The Contraversial Topic of Vaccinations

35 weeks, 6 days pregnant

Monday and Tuesday we had Pediatrician interviews. In preparation to interview them, I prepared a pediatrician interview sheet with all the questions I wanted to ask. I did a bunch of research to make sure I asked all the right questions. I have also heard a lot about vaccines and how contraversial they are, so I picked up this book that's been highly recommended, it's called "The Vaccine Book" by Dr. Robert Sears. Dr. Sears is a highly regarded pediatrician and had some really good insights about vaccines. The book is really good about being balanced and showing both sides. He lays out the pros and cons to each vaccine and lets you decide. When I bought it, I thought it would be way over my head, but Dr. Sears writes it in laymans terms and by the end of the book you really feel more educated. I know I want to vaccinate, but I am a bit concerned about the amount of vaccines that are given at one time and I'm inclined to do Dr. Sear's "Alternative Vaccination Schedule" mentioned at the end of the book, where the vaccines are more spread out to reduce the incidence of side effects. As with all medications, none of them are 100% safe and all of them have a risk of mild to severe side effects. The Alternative Schedule seems to lessen the risks by only offering a maximum of 2 vaccines at once, only doing 1 vaccine at a time that has aluminum, and only doing one "live" vaccine at at time. I know a lot of people have said "I was vaccinated and I turned out ok" but kids today are given 38 vaccines before the age of 6, whereas we were given much much less! In that time period, 3 vaccines have proven to have ingredients that were taken off the market because the vaccine turned out to be more dangerous than the disease. And at that time they were administered the experts swore that they were safe. Who knows what the experts will say 10 years from now about the vaccines we give out now?

Of course, these are are my opinions but I urge you do your own research on this topic. The Association of American Pediatrics is a good resource as well as Dr. Sear's "The Vaccine Book" and his website. We all want what's best for our kids and no decision is the wrong one -- I would just suggest you be informed so you can be educated on the topic. Ok, I'm off my soap box!! :)

The three pediatricans we've interviewed were good, but we've still got two more we're looking into. They were all open to our thoughts about doing the Alternative Vaccination Schedule. Hopefully we can make a decision by next week!