risk of? That's ultimately the decision we're all trying to make. The other factor was my youngest being in the hospital with pneumonia at 7 weeks old. I knew then, without a doubt, that I wanted him to have all the protection he could get. Of course, there was research involved here, too, but those things were the bottom line of it all.