23rd December 2008

The Vaccine Controversy - Should We Vaccinate Our Children? 1 reply

Tonight, I caught a part of the Charlie Rose show with Bill Gates and his work through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.  He talked about malaria being the top killer of children - diarrheal diseases a close second or third killer - he talked about polio in India.  He talked about vaccinations, and while I was having a hard time staying awake through his conversation with Charlie Rose, it’s interesting to hear him talk about saving the world with vaccinations.  Compare that to the controversy growing in the United States and perhaps Switzerland (?) about the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccination and its possible link to autism.

I’m like many others who are new moms, who are wondering should they vaccinate their children?  I think absolutely, right?  MMR? Yes.  Polio? Yes.  Others, I’m not so sure.  Are we over-vaccinating our children?  Here is the current American Pediatrics Vaccine Schedule.  But it’s the MMR vaccination that has been linked to autism.  I received both vaccinations as a child, and am glad I did.  But the vaccination I had in early 1970 is likely not the same as what we have today.  In the 1980s, according to one site, the measles, mumps and rubella vaccination was combined into one vaccination.  In 1998, Dr. Andrew Wakefield’s study was published in the Lancet about a link to autism and the MMR vaccination, specifically with reference to exposing the young child to more than one wild virus at a time.  Thus, consider giving the vaccination to the child, separately, one at a time.  There are stories of rashes, fevers, pneumonia, and even death at www.thinktwice.com regarding administration of the MMR vaccination, where parents are writing in about adverse reactions after having the vaccination.  So, why aren’t we separating the vaccination again?  Can we request this?  What are the solutions, and who is coming up with them?

What information is easily available is the controversy - what we’re doing about it is not so easy to find.  Here is the Autism’s Research Institute’s website about the controversy, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and their claims that autism and the MMR vaccination are not related. 

You might have also heard about Jenny McCarthy’s son, who has autism, and her book, Louder Than Words: A Mother’s Journey in Healing Autism, on what helped her son become a normal, healthy child again.  Here’s an excerpt from the site above: Many people aren’t aware that in the 1980s our children received only 10 vaccines by age 5, whereas today they are given 36 immunizations, most of them by age 2. With billions of pharmaceutical dollars, could it be possible that the vaccine program is becoming more of a profit engine then a means of prevention?

We believe autism is an environmental illness. Vaccines are not the only environmental trigger, but we do think they play a major role. If we are going to solve this problem and finally start to reverse the rate of autism, we need to consider changing the vaccine schedule, reducing the number of shots given and removing certain ingredients that could be toxic to some children.

 

Jenny McCarthy formed an organization that suggests a different vaccine schedule - http://generationrescue.org/  This link talks about the vaccination combination risk, and upping your dosage of Vitamin C before and after the vaccine, as well as delaying vaccine administration until the child is 18-24 months of age.  Vaccines are often administered beginning at two months.  I could not get the PDF to load properly for the 1983 vaccination schedule, but apparently the schedule looking back to 1983 is vastly different than what it is today.  Another commentary on Cnn.com about her son’s diagnosis of autism.

A federal court rules in favor of Hannah Poling, a 9-year old child, in that vaccinations might have caused her autism.  She received her vaccinations at 19 months, and within three months showed signs of autism.  Within 48 hours, she had high fevers, inconsolable crying, and was unable to walk.   By the way, this article has a variety of different timelines for when the autism occurred - but you can read it if you wish.  Here’s a mom of an autistic child who writes about the Hannah Poling case on her blog.

I was talking Sunday with my parents about Melina’s next round of checkups, and talked about how they are suggesting I begin vaccinations in the next month or so.  I walked into the other room after I hung up the phone.  NPR’s American Life was on - and strangely enough, a story about the San Diego measles outbreak where one child caused exposure to something like 980 people - need to research this too, all because one chose not to vaccinate.  From a 7-year old child, to numerous exposures through family, a pediatrician’s office, a flight to Hawaii - whew!

I’m not in favor of withholding vaccinations - it’s like Bill Gates said - we don’t want to see children again who are unable to walk because the parent chose not to vaccinate their child for polio, or a measles outbreak due to some who chose not to vaccinate against it.  But has the vaccination schedule increased, or ingredients different, and are they as effective as they used to be?

More to come on this topic as I look at what I’m to do for Melina in the coming weeks and months ahead. 

More resources/links on the vaccine controversy:

Dr. Sears Vaccine Schedule - Alternative Vaccine schedule to CDC’s vaccine schedule who proposes that we do NOT give four live viruses at one time, as this would not cocur in nature.  The chickenpox virus vaccination is also administered simultaneously with the MMR vaccine.  He’s proposing they be administered separately.  Ironically, the entire country?? has run out of separate MMR vaccines - and won’t have the Measles and Rubella until mid-2009, and Mumps until end of 2009????  Wow!  This is certifiably nuts. 

Message Board Posting re Dr. Sears Alternative Vaccine Schedule - scroll down on this link here - you can find it below a couple of initial posts.  I’ve also copied and pasted from this site (link above from message board) - so don’t quote me because I haven’t checked the book myself although I do plan to buy it - it’s on Amazon.com.

NPR & Story on the Vaccine Controversy

Basically, about two hours of research makes me see both sides of the controversy.  Why can’t we split up the vaccine, and not vaccinate until later when the baby has more immunity?  Alternatively, if we do this, can we continue to have the same lifestyle we’ve had in the past?  In other words, I don’t think if I hold off on her vaccine all together (not in favor of this), or split them apart (in favor of this by the way) over a longer period of time - I should be able to allow her susceptibility to the disease by exposure in a variety of places.  For example, the child was on a plane from Switzerland.  I think that perhaps the child should not be on a plane from Europe - without vaccinations.  But, in today’s world, a kid could be exposed easily third party on a flight from Columbus, Ohio to Orange County.  For those of us who consider flying with our children prior to vaccination schedule of MMR, or Polio or Chicken Pox, perhaps that is not such a good idea - is the risk too great?

Excerpt from the message board link and one of the posts:

Dr. Bob’s Alternative Vaccine Schedule

2 months: DTaP, Rotavirus

3 months*: Pc, HIB

4 months: DTaP, Rotavirus

5 months*: Pc, HIB

6 months: DTaP, Rotavirus

7 months*: Pc, HIB

9 months: Polio

12 months: Mumps, Polio

15 months: Pc, HIB

18 months: DTaP, Chickenpox

2 years: Rubella, Polio

2 1/2 years*: Hep B, Hep A (start Hep B at birth if any close relatives or caregivers have Hep B)

3 years: Hep B, Measles

3 1/2 years*: Hep B, Hep A

4 years: DTaP, Polio

5 years: MMR

6 years: Chickenpox

12 years: Tdap, HPV

12 years, 2 months*: HPV

13 years: HPV, Meningococcal (once Meningococcal vaccine is approved for age 2, Dr. Sears will move it there and delay Hep B by 6 months) 

One Response to “The Vaccine Controversy - Should We Vaccinate Our Children?”

  1. Curt Worden says:
    December 24th, 2008 at 9:39 am

    Parents stories of vaccine related autism and the approach to healing their children can be seen here: http://www.healingautismdvd.com

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