A post about vaccines

This has been on my mind ever since my post about Finn's 4-month checkup the other day. I hate to think that anyone would assume that Michael and I came to the decision not to have Finn vaccinated without a lot of thought and gathering of information - without having "the whole story" so to speak.

So let me just assure everyone that the decision of whether to have Finn vacinated was not made lightly. All of our other kids are fully vaccinated and we have followed the usual vaccination schedule for them (although I tend to shy away from newer vaccines that do not have a proven track record, as well as flu shots which still contain mercury and which are developed each year speculatively attempting to anticipate which strains of flu will be present in the coming year). I have to admit, though, that with each child I've had, I've started questioning vaccines more and more. When Kevin was born almost 12 years ago, I just blindly went along with whatever the doctor ordered. That was NOT informed decision making - that was passivity, and I actually have guilt about that - about having made very uninformed decisions concerning my children in the past (and this covers other issues besides just vaccines).

When I was pregnant with Finn I had already reached a point of very much questioning vaccines - and this was long before we found out that he has DS. Michael and I wrestled with it, and by the time Finn was born, we still had not come to a firm decision.

When we found out that he has DS, we also learned that children/people with DS may have compromised immune systems. So there is a school of thought that believes it is even more important to have these children vaccinated. However, being that he is a boy, and that he has DS, Finn is also at a higher than average risk of developing autism, epilepsy, and a host of other disorders - some of which are theoretically connected to vaccines.

I understand that there are camps that claim - with research on their side - that any connection between vaccines and autism, etc. has been disproven. But there are camps on the other side - also with research to back up their position - who maintain that there IS in fact a connection. And the fact of the matter is that there is a federal vaccine-injury fund which pays out to people injured by certain vaccines. That speaks volumes to me. Perhaps it doesn't prove a connection, but it certainly proves the possibility of a connection.

So after much thought, reading, and discussion, we decided to forego vaccinating Finn, at least for the time being. I feel confident that the risk of him contracting some sickness he might have been vaccinated against is pretty miniscule; he's exclusively breastfed so he's getting all of my antibodies right now, his siblings are all vaccinated, and he's not in daycare and being exposed to other children. We simply came to the conclusion that the risk of a possible neurological injury from vaccines is not something we can live with at this time. We may revisit this later on when he's older - I just don't know at this point. But for now, he's vaccine-free and extremely healthy . . . while all my vaccinated kids are passing around colds like candy.

It's a very personal decision that every family has to make for their own children. Like home birth, there are people who believe it's crazy and dangerous, but these are not decisions we've made lightly. This is not an appropriate forum for a debate, and I am certainly not attempting to start a debate, nor am I trying to sway anyone to come to a decision that falls in line with ours. I realize that there are very strong feelings and opinions about vaccines, homebirth, circumcision, spanking - and the list goes on. We are very comfortable with the choices we've made, and I guess I just wanted to clarify that the decisions Michael and I have made about these things have been very informed decisions.