So, I don't know vaccines from Shinola ...

[spritelyone]

I think I'm about far enough ahead that I need to begin educating myself about available vaccines. Can anyone recommend one or two resources that can provide a balanced viewpoint that will help us make decisions about things

Comments

[bafleyanne]

I don't know if there is a book available or not like that. I can tell you what we did. I don't think it's necessary to give babies vaccines at birth so I opted out of the HepB shot they wanted to give in the hospital. He got his first dose of that at 2 months old and we finished out the schedule but delayed. The other two we delayed were the MMR (until after 2, just because whatever nebulous connection between it and autism exists seems to vanish if the first dose isn't given until after 2) and the varicella (still hasn't had it, although he has a drs. appt. on Friday and we may do it then). Re: varicella, the lasting efficacy of that vaccine without boosters is worrisome to me and if it's given at the age it's recommended the immunity wears off in the teen years, which is a particularly bad time to get it. My doctor recommends that if you are going to delay it, wait till after 5 and then whenever is fine

[spritelyone]

Thanks, Barbara. This is the sort of information I'm looking for. Did you wind up looking up each vaccination separately and making the decision, then?

I saw that there was a Sears book on vaccinations including an alternate schedule, and I might get it, but I didn't know if it was considered an impartial source or not. It might be a good, comprehensive start to at least knowing their purpose and common scheduling.

[dagnabit]

I wish I could point you to good unbiased data but in all the literal years I've spent with it in the back of my head, I haven't found any. The Sears book is likely to be as close as you get to unbiased but even that I wouldn't bet a lot on.

What I do is look at the potential side effects and the risk of the condition being vaxed against and evaluate from there. So I do most vaxes, but I've delayed the Hep B vax as it's a sexually transmitted disease that I don't think my newborn needs to worry about, the varicella and any other vax that I don't recognize when they want to give it. I just say no for now, go home and look it up and then decide. We also delayed the MMR just on the off chance of the autism connection. I don't consider Measles, mumps or rubella to be dangerous enough today to make delaying the shot by a year that much of a risk.

[spritelyone]

I asked the nurse at my appointment last night if they had any information on vaccines. She said that I should check with my intended pediatrician, but that PA did not allow for parents cherry-picking vaccines for their children who intend to enter public school. If one cited "religious reasons" for declining, they did not allow any vaccinations (or something like), so that you couldn't just skip one or two that you don't like and still go to school.

I found that a little odd, but I guess I can see what they're trying to do. However, it does indicate that I wouldn't be able to just skip the chicken pox vaccine completely and still be able to enroll my kids in public school. And chicken pox is hardly polio, so I would sort of like them to be a little lenient with the newer ones until more data is known. If they do it with Gardasil in a few years, that would also be premature, in my opinion.

All that said, thanks for your guidance. I'm sure that I'll refer to it when I begin really looking into things. :)

[anonymous]

Liz recently sent me a link from some law firm that wants everyone to sue who's received a Gardasil vaccine. My daughter recently had the first shot in the series, so I figured it might be good to try to find out if the claims had any merit

[spritelyone]

Heh. I read an Amazon review of one of the above books by a total nut who was trying to warn everyone that vaccines were just a government eugenics program continued from the mid-20th century. Um, OK buddy. I've definitely got my guard up for crazies, so that site can be added to the list, but maybe it has some useful purpose. :)