To Vaccinate OR NOT to Vaccinate...that is the question!

As if raising our kids and keeping them safe weren't already this monumental task, parents are also expected to wade thru the medical world as if we were part of its staff. I mean, if you walk blindly into the world of medicine and allow doctors to do whatever they want, you get called stupid. AND, if you research everything and question everything, you also get called stupid for not possibly following a doctor's advice. So, where, I ask you, is the happy medium??



I am a selective vaccinator. I DO want to keep my son safe. I DO love my son. I DO worry about him getting sick. BUT, my son has a compromised immune system already thanks to severe asthma AND, in my family, we have experience with bad side effects after vaccinations. So, I choose which vaccines my son gets very, very, carefully. Well, today, as I was leaving the doctor's office after having my son vaccinated a woman looked over at me as Ethan was clawing at his leg and said "Shot?". I nodded and she said "Well, we have to do what's best for them." And, my child pipes in "But, I don't get shots ever cause I hate them!". The woman looked appalled and I explained that my child was selectively vaccinated due to his severe asthma and my beliefs on certain shots. Well, hell, you would have thought I told her I let my boy play with loaded guns! She shook her head and said "You are a danger to all children!". And, very calmly I said "No, ma'am, your children are more of a danger to MINE!".

And, honestly, it's true! Children that are vaccinated pose more of a threat to my boy than he does to them because many doctors use live and active cultures. A live virus can cause a reaction in the child who gets the shot and then they can pass the virus to others. Hence why they advise parents of small children not to take their little ones around cancer patients and such after they have had a shot!

I am not against peoples' choices to vaccinate or not, but before you judge me...KNOW what you are talking about! KNOW that my choice has volumes of research behind it, just like yours. But, sadly, many parents that DO vaccinate, don't even research WHY they choose to do it. They just do. So, who is less responsible? Me or them? Hmmmm...